Sandpoint's JV teams excel, Braedt places second at Post Falls River Run

by Kyle Cajero Sports Editor
| August 30, 2019 1:00 AM

POST FALLS — The Bulldogs’ heads were spinning at the Post Falls River Run — and it wasn’t just because it most of the team’s first-ever race.

Sandpoint cross-country arrived to Kiwanis Park late, causing the junior varsity girls’ to not walk the course beforehand. Then consider the course itself, which was a four-lap knot of sharp turns, narrow alleys and different paths for every lap throughout the irregular 2.75 mile distance.

“It’s not just those trails on the map, there’s probably triple the amount of trails when you’re out there,” Sandpoint head coach Matt Brass said. “It was really challenging. When they threw it out beforehand that it wasn’t a 5K, we told them just to relax and run. There were no expectations with times.”

Despite the little-to-no prep, both of Sandpoint’s junior varsity teams cruised to big wins at the season-opening meet on Aug. 29. As for the varsity runners, Paige Davidson led the way on the girls side with her eighth-place finish, whereas Nikolai Braedt placed second with a 14:57.4 to lead the boys varsity team, which won the meet with 35 points.

All seven Sandpoint’s boys varsity finishers finished in the top 17.

“Nik, Jett [Lucas] and Gabe [Christman] all went out really smart,” Brass said. “They used a couple of wide spots in the first bit of the race to stay up with the top 15, then Nikolai broke away about a mile and a half in.”

On the girls’ side, Davidson and fellow senior Bionce Vincent ran side-by-side throughout the race. Packing up was naturally more difficult for the girls given the competition and size of the meet, but Megan Oulman and Ara Clark tried sticking together as best as they could.

“Paige and Bionce ran really well as a pack,” Sandpoint girls cross-country coach Angie Brass said. “Megan and Ara were probably going to pack up based on thinking where they landed together last week [in the time trials]. The packs were good — I think in the middle it was a little bit tough for Megan and Ara because they got separated a bit — but Paige and Bionce were running together the whole time. Those two work really well together.”

Across the board, Sandpoint stood out in one of the few occasions where fellow Inland Empire League teams Lakeland and Moscow were present. Moscow’s Korben Bujnicki (12th), Laurel Hicke (6) and Bec Kirkland (14th) were the only real league competitors in both varsity races, while Lakeland was a non-factor in all four races.

Sandpoint’s biggest competition came from the Post Falls girls team, which won the meet with an astoundingly low score of 26 — 40 points off of second-place Sandpoint.

“The girls looked great,” Angie Brass said. “Post Falls has a rockin’ girls program, so it’s always a lot of fun racing against them.”

Maddie Morgan led the way for the JV girls by placing fourth overall, then Jillian Primgaard, Annaby Kanning, Lydia Nelsen, Kora Converse, Tru Tomco and Elisa Eastley finished 6-11. Predictably, the girls JV team won the meet with 35 points. Ben Ricks and Slate Fragoso finished 1-2 in the boys JV race; the JV boys won the meet with 25 points — 45 points ahead of second-place Post Falls.

“The JV stood really well for how young their pack is,” Matt Brass said. “The girls had this train of six going throughout the whole race. For some kids, it was really their first race against other schools. They did really well racing, using their teammates and helping each other through the race.”

The Bulldogs will run at the Timberlake Farragut Invitational next Saturday, Sept. 7 at 9 a.m.

Post Falls River Run

2.75 miles at Kiwanis Park

Sandpoint athletes in bold

GIRLS VARSITY

Top 15 finishers — 1, Samantha Wood (Post Falls), 17:04.1. 2, Sydney Shanahan (Post Falls), 17:16.9. 3, Bailey Shanahan (Post Falls), 18:14.8. 4, Abigail Gorton (Bonners Ferry), 18:34.7. 5, Clara Stephens (Lake City), 18:38.7. 6, Laurel Hicke (Moscow), 18:43.2. 7, Abby Buzolich (CDA), 18:50.0. 8, Paige Davidson (Sandpoint), 18:51.9. 9, Bionce Vincent (Sandpoint), 19:01.8. 10, Alahna Lien (Post Falls), 19:05.8. 11, Josie Yovichin (CDA Charter), 19:08.7. 12, Gracie Averill (CDA), 19:12.8. 13, Anna Peters (Post Falls), 19:15.7. 14, Bec Kirkland (Moscow), 19:17.8. 15, Leah Holding (Post Falls), 19:20.1.

Team scores — 1, Post Falls, 26. 2. Sandpoint, 66. 3, Moscow, 101. 4, Coeur d’Alene, 104. 5, Timberlake, 131. 6, Logos, 160. 7, Bonners Ferry, 171. 8, Lewiston, 219. 9, Potlatch, 237.

GIRLS JUNIOR VARSITY

Top 15 finishers — 1, Anayah Brown (Post Falls), 19:38.3. 2, Lacey Medina (Kellogg), 20:15.4. 3, Erica Mundt (Post Falls), 20:19.9. 4, Maddie Morgan (Sandpoint), 20:42.4. 5, Shaye Sullivan (Kellogg), 21:19.3. 6, Jillian Primgaard (Sandpoint), 21:28.5. 7, Annaby Kanning (Sandpoint), 21:33.5. 8, Lydia Nelsen (Sandpoint), 21:39.9. 9, Kora Converse (Sandpoint), 21:40.3. 10, Tru Tomco (Sandpoint), 21:40.7. 11, Elisa Eastley (Sandpoint), 22:21.8. 12, Amanda Scott (Timberlake), 22:22.2. 13, Claire Fletcher (Deary), 22:23.0, 14, Isis Rodriguez (Timberlake), 22:36.3. 15, Emily Mottern (Deary), 22:51.9.

Team scores — 1, Sandpoint, 35. 2, Post Falls, 48. 3, Timberlake, 63.

BOYS VARSITY

Top 15 finishers — 1, Caden Byrer (Lewiston), 14:51.7. 2, Nikolai Braedt (Sandpoint), 14:57.4. 3, Logan Hunt (Timberlake), 15:03.5. 4. Carter Gordon (Lake City), 15:13.7. 5, Gabe Christman (Sandpoint), 15:14.2. 6, Jett Lucas, 15:15.2. 7, Braden Dance (CDA), 15:20.8. 8, Maximillian Bazler (Lake City), 15:27.9. 9, Logan Davis (CDA Charter), 15:44.1. 10, Alex Peters (Post Falls), 15:44.6. 11, Keegan Nelson (Sandpoint), 15:45.0. 12, Korben Bujnicki (Moscow), 15:52.3. 13, Seth Graham (Sandpoint), 15:52.7. 14, Josiah Heath (Post Falls), 15:57.3. 15, Payton Bigler (Lewiston), 16:06.3.

Team scores: 1, Sandpoint, 35. 2, Lewiston, 103. 3, Post Falls, 115. 4, Timberlake, 115. 5, Moscow, 137. 6, Lake City, 137. 7, Coeur d’Alene, 146. 8, Logos, 155. 9, Bonners Ferry, 234. 10, Lakeland, 311. 11, Potlatch, 318.

BOYS JUNIOR VARSITY

Top 15 finishers — 1, Ben Ricks (Sandpoint), 16:57.5. 2, Slate Fragoso (Sandpoint), 17:13.8. 3, Brenden Sorenson (Post Falls), 17:32.4. 4, Cole Halvorson (Moscow), 17:37.3. 5, Riley McEvily (Sandpoint), 17:39.3. 6, Kellen Souza (IC Academy), 17:39.7. 7, Chris Stewart (Post Falls), 17:53.3. 8, Benji Sobeloff-Gittes (Moscow), 17:54.0. 9, Danny Kuplack (IC Academy), 17:55.5. 10. Justice Parkinson (Sandpoint), 18:05.7. 11, Dakota Wilson (Sandpoint), 18:07.7. 12, Dakota Smith (Timberlake), 18:13.6. 13, Jasper Whitling (Logos), 18:15.7. 14, Caleb Roche (Sandpoint), 18:16.4. 15, Isaac Babin (Sandpoint), 18:17.1.

Team scores: 1, Sandpoint, 25. 2. Post Falls, 70. 3, Moscow, 73. 4, Timberlake, 96. 5, Logos, 106. 6, Coeur d’Alene, 183. 7, Lewiston, 202. 8, Lake City, 203.