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MOSCOW, Idaho – The 2018 cross country season is finally here, with Idaho competing at home for the annual Clash of the Inland Northwest on Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Idaho Golf Course.
 
Also competing this weekend will be Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Montana.  Lewis-Clark State, Spokane CC, Whitman, Whitworth and Walla Walla will also be competing.  The women's race will begin at 6 p.m., with the men's race to follow at approximately 6:30 p.m.
 
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Josiah Anderson has been everywhere.  Born in Washington, Anderson and his family moved to Uganda when he was a child to join the Rafiki Foundation.  And when they moved back to the States, the Andersons chose Moscow, Idaho.
 
"It's just so cool," Anderson said.  "My parents wanted to move to a college town."
 
Moscow proved to be the perfect place for the Andersons, with Josiah settling in at Logos High.  He flourished, so much so that he decided to stick around for college.
 
"I honestly didn't know much about it, even though I'm technically from Moscow," he said.  "But showing up here it has really shown me how fantastic of an institution it is and what a blessing it was to come to this program at this time.  I love the foundational goals that we have, with academics, athletics and character.  I really came into it naïve and was blessed to find myself in an excellent environment."
 
Choosing Idaho was the easy choice.  Making it onto the track and field team was going to be a challenge.
 
"I was a walk-on.  So I reached out to the Cawleys to see if they were taking walk-ons and they gave me the opportunity to try out.  So for me, Idaho was all about academics.  I knew I wanted to come to the University of Idaho, and if I could get on the team that would be fantastic."
 
He didn't dazzle, or lap anyone on the track.  But there was a place for Josiah on the team.  He was just going to need to work for it.
 
"I have to give all the glory to God.  My story is just unthinkable from my mind, just where I came from out of a small school and really not having the big PRs that some of my teammates had in high school.  But just to be able to run with fast guys.  My dad, he ran for the University of Washington, he always said 'you get faster when you run with fast guys.'
 
"Also, Travis Floeck, his training program has been fantastic.  I didn't lift at all in high school, just body weight stuff, and my coach did a fantastic job, but here I got to experience lifting.  It's been a huge blessing, that's probably the biggest thing I've noticed."
 
Now, after making his way into the lineup in cross country, Josiah and the Vandals are ready to take the Big Sky by storm in 2018. 
 
"We talked about it a little bit at camp, but just follow the process.  It's a big thing that the Cawleys and Travis have pushed.  Just working on the process with every little thing you do.  Because all those little things are actually the big thing.   Obviously we want to score very well in the conference, but the biggest thing is getting better every day.  And if we do that, we'll be right there."
 
To stay current on all Vandal Athletics visit GoVandals.com, or follow the Vandals on Twitter, @Idaho_Vandals.
 
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho track and field/cross country by following the team on Twitter @IdahoTrack.