Leaders of the pack

Coeur d’Alene junior Kinsey Gomez had a gold-filled year. Sandpoint senior Ben Fisher had a brush with gold.

Gomez and Fisher have been named The Spokesman- Review’s North Idaho Male and Female athletes of the year.

After a somewhat disappointing sophomore year, Gomez bounced back in a dominating way this year. She cruised to the 5A state championship in cross country, winning by more than 33 seconds over the defending state champ. Then in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter finals in track, Gomez was unchallenged, completing the long-distance triple crown.

Fisher led Sandpoint to the 4A state championship football game during which a Bulldogs’ rally came up short in a 29-23 loss to Blackfoot. He was named the 4A Inland Empire League’s offensive most valuable player after earning the defensive MVP the year before.

This spring he was a 4A IEL first-team pick in baseball.

Gomez liked the idea of winning the triple crown. She said her dad, who likes to watch horse racing, has likened her running to that of a thoroughbred horse.

She was certainly in a class by herself this year. After a surprising state title in cross country her freshman year, Gomez finished second as a sophomore. But she passed out moments after the race. That health issue followed her into track where she nearly passed out in the 3,200 and ended up walking across the finish line for 10th.

Gomez eventually discovered that her body wasn’t processing iron. Her doctor put her on some vegetable iron pills and those issues faded away.

She went into her junior year not knowing what to expect but hoping to regain state championship form.

“I had a fear that if I pushed myself too hard, I might pass out again,” Gomez said, alluding to her previous health issue.

She overcame the fear at state cross country when she ended up essentially running by herself.

Then at the Footlocker West Regional in mid-November, she was tripped about 100 meters into the race and broke her left arm in two places. She somehow gathered herself and fought back to pass most of the runners in the 100-person field. She got within range of the top 10. In fact, she thought she was in 11th and only had to pass the runner in front of her to finish 10th and qualify for the national finals. She found out instead that she was 11th.

As it turned out, though, she wouldn’t have been able to run at nationals with her broken arm.

She took just two days off after state track because she hopes to qualify this summer for Junior Olympics. She’ll run in the 1,500 and 3,000 at a regional qualifier in Spokane later this month. Nationals is in late July.

Gomez is the complete deal. She ranks fifth in her class academically with a weighted 4.3 grade-point average. She’s the highest-ranking athlete at CdA. She has taken nothing less than honors or college-level classes. She hopes her academics and A-level work in cross country and track earns her an all-expenses-paid college education.

Stanford, Arizona State, California, Oregon and Washington have all shown interest.

She hopes to repeat the triple crown next year and push her personal best in the 1,600 to less than 5 minutes and less than 10:45 in the 3,200.

Fisher has played his final competitive sports.

In fact, he played most of his senior year injured. In football, he injured his AC joint in his right shoulder with five games left in the season, but managed to keep playing by using extra pads.

That meant he couldn’t do what he loves in baseball – pitch – until late in the season. He eventually got about four starts, but it was a lost season overall.

“After football my right arm was pretty much useless for three months,” Fisher said. “That was kind of a bummer. It made me think about my body a little more and whether I wanted to continue playing sports.”

Fisher had opportunities to play football in college, but he’s opted to not play any sports. He’s headed to the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he will connect with some friends from Sandpoint who graduated last year and attend the school.

“I want to be able to walk and not be bothered by injuries when I’m older,” Fisher said about his decision to leave football behind.

Fisher, who will graduate with a 3.33 GPA, will be off on a one-month adventure to Costa Rica beginning in late June. He and two friends planned a month-long backpacking trip to Costa Rica.

“It’s an opportunity to get away from everything,” Fisher said. “We have some family friends that have traveled there a lot. It’s sort of a senior trip. I was able to get airfare for $650. The whole trip is planned out.”

Fisher wants to major in business marketing and economics.

“I’m going to miss football a lot, but this is an opportunity to focus on academics,” he said.