Boys, girls place fourth at Bonners Ferry Invitational

BONNERS FERRY — The Priest River track and field team competed in its second meet of the season and final event before spring break on Saturday.

The Spartans captured fourth in boys and girls out of the six teams at the Bonners Ferry Invitational, and 14 of the 19 athletes that took part in the meet notched at least one personal best.

“There were a lot of highlights for our small in numbers, but mighty Spartan track team,” head coach Jared Hughes wrote in an email. “... While we were outpaced by the depth of the larger schools, we still had several athletes place high in the meet.”

Annika Rantala grabbed the sole event victory for Priest River by placing first in the girls 3200-meter with the sixth fastest time recorded in 3A this spring. She was fifth in the 1600.

Freshman Allyson Barton secured a pair of second-place finishes in the discus and triple jump, recording PRs in both. Her throw in the discus is currently second best in 3A, only behind Timberlake’s Blayre Jeffs. She was also sixth in the shot put.

Shane Gamber secured second in the boys 300 hurdles with a PR and Erik Deem was second in the pole vault with a PR of 10 feet, seventh best in 3A.

Jordan Nortz placed third in the boys 200 and triple jump and sixth in the long jump. Matyus McLain took third in the high jump and fourth in the discus, and Dylan Lord notched third in the 3200.

The boys sprint medley crew made up of Joey Hayes, Jimmie Isenberger, Bradley Gleason and McLain captured second, while Alexis Hunter, Elisheva Davis, Allyson Dickinson and Erika Swoboda led the girls to a third place result in the event. Swoboda was also fourth in the high jump and fifth in the long jump.

Dylan Nortz grabbed fifth in the boys 100 and sixth in the triple jump. The Nortz brothers, Deem and Joey Hayes ran a 47.54 in the 4x100 relay to place third. Their time is fifth best in the state.

Isenberger was fourth in the 110 hurdles with a PR of 20.66, Levi Hanna was fifth in the boys shot put and Hayes earned seventh in the long jump.

Eighteen Spartans scored points for the team Saturday.

Priest River heads back to Bonners Ferry High on Tuesday, April 13 for an Intermountain League double dual against the Badgers and Timberlake.

BONNERS FERRY INVITATIONAL

Priest River results

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Timberlake 204.2. 2, Sandpoint 183. 3, Bonners Ferry 159.4. 4, Priest River 89.4. 5, Kellogg 12. 6, Troy 3.

100 — 5, Dylan Nortz, 12.51. 9, Joey Hayes, 12.96. 200 — 3, Jordan Nortz, 25.14. 800 — 10, Dylan Lord, 2:31.52. 16, Ethan Korff, 2:38.08. 1,600 — 12, Ethan Korff, 5:42.44. 3,200 — 3, Dylan Lord, 11:07.98.

110 hurdles — 4, Jimmie Isenberger, 20.66. 300 hurdles — 2, Shane Gamber, 47.00. 4x100 relay — 3, Priest River (Erik Deem, Joey Hayes, Dylan Nortz, Jordan Nortz), 47.52. 4x200 relay — 5, Priest River (Aiden Troumbley, Blake Miller, Rafe Gregory, Caleb McDermeit), 1:48.47. 4x400 relay — 4, Priest River (Jimmie Isenberger, Shane Gamber, Dylan Lord, Bradley Gleason), 4:09.89. Sprint medley — 2, Priest River (Matyus McLain, Joey Hayes, Jimmie Isenberger, Bradley Gleason), 4:12.39.

Shot put — 5, Levi Hanna, 34-2. Discus — 4, Matyus McLain, 101-11. 13, Levi Hanna, 69-7. 14, Ethan Korff, 69-0. High jump — 3, Matyus McLain, 5-2. Pole vault — 2, Erik Deem, 10-0. T8, Shane Gamber & Aiden Troumbley, 7-6. Long jump — 6, Jordan Nortz, 17-6 ¾. 7, Joey Hayes, 17-5 ¼. 14, Dylan Nortz, 15-7 ¼. Triple jump — 3, Jordan Nortz, 37-3. 6, Dylan Nortz, 31-10 ¼.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint 203. 2, Bonners Ferry 183.5. 3, Timberlake 152. 4, Priest River 53. 5, Kellogg 34.5.

100 — 10, Alyssa Clement, 16.28. 1,600 — 5, Annika Rantala, 6:17.54. 3,200 — 1, Annika Rantala, 13:02.19.

4x200 relay — 4, Priest River (Allyson Barton, Allyson Dickinson, Elisheva Davis, Alexis Hunter), 2:04.60. Sprint medley (Alexis Hunter, Elisheva Davis, Allyson Dickinson, Erika Swoboda), 2:16.98.

Shot put — 6, Allyson Barton, 28-3 ½. Discus — 2, Allyson Barton, 102-1. High jump — 4, Erika Swoboda, 4-2. Long jump — 5, Erika Swoboda, 13-3 ½. 10, Alyssa Clement, 11-7 ½. Triple jump — 2, Allyson Barton, 28-6 ¼.

Baseball unable to breakthrough in Orofino

OROFINO — Spartan baseball was shut out on the scoreboard across three games in Orofino this past Friday and Saturday to open the season.

In game one of a doubleheader Friday, the Spartans fell 10-0 to the Maniacs. They had just one hit and committed four errors.

“We just couldn’t find the holes to get something going,” head coach Mark Schultz wrote in an email. “... If we could have scored early, we could have put pressure on Orofino.”

Despite the loss, Schultz thought Konner Johnson and Everett Hannah had strong showings on the mound. Hannah recorded the sole hit for the Spartans.

In the doubleheader finale, the game was called after the top of the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule as the Maniacs sailed to a 20-0 win. Orofino scored 11 runs in the fourth inning.

Brendan Reeves and Shayd Wong-Yuen each had a hit in the game.

The Spartans closed out the road trip Saturday morning and Reeves pitched a gem, only giving up five hits and four runs across five innings of work. He also had three strikeouts and kept Priest River in the game throughout, but Orofino was able to complete the three-game sweep with a 4-0 victory.

Schultz said his team needs to be more consistent at the plate, but he was proud of the fight they showed in the final game.

“They really showed what they were made of by coming out and competing in the last game,” he wrote. “It says something about them, coming back after getting beat badly in game two and playing that well in game three. They never gave up.”

Priest River (0-3) heads to Sandpoint for a doubleheader that starts at 3 p.m. Thursday at War Memorial Field.

Game 1

PR 000 00X — 0 1 4

ORO 402 31X — 10 8 0

Konner Johnson, Everett Hannah (3) and Brendan Reeves; Christopherson and Naranjo.

HITS: PR — Hannah. ORO — Barlow 2, Naranjo 2, Turcott, Larson, Christopherson, Howell.

Game 2

PR 000 00X — 0 2 1

ORO 171 (11)X — 20 7 0

Game called in the 5th due to 10-run rule.

Tyson Brooks, Nadin Thompson (2), Shayd Wong-Yuen (4), Colton Brooks (4) and Reeves; Larson and Christopherson.

HITS: PR — B. Reeves, Wong Yuen. ORO — Turcott 2, Naranjo 2, Larson, Barlow, Lilly.

Game 3

PR 000 000 0 — 0 1 4

ORO 102 010 X — 4 5 1

B. Reeves, Coby Rogers (6) and Hannah; Turcott and Larson.

HITS: PR — Hannah. ORO — Naranjo 2, Larson, Lilly, Howell.

Luke Butler leads the way in first IML match

BONNERS FERRY — Luke Butler shot an 84 at Mirror Lake Golf Course this past Thursday to help the Priest River boys finish second as a team at the first Intermountain League match of the season.

“For an opener, I thought the boys did fine,” head golf coach Dan Buttrey said.

The Spartans had a team score of 398, just behind first-place Kellogg with a 347.

Kameron Salesky shot a 94, Bowen Fegert recorded a 99 and Joey Hayes tallied a 121. Butler shot the third best score on the boys side.

The match was originally scheduled to be played at Pinehurst Golf Course, but due to snow the event was moved to Bonners Ferry.

John Vickers, the owner and golf pro at the Ranch Club Golf Course, said the boys were still trying to shake off some rust.

“It’s hard to play competitive golf in high school when you’re coming out of snow,” he said.

Senior Olivia Hoefner was the sole girl that took the course for the Spartans. She shot a 111.

Buttrey said he has a few newcomers on the girls side that is hoping to get on varsity in the coming weeks.

“I’d like to get a few JV matches under their belts and build some confidence before I put them in an 18-hole varsity match,” he said.

Priest River hosts an IML match at the Ranch Club on Monday, April 12.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Kellogg 347. 2, Priest River 398. 3, Timberlake 495. 4, Bonners Ferry 507.

MEDALIST — Archie Rauenhorst, Kellogg, 77.

KELLOGG — Archie Rauenhorst 77, Stephen Paul 82, Griffey Doerschel 94, Jaeger Hall 94, Ben Bristow 117.

PRIEST RIVER — Kole Salesky 94, B. Fegert 99, L. Butler 84, B. O’Brien 132, J. Hayes 121.

TIMBERLAKE — Colton Mendenhall 95, Connor Conrath 126, B. Coleman 136, Tanner Menti 138, D. Ranney 144.

BONNERS FERRY — T. Tadleck 112, Z. Carver 125, J. Bliss 141, J. Rean 135, J. Robinson 135.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Bonners Ferry 421. 2, Kellogg 472. 3, Timberlake 489.

MEDALIST — Braylynn Bayer, Bonners Ferry, 80.

BONNERS FERRY — A. Bayer 94, B. Bayer 80, M. Blackmore 120, L. Blackmore 127.

KELLOGG — Alyssa Milliron 102, Gracie Miller 121, Jezzy Hall 121, Elliott Hei 128.

TIMBERLAKE — Izzy Hillard 88, Emma Torr 124, K. Edelblute 139, L. Holloway 138.

PRIEST RIVER — O. Hoefner 111.

Softball drops three in Orofino, grabs first win

PRIEST RIVER — Priest River softball secured its first victory of the season in dramatic fashion on Tuesday.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Lilly Freitas drew a walk to give the Spartans a 27-26 walk-off win over Troy. The game was called in the sixth due to darkness.

Freitas had herself a day for the Spartans. She hit an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the first inning and had four RBIs. She also started on the mound and pitched 5 1/3 innings.

Kylee Lederle and Ona Rose also had four RBIs and Shelby Hanna drove in three runs.

Priest River opened the season this past Friday and Saturday with three games in Orofino, and lost all three. The final scores were 27-12, 17-5 and 30-12.

Prior to the opening series, only one player for the Spartans had competed in a high school softball game. Head coach Ron Kruse said the series with the Maniacs was a real eye opener for his squad.

“We’re a young team and we’re in rebuilding mode so we learned a lot of things,” he said. “We learned basically what the speed of the game is and kind of worked at practice to get back up to that speed because we’re not there yet.”

Mistakes on defense and on the mound killed the Spartans against Orofino. They walked 44 batters, hit 18 of them and committed 21 errors.

“I expected that though because most of them are new,” he said.

Despite the losses, Priest River was able to get plenty of production at the plate, scoring a total of 29 runs.

Across the three games, Lederle tallied three hits and three RBIs. Faith Spaude and Hanna also drove in three runs and Freitas recorded three hits and two RBIs.

Kruse said Freitas and Spaude both hit balls that nearly went over the fence for home runs.

“Lilly Freitas was all over the field hustling like crazy,” he said.

Kruse was also impressed with Rose, who played in the outfield for the first time.

“She was flying for balls,” he said. “It was amazing.”

The Spartans (1-3) host a doubleheader against Sandpoint at 3 p.m. Thursday.

TR 601 27(10) — 26 9 2

PR 972 225 — 27 11 8

Game called in 6th inning due to darkness

HITS: PR — Freitas 3, Hanna 2, O. Rose 2, Hansen, Lederle, Zylstra, M. Rose. 2B — Freitas 2, Lederle, O. Rose. HR — Freitas.

FIRST GAME

PR 009 03 — 12 4 5

ORO (15)63 3X — 27 6 1

Game called after top of 5th inning

Jaylein Zylstra, Faith Spaude (2), Lilly Freitas and Brodie Hansen; Scwarte and Tilley.

HITS: PR — Freitas, Hansen, Lederle, Spaude. ORO — Cochran 3, Tilley, Maetche, Zenner.

SECOND GAME

PR 140 X — 5 2 6

ORO 485 X — 17 2 2

Game called after 3 innings

Hansen, Freitas (2) and Zylstra; Hudson and Maetche.

HITS: PR — Freitas, Lederle. ORO — Schwarte, Miller.

THIRD GAME

PR 523 2 — 12 3 10

ORO (14)(11)5 X — 30 10 1

Game called after top of 4th inning

Zylstra, Spaude (1), Freitas (2) and Hansen; Scwarte, Hudson (3) and Maetche.

HITS: PR — Freitas, Lederle, Hanna. ORO — Cochran 3, Scwarte 2, Zenner, Miller, Hudson, Maetche, Tilley.