By Jacob Dimond
jake@yelmonline.com
Yelm’s cross country teams have been rising programs for the last several years, and with the help of Alvarez Excavation and community members, the YHS boys and girls cross country programs will soon have a home course for training and competing.
Yelm boys cross country’s head coach Alex McIntire said this project began when Ryan Cox, father of sophomore and cross country athlete Nick Cox, approached him and said he has an excavator if they wanted to knock out a home course. After Ricky Alvarez, with Alvarez Excavation, agreed to help construct a home course, McIntire’s longtime dream of having one at YHS was finally coming to fruition.
“Once this is all cleared out in January, our athletes will come in, and we’ll rake it out and make it look pretty. We’re kind of in the thick of it right now with getting everything laid out. I believe we’ll probably be able to get up to four or five teams out here next year,” McIntire said. “It feels really good to see this finally coming to fruition. I’ll feel a lot better once we’re finished and we’re hosting, but the fact that we have a community surrounding us and ready to knock this out for the kids is very rewarding. I think it’s a good statement to the program we have and the belief that people see in it.”
McIntire said he’s thankful for parent and community support, adding if they didn’t believe in what the athletes were doing, they wouldn’t be out there on their own time with their own equipment to construct the course.
Yelm’s cross country programs have never had a home course before, according to McIntire, so the creation of the trail poses a huge opportunity for athletes on the team.
“There’s a few reasons this is great for us. One, is a safety component because we’re mainly stuck to the roads for training. Our younger kids will also now have a place on campus where they can train, and I think our lower JV will see a lot of growth because of it,” McIntire said. “On the more competitive side, we now have space on trails to hit workouts on. We haven’t had that in the past. We’ve been on the roads, on the track, and running in those environments doesn’t set you up too well. We’ll have a proper setting to train in now.”
The course itself begins on the football field and through the discus area, before entering a trail near the baseball field. Eventually, runners will shoot out through the trees to cross Tornado Alley and eventually on to the trails. McIntire described the course as smooth and fast without major hills, adding teams will want to come there to run fast times.
“The training isn’t going to change, but now we’re going to have ownership over something that’s ours, and we’re proud of it. I think that makes a big difference as far as recognizing yourself and your program as one that is driven to be extraordinary,” McIntire said. “If we didn’t have our own course to do that on, I think that piece would be a lot harder to achieve. This is a good step in the right direction for us in that sense.
“The community is building this, parents of cross country athletes,” he added. “It’s supported by the school district, and it’s allowed to happen because of the school district, but it’s the community that’s building it. Ownership of our own course is a very cool aspect. It’s a grassroots project. It’s a special thing that most schools don’t have.”
Kailey Slevin, sophomore and captain of YHS’s girls cross country team, is thrilled to see parents and community members donate their time and equipment to create a home course.
“It feels really nice to get this kind of support. It shows that the community supports us and that we can work together as a team to make this happen, which is a great aspect,” Slevin said. “The community’s support on this project shows how much they care about us. We have so many people coming to help with time out of their day. It’s amazing to have support backing up the team to let us know that we aren’t in this alone.”
Slevin said the course will provide the cross country teams with a great opportunity to open up their horizons to new things, including training on a real course at practice. She said it will be great to actually have a course to “run fast on.”
Senior Matt Walsh, YHS’s boys cross country’s team captain during the fall season, said though he won’t get to train and compete on the course because he is graduating, he is still happy to be a part of the process.
“I feel like it’s pretty special. There’s all these great teams that have home courses, and this will give Yelm the upper hand during the races. For me, personally, since I’m a senior, I’m kind of jealous the team gets to race on something so special,” Walsh said. “I’m doing it for the future of the program. We have a bright future, and I want to encourage more people to come out and do their best. We’re building something special here at Yelm in the distance program.”
Cox, who brought his excavator to YHS for the course’s construction, said it’s extremely cool as a father to be involved in something that excites his kids. With a sophomore son on the cross country team, Cox said he has all the reason to give back to the program.
“Probably the neatest thing about this is the coach and the schools pour into these kids and my kid. To be able to give back at some level, to give them a place to run, is awesome. Bigger than that, we go to all these different schools and they have courses at their schools, which is super cool,” Cox said. “We’ve never had one here at Yelm, so this will be big for our program.”
He said he is happy that his son will get to train and compete on the course during the rest of his high school years. He noted his wife is a member of the Longmire family, who were some of the original settlers in Yelm.
“So, we’re invested in the community. Being able to see your son be part of the process of developing the course and then being able to run on it is cool. It’s great for him to see how to develop this, and it’s special that he gets to see that we support him,” Cox said. “Cross country is kind of one of those invisible sports in the community. There’s always the big football, baseball, basketball teams that are all really visible. This cross country program has really developed the kids and community in a neat way.”
YHS alumnus Alvarez said it feels “amazing” to give back to his alma mater in this capacity.
“Growing up in this community and working in the community, and now being in a position to give back to the community with my own business, feels very good. Nowadays, not a lot of people donate their time, and it feels nice to do this with some of my co-workers to come together and help the community out,” Alvarez said. “It’s been a good process. We always love giving back to our community and helping out the school district.”
