Borah Uses Team Concept for Track and Field Success

By Jesse Zentz, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

May 16–Lions, known as the most communal of all the great cats, live in groups called prides.

So it’s fitting the Borah Lions have pride in the team concept in a sport often perceived as an individual endeavor — track and field.

Both the boys and girls teams from Borah will defend 5A state championships Thursday and Friday at Bronco Stadium.

“The whole team is like my family and (head coach Chester Grey) is like a dad to me. I just feel like they’re family and whatever they need help with, I’m going to do it,” said sophomore Darrion Brown, who will be triple jumping and running two relays at this week’s state meet.

The boys team is in position to win its third straight title. Grey said there isn’t a single reason for the team’s success.

“As far as any secret? No, there really isn’t one thing,” Grey said. “We just have great group of coaches and I think we understand how to treat kids and make them feel welcome.

“We’re not blessed with a lot of stud individual athletes, but we’ve got a group of kids that come together and work hard for one another every day. They feel responsible to do their part.”

Senior Megan Armitage is an example of an athlete forgoing individual success in return for team glory.

Instead of running the open 200-meter dash and 400 at district, she ran with fresh legs on Borah’s four relay teams, which all qualified for state.

“It’s all about the team,” she said. “We really have a shot of winning it again, and I wanted to do what’s best for us, not just for me. It would mean everything to win another state title.”

Borah’s boys and girls teams have athletes qualified in every event except the boys and girls 400.

Because of their balance, the Lions swept the team titles at the District Three meet last Thursday and Friday at Bronco Stadium.

As a testament to the Lions’ depth, the girls ran away with the team title and won just five of 18 events. They scored 162.5 points and beat second-place Mountain View by 52.5 points.

Borah’s boys won the District Three title with three event champions. But the team race was much closer. The Lions won with 109.2 points, 3.2 more than second-place Eagle.

“We may not have championship-caliber kids in every event, but we’re going to try to scrape up as many points as we can and eventually at the tail end of things, hopefully pull out a win,” Grey said.

Winning three straight state titles won’t be an easy task for the Borah boys as Lewiston, Twin Falls and Eagle figure to be in the hunt.

“There are a lot of schools that will be gunning for us,” Borah junior Johnny Bute said. “We just have to worry about what we’re doing and not worry about other teams.”

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