Track opens season by capturing boys title at Lewiston Invitational

LEWISTON — The Sandpoint track team shook off the rust and opened the 2021 season Saturday at the Lewiston Invitational.

Despite only bringing half of their squad, the boys grabbed the team title at the event, edging out Coeur d’Alene 123-121. The girls had a strong showing as well, capturing third behind Lewiston and Coeur d’Alene.

League rival Lakeland finished 22 points behind SHS on the boys side to take fourth, while the girls racked up 47.5 more points than the Hawks, who placed fifth.

The Bulldogs brought just 21 boys and even without their full contingent, they showed the rest of North Idaho just how formidable they could be this spring.

“I think honestly I was a little surprised we were able to rack up as many as we did to win it,” track head coach Matt Brass said.

About a year ago, Sandpoint was slated to compete in the Lewiston Invitational, but a storm prevented them from making the trip. Then not too long after that, the 2020 spring season was canceled.

It was the Bulldogs first meet as a team in nearly two years and Matt Brass said everyone showed a few jitters.

“It seemed like across the board with all the schools you could sense just a little bit more inexperience and a little more nerves,” he said, “but all the kids seemed really excited and grateful to be there.”

Sandpoint also only took 21 girls to the meet. With smaller numbers on both sides, the Bulldogs were unable to fill all the events and lots of athletes competed in multiple events to help the team score points. The Bulldogs’ versatility was on full display.

“There were a lot of kids doing three or four events and they weren’t complaining about it, they were just happy to be there doing it,” Matt Brass said. “The kids were definitely tired by the bus ride home.”

Senior Braden Kappen led the way for the boys by placing first in the 200, second in the 100 and running legs on the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams that secured first for the Bulldogs.

Kappen has been chomping at the bit to run a 400 at a meet, and sprints coach Tom Keener said he didn’t disappoint.

“He ran an impressive leg on the 4x400,” Keener said.

Jett Lucas, Nikolai Braedt and Ben Ricks also ran on that 4x400 relay. Braedt anchored the relay 10 minutes after capturing first in the 3200 with a 9:54, just two seconds off his PR in the event.

“Nik started out the year with a sub-10 which is fantastic,” Matt Brass said. “He didn’t have anyone with him, he was 350 meters ahead of the next person, so he was pushing himself to that time.”

Braedt, Ricks, Lucas and Keegan Nelson helped the boys grab first in the distance medley relay with a meet record time of 11:05.24, 11 seconds off the school record in the event.

The girls distance medley relay crew consisting of Ara Clark, Maren Davidson, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire and Megan Oulman also took home first with a 13:36, the third fastest time in school history. They finished nearly three minutes ahead of second place Kamiah.

This is the only chance the Bulldogs will get to run the distance medley relay at a meet this season, so the team wanted to take full advantage of it.

“We ran kind of our first string distance core in the distance medley relay,” Matt Brass said. “We usually always do that because Lewiston is one of the few schools that hosts that event each year.”

Keyan Strock, Peyton Ennis and Rusty Lee were also a part of the boys 4x100 relay team. Rusty ran away with the title in the 110-meter hurdles with a 15.90. He finished nearly a minute and a half ahead of second place in the event, and Keener said it was the second fastest time recorded across the state in 4A this weekend.

“He looked really crisp,” Matt Brass said.

Ennis took sixth in the 200 and eighth in the 100 and Keyan placed seventh in the 200 and 13th in the 100. Luke McCorkle had a standout performance notching personal records in his four events (100, 200, 110 hurdles, long jump) and secured fourth in the hurdles with a 17.86 and second in the long jump with a mark of 19 feet, 9.5 inches.

Lucas ran a PR of 2:04 in the 800 to grab second. Ricks was close behind in fourth with a 2:07.

In the 3200, Keegan Nelson, Slate Fragoso and Trey Clark all ran PRs to place third, fourth and sixth respectively. Fragoso led the way in the 1600 by taking fifth and Trey took eighth.

In his first career high jump, Stone Lee secured fifth with a mark of 5 feet, 8 inches.

Keener said he only brought six sprinters on the boys side down to Lewiston and they were all right where he wanted them to be for the first meet of the season.

“We were tiny, but mighty,” he said. “The kids I took all did a fantastic job.”

Taylor Petz, a senior transfer from Bend, Oregon, stole the show for the girls by grabbing first in the pole vault and breaking the school record in the event by six inches with a mark of 10 feet, 9 inches. Petz also took second in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the long jump.

Petz won the 5A pole vault state championship in Oregon as a freshman in 2018.

“She looks pretty strong,” Matt Brass said.

Suhy-Gregoire, Oulman and Ara swept first, second and third respectively in the 3200 and smashed their PRs in the event.

In the 400, Davidson, who also secured seventh in the 200, placed fourth and Jillian Primgaard was close behind in fifth. Grace Rookey, a freshman, secured sixth in the 800 and seventh in the 1600, and Payton Betz was sixth in the 1600 and eighth in the 800. Camille Neuder was ninth in the 1600.

Unsurprisingly, the distance crew racked up plenty of points for the Bulldogs and distance coach Angie Brass said it was a great start for the group.

“I think we had great performances all around,” she said. “Our girls did fabulous and our guys did fabulous. We were really happy to see where we were and we were able to take a couple new freshmen and they were able to get a peak at a meet … Our offseason training was so great for this group and it was just exciting to see all the work, all the mileage and the weights in the offseason payoff.”

Anna Reinink, a sophomore, placed sixth in the 100 and 200 and Destiny Lyons was fifth in the 100 hurdles.

Quinn Hooper was third in the pole vault and Kayla Remsen secured sixth in the shot put and eighth in the discus. Freshman Ivy Smith was eighth in the shot put and freshman Lauren Harrison was 10th in the discus.

Keener was also impressed with what he saw from Aliya Strock. She grabbed 10th in the 100 and long jump and 12th in the 200.

“For a freshman, she’s got good things ahead of her,” he said.

Sandpoint heads to Lake City at 1 p.m. Wednesday for a dual with the Timberwolves.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint 123. 2, Coeur d’Alene 121. 3, Lewiston 104. 4, Lakeland 101. 5, Timberlake 83. 6, Orofino 49. 7, Kamiah 39. 8, Cd’A Charter 38. 9, Priest River 15.

Sandpoint results

100 — 2, Braden Kappen, 11.71. 8, Peyton Ennis, 12.02. 12, Luke McCorkle, 12.24. 13, Keyan Strock, 12.25. 200 — 1, Braden Kappen, 23.81. 6, Peyton Ennis, 24.67. 7, Keyan Strock, 25.29. 10, Luke McCorkle. 400 — 14, Keane Haesle, 1:00.03. 800 — 2, Jett Lucas, 2:04.32. 4, Ben Ricks, 2:07.31. 13, Kasten Grimm, 2:20.76. 14, Jimmy Cornelius, 2:20.95. 1,600 — 5, Slate Fragoso, 4:50.97. 8, Trey Clark, 4:54.15. 10, Nathan Roche, 5:08.90. 18, Josiah Hill, 5:25.54. 3,200 — 1, Nikolai Braedt, 9:54.68. 3, Keegan Nelson, 10:39.39. 4, Slate Fragoso, 10:43.40. 6, Trey Clark, 10:48.93.

110 hurdles — 1, Rusty Lee, 15.90. 4, Luke McCorkle, 17.86. 4x100 relay — 1, Sandpoint (Keyan Stock, Braden Kappen, Peyton Ennis, Rusty Lee), 45.17. 4x400 relay — 1, Sandpoint (Jett Lucas, Braden Kappen, Nikolai Braedt, Ben Ricks), 3:41.18. Distance medley — 1, Sandpoint (Jett Lucas, Ben Ricks, Keegan Nelson, Nikolai Braedt), 11:05.24. 2, Coeur d’Alene, 12:12.02.

Shot put — 16, Michael Chapman, 34-6.5. 18, Marcus Anderson, 34-0. 19, Carson Laybourne, 32-9. 28, Matthew Chapman, 27-3.5. Discus — 14, Stone Lee, 95-9. 15, Matthew Chapman, 90-2. 18, Michael Chapman, 88-8. 21, Marcus Anderson, 86-11. 26, Carson Laybourne, 78-7. High jump — 5, Stone Lee, 5-8. 11, Rusty Lee, 5-4. Pole vault — 11, Slate Fragoso, 9-6. Long jump — 2, Luke McCorkle, 19-9 ½. 24, Keane Haesle, 15-2.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Lewiston 153.83. 2, Coeur d’Alene 138.83. 3, Sandpoint 102.5. 4, Orofino 73. 5, Lakeland 55. 6, Timberlake 50. 7, Kamiah 27. 8, Cd’A Charter 23. 9, Kellogg 19.83. 10, Priest River 17.

Sandpoint results

100 — 6, Anna Reinink, 14.11. 10, Aliya Strock, 14.29. 21, Piper Frank, 14.96. 27, Alexandra David, 15.56. 200 — 6, Anna Reinink, 28.96. 7, Maren Davidson, 28.99. 12, Aliya Strock, 29.92. 16, Piper Frank, 30.56. 400 — 4, Maren Davidson, 1:03.23. 5, Jillian Primgaard, 1:05.66. 800 — 6, Grace Rookey, 2:43.23. 8, Payton Betz, 2:44.16. 12, Quinn Hooper, 2:49.21. 13, Camille Neuder, 2:49.53. 1,600 — 6, Payton Betz, 5:58.30. 7, Grace Rookey, 5:58.88. 9, Camille Neuder, 6:06.91. 12, Devin McDaniel, 6:23.82. 3,200 — 1, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire, 12:10.87. 2, Megan Oulman, 12:11.77. 3, Ara Clark, 12:14.76.

100 hurdles — 2, Taylor Petz, 17:40. 5, Destiny Lyons, 18.72. 4x100 relay — 5, Sandpoint (Destiny Lyons, Anna Reinink, Aliya Strock, Piper Frank), 54.16. Distance medley — 1, Sandpoint (Ara Clark, Maren Davidson, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire, Megan Oulman), 13:36.02.

Shot put — 6, Kayla Remsen, 28-8.5. 8, Ivy Smith, 28-0. 12, Lauren Harrison, 25-7. 15, Stephanie Bishop, 22-10. Discus — 8, Kayla Remsen, 90-5. 10, Lauren Harrison, 86-10. 11, Ivy Smith, 85-8. 13, Ara Clark, 74-9. 18, Stephanie Bishop, 65-7. Pole vault — 1, Taylor Petz, 10-9. 3, Quinn Hooper, 7-6. T6, Tiffany Brown, 7-0. T6, Maren Davidson, 7-0. Long jump — 6, Taylor Petz, 14-11.5. 10, Aliya Strock, 13-9. 14, Anna Reinink, 12-10. 16, Alexandra David, 11-2.