LEWISTON — Rusty Lee picked up right where he left off in 2021, earning a first place finish in both the 110 meter hurdles and 300 meter hurdles at the Lewiston Invitational at Sweeny Track on Friday, March 18.

Lee finished the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 40.37, which was just a quarter of a second away from the school record.

“It was exciting to see him do that well so early in the season,” Sandpoint High School track coach Matt Brass said. “I was really proud of the way he finished out.”

The boys finished fifth overall with 70.5 points. The girls matched the boys placement with a score of 70.

21 teams were present for the Lewiston Invitational, which is a much larger playing field than in recent years.

“A lot of schools asked to join because of Lewiston’s weather,” Brass said. “Lewiston’s coach wanted to get as many teams involved as he could; the kids deserve it.”

Luke McCorkle finished first in the long jump with a 21’11, which was a personal record for the senior.

“He was very excited,” Brass said. “Him and Braeden Kappen are really good friends, so after the event he came up and said he’s keeping it in Sandpoint.”

McCorkle and the rest of the 4x200 meter relay team finished second in its first event of the season with a time of 1:34.66.

The Bulldogs won their heat, but Post Falls ended up winning the competition with a time of 1:32.69.

Will Hurst, on a surgically repaired knee, made his return to the throwing cage and finished third in the discus event throwing 134’4.

The knee is feeling better than ever according to Brass’ conversation with the senior.

“He wasn’t originally going to come out this year, but he showed up on the second day of practice,” Brass said. “After the event, he said he has no pain in his knee; his leg just feels a little weak.

As for the girls, Grace Rookey took home the gold in the 800 meter event.

Rookey made a bold running choice on the final stretch of the race and ended up passing Anna Marie Dance from Coeur d’Alene to finish first.

Rookey was also a part of Sandpoint’s first place DMR team.

The Bulldogs finished first with a time of 13:27.66, which was a minute better than second place team Lake City, who finished with a time of 14:29.88.

Ivy Smith finished third in shot put throwing 34’10.

Brass noted that Smith put a lot of work in during the offseason to improve and it's panning out for the sophomore.

Next up for Sandpoint is a dual against Lake City at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1. Coeur d’Alene 113.13. 2. Post Falls 100.75, 3. Lewiston 82.13, 4. Lakeland 76, 5. Sandpoint 70.5, 6. Timberlake 55.13, 7. Lake City 43, 8. Kamiah 41.25, 9. Orofino 33, 10. Bonners Ferry 32.63, 11. Moscow 23, 12. Asotin 22.5, 13. Priest River 15, 14. Timberline 10, T15. Deary 3, T15. Troy 3, T15 Kellogg 3.

SANDPOINT TOP 3 PLACERS

800 - 1. Jacob King, 2:02.50, CdAlene. 2. Ben Ricks, 2:04.01, San. 3. Lachlan May, 2:06.15, CdAlene.

110 hurdles — 1. Rusty Lee, San, 15.49. 2. Brady Cox, 16.22, Kam. 3. Caius Tebbe, 16.68, Tim.

300 hurdles — 1. Rusty Lee, San, 40.37. 2. Brady Cox, 43.33, Kam. 3. Wyatt McArthur, 43.40, Tim.

4x200 relay —1. Post Falls, 1:32.69. 2. Sandpoint, 1:34.68. 3. Lakeland 1:35.56.

DMR (1200-400-800-1600) — 1. Moscow, 11:12.19. 2. Sandpoint 11:42.64. 3. Post Falls 11:51.17.

discus —1. Thor Kessinger,155’8. 2, Lew. Trevor Miller, 136’9, PF. 3. Will Hurst, San, 134’4.

long jump —1. Luke McCorkle, 21’11.5, San. 2. Carson Benner, 20’7, Aso. 3. Rajanee Oliveri 20’7, tim.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1. Lakeland 89, 2. Lewiston 84, 3. Coeur d’Alene 82, 4. Post Falls 80.5, 5. Sandpoint 70, 6. Lake City 50, 7. Orofino 49, 8. Bonners Ferry 48.5, 9. Kamiah 27, 10. Timberlake 26, 11. Moscow 20, 12. Troy 19, 13. Highland 16, T14. Asotin 8, T14 Clearwater Valley 8, T14. Kellogg 8, T14. Priest River 8, 18. Deary 4.

SANDPOINT TOP 3 PLACERS

800 — 1. Grace Rookey, 2:33.75, San. 2. Anna Marie Dance, 2:34.91, CdAlene. 3. Megan Heyns, 2:35.71, Mos.

3200 — 1. Samantha Wood, 10:49.71, PF. 2. Anastasia Peters, 11:23.59, PF. 3. Megan Oulman, 11:54.41, San.

DMR (1200-400-800-1600) — 1. Sandpoint, 13:27.66. 2. Lake City, 14:29.88. 3. Lakeland 15:23.29.

shot put —1. Asha Abubakari, 38’8, BF. 2. Haylee Appleford, 35’6, Aso. 3. Ivy Smith, 34’10.5, San.

triple jump — 1. Isabelle Raasch, 31’4, Tro. 2. Ava Mazzilli, 31’4, San. 3. Marissa Bershaw, 31’3, LC.