With all the pressure of great expectations on her shoulders, 17-year-old Community School senior Mali Noyes responded admirably Saturday in the State 2A/1A girls' prep cross country run at Lewiston.
Noyes, a strong hill climber who races for the Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team during the winter, added gold to her now-crowded high school cross country trophy case.
On a challenging and hilly Hells Gate State Park course, Noyes (19:44.80) outlegged West Jefferson junior Andra Holdaway (19:45.13) in the final stretch of the 3.1-mile footrace and won in a photo finish by less than a half second.
Community School co-coach Abi Holt said, "Mali isn't very demonstrative, but she had a big smile on her face afterward.
"She wanted that win so bad. She was nervous beforehand, because she felt that everyone at school knew she should win. But going out and winning a race like that is hard to do. At the finish she said her legs burned like never before. She suffered for it and she won it."
Noyes, daughter of Bobby and Kathy Noyes of Ketchum, became only the fifth Wood River Valley cross country runner ever to win a state title—and the first in 24 years. And she is the first Community School student to win the big state cross country race.
Other individual winners, all from Hailey's Wood River High School, were Maureen McGinnis in 1982 and Lori Pascoe in 1981, Monte Brothwell 1972 and Rick Ward 1971.
Mali's fourth state competition was her best. She was second to Firth's Lacey Holder in 2004 at Soda Springs. Last year at Boise's Eagle Island State Park, Noyes was third behind state champ Lisa Romer of Valley and runner-up Jaclyn Puga of Nampa Christian.
This year, Noyes outdistanced fifth-place Romer by 28 seconds and was 19 seconds faster than fourth-place Puga. Hells Gate wasn't a golf course layout by any stretch of the imagination. The layout played to the Cutthroat advantage.
Coach Holt said, "It was a good course for us because all four runners we brought to Lewiston are on the Nordic ski team. In cross country skiing you think about transitions and pacing yourself on hills.
"Mali had a strong strategy and stuck to it. We talked a lot about how the adrenaline is always high at state. Many of the girls were super-fast off the first climb and then died out there. Mali wanted to preserve her energy for the second part of the race because she knew from experience that the race would be won or lost there.
"She showed a lot of willpower to stay with the pack and hold back until she could make her final move. And then she was just able to hold off that one girl who was closing in on her. Once Mali realized that the girl had bridged the gap on her, she said, no way, this is mine."
Noyes' winning time was the 12th fastest of all 339 girls in the state footrace covering all classes. Courses differ, but here how her state times compare: In 2003 at Eagle Island, 25th place in 22:27 (7:13 per mile); in 2004 at Soda Springs, second place in 20:40 (6:39); in 2005 at Eagle Island, third place in 20:07 (6:28); and in 2006 at Lewiston, first in 19:44 (6:21).
Her classmate Mike Matteson also achieved his goal Saturday by placing in the top 10 of the 2A/1A boys' 3.1-mile race. In his second state race after a 35th place finish in 19:52 two years ago at Soda, Matteson (17:33) was ninth just 44 seconds off the winning pace.
"Mike has a nice long stride and he ran a smart race," said Holt. "He was picking off other runners in the flats."
Team results were something of a surprise in 2A/1A.
Soda Springs won the girls' and boys' championships in close races over runner-up Firth. Firth had won nine consecutive boys' titles, Soda Springs last winning back-to-back in 1994-95. The Firth girls had captured four straight 2A/1A titles and the Soda girls had never won the big one.
Boys' individual medalist in 2A/1A was Skyler Stotts of Soda Springs.
The 3A team titles also stayed in Bear Lake's trophy case at Montpelier, the girls for the fourth straight year and the Bear boys for a third year. Bear Lake's Cydney Jacobsen and Timberlake's Frank Lagrimanta repeated as 3A champs.
Team banquet for the Cutthroat fall teams is Friday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sun Valley Inn's Limelight Room.
2A/1A girls: 1—Mali Noyes (Community School senior) 19:44.80. 2—Andra Holdaway (West Jefferson junior) 19:45.13. 3—Laken Skidmore (West Jefferson junior) 19:54. 4—Jaclyn Puga (Nampa Christian senior) 20:03. 5—Lisa Romer (Valley junior) 20:12 (80 racers).
2A/1A girls' team: 1—Soda Springs 51 points (average time 20:57). 2—Firth 69 (21:25). 3—Nampa Christian 93 (21:56). 4—West Jefferson of Terreton 104 (22:02). 5—Valley of Hazelton 146 (22:59) (10 teams).
2A/1A boys: 1—Skyler Stotts (Soda Springs) 16:49. 2—Tony Brown (Soda Springs) 16:55. 3—Kasey Myers (Soda Springs) 16:56. 4—Zeke Wilson (Challis junior) 17:17. 5—Robi9n Bullcreek (Malad) 17:20.
9—Mike Matteson (Community School senior) 17:33. 51—Max Durtschi (Community School freshman) 19:21. 71—Sam Farnham (Community School sophomore) 20:12 (110 racers).
2A/1A boys' team: 1—Soda Springs 50 points (average time 17:28). 2—Firth 58 (17:43). 3—Malad 89 (18:06). 4—Coeur d'Alene Charter School 129 (18:35). 5—Deary 151 (18:49) (14 teams).
Mike Matteson and state champion Mali Noyes had a memorable day Saturday at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston. Noyes won the girls? 5-kilometer race in a photo finish and Matteson cracked the top 10, just 44 seconds off the winning 2A/1A time.
