Nic Women Hope To See The Light

NIC cross country

It must get tiring for the North Idaho College cross country team to always run in the dark. No, it doesn’t practice at night, but the Cardinals have long run in the shadow cast by Ricks College and the College of Southern Idaho.

Last season, the women’s team placed fifth at nationals, but were the third best team in the Scenic West Athletic Conference behind Ricks and CSI.

“We run in the top women’s cross country region in the country,” coach Mike Bundy said. “We could be even better than last year and still come in third in our conference.”

Bundy said his women’s team could improve from last year, despite losing three of five runners. Brook McLachlan and Veronica Mendieta are the top returners. They will be joined by West Valley graduates Heather Harmon and Marah Kjeldgaard.

The other key freshmen are both from the other side of Lookout Pass. Holly Gabbert, of Helena, and Abby Pratt, of Lewiston, Mont., have been impressive in early time trials.

“Our women are kind of an unknown commodity, but I think we’ll be better than last year by the end of the season,” Bundy said.

The men also should be improved from last year and will be paced by former Lakeland High standout Todd Bruce.

“The goal of the men is to get to nationals, and I feel that is very realistic,” Bundy said.

Although last year’s top runners, Tim Panckhurst and Kenny Kimura, are gone, the rest of the key runners return. Along with Bruce, the Cardinals should get contributions from Lake City’s Chris Gossett, Post Falls graduates Steve Parker and Jason Clouse and Kris Pasquale from Alaska.