FAIRMONT — Another accolade has been added to the long list for legendary Fairmont head cross country and track & field coach Bob Bonk.

On June 27, the National High School Athletic Coaches Association announced Bonk as the winner of Girls Cross Country National Coach of the Year.

The award joins a list of career achievements including Minnesota State High School League Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2016, joining the Fairmont Hall of Fame in 2014 and joining the Minnesota Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 38 years of coaching girls cross country, Bonk has sustained only one losing season, which came in his first year with the girls program in 1980. In the 37 consecutive winning seasons since, the girls cross country team has had a winning percentage at or more than 90 percent 16 times.

Bonk said he was proud his peers nominated him for this award, but he believes it’s not only an individual award, but one for the whole program.

“They say it takes a village to raise a child, I think it takes a village to run a good cross country program,” Bonk said. “There’s a head coach that’s in charge, but it takes good assistant coaches as well. Over the time I’ve coached, I had two very long-term assistant coaches, one was Dave Paschke and the other Bart Franta, and they kind of took us through the early and middle years. And the group we have together right now with Stew Murfield and Mark Determan as paid coaches and Holly Neusch and Jen Kahler as assistants, I think it’s really been a coaching staff and there’s been very little turnover considering it’s been 38 years now.”

Bonk said watching kids grow as athletes and as people is the most rewarding part of coaching. He said the development that runners go through in just their first season is often incredibly impressive.

“You can’t just put a sign up and have 50 kids show up for cross country,” Bonk said. “It’s a sport with an acquired taste. Over the years, there’s been hundreds of runners who have given great effort. It’s been rewarding, often they start out and they can’t run a mile, and by the end of even their first season when we do our homecoming run, I might tell them to run up to 5 miles and they’re begging to run farther.

“That’s very rewarding and I think it shows that almost everyone can develop endurance over time. Another thing is we’ve had, not just so many good runners, but so many great people.”

Bonk said he specifically wanted to thank his wife, Deb Bonk, for being a true partner and always helping make the program a family.

Over the years, Bonk has led many successful programs. The Fairmont girls cross country team won the state title in 1988 and 2016, while placing in the top 10 in 22 total competitions, including top-five finishes in the past four seasons.

Bonk said the 2016 team winning state is one of his favorite memories with the program.

“The 2016 girls cross country season was one of the real highlights,” Bonk said. “Everything had to go right, we were not favored by any means. At the beginning of the season we were ranked about 10th. The whole season, we stayed injury free and had terrific workouts and chemistry. We only won by a few points which is just a couple of seconds on one girl.

“It was so satisfying because we could have run that meet 20 more times and never won it again. When that kind of thing happens, it’s pretty exciting. Some of the better years haven’t been the best win-loss records. I think it’s about when you get people who really achieve for what ability they have or for what is expected, who have a lot of fun together. Those are the years I relish the most and most of the years have been that way.”

Bonk said there has been a build-up to winning the national coach of the year award, including winning the Minnesota Coaches Association award in 2016 after winning state. He also won the 1985 Minnesota state award.

“That award was based a lot on us winning state that year, it certainly increases your chances,” Bonk said. “I don’t even know what to say about this national thing, I really don’t. I never dreamed in a million years this would happen.

“There’s an intermediate step before winning the national award, you had to be one of the eight finalists and representing a multi-state area and I was just shocked when I got that. Now this is just another level of shocked.”

Bonk has seen hundreds of runners through his 48 years of coaching. He said many people comment about how much better the older generations were than the new kids, but he hasn’t seen any change.

“I wouldn’t say there’s been much difference,” Bonk said. “I’ve just been so fortunate to have so many wonderful people to work with, both girls and boys. I guess I haven’t seen that much change as a lot of people say they’ve seen. I’m still very optimistic about future generations.”

Many coaches spend time in high school, succeed, and move on to bigger schools or colleges. Bonk said he thought about leaving Fairmont in the late 1980s, but he decided to stay and has been glad for the decision ever since.

“We’d come off a couple good years, both in cross country and track, but there’s some things about high school coaching that’s much more rewarding,” Bonk said. “You basically start from scratch and you see so much improvement. A lot of these girls who just graduated, for instance, I had for 12 seasons. Six in cross country, six in track, or even seven in cross country for a couple. You see so much development not just as a runner but as a person.

“College would have been tough on the family, in track and cross country, almost every meet is on the weekend, and they’re not just down the road. There’s the constant recruiting, too. I think in high school, in the sports I coach, we’re more on an even playing field with the others as far as how people are interested in them. You go to college and a lot of times, basketball and football are the ones everyone focuses on. I don’t think it’s that way in high school. The family situation is a huge part of it but also I really like Fairmont. I grew up in southern Minnesota and I just always liked the school and the town.”

After more than four decades, many people ask Bonk how much longer he plans to coach, but he said he sees no reason to stop.

“In 1998 the boys and girls both won the True Team state track meet and everyone thought I was gonna quit,” Bonk said with a laugh. “I’m so thankful I didn’t because it’s a lot more than just about winning. It’s more about relationships than anything else. I consider the kids I’ve coached over the years very special people to me. It’s great to go to their weddings and exchange Christmas cards and see them be successful. I’m still getting that positive feeling doing it. Right now, I don’t see any reason not to do it, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. I also know there’s a finite number out there somewhere. One of my former runners is going to have a baby in the next couple months and I couldn’t make her any promises.”