Bullpups cross country opens season
Seventh grade runners Hannah Stiller (left), Reese Burnett, Silvi Landrum, Mackenzie Mitchell and Piper Roark pose for a photo at the Timberlake Junior High meet on Sept. 29.
(Photo courtesy of CAITLIN PETERSON)
SPIRIT LAKE — The Sandpoint Middle School cross country team took part in its first meet of the season on Sept. 29, and had a strong showing.
The Bullpups competed in the Timberlake Junior High Invite alongside Kellogg, Lewiston, Timberlake, Boundary County, Genesis Prep and Priest River. The 1.5-mile race was split into four races to spread out the runners as much as possible. The top-five runners from each race were awarded medals.
In the girls seventh grade race, the Bullpups smoked the competition and captured first by more than 30 points. SMS took seven of the top-15 spots in the race.
Reese Burnett led the Bullpups placing second (11:01), Mackenzie Mitchell captured third, Hannah Stiller took fifth, Silvi Landrum secured sixth, Piper Roark grabbed ninth, Gracie Gavin was 14th, and Izzy Davidson notched a 15th-place finish. Other participating runners were Emma Darrin 23rd, Emily Brazill 33rd, Hannah Ricks 35th, Jozy Keister 37th and Piper Thompson 39th out of 43 runners.
SMS did not have enough runners to score as a team in the girls eighth grade race, but Taylor Hines placed 11th out of 26 runners, Hannah Fisher captured 12th, Maddison Hall took 13th and Mallory Pierce secured 16th.
If the seventh and eighth graders ran together like normal, the Bullpups would have bested Boundary County by 19 points for first place.
In a highly competitive boys seventh grade race, Sandpoint took second to Kellogg.
Callahan Waters stole the show placing first with a time of 9:26. He finished nearly 55 seconds ahead of the next closest runner.
Lane Gavin was next in for the Bullpups in eighth, Braelyn Tallent took 13th, Wyatt Baldwin captured 15th and Travis Morgan secured 16th to round out the scoring runners.
Aaron Betz 17th and Oliver Porietis 19th were within 10 seconds of the strong Bullpup pack as well. Kale Wright was 28th and Evan Brubaker took 37th.
Sandpoint was the only school that had enough athletes to score as a team in the boys eighth grade. Fletcher Barrett led the way finishing third with a 10:03, Taylor Roche took fourth, Porter Nelson placed 10th, Josh Yunek secured 12th and Matthew Bryan captured 15th. Emmett Lowman notched 21st and James Sturgeon was 22nd.
If the race was ran normally, the boys would have edged out Kellogg for first.
The Bullpups head to the Woodland Invite next Wednesday.