Track preview: River Ridge coach Phil Lonborg retiring after 23 seasons

Memories line the walls of the weight room at River Ridge High School.

Photos with eight athletes standing on podiums, awards pinned up and yellowing newspaper articles behind frames that celebrate one of the most decorated track and field programs in Washington state.

A program that includes 49 individual state champions.

And Phil Lonborg remembers every single one of them. He can point to a photo on the “Hawks Wall of Fame” and tell an athlete’s story.

“They just feed off it,” he said. “Kids see their cousins and their uncles and their brothers. And now, I’m getting older where it’s grandkids. That is the cool part about this whole thing. It has carried on through (the weight room) and it keeps going.

“Kids come in here all day long – and they’re not even track kids. They come in here all day long and look at it.”

Lonborg, 62, has coached thousands of athletes at River Ridge – as a track and field coach, as a cross country coach, as a bowling coach. He’s taught thousands of students.

He was hired at the school when it opened in 1993. And, after 23 years, he will retire at the end of the school year.

“I want to make sure, that when it’s all said and done, and people talk about me, they’re going to say, ‘That guy was money up until the last day,’” Lonborg said. “Same with teaching. I don’t miss days. (People say) ‘Are you counting the days on that calendar?’ I don’t even have a calendar.

“It’s not going to be a moment I celebrate when I retire. It’s going to be a moment when I switch gears and start writing a new book, a new chapter.”

This chapter has been long, and it’s been special.

Longborg has coached three state-championship track teams – 1994 girls, 1995 girls and 2015 boys – and has had 19 teams finish in the top eight.

He’s the reigning Washington State Coach of the Year – an honor he’s been awarded three times.

He has 24 league team championships, and 20 at the district level.

He has a string of state champions that range from LaShonda Christopher’s rein in 1994 and 1995 – she was a three-time state champion both years – to DeJuan Frye’s six titles across three seasons from 2013-2015. Christopher and Frye are tied for the most individual championships in the school’s history. They both have six.

“He was always pushing me, he always believed in me,” Frye said “His legacy is he’s always loving and he’s a good coach.”

Christopher, among other athletes, followed Lonborg to River Ridge from Timberline when he made the move in 1993.

“I know it’s the corny thing – if you build it, they’ll come,” Lonborg said. “They do. And they come committed and ready.”

Needless to say, Lonborg has built an empire.

“I take it very personal that we’re good and continue to be good,” he said. “Nobody’s ever looked at me like, ‘Oh, he’s just playing out the string, or he’s just got good athletes.’ They know why we have good athletes, because we go after them, and we train them.”

Every year, Lonborg recruits the athletes in his own backyard. He sends letters to the River Ridge high schoolers urging them to turn out for track and field.

“It lets kids know, hey, somebody wants me, somebody’s taking the time,” Lonborg said. “You can’t just put up a sign that says show up. You’ve got to go after these kids, you’ve got to have meetings, and you’ve got to talk to these kids.”

Lonborg has a reputation for finding where each athlete fits, and maximizing their potential. Many of the athletes he recruited had never participated in track and field prior to arriving at River Ridge.

“It just defines who Phil Lonborg is – a human being who looks to better others and takes everything around him and polishes it up,” said Brianna Schmid, a state champion on the 4x400 relay team in 2007. “(He says) ‘Can I make this into worthy material to pick this kid up and send them on their way?’ And says, ‘I can put you on the right track. I can put you in a straight line and show you that you have potential, and how to utilize it.’”

Lonborg has sent 18 athletes on to compete in track and field at the college level.

“He really took pride in making personal relationships and helping people grow as young adults about to take on the rest of their life,” said David Holmon, who won a state championship in the high jump in 2005 and went on to compete at the University of Idaho.

Holmon said he thinks Lonborg could coach at any level.

“There’s a lot of coaches that don’t know what his left pinky knows about coaching track and field,” he said.

But Lonborg’s loyalty to River Ridge’s program has paid dividends beyond statistics. His relationships with athletes help promote a positive environment.

“Anyone that he coached had a sense of self confidence they didn’t have before,” said Miles Coates, a three-time state champion in the triple jump and high jump between 2008-2009. “That’s kind of what I noticed over my time at River Ridge.”

That continues even in Lonborg’s final season. His enthusiasm is propelling each athlete to contend for that 50th state championship.

“I think it’s because of the way the process at this school is,” said junior Josh Braverman. “It’s a course you have to stay on. And you can’t get off of it, you just have to keep working. And you can’t take any days off. You’ve just got to keep going.”

Braverman – who finished third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 110 hurdles last season – is one of the athletes on this year’s team vying to be No. 50.

That’s the spot that’s left on the wall. A piece of white printer paper that reads, “Who will it be?” with a giant No. 50 beneath it.

“Every kid wants to be No. 50 because River Ridge is where it’s at I think for track, and everyone wants to be on the top in the top school,” Braverman said. “Your name’s going to be there forever and no one can take that away from you.”

Just like Lonborg will leave a legacy that could very likely go unmatched.

“I don’t know if anybody else on a high school track and field level would ever come close to him,” Holmon said. “Actually caring about people personally, and having the numbers and stats of records and championships to go with it. Usually it’s one or the other.”

For Lonborg, it’s always been both.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Track preview: River Ridge coach Phil Lonborg retiring after 23 seasons."