Sandpoint boys capture first state trophy since 2004; 13 Bulldogs return home with medals

EAGLE — The Sandpoint track team is returning home from the 4A state championships with a piece of hardware that's been hard to come by in the history of the program.

The Bulldog boys placed third on Saturday. It's their first trophy at state since 2004 and their highest finish at state since 2003 when they won their first and only state title.

Based on some research by the Bee, it is also believed to be just the third state trophy the boys have received in the history of the program.

And they did it with only 14 boys competing at state — quite the feat.

"They were thrilled," head coach Matt Brass said about the boys reaction to the trophy. "As a region, we're underrepresented with kids anyway and so to be able to come to [Eagle], take a nine-hour bus ride, perform at that level and be able to bring home a state trophy, I think they were really proud of themselves, and they should have been."

Heading into this season and for most of the spring, discussions about the boys earning a state trophy were nonexistent, Brass said. However, some of the boys started talking about it as the season progressed and they saw how they were stacking up against 5A Post Falls meet after meet, Brass said.

But the bottom line is, a trophy wasn't a focus for the boys entering state, it kind of just happened.

"The goal was let's just help these kids get their best results and see how many medalists we could get," Brass said, "and across the board, kids performed really well."

The boys finished with 50 team points, one point ahead of fourth place Emmett and five behind second place Pocatello.

Heading into the final event of the state meet — the 4x400 relay — the boys were tied for fourth place with Century. All they had to do was finish the relay and they would earn the one team point needed to grab solo fourth. But the Bulldogs did better than that as Rusty Lee, Peyton Ennis, Braden Kappen and Ben Ricks led the relay to a sixth place finish to pass Emmett for solo third.

Brass said the four boys were aware of what they needed to do in that event, and they got the job done.

Throughout the season, the boys were electric and Brass said what made them so great was their drive.

"I really just think they like to compete and they want to win," he said, "and so I just think it boils down to you put a challenge in front of them and they're like, 'OK, that's what we want to do.' There was just a desire to do their best and support each other."

The Bulldogs needed some special performances to rack up enough points to grab third, and they got them. Kappen and Lee medaled in all four of the events they competed in at state.

Kappen won the state title in the long jump on Thursday, took third in the 100 and fourth in the 200 on Saturday and was a part of the 4x400 team that medaled.

Lee was on the 4x200 and 4x400 relays and he earned a pair of individual medals in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. He captured third in the 110 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.35. That time broke the school record in the event. The previous SHS record of 40.5 was set by JC Davault in 2000.

And Lee is only a sophomore. Brass said he's mature beyond his years.

"He's just a quality kid," he said. "Not only is he competitive and works hard, but he's humble and just a good person to be around ... It's an impressive resume he put together over the course of the season."

Overall, 13 Bulldogs brought home medals at state. It was quite the showing for Sandpoint's 25 state qualifiers.

The top six individuals and top six relays earn medals at state.

SHS saw four girls medal in the pole vault on Saturday. Taylor Petz captured second, Erika Edmundson placed third, Quinn Hooper grabbed fifth and Piper Frank was sixth.

Pole vaulting coach Blake Houchin said he thought there was a chance all four could medal, but it was exciting to watch it unfold.

"Some things had to happen in our favor from other teams and it kind of fell that way," he said.

Edmundson, a sophomore who qualified for state through an at-large bid, and Frank are both first-year vaulters, and Houchin can't wait to see what the pair does in the future.

Petz earned another medal in the 100 hurdles by placing sixth. Now the senior transfer from Bend, Oregon will head to Oregon Tech next year to join their track team.

"She's got a big career ahead of her," Houchin said.

In the 800, sophomore Maren Davidson ran a smart, gritty race to grab sixth and a state medal.

"She knew she wanted to go after a medal and right from the line she had the ability to do that," distance coach Angie Brass said. "It was very exciting for her."

Maren's older sister, Hannah Davidson, medaled in the 800 at state four times during her SHS career. Now the siblings have another thing in common.

"It's pretty cool they can share that experience," Angie Brass said.

Junior Kayla Remsen snatched sixth in the shot put to medal. As a freshman in 2019, she was 14th at state in the event, but throws coach Ryan Knowles said Remsen grew on and off the throwing circle since that appearance, and she showed it on Saturday.

"It was a good field and going into finals we were hoping she could bump up a couple spots," he said, "but she finished really strong in adverse weather for the throws this weekend. I was really proud of her stepping up."

As a team, the girls finished ninth at state with 30 points. It was their best finish at state since they were eighth in 2014.

Peyton Ennis was on both of the relays that medaled for the boys, and Luke McCorkle and Keyan Strock ran legs on the sixth place 4x200 team. All three are juniors and will be back for more next spring.

On Friday, senior Sam Becker medaled in the boys pole vault with a fifth place finish. Houchin said Becker cleared 13 feet on his first attempt and looked really strong.

"He's always had it in him," he said about Becker, "he's just battled some shin splints all year long so his practice reps were a little bit limited."

Sandpoint brought seven vaulters to state and five of them medaled.

"I think it's just the start of good things to come here in the pole vault [at Sandpoint]," he said, "and I hope we can build off of this and get some more kids interested ... and build a nice little program here."

Nikolai Braedt missed out on medaling in the boys 1600 by one spot. He placed seventh. Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire earned 12th in the girls 1600 by running a PR, and Ricks and Jett Lucas posted PRs in the boys 800. They finished 13th and 16th respectively in the event.

Freshman Ivy Smith was 10th in the girls shot put, and Will Hurst was 10th in boys discus.

4A state championships

Final results (Sandpoint athletes only)

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (top four place) — 1, Bishop Kelly 97. 2, Pocatello 55. 3, Sandpoint 50. 4, Emmett 49. 5, Century 47. 6, Preston 43. T7, Canyon Ridge, Jerome 35. 9, Blackfoot 33. 10, Middleton 32. 11, Twin Falls 29. 12, Mountain Home 27. 13, Skyline 25. T14, Minico, Columbia 20. 16, Nampa 19. 17, Ridgevue 15. T18, Shelley, Lakeland 13. T20, Burley, Caldwell 9. T22, Bonneville, Hillcrest, Moscow, 7. 25, Wood River 3.

100 — 3, Braden Kappen, 10.91. 200 — 4, Braden Kappen, 22.60. 400 prelims — 10, Peyton Ennis, 52.67. 800 — 13, Ben Ricks, 2:02.10. 16, Jett Lucas, 2:02.70. 1600 — 7, Nikolai Braedt, 4:24.36. 15, Keegan Nelson, 4:35.96. 3200 — 8, Nikolai Braedt, 9:36.36. 110 hurdles — 3, Rusty Lee, 15.28. 10, Luke McCorkle, 16.21 (prelims). 300 hurdles — 2, Rusty Lee, 40.35 (school record). 4x200 relay — 6, Sandpoint (Rusty Lee, Luke McCorkle, Keyan Strock, Peyton Ennis), 1:32.75. 4x400 relay — 6, Sandpoint (Rusty Lee, Peyton Ennis, Braden Kappen, Ben Ricks), 3:32.76. Sprint medley — 8, Sandpoint (Keyan Strock, Peyton Ennis, Ben Ricks, Jett Lucas), 3:45.76. Long jump — 1, Braden Kappen, 23-1. High jump — T7, Stone Lee, 5-10. Discus — 10, Will Hurst, 129-10. Shot put — 15, Will Hurst, 41-3. Pole vault — 5, Sam Becker, 13-0. 12, Slate Fragoso, 11-6.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (top four place) — 1, Bishop Kelly 103. 2, Skyline 82. 3, Pocatello 60. 4, Middleton 57. 5, Nampa 41. 6, Twin Falls, Mountain Home 38. 8, Emmett 34. 9, Sandpoint 30. 10, Preston 29. 11, Century 24. 12, Ridgevue 20. 13, Burley 19. 14, Bonneville 17. 15, Columbia 15. 16, Blackfoot 14. T17, Lakeland, Moscow, Canyon Ridge 13. T20, Shelley, Minico, Vallivue 11. 23, Jerome 9.

800 — 6, Maren Davidson, 2:21.60. 1600 — 12, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire, 5:25.60. 3200 — 14, Megan Oulman, 12:16.70. 16, Ara Clark, 12:22.98. 100 hurdles — 6, Taylor Petz, 16.28. 300 hurdles prelims — 11, Destiny Lyons, 50.54. Discus — 17, Kayla Remsen, 83-9. Shot put — 6, Kayla Remsen, 33-9. 10, Ivy Smith, 31-8. Pole vault — 2, Taylor Petz, 11-0. 3, Erika Edmundson, 9-0. 5, Quinn Hooper, 8-6. 6, Piper Frank, 8-6.