Fanning runs his way to All-American honors, Gifford wraps up fantastic 2023 season

For the second consecutive year, a Three Forks runner earned All-American honors at the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships.

After just missing out on All-American honors in 2022, senior Bryon Fanning finished in ninth place in the 17- to 18-year-old division with a time of 17:07.87 at the championships earlier this month in Louisville.

"Earning All-American has been a goal of mine since last year when I was just a few seconds off of doing so. Being able to do so by a decently large margin was a testament to the progress that I have made this past year. It was a great way to end my high school cross country career," said Fanning. "I would like to thank my coaches Matt Robb and Tara Forsberg for making the trip with me and supporting me along the way. I'm excited to begin training for track in the next few weeks and I can't wait to see what the season will bring."

Forsberg said Fanning had worked hard his entire career, adding she and Robb both told him to go out and enjoy his last high school race.

"To place ninth in the nation is just an amazing accomplishment, and I am so proud of him," Forsberg said.

Robb said because of the conditions after a nearby tornado, the race was delayed a day.

"We sort of threw the sub-16-minute goal out and just wanted to focus on placing. Everyone's times were slower by about a minute, but Bryon battled hard to finish in the top 10 in his age group," Robb said.

Three Forks eighth grader Teegan Gifford wrapped up an enormously successful season in Louisville.

According to Robb, Gifford finished 191st out of 365 runners in the very competitive 13–14-year-old girls' 4K race with a time of 16:03.96.

"Teegan ran 40 seconds faster than her qualifying race, and although she was disappointed in not placing higher, I was proud of her efforts and stepping up to the national level," Forsberg said.