BOISE — Scott Cummings will be attending Boise State in the fall and he plans to walk on to the Broncos’ track and field squad.

Perhaps this tag will help him attract attention of the coaching staff — 2014 state 5A pole vault champion.

The Lake City senior secured that moniker with a splendid performance on the first day of the state 5A and 4A track and field meets at Dona Larsen Park. Cummings won the 5A event with a vault of 14 feet, 6 inches, tying his personal best while claiming the crown.

“It is kind of surreal right now because I’ve never done something this accomplished,” Cummings said.

Cummings landed every leap he attempted while beating out Eagle senior Jake Sterk for the title. His pre-meet goal was to avoid any scratches and the only time he didn’t clear the bar was when he took a shot at clearing 15 feet.

“You want to be clean throughout the whole meet because the cleaner you are, the higher chance you have,” Cummings said. “Even if you tie in an eight-way tie for first, whoever has the least scratches gets first place.

“That was my goal coming in — just be clean throughout all my jumps. And miraculously, it worked.”

Cummings was particularly proud about making it two straight years in which the state pole vault champ is from North Idaho. Last year, Steven Beck of Post Falls won the event.

“It was motivation because he was a pretty good vaulter and I just wanted to relive it,” said Cummings, who finished eighth at state as a junior. “So I’m excited the North won two years in a row.”

Cummings gained momentum throughout the season after being stuck on a best leap of 13-6. His confidence grew when he cleared both 14 feet and 14-6 at the District 1 all-star meet at Post Falls and felt he was headed in the right direction.

The tutelage of assistant coach Russ Blank also helped him get into position for Friday’s big moment.

“He has always encouraged me and always told me I have the potential,” said Cummings, “so we just need to get down to little details to work it out and it worked.”

Cummings’ victory helped Lake City land in second place with 23 points in the 5A team competition heading into today. Rocky Mountain (32) of Meridian is atop the boys standings while Mountain View (31) of Meridian leads on the girls side with Coeur d’Alene (12) tied for seventh.

“I think as a group we feel awesome about how (Friday) went,” Lake City coach Kelly Reed said. “Scott Cummings stepped up huge in the pole vault. For him to be as perfect as he was is huge. Amazing effort, amazing kid.”

Among the North Idaho athletes looking to win a state championship today is junior Kaitlyn Gunnerson of Coeur d’Alene.

Gunnerson posted the second-fastest time in both the 5A 100 hurdles (15.03) and 300 hurdles (45.91). At last year’s state meet, Gunnerson finished third in the shorter hurdles and sixth in the longer event.

Now her eyes are set on claiming at least one medal and making a push for two.

“I feel good about it,” Gunnerson said. “I felt relaxed and I did what I needed to do. I got good placements going into finals which I’m really happy about it.”

Also excelling for Coeur d’Alene was junior Victoria Goetz, who set a school mark that had held up since 1978 while posting the top overall prelims time (56.92) in the girls 400 meters.

“Victoria was amazing in the 400,” Vikings coach Linda Lanker said. “I think one of the better moves I’ve made as a coach is telling her she couldn’t run the 100 anymore.”

The record Goetz broke belonged to Kim Ward (56.95), who ironically is the aunt of defending 5A 200-meter state champion Maddison Ward of Lake City. Maddison Ward will be looking to pull off the 100/200 double today.

The junior posted the best prelims time in both events (12.33 in the 100 and 24.81 in the 200). Ward placed second in the 100 at last year’s state meet.

Lake City junior Kyler Little finished second in the 5A boys 3,200 in a time of 9:24.77 — less than seven seconds off the pace of winner Andrew Rafla (9:17.81) of Timberline. Little was also part of Lake City’s 4x800 relay team — senior Marcus Ross, sophomore Max Evans and junior Jake Finney are the others — that finished fourth with a time of 8:10.98.

“There were several times where Kyler could’ve phoned it in,” Reed said of Little’s 3,200 performance. “He battled the whole race and he really rallied to get second.”

The Lake City boys duo of senior Rikki McCaw (49.89) and junior Jerry Louie-McGee (50.0) posted the second and third-best prelims times in the boys 400 meters behind Meridian’s Bryson Stout (49.59). Lake City senior Chris Baker (10.95) had the third-best qualifying times in both the 100 (10.95) and 200 (21.91).

Lakeland senior Shane Leonard posted the third-best prelims time (22.60 seconds) in the 4A boys 200.

Coeur d’Alene-area athletes who earned medals on Friday include:

Among 5A girls, Post Falls senior Brenna Meehan broke the school record in finishing third in the long jump (17-5 1/4) and Coeur d’Alene freshman Amanda Deegan placed fourth in the pole vault (10 feet). Coeur d’Alene’s 4x800 relay team of junior Krista Story, senior Jaycee Rade, senior Noelle Ball and junior Kara Story placed third in 9:33.82.

Among 4A girls, Sandpoint senior Nikole Alamillo finished third in the discus (117-11) and Sandpoint junior Mikhaela Woodward placed sixth in the 3200 with a time of 11 minutes, 49.78 seconds.

Among 4A boys, Sandpoint senior Sam Levora finished second in the 3200 with a time of 9:36.83 and Sandpoint senior Grant Kennaly tied for third in high jump (6 feet).