The former Valley Christian Head Cross Country Coach, Erin Botma, was an integral part of sports at Valley Christian Schools for years. She coached cross country and track and field for over two decades at VC and was able to coach her two sons, Adam (’02) and Bryan (’04), as they ran for the cross country team during her time as coach. In 2017, Botma was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away in 2018 from the cancer. Valley Christian now honors her by naming the annual home race after her.

Let’s get into how the 2023 cross country teams performed in the annual Erin Botma Invitational.

The girls team had an amazing race! They took home 1st place as a team with an overall score of 19. Sophomore Ellie Phillips won the girls race with a time of 20:37.08 and her fellow sophomore teammate, Ellie Edwards, took home 5th place with a time of 22:01.73. The freshman girls did an amazing job during the race as well. Raegan Randleman took home 4th with a 22:00.29 time, Mara Mellberg was able to finish 6th with a 22:12.90 time, and Madison Lewis finished 7th with a 22:17.37 time. All 5 of these girls received medals for their amazing races. This is the first time the girls team has finished first in our home meet.

The boys’ team also had a very good race themselves. They were able to come in 2nd place with a final score of 61 points and sophomores Micah Newkirk and Cody Sigerud were able to take home medals. Micah finished in 5th place with a time of 17:46.63, and Cody was able to finish 13th with a 18:33.59 time. The seniors had a monster run as well. TJ Strubbe took home 10th place, finishing at the 18:27.52 mark, Dylan Ellis finished 17th with a 18:58.01 time, and Chase Brecht was the final medal with a 18:58.01 time, which was good for 20th place.

Sophomore Ellie Phillips, who won the girls race reflected, “I was very surprised to finish first since it was such a hard course.” This was the team’s first afternoon race and the runners brought up how the heat may have played a factor in how some of the finished. Phillips was very proud of her finish and looks to continue to build off this race for the rest of the season. She said that the race “will help build my confidence since it was such a challenging course”.

Micah Newkirk, when asked about how he competed, said, ‘’I feel like my placement in the race was good, but it was the first afternoon race, so it was very hot. I pushed through and got 5th place. I will use it as fuel since we finished second, but our goal is to strive and be first place as a team.’’

Looking ahead, the will be competing this Friday, September 28th, in the Desert Twilight Cross Country Invitational. This is a huge night race and will be a great opportunity for our runners to compete against high level competition from schools around the country in a fun and competitive environment.

Make sure to cheer on your Trojan Cross Country team as they represent VCS!