LEWISTON — Juniors Jack Lovin and Elizabeth Storms ran to all-state finishes, nine Bulldogs ran to top 25 times in school history, and both the Sandpoint High boys and girls garnered fifth-place finishes at the 5A State Championship held Saturday at the Lewiston Orchards, home of the Lewis-Clark State College cross country course.

Lovin finished 16th out of 113 runners with a new personal-best time of 15 minutes, 44.7 seconds, which ranks as the second-fastest in Sandpoint High history. “It was a hard fought one,” Lovin said. “There were a lot of guys that were in front of me and I was trying to get through there and battle.”

Lovin had friend and rival Frank McCarthy of Lakeland High, who finished 14th, pushing him along the way to a state medal. McCarthy was second at the 5A District 1-2 Championships while Lovin was third on the same course Oct. 22. “We’re pretty good friends, and have always been close in competition,” Lovin noted. “It’s always pretty close between us. He’s a fun guy to race.”

Sophomore Kai Budensiek (26th, 16:07), senior Paul Kent (36th, 16:16), junior Trace Evans (44th, 16:20) and sophomore Hobbes Conley (54th, 16:35) rounded out the scorers for Sandpoint's boys, which boasted a 51-second spread and scored 138 points, 13 ahead of sixth-place Bishop Kelly. The Bulldogs, which had six runners crack the all-time top 25, also got sub-17 finishes from freshmen Cy Marshall (57th, 16:38) and Landon Connor (61st, 16:43) as they were just 27 points away from a fourth-place trophy.

Priest River High freshman Tadhg McLaimtaig led the Spartans with a 47th-place finish out of 90 runners in the 3A race with a new personal best time of 17 minutes, 32.8 seconds.

For the girls, Storms finished 19th amongst the 110-runner field with a new personal best time of 19 minutes, 0.4 seconds, which ranks as the eighth-fastest in Sandpoint High history. Her goal of finishing in the top 20 and being a medalist at state was officially complete.

“This race was a lot better than districts,” Storms said. “Mentally, going into this, I felt good, but coming out with a medal feels even better. My team and I sat down before the race and talked tactics. We found we run better when we’ve got packs to run with, and from there, we used each other as our source of strength. We were in the zone, placed well."

Sophomores Ruthie Laughridge (25th, 19:15) and Delaney Barron (26th, 19:16) finished back-to-back and produced top 25 all-time marks while sophomore Lillian Grant (50th, 20:10) and freshman Sophie Brubaker (52nd, 20:13) rounded out the scorers for Sandpoint's girls, which posted a spread of one minute, 13 seconds and scored 145 points, 11 ahead of sixth-place Jerome. Freshmen Vivian Schuck (65th, 20:29) and Sienna Szabo (88th, 21:15) held down the No. 6 and No. 7 spots, respectively, for the Lady Bulldogs, which were just 24 points away from a fourth-place trophy despite every runner crossing the line with a new personal best.

Priest River High junior Alannah McLaimtaig led the Lady Spartans with a 41st-place finish out of 74 runners in the 3A race with a new personal best time of 21 minutes, 44.4 seconds.

5A BOYS

Field: 113 runners; 14 teams

Length: 5,000 meters

TEAM SCORES — 1, Skyline 64. 2, Preston 76. 3, Century 106. 4, Idaho Falls 111. 5, Sandpoint 138. 6, Bishop Kelly 151. 7, Moscow 160. 8, Blackfoot 169. 9, Skyview 192. 10, Middleton 250. 11, Jerome 294. 12, Twin Falls 311. 13, Burley 319. 14, Vallivue 413.

TOP THREE, LOCALS — 1, Ethan Hansen, Century, 14:51.1. 2, Christopher Peterson, Skyview, 14:53.9. 3, Davis Roberts, Skyline, 15:06.4. 16, Jack Lovin, Sandpoint, 15:44.7. 26, Kai Budensiek, Sandpoint, 16:07.6. 36, Paul Kent, Sandpoint, 16:16.4. 44, Trace Evans, Sandpoint, 16:20.1. 54, Hobbes Conley, Sandpoint, 16:35.3. 57, Cy Marshall, Sandpoint, 16:38.9. 61, Landon Connor, Sandpoint, 16:43.3.

3A BOYS

Field: 90 runners; 11 teams

Length: 5,000 meters

TEAM SCORES — 1, Malad 49. 2, Ririe 62. 3, North Fremont 80. 4, Soda Springs 98. 5, Nampa Christian 102. 6, West Side 104. 7, New Plymouth 220. 8, Ambrose 238. 9, Kellogg 241. 10, Melba 267. 11, Marsing 272. 

TOP THREE, LOCALS — 1, Boston Burbidge, Malad, 15:18.6. 2, Ethan Willis, West Side, 15:30.9. 3, Jace Nalder, Malad, 15:38.1. 47, Tadhg McLaimtaig, Priest River, 17:32.8. 62, Daniel Gunkle, Priest River, 18:03.4.

5A GIRLS

Field: 110 runners; 11 teams

Length: 5,000 meters

TEAM SCORES — 1, Idaho Falls 78. 2, Twin Falls 100. 3, Bishop Kelly 102. 4, Skyline 121. 5, Sandpoint 145. 6, Jerome 156. 7, Preston 174. 8, Shelley 193. 9, Century 245. 10, Lakeland 263. 11, Skyview 290. 12, Vallivue 291. 13, Middleton 296. 14, Burley 335.

TOP THREE, LOCALS — 1, Raelee Richardson, Twin Falls, 17:25.3. 2, Jaycee Jensen, Idaho Falls, 18:04.7. 3, Katie Boyle, Pocatello, 18:07.5. 19, Elizabeth Storms, Sandpoint, 19:00.4. 25, Ruthie Laughridge, Sandpoint, 19:15.6. 26, Delaney Barron, Sandpoint, 19:16.50, Lillian Grant, Sandpoint, 20:10.0. 51, Sophie Brubaker, Sandpoint, 20:13.6. 65, Vivian Schuck, Sandpoint, 20:29.2. 88, Sienna Szabo, Sandpoint, 21:15.4.

3A GIRLS

Field: 74 runners; 10 teams

Length: 5,000 meters

TEAM SCORES — 1, Malad 51. 2, Ririe 62. 3, Soda Springs 65. 4, Nampa Christian 95. 5, North Fremont 125. 6, Ambrose 145. 7, Firth 207. 8, Parma 227. 9, Grangeville 261. 10, Priest River 262.

TOP THREE, LOCALS — 1, Lucy Boone, Ririe, 18:05.3. 2, Bella Spencer, West Jefferson, 18:17.4. 3, Andrea Anderson, North Fremont, 18:20. 41, Alannah McLaimtaig, Priest River, 21:44.4. 53, Kyla White, Priest River, 23:04. 59, Maiyu Smith, Priest River, 24:06.9. 67, Breelynn Duran, Priest River, 24:50.2. 70, Sakura Smith, Priest River, 25:55.2. 72, Abagail Shaulis, Priest River, 26:19.3. 

    Sandpoint High junior Jack Lovin, right, and Lakeland High junior Frank McCarthy, left, battle it out down the stretch during the 5A State Championship held this past Saturday at the Lewiston Orchards. The two, which have a friendly rivalry, were separated by just .6 seconds.