REGIONAL/DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY: Lake City's Kunkel; Coeur d'Alene boys and girls claim 6A district titles

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

ATHOL — Once Lake City High senior Hazel Kunkel settled her mindset, the race just flowed from there. 

Kunkel led from start to finish in the 6A girls District 1 cross country meet on Thursday at Scott Field at Farragut State Park. 

“I feel like the beginning of the race, we were all running together,” Kunkel said. “It almost didn’t feel like a race. It felt more like a workout, and a tempo with all of them. I really loved that and really boosted my happiness throughout the race.” 

State qualifying meets in 6A, 5A and 4A were held at Farragut State Park, with qualifiers advancing to state at Eagle Island State Park on Nov. 2.

Coeur d’Alene’s boys, ranked second in the northwest and 14th nationally by DyeStat.com, cruised to the district title. 

Sandpoint swept boys team titles in 5A Region 1, with Lakeland’s girls also qualifying in 5A after finishing tied with the Bulldogs for first place. Sandpoint's girls won the tiebreaker.

In 4A District 1, Timberlake won the boys team title for the eighth straight year. It was the sixth straight for the Tiger girls.

6A: Kunkel was followed by Post Falls senior Kaylynn Misner through the first lap, but pulled away on the second lap of the 3.1-mile course. 

“My first mile was slow, but I really wanted to push,” Kunkel said. “But I had so much energy, and that might have been from the spirit of my team today. We were all so pumped. We prayed a lot, circled up and envisioned how we wanted it to go, and it happened for a lot of us today. That really came out today.” 

Kunkel was 17th at state last year in Pocatello. 

“I always just aim for the top 20 and just go,” Kunkel said. “I never think too much about strategy. Just when I’m in the race, I feel what I want to do. Today, I had the right mindset and that was the biggest thing.” 

Misner (second) and junior Talia Bonville (fourth) also qualified for state.

In the boys race, junior Mitchell Rietze has had to wait to join this Viking teammates this season after suffering a stress fracture in his upper right shin. 

His time came on Thursday afternoon. 

“This summer, I was told that I wasn’t going to be able to run all season,” Rietze said. “So just being able to race this race is great. I was on crutches for six weeks, and I could start swimming and biking. I swam four days a week and biked three days a week. During the school year, I’d go three days a week to the Kroc Center to swim at 5:30 a.m., bike early morning, so I’ve been grinding the crosstraining.” 

Rietze finished fourth in the boys race. 

Senior Max Cervi-Skinner, who is ranked 10th nationally by DyeStat.com, won the boys race in 15 minutes, 52.03 seconds. The Vikings had a perfect score (15) by having the top five finishers. The Vikings actually had the top seven finishers, as their two runners who didn't count toward the scoring finished before anyone from Lake City or Post Falls.

5A: You can excuse Lakeland sophomore Frank McCarthy for being a little nervous headed into Thursday’s 5A Region 1 race. 

“Last year, on this same race, I passed out,” McCarthy said. “The EMTs had to come pick me up on the course. And this year, I got it. I didn’t die.” 

McCarthy was second to Sandpoint’s Jack Lovin by a little over a second. 

“Jack's one of my good friends,” McCarthy said. “We’ve talked about this race for the past few months. I knew it was going to be between me and him. I wasn’t as fast as him today, but I gave it my best.” 

McCarthy was on the second lap in last year’s race when he collapsed and didn’t finish. 

“I’ve been nervous for this race because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t want to hurt myself again.” 

“After the problems he had last year, he was more determined coming back this year,” Lakeland co-coach Shannon Hall said. “He knew the base miles were going to pay off at the end of the season and he stayed focused on a race plan each time he raced going into today. And it paid off.” 

Sophomore Parker Sterling (seventh) and junior Charlie Mattila (10th) also qualified by finishing in the top 10 for Lakeland. 

“Those three have been leading our teams to scoring well in each race,” Hall said. “We competed hard against each team we faced this season.” 

Lakeland’s girls finished tied for second with Sandpoint for the regional title, with the Bulldogs taking the team title on a tiebreaker — Sandpoint's fifth-place finisher came in before Lakeland's fifth-place finisher. 

“Our girls have been awesome all year,” Hall said. “They’re all freshmen and sophomores, so we’re definitely building something with them.” 

4A: Timberlake sophomore Caleb Royce and junior Vanessa McLachlan won district titles for the Tigers, who swept the two-team 4A District 1 team titles. 

Junior Annabelle Carr (second), freshman Emmaline Carr (seventh) and junior Noah Curtis (seventh) qualified for Coeur d’Alene Charter, which did not field complete teams. 

6A 

BOYS 

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Coeur d’Alene 15. 2, Lake City 55. 3, Post Falls 70. 

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Max Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 15:52.03. 2, Zack Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 15:53.01. 3, Wyatt Carr, Coeur d’Alene, 15:53.04. 4, Mitchell Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 16:00.29. 5, Wyatt Morgenstern, Coeur d’Alene, 16:05.39. 6, Gabe Heule, Coeur d’Alene, 16:07.59. 7, Rowan Henry, Coeur d’Alene, 16:14.63. 

GIRLS 

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Coeur d’Alene 33. 2, Post Falls 45. 3, Lake City 48. 

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Hazel Kunkel, Lake City, 18:44.65. 2, Kaylynn Misner, Post Falls, 18:54.99. 3, Dakota Keyworth, Coeur d’Alene, 19:32.79. 4, Talia Bonville, Post Falls, 20:02.29. 5, Olivia May, Coeur d’Alene, 20:11.72. 6, Sonja Jones, Coeur d’Alene, 20:40.65. 7, Violet Hernandez, Lake City, 20:41.34. 

5A 

BOYS 

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Sandpoint 37. 2, Moscow 50. 3, Lakeland 50. 4, Lewiston 86. 

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top 10) — 1, Jack Lovin, Sandpoint, 16:39.7. 2, Frank McCarthy, Lakeland, 16:40.9. 3, Ethan Fenley, Moscow, 16:46.8. 4, Orion McClory, Moscow, 16:48.7. 5, Lucas Clements, Lewiston, 16:58. 6, Paul Kent, Sandpoint, 17:04.8. 7, Parker Sterling, Lakeland, 17:05.2. 8, Kai Budensiek, Sandpoint, 17:05.6. 9, Wyatt Lemon, Sandpoint, 17:08.3. 10, Charlie Mattila, Lakeland, 17:18.9. 

GIRLS 

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Sandpoint 44. 2, Lakeland 44. 3, Moscow 54. 4, Lewiston 96. 

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top nine) — 1, Cora Crawford, Moscow, 20:08.05. 2, Addisyn Storm, Lewiston, 20:45.59. 3, Anna Lynn, Moscow, 21:11.17. 4, Maddie Chapple, Lakeland, 21:15. 59. 5, Elizabeth Storms, Sandpoint, 21:16.99. 6, Gracie Maltby, Sandpoint, 21:16.33. 7, Sapphire Ruelle, Lakeland, 21:31.35. 8, Bristol Burnside, Lakeland, 21:35.68. 9, Piper Peterson, Lakeland, 21:39.90. 

4A 

BOYS 

TEAM SCORES (Winning team to state) — 1, Timberlake 15. 2, Bonners Ferry 50. 

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Caleb Royce, Timberlake, 16:50.09. 2, Cody Clemons, Timberlake, 17:29.66. 3, Josh Yeager, Timberlake, 17:48.68. 4, Jacob Sateren, Timberlake, 18:02.56. 5, Peyton McCluskie, Timberlake, 18:29.75. 6, Joseph Sateren, Timberlake, 18:33.30. 7, Noah Curtis, Cd’A Charter, 18:50.76. 

GIRLS 

TEAM SCORES (Winning team to state) — 1, Timberlake 23. 2, Bonners Ferry 36. 

STATE QUALIFIERS — 1, Vanessa McLachlan, Timberlake, 19:09.44. 2, Annabelle Carr, Cd’A Charter, 19:53.52. 3, Sydney Beckle, Bonners Ferry, 20:41.56. 4, Lola Eggleston, Timberlake, 20:50.44. 5, Malia Miller, Timberlake, 20:51.68. 6, Kylie Calderone, Bonners Ferry, 20:54.75. 7, Emmaline Carr, Cd’A Charter, 21:20.26. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene senior Max Cervi-Skinner increases his lead on the second lap of the 6A District 1 boys cross country race at Farragut State Park on Thursday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene junior Mitchell Rietze keeps up with fellow Viking Wyatt Morgenstern on the second lap of the 6A District 1 boys cross country race at Farragut State Park on Thursday.
  

    Courtesy photo Timberlake sophomore Caleb Royce runs toward the finish line to win the 4A District 1 boys cross country race at Farragut State Park on Thursday.
  

    Courtesy photo Timberlake's Vanessa McLachlan keeps her lead on Coeur d'Alene Charter's Annabelle Carr during the 4A District 1 girls cross country race at Farragut State Park on Thursday.