PREP CROSS COUNTRY: A good day to have a day on The Course ... Heule, Christman, Eggleston, Royce win at state-qualifying meets

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

SPOKANE VALLEY — On any given day, it could be any of them.

This Thursday, it was Coeur d’Alene High senior Gabriel Heule’s day in the front of the pack.

Heule won the 6A District 1 boys cross country championship in 15 minutes, 42.6 seconds, leading the Vikings to a sixth straight district title at The Course.

“I don’t think we had a specific order we were going to do,” Heule said. “I don’t win races too often, so it was nice to have something. Districts, we were just hoping to get a workout and fine tune a few things and make sure we’re getting ready for NXR because it’s here.”

“The group felt that he deserved it, and it was great to see,” Coeur d’Alene coach Emry Carr said. “That’s that team. And I love it.”

In other state-qualifying meets, Sandpoint's boys and girls swept regional titles in 5A and Timberlake swept in 4A.

The state meets in all classifications are Oct. 31 at the Portneuf Wellness Complex in Pocatello.

6A: Senior Wyatt Carr and junior Rowan Henry were second and third, respectively, for the Vikings, who won the district title with 16 points — one point from a perfect score.

“They executed exactly what we’d intended to do,” Coeur d’Alene coach Emry Carr said. “We wanted them to ease into it and run a nice, easy first mile, then go really, really hard at a race pace in the second mile and then group back up and enjoy the finish. It was great.”

Lake City senior Samuel Reade was fifth in 16:05.1, helping the Timberwolves qualify as district runner-up.

Coeur d'Alene junior Anna Christman played soccer her first two years, then opted to turn out for cross country this year.

“Soccer, I loved the sport, and it was fun for a while,” Christman said. “But I kind of lost my spark playing it. I've always loved running. It was always my thing to run up and down the field in soccer. I thought I’d try something different and find something that gave me more fulfillment. It’s just amazing. I’ve never had so much joy in my life.”

Christman won the 6A girls district title in 19:05.6, leading the Vikings to a fourth straight district title.

“We run a lot of practices on this course, and it’s a nice course,” Christman said. “Unfortunately, we’ve had a bad history with it and runners getting injured, but today it was fun to come out and cross the line with my teammates.”

Lake City senior Madison Zimmerman finished fifth to qualify individually for state. Post Falls' girls qualified for the 11th straight year after finishing as runner-up.

5A: Lakeland senior Maddison Chapple was sixth overall, qualifying for state for the fourth straight year. Lakeland finished runner-up to the Sandpoint girls to qualify its girls team to state for the second straight year.

Sophomore Olivia Meredith (eighth) and freshman Galena Dyk (ninth) also finished in the top 10.

“We had some injuries within our top seven runners this year,” Lakeland coach Shannon Hall said. “It was just a matter of giving them time to heal and strengthen themselves before they put it all out there, and they did that today. They took care of business.”

Sandpoint freshman Olivia Betz (girls) and Bulldog junior Kai Budensiek (boys) won regional titles.

Lakeland seniors Parker Sterling (ninth) and Frank McCarthy (10th) qualified individually for the Hawks.

“They’re really great friends,” Hall said of Sterling and McCarthy. “Last year, those two, with Charlie Mattila, who graduated, they’re just a really close group. They’re close running buddies and close friends as well.”

4A: Just under a month ago, Timberlake senior Lola Eggleston’s goal was to go under 18 minutes, which she did with a time of 17:49.6 on this course at the Nike Bob Firman Invitational.

Less than a month later, she just made it feel like home.

Eggleston won the 4A District 1 race in 17:43.3, 2 ½ minutes faster than the second-place finisher.

“I was definitely more relaxed today,” Eggleston said. “We have an easy run before each meet, and I had the opportunity to run with just me and (Timberlake coach Shawn) Lawler. And it was just like me just talking to my coach. He told me to just run how you feel. And there was no pressure, zero times he wanted me to get. And there was no pressure on me. I actually enjoyed it and smiled at the people on the course that were cheering me on. I was able to see Keelie (Lawler, Shawn's daughter) on the back of the gator (an ATV that leads the pack in the race). It was just enjoyable. It was fun for me.”

“She felt really strong and she’s in a good head space right now, both mentally and physically,” Shawn Lawler said.

Timberlake senior Caleb Royce ran away with the 4A boys title in 16:03.5. Timberlake fielded the lone full team at the three-team districts.

“It’s always a good confidence booster to win a race,” Royce said. “But I just love running with our guys. They’re amazing and I enjoy running with them each and every day. They’re the real confidence booster for me.”

“I’m really proud of Caleb,” Lawler said. “He’s been really focused on being in control. The past year, sometimes he lets his passion get the best of him. This year, the plan was to go through the first mile and take off. He’s shown that if the pace is fast or slow, it doesn’t affect him too much.”

Bonners Ferry junior Kylie Calderone (fourth) and Coeur d’Alene Charter junior Emmaline Carr (fifth) and sophomore Camas Horsmon (sixth) qualified for state after finishing in the top seven individually.

6A

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Coeur d’Alene 16. 2, Lake City 54. 3, Post Falls 72.

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top seven) — 1, Gabriel Heule, Coeur d’Alene, 15:42.6. 2, Wyatt Carr, Coeur d’Alene, 15:42.8. 3, Rowan Henry, Coeur d’Alene, 15:42.8. 4, Wyatt Morgenstern, Coeur d’Alene, 15:42.9. 5, Samuel Reade, Lake City, 16:05.1. 6, Blaise Howard, Coeur d’Alene, 16:26.9. 7, Cody Morgenstern, Coeur d’Alene, 16:30.9.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Coeur d’Alene 22. 2, Post Falls 48. 3, Lake City 57.

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top seven to state) — 1, Anna Christman, Coeur d’Alene, 19:05.6. 2, Jordyn Coy, Coeur d’Alene, 19:05.6. 3, Victoria Howard, Coeur d’Alene, 19:05.6. 4, Brooklyn Caywood, Coeur d’Alene, 19:19.4. 5, Madison Zimmerman, Lake City, 19:38. 6, Dorothy Pope, Post Falls, 19:51. 7, Angelique Averette, Post Falls, 20:07.5. 

5A 

BOYS 

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Sandpoint 20. 2, Moscow 50. 3, Lewiston 86. 4, Lakeland 91. 

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top 10) — 1, Kai Budensiek, Sandpoint, 16:01.1. 2, Trenton Stypa, Moscow, 16:08.9. 3, Landon (Thor) Connor, Sandpoint, 16:10.5. 4, Hobbes Conley, Sandpoint, 16:13.8. 5, Jack Lovin, Sandpoint, 16:17.7. 6, Orion McClory, Moscow, 16:20.6. 7, Cy Marshall, Sandpoint, 16:26.1. 8, Lucas Clements, Lewiston, 16:30.5. 9, Parker Sterling, Lakeland, 16:38.3. 10, Frank McCarthy, Lakeland, 16:39.2.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (Top two to state) — 1, Sandpoint 20. 2, Lakeland 53. 3, Moscow 77. 4, Lewiston 93. 

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top 10) – 1, Olivia Betz, Sandpoint, 19:47.2. 2, Addisyn Storm, Lewiston, 19:56.4. 3, Ruthie Laughridge, Sandpoint, 20:11.6. 4, Charli Hall, Sandpoint, 20:24.5. 5, Delaney Brown, Sandpoint, 20:25.5. 6, Maddison Chapple, Lakeland, 20:29.4. 7, Theresa Hart, Sandpoint, 20:34.3. 8, Olivia Meredith, Lakeland, 20:35.6. 9, Galena Dyk, Lakeland, 20:38.3. 10, Elizabeth Storms, Sandpoint, 20:44. 

4A

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (Winning team to state) — 1, Timberlake 15. No other full teams.

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top five to state) — 1, Caleb Royce, Timberlake, 16:03.5. 2, Eli Royce, Timberlake, 16:24.9. 3, Joseph Sateren, Timberlake, 16:28.6. 4, Cameron Barnhart, Timberlake, 17:26.5. 5, Christopher Perry, Timberlake, 17:32.2.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (Winning team to state) — 1, Timberlake 21. 2, Bonners Ferry 46. 3, Coeur d’Alene Charter 63.

STATE QUALIFIERS (Top seven to state) — 1, Lola Eggleston, Timberlake, 17:43.3. 2, Emily Wright, Timberlake, 20:29.2. 3, Kayla Hyle, Timberlake, 20:30.1. 4, Kylie Calderone, Bonners Ferry, 21:32. 5, Emmaline Carr, Cd’A Charter, 21:50.5. 6, Camas Horsmon, Cd’A Charter, 21:58.1. 7, Aleigha Persyn, Timberlake, 22:38.4. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene runners Jordyn Coy (1072), Anna Christman (1070) and Victoria Howard (1073) cross the finish line during the 6A District 1 girls championship race at The Course in Spokane Valley. Christman won the race.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland senior Maddison Chapple, left, runs alongside Sandpoint's Charli Hall, center, and Theresa Hurt, right, during the 5A Region 1 girls cross country race at The Course in Spokane Valley on Thursday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland seniors Parker Sterling (1135) and Frank McCarthy (1133) hit the halfway point of the 5A Region 1 boys cross country race at The Course in Spokane Valley on Thursday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Timberlake senior Lola Eggleston opens a slight lead on the pack at the start of the 4A District 1 girls cross country race at The Course in Spokane Valley on Thursday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Timberlake senior Caleb Royce crosses the finish line first in the 4A District 1 boys cross country championship race at The Course in Spokane Valley on Thursday.