PREP CROSS COUNTRY: May's day ... Cd'A girls win, Viking boys perfect; defending 3A boys champ Barnhart of Timberlake also wins in state-qualiying meet

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

ATHOL — There wasn’t much that could break Coeur d’Alene sophomore Olivia May’s stride on Thursday.

Last spring, well, that’s another story.

May won the 5A Region 1 girls title in 18 minutes, 56 seconds at Scott Field at Farragut State Park, helping lead the Vikings to a regional title.

“It’s very special,” May said. “In track season, I broke my ankle, so I’ve been working super hard to get back to my fitness and feeling like I finally made it all the way back.”

May was injured warming up for the 5A Region 1 track and field meet at Coeur d’Alene last May.

“I stepped on a pine cone right before state,” May said. “When I started running again last summer, all I really thought about was regionals and state and getting back. I really wanted to compete again.”

“She’s grown extensively,” Coeur d’Alene coach Cathy Compton said. “It took her a while to overcome that injury from track. She’s really had to dig deep and work hard, and she’s a hard worker anyway. But she did great and she’ll shine next week as well.”

May was fifth at state as a freshman last year at the Lewis-Clark State Course in Lewiston Orchards.

“It gives me confidence, but I really had to get the confidence in myself that I could do it again,” said May, who helped the Coeur d’Alene girls to the regional title with 26 points. “Whenever I had a hard workout, I wasn’t sure if I could get back to where I was, but I’m happy with how things went today. It’s so special to win. To win, it’s super special.”

“The girls have grown so much over the last year,” Compton said. “They’re united. Our girls have done a fabulous job this season and been in the mix in each of our races. They’re running phenomenal. We’ve had to battle some illness and injures and for them to step up, it was great to see.”

Coeur d’Alene’s boys, ranked 10th by DyeStat.com, won the regional team title with a perfect score of 15. The Vikings took the top seven spots; only the top five finishers count toward the team score.

Just how perfect — the boys all finished within three seconds of each other — led by junior Kyle Rohlinger, the Vikings' No. 7 runner, who won in 16:37.6. Senior Jacob King was second in 16:38, followed by junior Zack Cervi-Skinner in 16:38.4 in third and junior Max Cervi-Skinner in fourth in 16:38.7.

Rohlinger creeped ahead of the pack to claim the win.

“We knew that we’d do pretty well today, so we wanted to shake things up and see how it went,” Compton said. “That was a fun finish to see for sure.”

Post Falls also qualified its girls team for finishing runner-up, along with the Lake City boys.

Lake City junior Logan Anderson (eight) and freshman Sam Reade (10th) qualified individually.

Lake City junior Hazel Kunkel (fifth) and freshman Kyliegh Chapman (ninth) qualified individually.

In 4A, Lakeland freshmen Parker Sterling (second in boys) and Maddison Chapple (fifth in girls) qualified individually for state.

Sandpoint swept the boys and girls regional titles.

In 3A, Timberlake swept district team titles, with senior Jacob Barnhart — last year’s state 3A champion — winning in 16:42.7.

Coeur d’Alene Charter sophomore Annabelle Carr was the girls champion in 19:39.2.

Coeur d’Alene Charter qualified both its boys and girls teams to state.

The state meet in all classifications is next Saturday at the Portneuf Wellness Complex in Pocatello.

5A

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Coeur d’Alene 15. 2, Lake City 66. 3, Post Falls 76. 4, Lewiston 89.

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Kyle Rohlinger, Coeur d’Alene, 16:37.6. 2, Jacob King, Coeur d’Alene, 16:38. 3, Zack Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 16:38.4. 4, Max Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 16:38.7. 5, Mitchell Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 16:39. 6, Wyatt Carr, Coeur d’Alene, 16:39.4. 7, Lachlan May, Coeur d’Alene, 16:40. 8, Logan Anderson, Lake City, 16:50.7. 9, James Stubbers, Lewiston, 16:55. 10, Sam Reade, Lake City, 16:55.4.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Coeur d’Alene 26. 2, Post Falls 45. 3, Lake City 64. 4, Lewiston 118.

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Olivia May, Coeur d’Alene, 18:56.4. 2, Talia Bonville, Post Falls, 19.14.9. 3, Kaylynn Misner, Post Falls, 19:18.9. 4, Dakota Keyworth, Coeur d’Alene, Coeur d’Alene, 19>31.8. 5, Hazel Kunkel, Lake City, 19:51.6. 6, Ann Marie Dance, Coeur d’Alene, 21:02.8. 7, Elliana Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 21:34.3. 8, Chloe Frank, Coeur d’Alene, 21:36.5. 9, Kyliegh Chapman, Lake City, 21:42.9.

4A

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Sandpoint 26. 2, Moscow 41. 3, Lakeland 59.

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Nathan Roche, Sandpoint, 16:43.1. 2, Parker Sterling, Lakeland, 17:00.2. 3, Daniel Ricks, Sandpoint, 17:00.8. 4, Paul Kent, Sandpoint, 17:27.4. 5, Jason Swam, Moscow, 17:32.5. 6, Kieran Long, Moscow, 17:37.8. 7, Kasten Grimm, Sandpoint, 17:51.9.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Sandpoint 31. 2, Moscow 33. 3, Lakeland 69.

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Cora Crawford, Moscow, 20:01.5. 2, Lily Richardson, Sandpoint, 20:09.6. 3, Grace Rookey, Sandpoint, 20:38.5. 4, Elizabeth Storms, Sandpoint, 20:58. 5, Maddison Chapple, Lakeland, 21:02.4. 6, Geneva McClory, Moscow, 21:20. 7, Indigo Wulfhorst, Moscow, 21:40.5.

3A

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Timberlake 21. 2, Cd’A Charter 40. 3, Bonners Ferry 73.

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Jacob Barnhart, Timberlake, 16:42.7. 2, Caleb Royce, Timberlake, 16:44.8. 3, Nathan Russell, Cd’A Charter, 16:54.9. 4, Nolan Oyler, Cd’A Charter, 18:03.8. 5, Jonathan Barnhart, Timberlake, 18:10.7. 6, Jacob Howell, Timberlake, 18:13.2. 7, Jeremiah Alameda, Timberlake, 18:24.4. 8, Mason Curry, Cd’A Charter, 18:35. 9, Isaiah Winkler, Timberlake, 18:39.3. 10, Thomas Perry, Timberlake, 18:56.9.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Timberlake 32. 2, Cd’A Charter 36. 3, Bonners Ferry 62.

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Annabelle Carr, Cd’A Charter, 19:39.2. 2, Vanessa McLachlan, Timberlake, 20:22.3. 3, Helen Oyler, Cd’A Charter, 21:29.9. 4, Sydney Beckle, Bonners Ferry, 21:37. 5, Lola Eggleston, Timberlake, 21:44. 6, Matisyn Stiern, Bonners Ferry, 22:31.1. 7, Emily Wright, Timberlake, 22:45.2. 8, Addisen Berg, Timberlake, 23:32.7. 9, Abigail Moehring, Cd’A Charter, 23:48.7.