Young XC runners shine at annual hill climb
The Sandpoint High School cross country team participated in its annual Farragut Hill Climb on Friday.
This is the 16th annual hill climb where the Bulldogs attack the 1.86-mile hill prior to when the season begins.
“Today was just for some internal competition,” Sandpoint High School boys cross country coach Matt Brass said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time and it tests the runners with a difficult climb.”
For the boys, Nathan Roche came away with the best time, posting a 14:01. This was a personal best for the junior and put him second all-time in events history for the boys.
“This was a really good indicator,” Brass said. “He won the time trial, the mile trial and holds the freshman and sophomore records. He’s pretty much on point with where he’s been for us.”
The boys team all had an impressive showing at the hill climb, with every runner except one posting a personal best time at the event.
Senior Slate Fragoso finished second at the event, posting a time of 14:40. Just six seconds behind him in third place was Anders Eastley, who finished with a time of 14:46.
For the girls, Maren Davidson took home first place with a time of 17:57.
There were some question marks regarding Davidson’s status with the cross country team since she is also a swimmer.
However, she decided to commit to both sports and came away with a great showing at the Farragut Hill Climb.
“The girls looked great,” Sandpoint High School girls cross country coach Angie Brass said. “It was really fun having Maren there. I left the door open for her to make a decision on her own of what she wanted to do because I didn’t want to put any pressure on her and she showed up and came away with the victory.”
Payton Betz finished second at the hill climb, posting a time of 18:05, and Ara Clark finished in third with a time of 18:44.
One of the biggest story lines throughout the hill climb was the progression of the younger runners on the Sandpoint girls’ cross country team.
The Bulldogs had two freshman runners finish in fifth and sixth place, Izzy Davidson and Silvi Landrum.
“It’s always exciting to watch the young girls go out and get experience,” Brass said. “It’s also a pretty big freshman class and those tend to come in waves. This class was a bigger group and they are doing well and are enjoying the process.”
Brass gave out high praise to all the freshman girls that competed on Friday, especially Davidson.
“(Izzy) did really well,” Brass said. “She’s probably our highest-rated freshman right now. Silvi will progress as the season goes on once she’s around our top five.”
The top five for the Sandpoint girls is shaping up to be a solid group with Maren Davidson, Payton Betz, Ara Clark and Izzy Davidson.
“Our team gets a lot of running time together,” Brass said. “It’s fun to see the progress with the training and to get to know the new team every fall. We’ve been really pleased with where the team is right now.”
The Bulldogs will officially start their season on Saturday, Sept 10 at the Timberlake Farragut Invitational.