State high school cross country at a glance

All classifications on Saturday

At Freeman Park, Idaho Falls

Times PDT

4A girls, 10 a.m.; 5A girls, 10:30; 4A boys, 11; 5A boys, 11:30; 2A girls, noon; 3A girls, 12:30 p.m.; 2A boys, 1; 3A boys, 1:30.

5A: The Coeur d'Alene High girls won the state title in impressive fashion last year at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston.

What might be more impressive - they only lost one runner from last year's squad.

Josie Brown (second place at state last year), Kara Story (sixth) and Emily Callahan (seven) return to the team, which finished with 29 points at state last year, with Vallivue High of Caldwell a distant second with 87 points.

"They're running a lot faster than they have all year," Coeur d'Alene coach Cathy Compton said. "We kind of weeded out the tough from the not tough. Regionals wasn't easy at all, and I'm sure a lot of the other teams would agree."

Sophomore Emily Hamlin of Boise won the state 5A girls race last year.

"We're going to have to work our hardest (to repeat)," Compton said. "There's a lot of tough teams from the southern schools. It could be anyone's game down there. Whoever shows up and runs the best will win, and hopefully that's us."

According to IdahoXC.com, Coeur d'Alene is the top-ranked girls team entering the meet.

"I try not to get caught up in the rankings," Compton said. "It could be anyone's game down there. Whoever shows up and runs the best will win. Hopefully, that's us."

Rocky Mountain of Meridian won the boys title and Dwain Stocker of Meridian won the boys race last year at Hells Gate.

Jake Finney (fifth at state last year) and Kyler Little (sixth) lead the Lake City boys, who won the Region 1 title last week at Phillips Farm in Moscow.

"Lake City has a solid team," Compton said. "They've got a good shot at a lot of good stuff at state. Our guys didn't have their best day (at regionals), but they've got a shot at it next week. I think we'll be very competitive. It's a good course and should be a fun day all around. I'm proud of the north schools, and think we'll represent well at state."

4A: Middleton's girls and the Pocatello boys won the team titles last year. Pocatello's Rachel McGovern won the girls race and Elijah Armstrong the boys race last year.

3A: Timberlake's Shawn Lawler believes that the youth on his boys and girls team can help the school bring back some trophies this week.

"We're definitely going to be in the trophy hunt," Timberlake coach Shawn Lawler said. "Our goal as a team is to be in the top four in the boys and girls. I think we've got the right mix of good athletes and we're in a really good place right now as a group."

Timberlake's girls finished fourth at state last year.

Seniors Natalie Herring and Lindsay Richardson are the lone holdovers from the team's 2011 girls state championship team. This year's team includes five freshmen.

"That 2011 teams was really good," Lawler said. "To have that state experience is huge for us. We've got a load of talented freshmen girls that should really help us compete."

"We were really close last year," said Lawler of the Timberlake boys, who finished fifth last year. "Our boys are much improved from a year ago. They race really intelligent, really conservative, smart and know how to challenge the course. And it works to their advantage."

Freeman Park is a course Lawler expects the Tigers to take advantage of as well.

"A lot of the course is really hilly," Lawler said. "And there's a lot of turns in the second mile. It really challenges your rhythm."

Olivia Redd of Sugar-Salem won the girls race last year, helping the Diggers claim the team championship.

Teton edged Sugar-Salem by two points for the team title last year.

2A: Coeur d'Alene Charter's boys and girls swept the team titles at last week's District 1-2 meet at Lions Park in Grangeville.

Leif Fredericks finished third at state last year for Coeur d'Alene Charter, which finished fourth.

Logos' boys and Soda Springs' girls won team titles last year.