PREP CROSS COUNTRY: Bulldog girls win William Johnson Invitational
Ride strong pack finish to win; Viking boys prevail
SANDPOINT — Coeur d’Alene junior Caitlin Conway was clearly the leader of the pack on Saturday at the 13-team William Johnson Sandpoint Invitational, winning the girls race by a comfortable 53 seconds in a time of 18 minutes, 42 seconds on the 5K track at Travers Park.
But it was the pack that ultimately won the race, as sophomore Katherine Kaul finished third (19:42), Claire Pierce fourth (19:45) and Hannah Davidson fifth (19:50), leading the two-time reigning 4A state champion Bulldog girls to the first team win of their own meet in a decade.
All seven Bulldogs finished under 21 minutes, flashing the depth that will help them in their run for a state three-peat. Bulldog girls coach Angie Brass was riding high after her team was able to edge 5A power Coeur d’Alene by 16 points in a strong showing.
“That was the first time in a very long time. All in all, a very strong pack,” said Brass. “We utilized this last race before regionals. You can feel the strength of the pack.”
Conway set a blistering pace, putting a quick distance between Timberlake’s Taylor Hammond, who finished second in 19:25. It was Conway’s third win of the year, and with nobody near she had to push herself.
“It’s sort of a race against the clock, pushing myself to help the team win,” she said, before being asked what it’s like to cross the finish line first. “It’s just a happy moment.”
Coeur d’Alene junior Nolan Mullen-Huber did his best to hang with Cheney’s Drake Johnson in the boys race, but could not quite stay with him, finishing second by four seconds in 16:28 and leading the Viking boys to the team title.
Unlike the girls race, the boys stayed bunched up in front throughout, before Johnson pulled away in the last 400 meters.
Sandpoint’s Finan Lund-Andersen was third in 16:42, Lakeland’s Cooper Haney fourth in 16:47 and Coeur d’Alene’s Jose Winton fifth in 16:48 to round out the top five.
The North Idaho teams will now turn their attention to and begin gearing up for the regional meets, where state berths will be decided. The 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A regional meet is on Oct. 22 at Farragut State Park, where state will also be held.
BOYS
TEAM SCORES — 1, Coeur d’Alene, 49. 2, Cheney, 74. 3, Coeur d’Alene Charter, 93. 4, Sandpoint, 110. 5, Medical Lake, 139. 6, Timberlake, 145. 7, Lake City, 182. 8, Post Falls, 204. 9, Colville, 241. 10, Lakeland, 274. 11, Bonners Ferry, 284. 12, Kootenai, 338. 13, Kellogg, 349.
TOP 20 — 1, Drake Johnson, Che, 16:24.53. 2, Nolan Mullen-Huber, Cd’A, 16:28.67. 3, Finan Lund-Andersen, Spt, 16:42.57. 4, Cooper Haney, LL, 16:47.16. 5, Jose Winton, Cd’A, 16:48.07. 6, Matt Christianson, Che, 16:48.7. 7, Brayden Menti, TL, 16:49.17. 8, Landon Davis, TL, 16:49.58. 9, Michael Graves, Cd’A Charter, 16:50.8. 10, Dylan Schilling, PF, 16:51.94. 11, Dillon Emery, CdA Charter, 17:01.87. 12, Mason Williams, ML, 17:04.55. 13, Zac Magee, Cd’A, 17:04.82. 14, Alex Walde, Cd’A, 17:10.48. 15, Karson Peach, Cd’A, 17:26.53. 16, Lance Fredericks, Cd’A Charter, 17:28.3. 17, Jackson Ricks, Cd’A Charter, 17:30.27. 18, Mason Vanstone, Che, 17:32.88. 19, Jesse Whipple, 17:33.58. 20, Maxwell Evans, LC, 17:34.31.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint, 37. 2, Coeur d’Alene, 53. 3, Timberlake, 85. 4, Cheney, 141. 5, Lakeland, 152. 6, Lake City, 170. 7, Medical Lake, 184. 8, Colville, 217. 9, Bonners Ferry, 227. 10, Post Falls, 233. 11, Coeur d’Alene Charter, 254.
TOP 20 — 1, Caitlin Conway, Cd’A, 18:42.79. 2, Taylor Hammond, TL, 19:25.02. 3, Katherine Kaul, Spt, 19:42.42. 4, Claire Pierce, Spt, 19:45.99. 5, Hannah Davidson, Spt, 19:50.1. 6, Rylee Brown, Cd’A, 19:56.29. 7, Hannah Spakousky, Che, 19:58.05. 8, Abigail Peightal, TL, 20:01.33. 9, Morgan Hall, Col, 20:06.78. 10, Jamey Weishaar, TL, 20:08.4. 11, Ciera Bailey, Cd’A, 20:11.82. 12, Sharon Rowe, Spt, 20:23.97. 13, Rainey Woodward, Spt, 20:37.35. 14, Claudia Knapp, LC, 20:47.09. 15, Corinne McClelland, Spt, 20:48.49. 16, Jordan Young, BF, 20:49.88. 17, Carmen Duffy, Cd’A, 20:51.22. 18, Merceydes Smith, Cd’A, 20:57.73. 19, Niah Brass, Spt, 20:58.16. 20, Izabella Seeman, Col, 21:01.35.