Bullpups cap solid XC season
(Courtesy photo) The Bullpup girls team finished third at the season-ending middle school district cross country championships.
(Courtesy photo) The Bullpup boys capped a strong season with a second place team finish, just seven points behind rival Woodland.
(Courtesy photo) Ben Ricks, right, explodes past the competition on his final kick, breaking through to win his first race of the year at the most opportune time.
SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint Middle School cross country teams ended the season with top three finishes at the district meet recently.
The Bullpup boys team finished 2nd out of eight teams in a very close battle with Woodland, finishing just seven points off Woodland’s winning score of 43.
Ben Ricks finally beat his nemesis from Woodland, breaking through to post his first win of the season when it mattered most, finishing in a winning time of 8:32. Trey Clark (8:47) finished 7th, and Slate Fragoso was 10th, followed by Evan Dickinson (15th) and Emmett Morgan (17th) also cracking the top 20 to round out the scoring five.
It didn’t stop with the scoring runners, as SMS put 12 runners in the top 40 out a field of 129. Justice Parkinson 20th, Joseph Axel 21st, Caleb Roche 25th, Aidan Smith 26th, Davis Goodwin 28th, West Leader 31st and Ryan Graham 38th all bumped opposing teams back in points. As 7th graders, Axel and Goodwin will join Fragoso, Dickinson and Morgan as the top returning runners for the next season. Smith and Roche should benefit next year at the high school level with a longer course with the ability to keep a hard fast pace.
Other runner had great days, each posting their best time of the season in Rusty Lee 51st, Elliot Fite 64th, William Dotson 68th, Anders Eastley 95th, Breckin Nevaraz 97th, Ben Corbridge 99th and Ty Wittman 110th.
The SMS girls were 3rd out seven teams in the district, scoring 73 points behind Woodland (54) and River City (58). The third place was a extra good with seven of their top eight runners being 7th graders.
Ayiana Prevost and Ara Clark, both 7th graders, led the team. Prevost progressed very quickly, from running 11:30 in her first race to running 9:49 to finish 7th at districts. Clark was very consistent all season being the team’s 1st or 2nd runner, finishing 8th with a time of 10:02. Mackenzie Suhy was 18th, Maren Davidson was 22nd, Peyton Betz was 23rd and made great leaps this season to be the final scoring runner for the team.
The other finishers were Laura Boge 35th, Lis Fonseca 43rd, Dinah Rawson 47th, Angela Stoneham 53rd, Kennedy Phillips 56th, Madison Duke 58th and Drea Hapenney 88th.
Editor’s note: A special thanks to head coach Jacob Peterson for sending in pics and highlights from the SMS team’s season.