THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Second to none, the 3A kids competed as well

You just never know just what’s going to inspire an athlete.

It could be a coach, or the desire for their moment in the sun.

However they find it, you can usually find it at a state track and field meet.

THINGS HAVE changed a little bit.

Before, having the state meet at Boise State University meant having all classifications in one location, maybe the ultimate event for a state tournament we have in this state.

That hasn’t been the case since 2011, the final time the meet was contested at Bronco Stadium.

This year, out at Middleton High School, some 20 minutes away — depending on traffic — from Mountain View High in Meridian, where the 5A and 4A meets were contested, there was a bit of noise made in the 3A event by some local schools.

The Timberlake boys and head coach Brian Kluss, with no individual state champions, were runners-up to Sugar-Salem, the program’s highest finish since second in 2010.

It might have been first but …

“It would have been a title if it wasn’t for a loaded Sugar-Salem team,” Timberlake assistant coach Kelly Amos said. “We didn’t have a single state champion, just a group of really hard-working guys that fought for every point. We have some talented athletes, but most of them are guys that just worked harder than everyone else and were successful with less talent.”

Sugar-Salem had nine state champions and totaled 149 points. Timberlake finished with 72.

Timberlake’s Caius Tebbe (110 hurdles) and Wyatt MacArthur (300 hurdles) were each runner-up in the hurdles. The Tigers had three relays (4x100, 4x400 and sprint medley) that each finished third.

“This group was motivated,” Amos said. “I think the biggest difference with this group from previous groups was they just bought into what we were telling them. They were told what they needed to do and they would go out and do it, even though it was going to be really hard.”

Assistant coach Shawn Lawler has coached the Timberlake girls to state 3A cross country titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and has also coached individual champions in Frank Lagrimanta (2005, 2006), Logan Hunt (2019) and Jacob Barnhart, who won last October at Lewiston Orchards.

“We’ve been fortunate to have some great athletes over the years,” said Lawler, who coaches the distance runners in track. “Winning (boys state track titles) in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and quite a few runner-up teams in 2008 and 2010 has been great. This group is in the conversation with those past groups with scorers in the hurdles, sprints, relays, distances, pole vault and jumps.”

And committed to the program as well.

“Finishing second requires a group of dedicated, competitive guys,” Lawler said. “At a 3A school, most of the kids participate in two or three sports. Many of the boys on the team either competed in a winter sport, worked out in the hallways, weight room or just ran in the snow.”

ONE OF the former Timberlake High athletes, Caleb Cazier, who helped clinch the program’s first state team title in 2004 with an individual title in the 400-meter dash, had an interesting idea for his alma mater recently.

Commenting on last week’s article on the state meet, Cazier asked a question on the Press social media pages that drew some attention.

“When are they going to name the track after Coach Kluss?”

Kluss came to Timberlake in 1999 after a stint at Preston High, where he served as a math and science teacher. He was head football coach at Preston for four seasons (1995-98) and head track and field coach there from 1996 to 1999.

Timberlake also won boys team titles in 2006 and 2007, and added a girls crown in 2011.

Timberlake’s boys also finished second in 2008, third in 2014 and 2019 and fourth in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Timberlake’s girls were second in 2021, third in 2012 and fourth in 2019.

“When Brian started, he made what many consider an individual sport into a team sport,” Amos said. “He understands how to position the talent on a team to maximize the success for the team. A lot of events are hard and challenging, but the connection he makes with the athletes allows him to get athletes into events where they will be the most successful, despite how challenging they are. When you have athletes in the correct events, you are going to be successful.”

“Kluss deserves to have our track named in his honor,” Lawler said. “He has been dedicated to enhancing the Timberlake program and the sport of track and field in our region. He has the respect of coaches at all classification levels and committed 23 years to it. In today’s age, coaches don’t last that long, making his quarter century at the helm an anomaly. Bringing home 18 state trophies (13 on the boys side and five on the girls) demonstrates his ability to keep the program competitive at a high level. He always says ‘I have great assistants,’ but if the head coach doesn’t motivate, inspire and know where to place athletes, then we’re all mediocre.”

IT WAS a tale of two different days for Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy senior distance runner McKenna Kozeluh at state this year.

Both days ended the same, with state titles in both the 3,200- and 1,600-meter dashes.

In the 3,200 on Friday, Kozeluh won in a 3A classification record of 10 minutes, 56.73 seconds. The previous mark was held by Elena Lyons of Bishop Kelly, who won in 10:58.80 in 1980.

“I started out with a good lead and really wasn’t expecting anyone to be close,” said Kozeluh, reflecting earlier this week. “I had a good pace and my goal the entire year was to get the state record, and I was just happy I was able to do that.”

Still …

“I was a little relieved and happy that I’d finished my last 3,200 in high school,” Kozeluh said. “I was a little disappointed in my time, but saw a huge improvement from my freshman to senior year. I was really happy about that.”

In one of the final events on Saturday, Kozeluh won the 1,600 in 5:11.93, nearly 22 seconds faster than her freshman teammate Annabelle Carr, who was runner-up in 5:32.80.

“That race was really rough,” Kozeluh said. “It was 98 degrees when we went out on the track. When I was warming up, I was struggling a little and tried my best to cool off and hydrate really well beforehand. By the third lap, I couldn’t hold my pace. I didn’t really have anyone to push me and it was a really rough race. I was just happy to be done at that point.”

Kozeluh also won back-to-back state 3A cross country titles in 2021 and 2022.

“I think that’s probably my favorite sport,” said Kozeluh, who was 24th as a sophomore at state. “I’ve seen so much more improvement in that. When I started running, I was in the 22-minute mark for a 5K, and now I’m at 17 minutes.”

Kozeluh signed a letter of intent to run cross country and track and field at the University of Idaho shortly after the conclusion of the state cross country meet.

“I really liked the coaches on my official visit,” said Kozeluh, who also had offers from Montana State and Division II Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa. “All of them were super welcoming and really nice, but I just felt like Idaho was the best fit for me.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.