COEUR d’ALENE — The rain rolled in and allowed Saturday’s Inland Empire League meet at Lake City High to go on as planned.

The Sandpoint boys cross country team continued their dominance over North Idaho capturing first while the girls impressed with a second-place finish.

On the boys side, only four teams competed. On the girls side, five schools took part in the meet. Lewiston was scheduled to run in the race, but decided not to make the trip due to the uncertainty about the air quality.

“This was the best the team all in all has run [this season],” boys cross country coach Matt Brass said. “It was a really great pack effort and team effort and they were really focused on supporting each other.”

This was the first time Lake City has hosted a meet at their high school.

“It’s always fun to have a new course,” girls cross country coach Angie Brass said. “A lot of the times we got so used to the courses we have, so this was brand new to everyone.”

Last week at the Timberlake Invitational, the race was split into heats to comply with social distancing requirements. This format prevented pack running. But this weekend, the Bulldogs got back to what they do best and it showed in the results.

Once again senior Jett Lucas claimed the individual title on the boys side. He hasn’t lost a race this season and Matt doesn’t see him slowing down anytime soon.

“I think that he’s hit another level this year,” Matt said. “I think he’s happy and he’s comfortable where he’s racing. He definitely wants to get faster and wants to improve but each race I think he gets a little more confidence in what he has.”

Nikolai Braedt was close behind in third and nearly beat out Post Falls’ Alex Peters at the finish line. Keegan Nelson came in sixth and Nathan Roche, Trey Clark and Ben Ricks took eighth, ninth and 10th respectively. Slate Fragoso captured 12th and rounded out the Bulldogs’ top seven.

Just like last week at Farragut State Park, Post Falls was right on Sandpoint’s heels taking runner-up. But on Saturday, the Bulldogs put some distance between them and the Trojans.

“I think that we raced much better against them this week,” Matt said, “but it’s good because we get to see them a couple more times before we have regionals and state and I think they are going to be our biggest competition.”

On the girls side, Sandpoint’s top five runners had a strong showing. Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire led the way with a 20:54 to take seventh and Ara Clark, Megan Oulman, Grace Rookey and Camille Neuder finished ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.

Payton Betz also cracked the top 15 with a time of 22:40.

Angie said the girls did a great job pack running and she was impressed with what she saw from Rookey and Betz.

“I think freshman Grace Rookey definitely took another step forward as did Peyton Betz,” Angie said. “She’s getting into her groove and going to be a big contributor as well … I’m happy with the consistency especially in that top five.”

The boys also won the JV race and freshman Kasten Grimm claimed the individual title. There was no JV girls race due to lack of runners.

The Bulldogs spent all last week indoors running on treadmills due to the smoke and Angie said the team is looking forward to getting back outside this week.

Sandpoint gets two weeks to train before they travel to Lewiston for the Inland Empire Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 3.

RESULTS

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint 44. 2, Post Falls 78. 3, Timberlake 138. 4, Lake City 154.

TOP 15 — 1, Jett Lucas, Sandpoint, 16:28.9. 2, Alex Peters, Post Falls, 16:32.2. 3, Nikolai Braedt, 16:33.6. 4, Brycen Kempton, Post Falls, 16:36.4. 5, Logan Davis, CDA Charter, 16.57.6. 6, Keegan Nelson, Sandpoint, 17:03.3. 7, Neil McCarthy, Post Falls, 17:10.0. 8, Nathan Roche, Sandpoint, 17:26.7. 9, Trey Clark, Sandpoint, 17:37.0. 10, Ben Ricks, Sandpoint, 17:47.8. 11, Maximillian Bazler, Lake City, 17:50.5. 12, Slate Fragoso, Sandpoint, 17:51.6. 13, Drew Padgett, Post Falls, 17:55.3. 14, Gavin Calkins, Post Falls, 17:56.1. 15, Kadin Garrett, Lake City, 18:19.5.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Post Falls 18. 2, Sandpoint 49, 3, Lake City 74. 4, Timberlake 111. 5, CDA Charter 113.

TOP 15 — 1, Samantha Wood, Post Falls, 18:22.9. 2, Anna Peters, Post Falls, 19:42.2. 3, Kaley Bohl, Post Falls, 20:19.6. 4, Alahna Lien, Post Falls, 20:25.2. 5, Angelyca Chapman, Lake City, 20:50.3. 6, Clara Stephens, Lake City, 20:53.7. 7, Mackenzie Suhy-Gregoire, Sandpoint, 20:54.5. 8, Leah Holding, Post Falls, 21:00.7. 9, Ara Clark, Sandpoint, 21:02.8. 10, Megan Oulman, Sandpoint, 21:11.1. 11, Grace Rookey, Sandpoint, 21:58.2. 12, Camille Neuder, Sandpoint, 22:01.9. 13, McKenna Kozeluh, CDA Charter, 22:12.3. 14, Erica Mundt, Post Falls, 22:14.2. 15, Payton Betz, Sandpoint, 22:40.3.

BOYS JV

TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint 45. 2, Timberlake 94. 3, Post Falls 129. 4, Lake City 157.

TOP 10 — 1, Kasten Grimm, Sandpoint, 19:33.3. 2, Steven Anderson, Post Falls, 19:41.6. 3, Isaac Babin, Sandpoint, 19:54.3. 4, Anders Eastley, Sandpoint, 19:59.2. 5, Will Jordan, Sandpoint, 20:15.6. 6, Luke Schutee, Post Falls, 20:15.9. 7, Jeremiah Alameda, Timberlake, 20:21.8. 8, Daniel Ricks, Sandpoint, 20:38.5. 9, Jacob Howell, Timberlake, 20:40.8. 10, Nate Dotson, Sandpoint, 20:47.0.