Roche nearly medals at state; girls place fifth, boys seventh

EAGLE — The tank was empty for every Sandpoint cross country runner when they crossed the finish line at the 4A state championships on Friday.

The Bulldogs gave everything they had, not only for themselves, but for their teammates and that’s all coaches Matt and Angie Brass can ask for.

“Watching them finish I don’t feel like any of them had another gear,” Matt said about the boys team. “During the race, they were to the wall.”

“They were definitely spent when they came in,” Angie added about the girls.

The Sandpoint girls placed fifth out of 15 teams, while the boys brought home seventh.

The girls entered the state meet eyeing improvement and a top five team finish and they accomplished both. The Bulldogs earned their best result since 2017 when they took home third.

“I’m excited about that and proud of the girls,” Angie said. “They ran tough.”

Heading in, Sandpoint thought they had an outside chance at bringing home their 12th state trophy in program history, and Angie said things played out almost exactly like they expected. Sandpoint finished 21 points behind fourth-place Skyline. Preston captured the state title with a team score of 59.

“The girls ran well,” Angie said. “We knew that it would be a little faster start, and I think maybe where we could have improved is settling into that pace and relaxing at the fast effort after that first bit as things were jockeying and people were settling in. I think they continued to drive and didn’t really adjust to the start, so that did hurt us I think a little bit, and sometimes that happens in big races.”

For the second straight year, senior Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire just missed out on securing a medal. She placed 24th with a 20:24. Junior captain Ara Clark was right on her heels with a 20:28 to earn 25th and senior captain Megan Oulman secured 27th with a 20:39. All three were eyeing a state medal and nearly met those aspirations.

“That top three was not far outside of what their original goals were,” Angie said. “Those three really stayed together well.”

The dynamic pair of junior Payton Betz and sophomore Grace Rookey packed up once again and finished 51st (21:37) and 54th (21:43) respectively.

Seniors Tiffany Brown (23:28) and Jillian Primgaard (23:29) placed 96th and 97th out of 111 runners in their final race for the Bulldogs.

“We needed people to step into that six and seven,” Angie said, “and they did that this season and answered that call.”

Overall, five girls notched career best state finishes. Sandpoint will lose two four-year cross country runners in Suhy-Gregoire and Oulman. Angie said their impact will be sorely missed, but she is optimistic about the pieces that will be coming back next fall and the strides they can make over the offseason.

“There’s big shoes to fill,” she said, “but I think there’s definitely some building blocks moving into next year for Payton, Grace and Ara.”

A week ago, the Bulldog boys were able to stave off league rival Moscow to capture their ninth straight regional title, and at state on Friday, SHS once again edged out the Bears. They finished 10 points ahead of eighth-place Moscow.

The boys aren’t bringing home any hardware, but they put forth another hard fought effort, Matt said.

“I’m proud of them,” he said. “They ran hard and they had a great season.”

Sophomore Nathan Roche had a stellar race for the Bulldogs. He earned 21st with a time of 16:51. He finished one spot and four tenths of a second short of a medal.

“When we saw him coming in, he was almost staggering,” Matt said. “He literally put everything into that. Four tenths is so close, but so far.”

Roche impressed on the state stage last year as well, placing 35th as a freshman.

“Nate is a grinder,” Matt said, “and it doesn’t matter; he just always shows up and he just puts in such a solid effort every race.”

Junior captain Slate Fragoso brought home 36th (17:15), senior Ben Ricks secured 39th (17:18) and Trey Clark grabbed 41st (17:19).

Matt said the Bulldogs’ front four wasn’t able to stick together the entire race, but they came off the start line fast like they were hoping for. The boys just couldn’t make any headway.

“They did exactly what they had to do,” he said. “The hard part is holding it.”

Senior Caleb Roche captured 69th with a 18:02.

“Caleb had a great race,” Matt said. “He was our five and he finished right where we thought he would.”

In their first state appearances, sophomores Kasten Grimm (18:17) and Daniel Ricks (18:24) placed 80th and 85th respectively. Matt said it was a great experience for those two because now they know what it takes to compete with the best in the state.

All seven Bulldogs earned career best state finishes.

Normally about halfway through the bus ride home, Matt said they started talking to the returners about next season and where they want to be 12 months from now. With four of the top seven boys coming back, Matt is excited about the future of the team.

“I think the hunger is there … now it’s just 12 months of grind,” he said.

RESULTS

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Blackfoot 44. 2, Preston 57. 3, Twin Falls 111. 4, Pocatello 127. 5, Bishop Kelly 132. 6, Skyline 146. 7, Sandpoint 190. 8, Moscow 200. 9, Burley 234. 10, Vallivue 265. 11, Canyon Ridge 301. 12, Ridgevue 327. 13, Emmett 349. 14, Jerome 371. 15, Shelley 414.

SANDPOINT RESULTS — 21, Nathan Roche, 16:51.6. 36, Slate Fragoso, 17:15.4. 39, Ben Ricks, 17:18.8. 41, Trey Clark, 17:19.9. 69, Caleb Roche, 18:02.4. 80, Kasten Grimm, 18:17.0. 85, Daniel Ricks, 18:24.4.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Preston 59. 2, Pocatello 89. 3, Skyline 119. 4, Twin Falls 152. 5, Sandpoint 173. 6, Middleton 177. 7, Blackfoot 204. 8, Bonneville 210. 9, Mountain Home 240. 10, Bishop Kelly 257. 11, Jerome 267. 12, Burley 269. 13, Moscow 314. 14, Vallivue 326. 15, Ridgevue 338.

SANDPOINT RESULTS — 24, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire, 20:24.0. 25, Ara Clark, 20:28.0. 27, Megan Oulman, 20:39.9. 51, Payton Betz, 21:37.3. 54, Grace Rookey, 21:43.5. 96, Tiffany Brown, 23:28.1. 97, Jillian Primgaard, 23:29.3.