Bullpup boys XC team remains undefeated on season
COEUR d’ALENE — The Sandpoint Middle School cross country team continued its strong season recently with a solid showing at a meet raced at Higgins Point in Coeur d’Alene.
The Bullpup boys continue to be undefeated at both varsity and JV levels due to great depth and strong pack ability, taking four of the top 10 podiums spots en route to their 5th straight victory.
Isaac Bruce led the way again, placing second with time of 8:52. Miles Landrum had his best race of the season, finishing 7th in 9:23 to edge out teammate Evan Dickson 8th at 9:23. Jett Longanecker was 10th in 9:48 and Emmett Morgan next in 9:55, helping edge Coeur d’Alene Charter 47-34. Other contributing runners were Nate Roche 25th 10:26, and Ryder Haynes 33rd in 10:47.
The Bullpup girls finished third, with Charter winning with 41, followed by Canfield 59, Sandpont 62 and Woodland 70. The Bullpups put two runners on the podium, as Ara Clark led the team finishing 4th in 10:15, while Ayiana Prevost finished 9th in 10:36.
Isabella Walkinton ran her best race yet and was 13th in 10:44, holding off a pack of charter runners, Kora Converse was 26th in 11:29, Maren Davidson 28th in 11:36 and Payton Betz 30th in 11:48.
The JV boys were lead by Aden Heitz and Crosby Schmidt. Heitz took the win in 10:05 running in with teammate Schmidt 10:06. Gavin Nicholson was 5th with a 10:35. Then came a strong pack led by Will Dotson in 8th, Kody Bocksch 9th, Kasten Grimm 10th, and Nate Pugh 11th. This pack was followed by another Bullpup pack led by Davis Goodvin 13th, Caleb Hutchings 15th, Austin Billstin 16th and Will Jordan 18th, all within six seconds of each other.
Ethan Barcklay 31st, Hunter Clavert 32nd, Anders Eastley 48th, Breckin Nevarez 52nd, Evan Holt 55th, Jacob Champion 64th and Colton Eberly 65th out of 96 runners.
“From top to bottom, the Bullpup boys are fast,” said coach Jake Peterson. “Both Schmidt and Nicholson ran PRs, and the times would have been competitive with the varsity runners.”
The JV girls took 3rd out of seven schools scoring 86 points, with Tru Tomco and Terra Bode leading the way. Tomco finished 6th in 11:39, posting her best race of the season, while Bode finished 10th in 11:59.
“Both have been rapidly improving and are running strong.,” claimed Peterson.
Etta Francis 24th, Grace Giles, 37th, and Katelyn Greenway 42nd were the other scoring runners. Aurla Palmer 50th and Audrey Hewitt 56th rounded out the placers..
The Bullpups have districts today at Ramsey Park in Coeur d’Alene.
n SHS XC team hosts Kids Clinic
The Bulldog cross country team held its annual XC Kids Clinic for 4th through 6th graders in the community yesterday. The session is put on by the SHS runners and covers form, training, pacing, racing, warm-ups, cool-downs and at the end a one mile race around campus, ending on the track for those who would like to race.
Here are the kids who competed: Connor McClure 6:09; Evan Brubaker 6:49; Hannah Stiller 6:58; Kyle Wright 7:39; Mallory Pierce 7:47; Kael Olson 8:02; Reese Brunett 8:16; Roger Miller 8:41; Clarity Partridge 8:43; Landon Fuller 8:50; Joseph Babin 9:12; James Sturgeon 9:39; Stella Haag 9:42; Rachel Aylward 10:48; Jorden Owens 10:57; Chuy Soto 12:05.