Bullpup boys and girls win district cross country championships
COEUR d’ALENE — The future is bright for Sandpoint cross country, as the Sandpoint Middle School teams capped the season by winning the district championships in Coeur d’Alene recently.
The Bullpups competed with Woodland, Canfield, River City, Post Falls, Lakeland and Lakes, and once again were the team to beat, with the boys putting all five runners on the podium and the girls with three of the top five runners in the race.
The Sandpoint girls scored 39 points, well ahead of second place Woodland with 57. Ara Clark put together her best race of the season, which included six podium finishes, finishing second in 9:13.
“Clark’s strength and solid race tempo should prove valuable at the high school level next season competing in 5Ks,” said Bullpup head coach Jake Peterson. “I’m very proud of our girls. Lots of strong finishes and a lot of the girls peaking at the district meet.”
Ayiana Prevost (9:32) and Isabella Walkington (9:36) came cruising in at 4th and 5th, respectively, with PRs and both looking solid to round out the season. Tru Tomco (10:13) stepped up huge being the Bullpup’s 4th runner, marking the first time she has ever been a scoring runner and helping to secure the championship. Rapidly improving Kora Converse was the final scoring runner for the Bullpups, finishing 19th in 10:48.
Maren Davidson was 21st, and Payton Betz in 33rd had a strong performance and has been a great leader for her squad. Grace Giles had her highest finish of the season in 41st, Etta Francis 44th, Terra Bode 50th, Katya Lambert 56th, Katelyn Greenway 57th, Aurla Palmer 63rd and Audrey Hewitt 73rd in a race with 80 girls.
The boys reace featured 130 total participants, with the Bullpups scoring just 35 points, well ahead of Canfield with 56. Isaac Bruce won the race in 8:05 to become the individual district champion.
“Bruce ran a very strategic race to overtake Woodland’s best runner, who he had taken second to in previous meets,” claimed Peterson. “Bruce has been solid all season, either taking first or second in all six meets.”
Miles Landrum (8:44) backed up last week’s solid performance with 7th place finish, securing his spot on the team as the second runner. Evan Dickinson (8:51) finished 8th, making every podium this season while being a great leader on the team. Jett Longanecker was 9th in 8:59 and Emmett Morgan 10th in 9:03 as both ran PRs and brought their best races to the district meet.
The Bullpups have great depth they took 13 of the top 26 spots. Nate Roche was 12th, Crosby Schmidt 13th, Aden Heitz 14th, Ryder Haynes 16th, Kody Bocksch 20th, Kasten Grim 23rd, Will Dotson 24th and Anders Eastley 26th. Seventh graders Roche, Schmidt, Haynes, Bocksch and Grimm look to be with scoring runners with Landrum and Longanecker next season, continuing the strong pack ability and depth for the boy Bullpups.
Nathaniel Pugh was 32nd, Caleb Hutchings 37th, Andrew Duke 39th, Will Jordan 40th, Davis Goodvin 43rd, Breckin Nevarez 46th, Austin Billstin 47th, Ethan Barcklay 52nd, Evan Holt 64th, Hunter Calvert 68th, Daniel Ricks 78th and Noah Darrin 79th.
“The boys are just fast front to back,” described Peterson. “They showed great depth and pack ability all season. It really pushed them to get better everyday.”