Zander Ackerman (Assiniboine/Sioux): 2020 Montana Class B State Cross Country Champion

By Dan Ninham

Zander Ackerman is the 2020 Montana Class B State Cross Country Champion.

Zander finished his state championship race in a time of 17:16.85 with mile splits at 5:26.08, 5:40.69, and 6:10.08 and runner-up Justin Morgan of Thompson Falls finished in 17:17.69.

Zander Ackerman, 17, is Assiniboine and Sioux and from the Red Bottom Clan. He is a senior at Wolf Point HS in Montana. 

“My journey with athletics really started my ninth grade year,” said Zander. “I ran cross country, played basketball and ran track. My main accomplishments are All State in cross country for the last two years, and this year I am the Class B State Champion. I was also the state runner-up in the Class B Two Mile my sophomore track season.”

“I have many people I look up too but the main people are my mother, grandpa, adopted mom and uncle John,” said Zander.

“My biological mom Octavia Raylene Ackerman passed away December 12, 2016,” said Zander. “She is the main person who has influenced me, she always wanted better for me and now I hope I’m making her proud.”

“My grandpa Stanley Dean Ackerman passed away November 22, 2018,” said Zander. “Even though we have had our ups and downs throughout life we were best friends. He would always push me both academically and athletically.”

“My adopted mom Sasha Fourstar played a big role in my life, and she took me in when my mom passed away,” said Zander. “She is a big reason why I am where I’m at.”

Sasha Fourstar talked about her new son: “Zander was really rough around the edges when he moved in with us. He is still adapting to our house rules after four years. At first I cut him some slack because losing his mom hit him pretty hard. Now he is expected to follow all rules with the most important is his education has to come first. I’ve been around sports my whole life and coached many years, but I know an injury can sideline you for good so we’ve taught all our kids education first and that nothing is guaranteed.”

“I’m hoping he uses his athletic ability to get a education. It really is up to him how far he wants to go. I want the best for him so I hope he goes to college or the military and something that keeps him on the right track. After all, as parents we want the best for our children,” added Sasha.

“My uncle and coach John Wetsit has been with me from the start,” said Zander. “He always pushes me while running because he wants the best for me.”

“I prepare for different sports at different times,” said Zander. “I am starting to prepare for basketball season now. I just go to practice and give it my best.”

“I’m a young athlete that started in Frazer, MT,” said Zander. “I’ve built myself up from nothing. It goes to show that with the right mentality anything is possible. I just want to give a big thanks to everyone who has supported me over the years.”

“My plans after high school is to get a scholarship and continue my education while continuing to run,” said Zander.

Aunt Stacey Summers talked about her nephew: “Extremely proud of him, he’s a natural, gifted runner. Great role model to his cousin Peyton Summers, they trained together for a few weeks before the season started. Zander’s mother passed away when he was in junior high and his aunt Sasha Fourstar adopted him like her own. He’s a strong willed kid, and we love his company and he loves to tease his younger peers.”

“Zander almost made my heart stop. All I could see is a blue jersey cresting the hill, and I was like ‘oh no, where is Z?’ Out of nowhere he put the jets on and passed the kid. The crowd went crazy, and of course I was ringing my cowbell. My husband and I were ecstatic. I had tears of joy for him and his team who weathered the storm. Wolf Point team left with an state champion, and to the younger kids a goal to someday be like Zander!” added Stacey.

John Westit is not only the head cross country coach of a state champion runner, but he is also the uncle to Zander Ackerman. When initially addressing his star nephew he talked about the evolution of Zander Ackerman. This sounded like a soon to be blockbuster movie and in reality it could be.

“I first had the honor of meeting Zander as a kindergarten student during my second year teaching at the Frazer School District while I was teaching PE,” said John Wetsit, head cross country coach at Wolf Point School District (MT).

“After a little while we came to learn that he was my nephew, and we began to form a bond. It was easy to tell at an early age that Zander had the potential to be a stand out runner, despite a running form that was a little unrefined,” added John. 

“Zander first started competing in cross country as an elementary runner and was able to find some success early on, winning some of the elementary races and competing against older kids in junior high races,” said John. “This pattern followed him through junior high and he began winning more and more races, although he openly admitted he did not much care for the rigorous training that went along with being a runner and much preferred basketball and other sports. Sadly, during his eighth grade year his mother passed away and I could tell this deeply affected him. I worried as to what would happen to him after her passing and if he would stay out of trouble or even stay in school.” 

“During his freshman year, I moved over to the Wolf Point School District 17 miles east of Frazer due to my son being born and wanting to focus on my family,” said John. “Zander chose not to run cross country that year and took quite a bit of convincing to run track but was not fully invested as I continued to work with him from afar despite not being his official coach.”  

“His sophomore year he decided to transfer over to Wolf Point and run cross country but was deemed ineligible for varsity competition due to the Montana High School Associations transfer rules,” said John. “He was still able to compete in races that had junior varsity divisions, but these meets were few and far between in northeast Montana. This was a little frustrating, because his times would easily be some of the top marks amongst the varsity competitors and would have easily been ranked in the state.”

“It was during this time I really started to notice an improvement in his unrefined running mechanics and began developing the type of running mechanics any coach would dream of,” added John.  

“By the time track rolled around that spring, he was finally eligible to compete at the varsity level,” said John. “His impact in the long-distance races was immediate. Despite still having a disdain for the rigorous training he finished runner-up at the state meet in the 3200m. Too many, this was a surprise but as his coach it was nice to finally see his true potential to begin to come to the surface. This is also the moment I consider the turning point that really lit the fire inside of him.”

“The next cross-country season, his junior year, I began to see a real change in his approach to training and embracing the difficult workouts, although he was still not the most consistent,” said John. “Midway through the season he sustained an injury but was able to persevere through the remainder of the season, finishing fifth at the state meet. Come track season he was fully recovered and was poised to win the 3200m at the state meet before the season was shut down due to the COVID pandemic.”

“Finally, his senior year was upon us and there was still great uncertainty,” said John. “I had resigned from the Wolf Point School District but opted to keep my coaching contract so I could see Zander through his senior season. Through this I had lost contact with him for most of the summer as I struggled to figure out my next career move. I recall reaching out to his aunt in an attempt to locate him and she informed me that he had not been training.”

“I was finally able to track him down and I took him for a drive in my pickup,” said John. “We had a real heart to heart, it was exactly 100 days out from the state cross country meet. In this conversation we laid out the training plan and discussed the mindset he would need to take on if he wanted to finish the season as a state champion. At the completion of this meeting, Zander took off on his first training run of the season. Conditioning-wise it was apparent that there was work to be done, but there was a fire in his eyes that I had not seen before.”  

“At the official start of the cross-country season, there was still great uncertainty on whether we would even have a season due to the pandemic,” said John. “I just kept emphasizing to him and all the runners that we just needed to keep focusing on training and being flexible. We were able to attend our first meet in Sidney MT and Zander put up a decent mark, ranking him in the state but still far off from his true potential. It was after this the season began to get a little dicey as there was a positive Covid case in the school and athletics were shut down for a week.”

“Despite not being able to work with him, Zander still followed every workout to a ‘T’. Zander finally returned to competition in a meet in Glasgow, MT which was supposed to be our fourth meet of the season. Despite the shutdown, Zander was able to put down a state leading time and was starting to believe in his abilities.”

“Shortly after the following meet in Culbertson, our county health department shut down competitions for two weeks for the schools on the Fort Peck Reservation due to an increasing amount of Covid cases,” said John. “The bright side here was that we could continue to train, and the coaches could work directly with the student athletes.” 

“The dark side was this placed a stigma on our athletes from the surrounding schools, as though each and every one of our kids was contagious,” said John. “We had lost our invitation to one particular meet due to the fear of one of their athletes contracting the virus from one of ours, despite none of our athletes testing positive. The surrounding schools begin to pull out of our home meet that was scheduled to be the last meet of the season. They put together an impromptu meet of their own. In this meet, you could tell Zander’s focus may have slightly faltered when a runner that was ranked right behind him beat him. Reflecting back, I think this really lit a fire under Zander for the remaining training sessions.”  

“By the time our home meet came around, the only teams still registered to compete were the three reservation schools that had teams,” said John. “This was frustrating to say the least, but it was critical we make the most of it so our kids went into the state meet sharp and ready to compete. The conditions were cold, snowy, and windy which in the long run served as great preparation for the state meet as the conditions in Kalispell were just as bleak. This really put an emphasis on consistent effort and mental toughness versus emphasizing time.”  

“On the eight hour bus ride to Kalispell we had various conversations on strategy,” said John. “It was important to be mentally tough and prepared for when the real race would begin to unfold. In short, the plan was to establish himself within the lead pack and maintain contact with any potential leaders that may emerge. Going into the state meet, all of the top five leading times were within seconds of each other with Zander going in with the third fastest time posted. I also reminded him what this could mean not only for the community of Wolf Point, but also for our reservation as both have been ravaged by this virus. So it was safe to say he was heading into the meet with many reasons to leave it all on the course.”

“On race day Zander maintained a composed demeanor, which was an indicator big things were in store as he is usually one to wear his nervousness on his sleeve,” said John. “I could not say the same for myself as I was filled with so much uncertainty knowing that he only had five races under his belt and was not as sharp as I would have liked him to be.”

“Once the gun finally went off, Zander followed the discussed race plan as he came by the first mile amidst a pack of about seven runners and was poised to take over,” said John. “By the mile and a half mark, he and Justin Morgan from Thompson Falls began to separate themselves from the pack with Zander tucked in on Morgan’s hip. By the two-mile mark Zander had taken the lead and had about 10 meters on Morgan, but something told me the race wasn’t done just yet.”

“The next time I saw the runners was with about with 150 meters left and Morgan had regained the lead from the last time I had seen the two,” said John. “I began to scream at the top of my lungs for Zander to kick and he began to turn it on. That effortless stride and blazing foot speed he had been establishing over the years took full effect as he closed in on Morgan. It wasn’t until the final 15 meters that Zander pulled shoulder to shoulder with Morgan and eventually overtook him to become the 2020 Montana Class B Boys State Champion.”

“Immediately after crossing the line, Zander let out a yell that to me was his way of expressing relief after not only a roller coaster season, but a roller coaster high school career in general,” added John. 

“After the race was completed, Zander found himself swarmed with interviews and fans wanting pictures,” said John. “I sat back with a smile knowing where he came from, the trials he has faced, and how deep down he was still the goofy kid I met when he was in kindergarten. Due to the COVID restrictions, there was not a formal award ceremony as there is traditionally and teams simply waited at their buses for awards to be delivered. This left me with the great honor of placing his hard-earned medal around his neck and also provided me the opportunity to thank him personally. I thanked him for the bright spot he had brought to our community and the reservation. I also thanked him on a personal level as I had a mother who followed his race from a hospital bed in Billings due to COVID-related complications and was hospitalized for most of the season. Over the years she has become one of his biggest fans and is an astute follower of the sport from the years of following myself as a high school and collegiate runner.”  

“When we returned home, our bus was welcomed by a police and fire truck escort for a caravan through town as a parade of cars welcomed home their hero, their shining light during these dark times,” added John.  

Photo Credit: Gary Marshall/BMGphotos