Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Harrier Hawks

For those of you that recall last year's high school XC season, the Thompson Falls boys (the running Blue Hawks) won the Class B title. This included Shane Donaldson and Jacob Naegeli scoring 2nd and 3rd place finsihes.

One of their assistant coaches, Andrew Gideon, is an English/Journalism teacher at the high school. He could see that the season was full of promise; and, as a result decided to keep a journal of the season. He then turned that jounal into book, titled "Harrier Hawks Fly High".

The self published book can be acquired on lulu.com.

I've had the opportunity to read the book and it was enjoyable. Of course, I was a bit biased since I had the chance to watch the boys and girls at almost every meet that they ran last year. But, the book is a great look at the personalities of the kids on the team. And, it may be about as open a book as there is on how the coaches approached training the team.

Also, Coach Gideon exposes a wry sense of humor that indicates why the kids are so willing to put out the effort for him and Coach Sarah Naegeli.

I recommend the book - if for no other reason than to support the efforts of a Montana coach, writer and high school cross country team.

TB

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