Mind, body and running shoes

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

For Matt and Angie Brass, it all comes down to teamwork. Longtime coaches for cross-country and track at Sandpoint High School, the husband-and-wife duo have decided to hang up their running shoes, leaving nearly two decades of success in their wake.

The pair met while attending SHS, where both ran on the cross-country team under then-coach Cheryl Klein.

“A lot of what got me into running was Cheryl Klein at the high school,” Angie told the Reader. “It was inspiring to have a female coach as a runner.”

Both continued running as a way to get in shape for basketball, but found the sport checked off a lot of other boxes: it was physically challenging, mentally stimulating and gave them a chance to get outside as often as possible with their teammates.

“Being outside and moving on your own two feet is simplistic and wonderful,” Angie said. 

Coaching team Matt and Angie Brass have retired from SHS cross-country and track after 18 years. Courtesy photo.

“It’s not always fun, but it’s really rewarding to finish a workout or a race and have that feeling of satisfaction doing a sport that I haven’t found elsewhere,” Matt told the Reader. 

After graduating in 1994, the pair attended college at University of Idaho Moscow, where Matt earned a degree in education and computer programming technology, and Angie received her  degree in child development and family relations.

The pair moved around a bit after college, working in Portland, Ore., for a few years before ultimately returning to their hometown of Sandpoint in 2005.

“I felt like we were ready,” Matt said. “Our girls were starting school and we wanted them to have that small town community we grew up with.”

Neither had any intention of coaching, but when their old running coach Cheryl Klein called Angie and asked her to volunteer with the team, it planted a seed that began to grow. The next year, when a coaching job came up to replace the departing Klein, Matt and Angie jumped at the opportunity. 

“Angie focused on the girls’ side, I would run and coach the boys,” Matt said. “It was all one program, though.”

The Brasses coached both track and cross-country, instilling the ethos that running wasn’t just a physical activity; but, rather, a joint effort between body and mind operating as one. 

“Cross-country is really where the magic is,” Angie said. “It’s something you can’t reproduce in another sport. There are no timeouts. You’re out there and everyone is experiencing the same course. There are so many cool, weird things about it that I love.”

At the center of their ethos as coaches is the idea that running was first and foremost a team sport.

“We built the team with that in mind,” Matt said. “Run for your team, challenge each other. Iron sharpens iron.”

“When you have a mindset as a team, everyone loves and cares about one another,” Angie said. “It brings so much more value and reward to it all. … The beauty of endurance sports at the high school level is watching kids that work hard and are goal-oriented. That transfers to the classroom, too.”

Looking back over the history of the SHS cross-country team, the data backs up that statement. 

Over the course of 36 seasons, 18 valedictorians and 12 salutatorians have been cross-country runners, while 25 went on to become runners at the collegiate level.

“You can’t be garbage in one area and clean in another,” Matt said. “The team would set goals, like team G.P.A. goals and the girls were hugely successful on that side. They were second in the state for G.P.A.”

SHS cross-country teams have racked up plenty of achievements in the past three decades, with the girls responsible for three state championship teams, 11 state trophies, three individual state champions, 36 individual state medalists, 16 regional team championships, 19 individual regional champions and 28 state qualifying teams.

The SHS XC boys hold four state trophies, 23 individual state medals, 16 regional team championships, 15 regional individual champions and 27 state qualifying teams.

Looking back over 18 years, the coaching duo said they’ll miss all the traditions and connections they made at SHS.

“I’m so glad we were able to pay it forward,” Angie said. “Cheryl is certainly one of the top five people in my life as a mentor. Being able to be that for other young women is really important to me. To be able to run with them and have time with them, knowing and seeing how things are going in their lives. It’s huge and we’ll miss it.”

“Both of us are approaching 30,000 miles running since we started coaching 18 years ago,” Matt said. “Thousands of miles, hundreds of hours and I don’t think anything quite connects you with someone like being at your most raw, uncomfortable, pushing it, driving them and asking ourselves to do the things that are hard. … You learn so much about someone’s personality while you’re running. That’s what we’ll miss the most. Those real training moments with kids, being able to be there with them. There’s no substitute.”

After overseeing the transition to new coaches this summer, the Brasses looked back fondly on the 500 runners they coached over the years.

“It was never our program, we were just stewards of it,” Matt said. “We tried to do something great with it and leave it better than we found it.”

“We had the privilege to be involved with hundreds of kids’ lives,” Angie said. “The connections we made are forever, and it’s been a joy.”