PREP TRACK AND FIELD: New race, but same results for Lake City's Kunkel

COEUR d’ALENE — Already a three-time state medalist in cross country, Lake City senior Hazel Kunkel took on another challenge on Friday afternoon, this time on the track.

“Coach (Kelly) Reed came to me the other day and told me he had some strategy for me if I wanted to break one minute in the 400,” Kunkel said. “I told him, ‘heck yeah’ I want to break one minute.” 

Kunkel won the girls 400-meter dash in 1 minute, 0.43 seconds at the Rasmussen Invitational at Coeur d’Alene High. 

“I was really nervous going into it,” said Kunkel, who also competed in the 3,200-meter run, 4x800 relay and 4x400 relay. “To get my full acceleration, I usually reach that in the last 200 meters. I was really just focused on getting out as fast as I could in the first 200 meters today, and did that. I think I reached my peak speed in the last curve, but I’ve never had a finish where I just pushed through until the end, and that’s what saved me.” 

“Our whole distance crew had a great workout today,” Reed said. “Hazel ran 4,800 meters today. It was a great day for everyone to get a good workout as districts and state get closer.” 

Kunkel, who was 14th as a senior at state cross country in November at Eagle Island State Park, has committed to compete in cross country and track at Division II Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa this fall. 

“I reached out to them and let them know I was interested,” Kunkel said. “They looked at my times and wanted me there. I started going down there and running with them and it worked out really well.” 

“I think she’ll have a ton of success down there,” Reed said. “She’s a warrior, but also really supportive of her teammates and all the competitors. It’s really good to see.” 

Kunkel also ran the anchor leg of the Timberwolves’ winning 4x800 relay in 10:11.90. 

“I really give the credit to each of them that ran that race,” Kunkel said. “They brought the energy and shaved off tons of seconds. I don’t think I would have been inspired to go as fast as I did without seeing how hard they worked in front of me. It always gives me the energy because they work so hard to get me into the position I need to be in.” 

Mitchell Rietze (3,200, 4x800 relay) and Kelsey Carroll (shot put, discus) had multiple wins for Coeur d'Alene, which swept team titles.

"We had great team success today for both the boys and girls teams," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "We continue to have a lot of athletes scoring points in almost every event. We know our distance runners are going to score points, but now we have a balanced team. If we continue to put team first, we have a chance to be pretty tough come regionals."

BOYS 

TEAM SCORES — 1, Coeur d’Alene 223. 2, Lewiston 157.5. 3, Moscow 121. 4, Lakeland 113. 5, Lake City 75.5. 6, Timberlake 10. 7, Oakesdale (Wash.) 7. 

100 — 1, Noah Carpenter, Lewiston, 11.28. 2, Caleb Haywood, Moscow, 11.34. 3, Mac Wellsandt, Coeur d’Alene, 11.54. 200 — 1, Caleb Haywood, Moscow, 22.40. 2, Brandon Brower, Lewiston, 22.57. 3, Noah Carpenter, Lewiston, 23.14. 400 — 1, Connor Horne, Moscow, 51.56. 2, Nathan King, Lewiston, 51.64. 3, Max Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 52.69. 800 — 1, John Dyer, Moscow, 2:02.87. 2, Kyle Rohlinger, Coeur d’Alene, 2:07.58. 3, Zeke Hernandez, Lake City, 2:08.03. 1,600 — 1, Parker Sterling, Lakeland, 4:45.40. 2, Lucas Clements, Lewiston, 4:46.34. 3, Frank McCarthy, Lakeland, 4:48.37. 3,200 — 1, Mitchell Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 9:35.32. 2, Rowan Henry, Coeur d’Alene, 9:36.60. 3, Wyatt Morgenstern, Coeur d’Alene, 9:45.01.  

110 hurdles — 1, Hasham Alayat, Moscow, 16.20. 2, Camden Johnson, Coeur d’Alene, 16.61. 3, Trip Eckert, Lewiston, 16.65. 300 hurdles — 1, Hasham Alayat, Moscow, 41.84. 2, Camden Johnson, Coeur d’Alene, 43.18. 3, Trip Eckert, Lewiston, 43.63. 4x100 relay — 1, Lewiston (D.J. Wilkerson, Brandon Bower, Nathan King, Noah Carpenter), 43.62. 2, Lake City, 44.40. 3, Coeur d’Alene, 44.42. 4x200 relay — 1, Lewiston (D.J. Wilkerson, Hunter Edden, Noah Carpenter, Brandon Bower), 1:30.96. 2, Moscow, 1:31.90. 3, Coeur d’Alene, 1:32.01. 4x400 relay — 1, Moscow (Hasham Alayat, John Dyer, Connor Horne, Caleb Haywood), 3:28.88. 2, Lewiston, 3:30.25. 3, Lakeland, 3:33.54. 4x800 relay — 1, Coeur d’Alene (Wyatt Carr, Max Cervi-Skinner, Zack Cervi-Skinner, Mitchell Rietze), 7:58.12. 2, Lake City, 8:21.27. 3, Timberlake, 9:36.87.  

Shot put — 1, Brayden Carrel, Lakeland, 45-0 ½. 2, Kyler Schumaker, Lewiston, 42-7 ½. 3, Andrew Webb, Coeur d’Alene, 41-0. Discus — 1, Jackson Sims, Coeur d’Alene, 151-11. 2, Gabriel Kessinger, Lewiston, 131-3. 3, Elliot McCall, Lewiston, 125-6. Javelin — 1, Cole Arlint, Lewiston, 166-10. 2, Cameron Reed, Lewiston, 151-11. 3, Ben Roth, Lakeland, 144-2. High jump — 1, Ben Roth, Lakeland, 6-2. 2, Mitchell Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 5-10. 3, Grayden Johnson, Lewiston, 5-10. Pole vault — 1, George Mitchell, Coeur d’Alene, 12-0. 2, Kros O’Brien, Lakeland, 11-6. 3, Cameron Fairbanks, Moscow, 11-6. Long jump — 1, Cason Miller, Lake City, 20-11. 2, Brandon Bower, Lewiston, 20-8 ¾. 3, Lucas Vasquez, Lakeland, 20-2 ¼. Triple jump — 1, Riley Frazier, Coeur d’Alene, 40-5. 2, Levi Abbott, Lakeland, 40-1 ¾. 3, Michael Martindale, Lake City, 39-8.  

GIRLS  

TEAM SCORES — 1, Coeur d’Alene 182. 2, Moscow 148.5. 3, Lake City 102.5. 4, Lewiston 101. 5, Lakeland 79.5. 6, Oakesdale 50.5. 7, Timberlake 36. 8, Bonners Ferry 8. 

100 — 1, Sapphire Ruelle, Lakeland, 12.69. 2, Maricela Nelson, Coeur d’Alene, 12.99. 3, Addie Lassen, Moscow, 13.12. 200 — 1, Sapphire Ruelle, Lakeland, 26.07. 2, Maricela Nelson, Coeur d’Alene, 26.82. 3, Jasmine Carr, Moscow, 27.76. 400 — 1, Hazel Kunkel, Lake City, 1:00.43. 2, Grace Perry, Oakesdale, 1:02.32. 3, Ellia May, Coeur d’Alene, 1:02.98. 800 — 1, Olivia May, Coeur d’Alene, 2:24.50. 2, Anna Lynn, Moscow, 2:28.57. 3, Violet Hernandez, Lake City, 2:31.27. 1,600 — 1, Addisyn Storm, Lewiston, 5:38.87. 2, Maddison Chapple, Lakeland, 5:53.97. 3, Addisen Berg, Timberlake, 5:59.81. 3,200 — 1, Cora Crawford, Moscow, 11:32.80. 2, Hazel Kunkel, Lake City, 11:41.69. 3, Olivia May, Coeur d’Alene, 11:49.92.  

100 hurdles — 1, Mattea Nuhn, Moscow, 14.97. 2, Jessa Skinner, Moscow, 16.15. 3, Jade Estes, Coeur d’Alene, 17.30. 300 hurdles — 1, Mattea Nuhn, Moscow, 47.38. 2, Paige Hunt, Coeur d’Alene, 49.63. 3, Aspen Kiser, Lake City, 50.63. 4x100 relay — 1, Coeur d’Alene (Emily Sumrall, Paige Hunt, Evey McGraw, Maricela Nelson), 50.65. 2, Lakeland, 50.76. 3, Moscow, 51.20. 4x200 relay — 1, Moscow (Ella Julye, Ashlyn Fakhouri, Jasmine Carr, Addie Lassen), 1:47.78. 2, Coeur d’Alene, 1:49.85. 3, Lakeland, 1:49.80. 4x400 relay — 1, Lakeland (Melia Gilbert, Kapree Kiefer, Karstyn Kiefer, Sapphire Ruelle), 4:16.43. 2, Coeur d’Alene, 4:16.44. 3, Moscow, 4:23.02. 4x800 relay — 1, Lake City (Taylor Lund, Violet Hernandez, Kyliegh Chapman, Hazel Kunkel), 10:11.90. 2, Coeur d’Alene, 10:36.79.  

Shot put — 1, Kelsey Carroll, Coeur d’Alene, 38-4. 2, Jackie Robbins, Lakeland, 36-10. 3, Hana Hartman, Bonners Ferry, 36-0. Discus — 1, Kelsey Carroll, Coeur d’Alene, 130-3. 2, Mara Kessinger, Lewiston, 118-3. 3, Emily Lewis, Timberlake, 117-9. Javelin — 1, Kara Stanger, Lewiston, 111-6. 2, Hannah Huffman, Lewiston, 95-1. 3, Madelyn Putzig, Lake City, 88-8. High jump — 1, Mattea Nuhn, Moscow, 5-4. 2, Kimberlee Priebe, Coeur d’Alene, 5-4. 3, Bradyn Henley, Oakesdale, 5-0. Pole vault — 1, Madison Whipp, Coeur d’Alene, 8-6. 2, Alexis Johnson, Lake City, 8-0. 3, Hadassah Davis, 8-0. Long jump — 1, Bradyn Henley, Oakesdale, 18-0 ½. 2, Jessa Skinner, Moscow, 16-2 ½. 3, Avery Lathen, Lewiston, 16-0. Triple jump — 1, Evey McGraw, Coeur d’Alene, 33-9. 2, Jessa Skinner, Lewiston, 32-7 ½. 3, Sydney Crea, Lewiston, 32-1.  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene's Maricela Nelson, Lakeland's Sapphire Ruelle, Moscow's Addie Lassen and Lake City's Ione Bissaillon race to the finish line in the girls 100-meter dash at the Rasmussen Invitational on Friday at Coeur d'Alene High. Ruelle won the race in 12.69 seconds, followed by Nelson in second (12.99) and Lassen in third (13.12).
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland's Frank McCarthy, front, and Parker Sterling take the first turn in the boys 1,600 in the Rasmussen Invitational on Friday at Coeur d'Alene High. Sterling won the race in 4:45.40, with McCarthy third in 4:48.37.