Boys take second and Davidson nearly ties a school record at Timberlake
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Seth Graham leads the way during the boys 800 meters.
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) With her teammates watching, Sandpoint junior Paige Davidson prepares to vault 10-3 during the finals of the girls pole vault at the Timberlake Invitational on April 26.
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Valerie Wickboldt bursts out of the starting blocks during the 100 meter dash.
SPIRIT LAKE — Although it wasn’t quite the twilight mile Nikolai and Chloe Braedt envisioned it would be, both siblings placed first in a 4:35.06 and third in a 5:51.34, respectively in the Timberlake Invitational’s true mile on Friday evening.
“Nikolai had a great mile,” Sandpoint head coach Matt Brass said. “He took charge about halfway through and finished well.”
Picking nits like running the mile under the lights would be small potatoes, however. Led by the Braedts and their teammates, the boys placed second overall and girls placed third in seven events en route to a third place finish overall. None of the girls’ finishes had the dramatics of Paige Davidson’s battle at the pole vault: The junior, who hadn’t cleared 10 feet all year, broke her previous best and was a clean dismount away from tying the school record of 10 feet, three inches.
“Paige hit 9-6 last year and couldn’t quite get it this year until today when she cleared 10 [feet],” Brass said. “She just about got 10-3, which would’ve tied the school record, but she also had a PR in the 100 hurdles. She had a great day.”
Elsewhere in the throwing circles, fellow junior Brandon Casey had huge PRs in both the disc (139-10) and the shot (45-0.5), both of which earned him top-three medals. Casey led the 4A IEL in the discus before the meet, but has now gapped the field by nearly 19 feet. He is currently placed second in the shot put behind Moscow’s Jonah Elliss, who threw a 47-10 earlier this season.
“We also had some good young performances,” Brass said. “In the shot and disc, the boys and girls had nine PRs, which was really good job for the throws team.”
Seth Graham was the only other first-place finisher in the 800 meters, who held off the field and turned on the jets with 200 meters to go to finish in a 2:03.28.
Aside from Davidson, senior sprinter Valerie Wickboldt placed third in the 100 and 200 — barely missing her season bests in the 100, but setting a new season PR with a 28.47 in the 200 — but also added a led in Sandpoint’s third-place 4x100 team to cap off her busy day.
Sandpoint’s season is just about to hit the bell lap. The Bulldogs will travel to Post Falls for the Meet of Champions on Thursday, May 2. All they will need is to see some lingering injuries subside and final preparation for the most important meet of the season: districts on May 8-9.
“Now we have to get everyone healthy and get some final tune-ups,” Brass said. “We’re three weeks out from regionals — we’re not going to do some magic workouts or change anything we’ve been doing. We’ve had consistency all year so far and we’re hopefully ready for another batch of PRs.”
Top three Sandpoint finishers
BOYS
100 — 2. Braden Kappen, 11.62
800 — 1. Seth Graham, 2:03.28
1 mile — 1. Nikolai Braedt, 4:35.06. 3. Ephriam Weisz, 4:51.31
300 hurdles — 3. Tyler McNamee, 46.07
4x400 relay — 2. Sloan Woodward, Keegan Nelson, Nikolai Braedt, Seth Graham, 3:44.17
3,200 — 2. Brady Nelsen (Sandpoint), 10:21.47
Long jump — 2. Braden Kappen, 20-01.5 3. Christian Niemela, 19-9
Pole vault — 2. Jake Ryan, 11-6. 3. Sam Becker, 10-6
Shot put — 2. Brandon Casey, 45-0.5
Discus — 3. Brandon Casey, 139-10
GIRLS
100 — 3. Valerie Wickboldt, 13.73
200 — 3. Valerie Wickboldt, 28.47
1 mile — 3. Chloe Braedt, 5:51.34
100 hurdles — 2. Paige Davidson (Sandpoint), 17.24
4x100 relay — 3. Bailee Klopman, Valerie Wickboldt, Maddie Morgan, Sophia Platte, 54.04
3,200 — 3. Chloe Braedt, 12:39.25
Pole vault — 2. Paige Davidson, 10-0