Parents and their children don't always agree. However, HHS Head Cross Country Coach Melissa Peterson and her son, Assistant Boys Coach Kyle Peterson, are in complete agreement when it comes to the blueprint for program success. The Petersons, along with Assistant Girls Coach Nichole Ervin, believe the path to elite performance runs uphill with higher expectations and through meets around the region and country where they can go toe-to-toe against national caliber competition.
"The formula is something that I've seen personally and also play out in places like Crater High School," said Melissa Peterson. According to Peterson, when coaches and athletes both sign on to blaze a new trail to better individual race times and improved team finishes, it generates a spark. That spark is carried forward to the next season by returning athletes who want to continue to surpass the achievements of the season before. "I think that kind of motivation is really healthy and that is a hallmark of both Cross Country and Track: When the climate within the program is dialed in, the athletes are driven by the goal of setting new personal records and matching or surpassing the marks set by the previous year's upperclassmen," said Peterson.
A case-in-point, says Peterson, was the 2023 season:
"It's a little different because it involved the boys and girls programs, but it illustrates the sequence a program on the rise goes through. The girls had a breakthrough and instead of qualifying a couple of individuals for the State Meet, they finally qualified as a team. The boys saw this and set their own goal of going to State. They committed to that goal and trained hard in off season, which lead to gutsy performances that narrowly qualified them for the 2024 State Cross Country Meet. Then, like the girls, the boys experienced the lesson of not just making it to State, but making a statement at State."
Peterson reports that both programs now share a common and collective interest in setting new individual and team marks. The process isn't easy, though. It's akin to a runner coming to a fork in a path and choosing the rocky, difficult trail over the flat, smooth trail. Both teams appreciate the benefits of the former and this season have sought out difficult - sometimes faraway - races against top-tier competition instead of opting for local races with diverse levels of talent. It is this "If you want to be the best, you need to compete against the best" mindset that is taking the HHS Cross Country program to new places - and creating an entirely new horizon to aspire to.
"[HHS] Principal Fox has talked to the kids about elevating their effort and results and that is almost exactly what we are seeing in our program," says Peterson. "Our runners are stepping up and taking on established programs with runners that are fast and come into meets with a championship mentality."
This year's schedule reflects the HHS Cross Country Program's commitment to go far, if needed, to climb higher on the race leaderboards as well as program rankings. After attending a team camp in Tillamook, OR in August, the teams signed on for the Meriwether Cross Country Classic in Hillsboro, OR, Nike Portland XC in Portland, OR, and the Clovis Invitational in Clovis, CA. This weekend, both teams will compete in the Stumptown Showdown in Portland as a tune-up for the GSHL League Championships next Tuesday. "Our kids are going against a whole other level of teams at these invitationals and meets - races that were not on our radar 2 and 3 years ago," said Peterson.
What's exciting for all three coaches is seeing how their athletes are responding to these opportunities. For instance, at the Clovis Invitational Graysen Aldridge, a junior, placed 10th in the girls division. On the boys' side, Tanner Hood, a senior, rallied in the final mile to place 27th.
Junior Graysen Aldridge finished in the Top 10 at the Clovis Invitational
Senior Tanner Hood was the top finisher (27th) at the Clovis Invitational among HHS Boys XC Runners
Both teams then watched the elite division races, taking note of race strategies and times. The coaches, who served as drivers to and from the meet, said that the 13-hour trip home gave athletes ample time to do a post-race debrief and set their own expectations for the final races of the season.
And the season - hopefully - doesn't end with the State Cross Country Meet in early November. Peterson says her kids are hungry to qualify for state, but even if they don't, they are on board with running in two high-level meets in the post-season. The first is the Nov. 14-15 NXR Northwest Regional Championships in Spokane and the second is the Dec. 6 Brooks West XC Championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. "The point is not the travel," says Peterson, "the point is to expose our kids to top competition to keep us on a trajectory of continuous improvement."
Girls and Boys Team Photos from the 2025 Clovis Invitational