QUINCY, Wash. — It was a breakthrough race for the Sandpoint High junior.

Elizabeth Storms ran to a time of 20 minutes, 13.3 seconds and beat out 70 other runners to capture gold and her first career meet win, sophomore Delany Barron ran to a personal best time of 20 minutes, 37.88 seconds and picked up bronze, and the Lady Bulldogs placed second out of 11 scoring teams in the Large School Division at the Live Nation Invite held Thursday at The Gorge Amphitheatre.

Sophomore Ruthie Laughridge also cracked the top 10, placing ninth with a time of 21 minutes, 19.71 seconds. Sophomore Lillian Grant placed 18th (22:06), freshman Vivian Schuck 20th (22:21) and freshman Sophie Brubaker 21st (22:24) for Sandpoint's girls, which were just two points shy of Lake City and beat out 5A Inland Empire League rivals Lakeland and Lewiston.

Sophomore Sienna Szabo won the junior varsity race in 22 minutes, 43 seconds as the Lady Bulldogs' placed first out of eight scoring teams.

For the boys, junior Jack Lovin finished 14th out of 88 runners with a time of 17 minutes, 26.68 seconds while sophomore Kai Budensiek, wearing a pair of trail shoes, trailed not too far behind in 15th with a time of 17 minutes, 27.77 seconds. Senior Paul Kent placed 18th (17:36), freshman Landon Connor was 21st (18:01) and junior Trace Evans was 26th (18:08) for the Bulldogs, which placed third out of 13 scoring teams and beat 5A Inland Empire League rivals Lakeland and Lewiston on the day.

Senior Julian Knight placed fifth in the junior varsity race with a time of 19 minutes, 12.27 seconds as Sandpoint's boys placed first out of 14 scoring teams.

"It was a spike-less race, so everyone ran in trainers," Sandpoint High head coach Mike Ehredt noted. "It's been a slow, steady progression of getting stronger leading up to districts — not necessarily time-wise, but tactic-wise. I'm pretty happy with the performance. We did better today than we did last year and performed better with less effort than we did at 509."

Sandpoint is idle until Oct. 22 when they'll compete at the 5A District 1-2 Championships, set to be held at Lewis-Clark State College. The junior varsity, along with Priest River, will compete at the Inland Northwest Small School JV Champs on Saturday, Oct. 18, at Riverside High in Chattaroy.

GIRLS

Large School Division

Length: 5,000 meters

Field: 11 teams; 71 runners

TEAM SCORES — 1, Lake City 49. 2, Sandpoint 51. 3, Lakeland 95. 4, Moses Lake 143. 5, Kingston 153. 6, Chiawana 167. 7, Sunnyside 193. 8, Shadle Park 206. 9, Ridgeline 216. 10, Lewiston 216. 11, Pendleton 226.

(Top 10, locals)

1, Elizabeth Storms, Sandpoint, 20:13.30; 2, Madison Zimmerman, Lake City, 20:22.80; 3, Delaney Barron, Sandpoint, 20:37.88; 4, Emma Grice, Kingston, 20:38.24; 5, Kaylee Shinn, Sunnyside, 20:58.50; 6, Addisyn Storm, Lewiston, 21:00.33; 7, Olivia Meredith, Lakeland, 21:03.02; 8, Taylon Lund, Lake City, 21:12.66; 9, Ruthie Laughridge, Sandpoint, 21:19.71; 10, Maddison Chapple, Lakeland, 21:21.82; 18, Lillian Grant, Sandpoint, 22:06.57; 20, Vivian Schuck, Sandpoint, 22:21.65; 21, Sophie Brubaker, Sandpoint, 22:24.35; 48, Addyson Sychla, Sandpoint, 24:58.12.

BOYS

Large School Division

Length: 5,000 meters

Field: 13 teams; 85 runners

TEAM SCORES — 1, Shadle Park 66. 2, Mead 80. 3, Sandpoint 94. 4, Kennewick 108. 5. Kingston 160. 6, Lake City 166. 7, Pendleton 193. 8, Lewiston 199. 9, Sunnyside 216. 10, Moses Lake 225. 11, Lakeland 252. 12, Chiawana 282. 13, Ridgeline 341.   

(Top 10, locals)

1, Becks Bird, Shadle Park, 15:52.51; 2, Asher Downey, Kennewick, 16:39.68; 3, Coen Van Vliet, Kingston, 16:43.93; 4, Frank McCarthy, Lakeland, 16:54.83; 5, Nicholas Perkins, Shadle Park, 16:56.56; 6, Kyle Biernat, Shadle Park, 16:58.71; 7, Jack Reynolds, Pendleton, 17:02.19; 8, Timothy Clark-Johnston, Kingston, 17:04.88; 9, Lucas Clements, Lewiston, 17:06.77; 10, Kyle Johnson, Kennewick, 17:12.25; 14, Jack Lovin, Sandpoint, 17:26.68; 15, Kai Budensiek, Sandpoint, 17:27.77; 18, Paul Kent, Sandpoint, 17:36.64; 21, Landon Connor, Sandpoint, 18:01.23; 26, Trace Evans, Sandpoint, 18:08.89; 28, Hobbes Conley, Sandpoint, 18:16.94; 42, Cy Marshall, Sandpoint, 18:44.38.