Bullpup boys first, girls second in XC opener

(Courtesy photo) SMS cross country runner Isaac Bruce, left, makes his move on a Canfield runner to finish in second place.

(Courtesy photo) Bullpop runner Ara Clark, left, finished fourth to lead the girls team at Cherry Hill Park in Coeur d’Alene.

| September 27, 2018 1:00 AM

(Courtesy photo) Bullpop runner Ara Clark, left, finished fourth to lead the girls team at Cherry Hill Park in Coeur dAlene.

SANDPOINT — Strong races from Isaac Bruce and Ara Clark led the Sandpoint Middle School cross country teams to strong finishes in the season opener at Cherry Hills in Coeur d’Alene, with the Bullpup boys finishing first among seven teams and the Bullpup girls finishing second.

Bruce clocked a time of 8:21 to finish second, helping the boys score 45 points, well ahead of second place Canfield with 59. The two teams figure to battle again this fall.

The Bullpuups had seven of the top 16 spots, with Evan Dickinson 9th, Cody Moore 10th, Slate Fragoso 11th, Miles Landrum 13th, Jett Longanecker 14th and Emmett Morgan 16th, valuable places that pushed Canfield’s scorers back.

The JV boys had an almost perfect score of 20 points, taking five of the top nine spots to beat nine teams. They were led by Nathan Roche in first with a time of 9:25, followed by Aden Heitz 3rd, Ryder Haynes 5th, Crosby Schmidt 6th and William Dotson 9th. The fun doesn’t stop with the scoring runners, as Gavin Nicholson (13th) and Andrew Duke (15th) pushed back other runners to increase the margin of victory. A total of 14 other SMS runners were in the top 90 out of 129 runners.

Ara Clark picked up right were she left off last season placing, leading the girls team with a 4th place finish in 9:52, and a second finish, just one point behind Coeur d’Alene Charter. Rounding out the top girls scorers were Isabelle Walkington in 7th, Korbynn Tonge 10th and Ayiana Prevost 12th, giving the Bullpups a great shot to win the meet. Maren Davidson was the last scoring runner in 25th, followed by Payton Betz 28th and Tru Tomco 31st.

In the JV girls race, Kora Converse placed 2nd in 10:40, leading the team to a 3rd place finish. She surprised everybody and ran the 18th fastest time of all girls, including the varsity runners. Terra Bode 15th and Etta Francis 17th had strong races in getting their first taste of a cross country race. Mya Vorhies 32nd and Katelyn Greenway 60th were the other scoring runners. Grace Giles, Katya Lambert, Aurla Palmer and Audrey Hewitt all got their first experience in cross country action.