Sandpoint track hopes versatility, athleticism leads to glory

SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint track team might just have a leg up on some of its competition this season.

That’s because the Bulldogs were one of the few teams around the state that actually got to step on a track last season. SHS hosted the Sandpoint Open in mid-June to provide some closure for senior athletes that had their final season ripped away due to the pandemic.

Twenty-four Sandpoint athletes took part in the event, including nine seniors, as well as athletes from a handful of schools in the area.

While only a small percentage of the Bulldogs that are on this year’s team participated in the meet, that’s more than most schools can say.

The event was not sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association so the times and marks recorded didn’t count toward anything. However, it was something the Bulldogs could build off of heading into this season.

“I think it was huge just to get a set of marks and also just to get some validation at the end of your season,” head track coach Matt Brass said. “I think it was really successful for the kids that actually stuck it out.”

And Sandpoint will take any advantage they can get after losing 17 seniors and eight athletes with state experience. Fortunately though, the Bulldogs aren’t alone in that category.

“The thing is everyone is in the same boat, it’s not just Sandpoint that missed state,” Matt said. “I think everyone is going to be coming in with a few less veterans and a few more eyes open, nervous kids, so it’s an opportunity, too.”

At this time of year, Sandpoint is used to turnout numbers hovering around the mid-90’s. But not this spring. Right now, SHS has between 75-80.

Matt believes the low numbers are a result of losing touch and connection with kids after a lost 2020 season. The good news is that mid-70 number is usually what Sandpoint carries once the team naturally whittles itself down in the first few weeks of practice, and Matt said these athletes are a committed bunch that don’t seem interested in letting go of the team.

“I don’t see that happening much with this group,” he said about numbers dwindling.

The canceled season and a bit of realignment also brought back more automatic state berths for the Inland Empire League. In 2020, the districts’ bids were cut in half and only the first place finisher at regionals in each event on the boys and girls side was going to be guaranteed a spot to state.

But this year, like most in the past, District 1 will get two auto-bids per event and one per relay. The Bulldogs hope to capitalize on the “expanded” berths and Matt said he already sees 10-12 kids grabbing those state spots.

Two years ago, Sandpoint sent 19 athletes to state and finished runner-up to Moscow at regionals in girls and boys. Matt said it’s hard to know how the team stacks up against their rivals, but sweeping the district crowns is always a goal.

The Bulldogs might have a lack of state experience on the track, but they have a number of athletes this spring who have made it to that stage in other sports.

One thing is clear about the Bulldogs this spring, they have plenty of versatility and they will need that to fill out all the events.

For the sake of organization, here is a breakdown of the 2021 track team by position group.

Jumps/hurdles

Everyone will be paying attention to one person in the pit this season — Braden Kappen.

The senior tied the school record of 21 feet, 6 inches in the long jump during the Sandpoint Open last summer and jumps and hurdles coach Dave DeMers expects him to reach 22 feet this year and shatter that mark.

All it takes is one jump and DeMers said Kappen just needs to take it one step at a time.

“I told him, ‘You just got to calm down, you can’t think about a record because if you’re going to push it and you’re going to stress, your body is going to be off,’” DeMers said.

Kappen feels the same way and plans on blowing past the SHS record. Kappen said he worked on conditioning during the offseason and likes the shape he is in entering the season.

“I feel pretty good about myself,” he said. “I’ve been working in the offseason a lot.”

Outside Kappen, the numbers in jumps are pretty slim. Between jumps, hurdles and sprints, Sandpoint only has 26 kids. DeMers said he is hoping to get a couple distance runners interested in trying jumps, but only time will tell if that comes to fruition.

Despite the low numbers, DeMers’ group still has a lot of promise. Junior Luke McCorkle is back in the long jump and DeMers sees him reaching well over 19 feet. McCorkle will also do some hurdles along with sophomore Rusty Lee. Senior Stone Lee will be in the high jump.

The girls have some bigger shoes to fill. They lost Maddie Morgan, who was a three-time regional champion in the triple jump and holds the school record in the event.

“It’s so weird not having Maddie,” DeMers said.

It’s hard to replace Morgan, but sophomore Anna Reinink is expected to step in and be the top girl in long jump and potentially the triple jump. She snagged a personal record of 13 feet, 4 inches in the long jump at the Sandpoint Open. DeMers said Reinink hasn’t certainly gotten stronger.

“It’s going to be about speed with Anna,” he said.

The kids have been eager to get back in the pit, DeMers said, and he’s looking forward to seeing what they can do.

“I think it’s going to be a good year,” he said. “I think the kids that we have out right now, they are young but they’re really into it, so we’ll get the best out of them that we can.”

Sprints

The sprinters may not have the numbers, but they certainly have the talent. And once again, Kappen is at the center of it all.

“Braden looks really strong,” sprints coach Tom Keener said. “He’s going to challenge in every meet he’s in this year, including state.”

Kappen said he is eyeing the state title in the 100-meter dash along with the school record in the event. He ran a PR of 11.29 in the 100 at the Sandpoint Open in less than ideal conditions and took 12th in the event at state in 2019.

Kappen is confident he can reach both those goals.

“I just feel I’ve worked really hard for it and I just believe in myself,” he said.

Keener said Kappen needs to work on his endurance a bit in the 200, but he loves the attitude he has this season and he anticipates him being a key contributor in a number of different events.

Junior Peyton Ennis is fresh off recording a pair of PRs in the 100 and 200 at the Sandpoint Open and Keener is expecting big things out of him in relays, along with junior Keyan Strock.

On the girls side, Reinink will make some noise in the 200 and Kenner is looking for newcomer, Piper Frank, to make some noise. The junior has played on the Sandpoint soccer team throughout her career and Kenner said she’s a longer sprinter who will see action in the 200, 400 and some relays.

With this group, Keener said he is asking the kids to focus on improving a little bit each and every day.

Kappen plans on making the most of his final season, and he can tell the rest of the sprinters have a similar mindset.

“I think we're going to do what we can with the numbers we have,” he said.

Distance

There’s no surprises here — the distance crew is Sandpoint’s strongest and deepest group with 34 runners. The crew is coming off a cross country season which saw the boys capture their first state trophy since 2014 by placing fourth and the girls secure ninth.

Distance coach Angie Brass said the team is hoping to build off that momentum this spring and they are excited to get back on the track. She also noted that the crew logged over 8,200 miles this winter.

“I think everyone has been looking forward to this quite a bit,” Angie said. “Not having it last year brings a sweetness to it and I think more gratitude than anything else.”

One of the leaders for the boys this year will be Nikolai Braedt. The senior placed 11th at the 4A state cross country championships in October and he ramped up his mileage over the winter in preparation for this track season.

Angie said the mileage plan Braedt utilized was second only to former Sandpoint and Washington State University star Sam Levora.

Braedt said he hopes the increased mileage will pay off this spring, but he’s already feeling more comfortable with his breathing.

In 2019, Braedt and fellow senior Jett Lucas tied for the district title in the 1600. The pair works together in unison and Braedt said it’s reassuring to know that if they finish first and second this year at regionals they will both be guaranteed a spot at state, something that wasn’t on the table in 2020.

“The camaraderie is really what brings us forward,” Braedt said, “and I’ve never really enjoyed that part of regionals in track just because it becomes a little more you versus me.”

Currently, Braedt’s PR in the 1600 sits at 4:27. He plans on slowly shaving off a few seconds as the season progresses until he reaches a point where he can challenge Levora’s school record of 4:16.

“It’s a little ambitious but I don’t see why not to go for it,” he said about the record.

Braedt will also run the 3200 along with Lucas and a slew of other cross country runners including freshman Nathan Roche, sophomore Slate Fragoso, junior Trey Clark and senior Keegan Nelson. Junior Ben Ricks will likely step in and fill some holes in the 400 and 800.

Angie has 12 runners on the girls side including juniors Megan Oulman, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire and Jillian Primgaard, sophomores Ara Clark and Payton Betz and freshman Grace Rookey.

The team held a mile trial on March 3 and in it a number of runners posted PRs. In fact, Angie said it was the fastest pack time she’s ever seen from the girls in a season-opening mile trial.

Senior Camille Neuder, who runs the 800 and 1600, can’t wait to see the team build off that success.

“I think the mile trial was a really encouraging start and just a really good mental hurdle to get over as we start getting into more competitions,” she said. “I’ve just been so impressed and proud of the consistency of the core group over the winter which has allowed them to have such a great start.”

Neuder is shooting for a sub-six minute time in the 1600 and a 2:40 or lower in the 800.

The distance crew has also a number of multi-event athletes that will cross over into other position groups this spring, including sophomore Maren Davidson (pole vault), senior Quinn Hooper (pole vault) and Ara (pole vault/discus).

Ara, who will have plenty of opportunities to qualify for state this year, said she wants to be a contributor in pole vault and discus, but her main focus is distance and the challenge will be finding time to practice all three.

“Time management for me I think is definitely going to be a factor in me trying to work in all those practices and still improving and bettering myself in distance,” she said.

Pole vault

The vaulters have a new coach at the helm. Blake Houchin takes over this year after serving as an assistant the past two seasons.

And Houchin got an unexpected, but welcomed gift over the offseason — the addition of a state champion pole vaulter in Taylor Petz.

The senior transferred from Bend Senior High School in Oregon after not getting a chance to compete last spring. As a freshman in 2018, Petz won the 5A state pole vault championship in Oregon with a vault of 11 feet, 6.25 inches. That mark would obliterate the current SHS school record of 10 feet, 3 inches.

Houchin said he hasn’t worked with Petz yet this season, but if she can reach a height anyway close to her PR, she’ll be in contention for a state title.

Petz has already committed to compete at the Oregon Institute of Technology next year and she can also run hurdles and relays for the Bulldogs this spring.

Houchin has a strong core of 15 vaulters, including senior returners Nate Dotson and Sam Becker. Houchin expects both to contend for a berth to state.

“They’ve both got a lot of potential,” he said. “There’s a couple things they can fix, but I think they can be some of the leaders in the district.”

Outside of Petz, the girls have junior Tiffany Brown and Hooper among a host of newcomers.

During the late summer and through the fall, Houchin was able to get out on the track at least once a week with his vaulters. Houchin said doing that will allow the vaulters to avoid starting from scratch in such a technique-based event.

“We saw some improvements here and there,” he said about the offseason vaulting. “The biggest thing is not to lose ground in the offseason.”

Throwers

For Ryan Knowles, the nice thing about being the head football coach is once the track season rolls around, he can convince a handful of his football players who are gym rats to come and throw from him.

It’s worked in the past few years and that trend has continued this spring. After losing seven seniors, including 2019 district discus champion Brandon Casey, Knowles did some recruiting and was able to pull a couple kids from the gridiron.

One of those recruits is senior Marcus Anderson. The offensive lineman hasn’t come out for track before, but Knowles believes Anderson has a chance to excel at the discus.

He said Anderson is very analytical and the event fits his mentality perfectly.

“He’s a tremendous student and there’s a lot of science involved in throws,” Knowles said. “We’ll see how strong we can get him over the course of the season.”

Knowles was also able to pull in sophomore Levi Balison, who is currently the second strongest player in the football program. Junior Mike Chapman is back and the boys throwers have a handful of freshmen as well.

The girls will be led by Kayla Remsen. The junior placed second at regionals in the shot put as a freshman and took 14th in the event at state.

Knowles said Remsen put in a lot of time during the offseason to perfect her craft and he expects that to pay off this spring. Remsen is more focused on the shot put, but Knowles said she has the capability to sweep both throwing events at districts.

“I think she has a really good shot to go to state in either shot or discus,” he said.

Senior Stephanie Bishop will be hoping to leave her mark this spring and Knowles said he sees a lot of promise in freshman Ivy Smith.

“She’s going to be a force over the next few years,” he said. “It’s going to be fun to watch.”

Ara threw discus in middle school and Knowles said she was throwing really well before the season was canceled last spring.

What district rivals Lakeland and Moscow will bring to the table this spring remains unknown, but the Bulldogs young, versatile squad is well equipped to handle whoever stands in their way.

Season opener: Sandpoint heads to the Lewiston Invitational at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 20.