PREP CROSS COUNTRY: Sandpoint, Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene leading the way

By DYLAN GREENE

Bonner County Daily Bee

LACLEDE — In the final tuneup before districts, Sandpoint, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene continued to show why they are the class of North Idaho in cross country.

The Bulldogs hosted the William Johnson Sandpoint Invitational on Saturday at Riley Creek Campground. The beautiful setting was dampened a bit by a steady rainfall, but ask any of the athletes and they’ll tell you the conditions were perfect for a cross country race.

The meet was split into two to ensure proper social distancing and to accommodate the smaller venue for spectators. The boys and girls large-school races — consisting of 4A and 5A schools — were held in the morning. The small-school races — made up of 3A and 2A schools — were held in the afternoon.

In the large school meet, the Sandpoint boys and Post Falls girls continued their dominant seasons in North Idaho by claiming the team titles.

Samantha Wood led the way for the Trojans with an 18:27 to capture her sixth individual title this season. Her teammate Anna Peters came in second followed by Coeur d’Alene’s Elliana Rietze in third and Lake City’s Angelyca Chapman in fourth.

Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire in sixth was Sandpoint’s top runner on the girls side and Sydnee Hostetler was the first Lakeland runner to cross the finish line, coming in 23rd.

Post Falls' top five runners all finished in the top 10 to help the Trojans beat the Vikings by 30 points. Sandpoint edged out Lake City by seven points for third.

The boys large-school race was extremely competitive and after weeks of trying, Brycen Kempton from Post Falls finally beat out Sandpoint’s dynamic duo of Jett Lucas and Nikolai Braedt to claim the individual title with a 16:13.

Braedt took second, Lucas captured fourth and Alex Peters from Post Falls came in right between them.

“Brycen had a great last mile and pushed really hard and he pulled away,” Sandpoint boys coach Matt Brass said.

Braden Dance and Ethan Gamer from Coeur d’Alene placed fifth and sixth and Lake City’s Maximillian Bazler took 10th to lead the Timberwolves.

Sandpoint’s seven varsity runners all finished in the top 15 to help the Bulldogs beat Post Falls by 15 points. The Vikings placed third.

Post Falls coach Brian Trefry said the racing between his team, Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene is great and they have great respect for one another.

“The Coeur d’Alene kids, the Sandpoint kids and our kids, it’s just a great rivalry,” he said, “and it was Brycen’s day, another day it’s one of the other kids' turn. It’s just fantastic for all of them because they run faster and pull each other along and there’s a good rivalry between them, it’s a friendly rivalry. It’s really what cross country should be about.”

In the small-school meet, Timberlake won the boys race and Logos won the girls. Coeur d’Alene Charter took second on the boys side thanks to Logan Davis, who claimed the individual title with a 16:50.

Next up for all the schools is districts. The 3A/4A/5A District I-II championships will be held Thursday, Oct. 22 at Farragut State Park.

In 5A, Post Falls has been the frontrunner all season and Trefry is confident his team can continue that success at districts.

“Coeur d’Alene and us have been close all year,” he said. “Lewiston the last few meets is running really well, so any day you go and compete and you give your best that time out and you don’t worry about outcomes, and I think if we do that we’ll be fine, but there’s always a little bit of nervousness going in … I think we’re sitting pretty good to be honest, but there’s a lot of good teams and you can never take anything for granite.”

In 4A, Sandpoint has won seven straight district titles in boys and girls and it doesn’t look like that streak will be ending this fall.

“I think we are in a really strong position going into regionals,” Brass said.

BOYS

LARGE-SCHOOL TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint, 38. 2, Post Falls 53. 3, Coeur d'Alene 69. 4, Lewiston 87. 5, Lake City 116. 6, Lakeland 172.

LARGE-SCHOOL FINISHERS (Top 10) — 1, Brycen Kempton, Post Falls, 16:13.61. 2, Nikolai Braedt, Sandpoint, 16:16.46. 3, Alex Peters, Post Falls, 16:17.35. 4, Jett Lucas, Sandpoint, 16:18.53. 5, Braden Dance, Coeur d’Alene, 16:43.35. 6, Ethan Garner, Coeur d’Alene, 16:50.49. 7, Neil McCarthy, Post Falls, 16:54.07. 8, Kobe Wessels, Lewiston, 17:16.22. 9, Spencer Clark III, Sandpoint, 17:16.90. 10, Maximilian Bazler, Lake City, 17:17.92.

SMALL-SCHOOL TEAM SCORES — 1, Timberlake 22. 2, Coeur d’Alene Charter 49. 3, Kellogg 64. Bonners Ferry, Logos, Immaculate Conception, Priest River, incomplete teams.

SMALL-SCHOOL FINISHERS (Top 10) — 1, Logan Davis, Cd’A Charter, 16:50.91. 2, Connor Alexander, Bonners Ferry, 17:11.22. 3, Alex Blum, Logos, 17:29.33. 4, Kellen Souza, Immaculate Conception, 17:29.88. 5, Dylan Royce, Timberlake, 17:54.0. 6, Jacob Barnhart, Timberlake, 18:11.38. 7, Dylan Lord, Priest River, 18:21.07. 8, Callin Zerfas, Timberlake, 18:28.57. 9, Makai Peak, Kellogg, 18:30.29. 10, Jasper Whitling, Logos, 18:37.43.

GIRLS

LARGE-SCHOOL TEAM SCORES — 1, Post Falls 26. 2, Coeur d'Alene 56. 3, Sandpoint 70. 4, Lake City 77. 5, Lewiston 121.

LARGE-SCHOOL FINISHERS (Top 10) — 1, Sammie Wood, Post Falls, 18:27.43. 2, Anna Peters, Post Falls, 19:25.23. 3, Elliana Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 19:46.04. 4, Angelyca Chapman, Lake City, 19:47.78. 5, Alahna Lien, Post Falls, 19:50.82. 6, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire, Sandpoint, 20:11.96. 7, Clara Stephens, Lake City, 20:16.36. 8, Kaley Bohl, Post Falls, 20:19.54. 9, Abby Buzolich, Coeur d’Alene, 20:29.52. 10, Leah Holding, Post Falls, 20:35.09.

SMALL-SCHOOL TEAM SCORES — 1, Logos 32. 2, Timberlake 37. 3, Bonners Ferry 61. Priest River, Kellogg, Coeur d’Alene Charter, incomplete teams.

SMALL-SCHOOL FINISHERS (Top 10) — 1, Clara Anderson, Logos, 20:21.36. 2, Annika Rantala, Priest River, 20:35. 3, Shaye Sullivan, Kellogg, 21:25.64. 4, Alyssa Blum, Logos, 21:42.62. 5, McKenna Kozeluh, Cd’A Charter, 21:45.89. 6, Ceci Roemer, Bonners Ferry, 21:54.86. 7, Natai Davis, Cd’A Charter, 22:00.26. 8, Sarah Zerfas, Timberlake, 22:11.37. 9, Haileyann Johnson, Timberlake, 22:15.35. 10, Kayte Casebolt, Logos, 22:40.26.