SMS cross country teams bring home district titles

ATHOL — The Sandpoint Middle School cross country teams capped off their fall season with a pair of District 1 titles this past Wednesday at Farragut State Park.

On the girls side, eighth-grader Olivia Betz beat out 122 other runners to win the the 1.5-mile race in an impressive time of 8 minutes, 51.5 seconds. Claire LeBaron (seventh, 9:35), Sylvia Nees (eighth, 9:40) and Avalon Gillis (ninth, 9:46), all seventh graders, placed in the top 10 to lift the Bullpups to a 26-point win over Canfield of Couer d'Alene. Eighth-grader Marcella Thompson (11th, 10:02) and seventh-grader Nina Tajan (12th, 10:02) trailed not too far behind in the winning effort.

For the boys, eighth-grader Blakely Marshall grabbed a silver medal amongst a 136-runner field with a solid time of 8 minutes, 35.6 seconds. Caleb Drube (Seventh, 9:08) and Ryan Mills (10th, 9:15) were two of just three seventh graders to crack the top 10. Eighth-graders Maxx Watson (9:17), Wyatt Stevenson (14th, 9:18) and Rhys Bricher (19th, 9:35) placed in the top 20 as did seventh-graders Xander Conner (15th, 9:19) and Jude Laughridge (17th, 9:31) for the Bullpups, which beat out Canfield of Couer d'Alene by four points.

In the Small School Division races, eighth-grader Seth Paschetag of Priest River placed eighth out of 60 runners with a time of 10 minutes, 10.9 seconds. For the Lady Spartans, eighth-grader Ailish McLaimtaig finished 16th out of 51 runners with a time of 11 minutes, 50.3 seconds.

BOYS

Large School Division

Length: 1.5 miles

Field: 8 teams; 136 runners

TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint 46. 2, Canfield 50. 3, Lakes 70. 4, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy 106. 5, Post Falls 118. 6, Woodland 146. 7, Lakeland 169. 8, River City 227.

(Top 10, locals)

1, Will Wood, Post Falls, 8:29.6. 2, Blakely Marshall, Sandpoint, 8:35.6; 3, Boston Anderson, Canfield, 8:42.9; 4, Jay Blue, Canfield, 8:45.7; 5, Jake Young, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, 8:52.6; 6, Nolan Anderson, Woodland, 8:53.6; 7, Caleb Drube, Sandpoint, 9:08.8. 8, Paxton Polfer, Lakes, 9:09.8; 9, Caleb Flom, Lakes, 9:14.6; 10, Ryan Mills, Sandpoint, 9:15.3; 13, Maxx Watson, Sandpoint, 9:17.4; 14, Wyatt Stevenson, Sandpoint, 9:18.6; 15, Xander Conner, Sandpoint, 9:19.8; 17, Jude Laughridge, Sandpoint, 9:31.2; 19, Rhys Bricher, Sandpoint, 9:35.6; 52, Ellis Jensen, Sandpoint, 10:46.2; 53, Bryson Bowen, Sandpoint, 10:48.6; 56, Teak Ross, Sandpoint, 10:50.6; 57, Augie Fisher, Sandpoint, 10:52.8; 62, John Hagadone, Sandpoint, 11:04.2; 69, Wesley Hansen, Sandpoint, 11:28.7; 74, Bentley Bisel, Sandpoint, 11:38.3; 92, Fynn Babin, Sandpoint, 12:20.0; 122, River Poppas, Sandpoint, 14:40.9; 123, Alex Nelson, Sandpoint, 14:47.3.

GIRLS

Large School Division

Length: 1.5 miles

Field: 8 teams; 123 runners

TEAM SCORES — 1, Sandpoint 36. 2, Canfield 62. 3, Lakeland 70. 4, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy 104. 5, Woodland 118. 6, Lakes 171. 7, River City 190. 8, Post Falls 232.

(Top 10, locals)

1, Olivia Betz, Sandpoint, 8:51.5; 2, Summer Dance, Canfield, 8:56.3; 3, London Dance, Canfield, 9:27.4; 4, Brooklyn Caywood, Lakeland, 9:32.3; 5, Emery Talbot, Canfield, 9:34.7; 6, Finley Taylor, Woodland, 9:35.1; 7, Claire LeBaron, Sandpoint, 9:35.3; 8, Sylvia Nees, Sandpoint, 9:40.4; 9, Avalon Gillis, Sandpoint, 9:46.7; 10, Charlotte Carr, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, 9:50.8; 11, Marcella Thompson, Sandpoint, 10:02.3; 12, Nina Tajan, Sandpoint, 10:02.6; 18, Avery DeNeui, Sandpoint, 10:23.4; 24, Charli Hall, Sandpoint, 10:33.5; 25, Halo Ripp, Sandpoint, 10:33.8; 29, Charley Martin, Sandpoint, 10:40.3; 31, Teresa Hurt, Sandpoint, 10:50.4; 37, Elsa Gidley, Sandpoint, 11:08.6; 40, Fiona Naples, Sandpoint, 11:11.9; 43, McKenna Barron, Sandpoint, 11:16.0; 45, Autumn Parkins-Baker, Sandpoint, 11:18.5; 71, Audrey Bauman, Sandpoint, 12:59.3; 72, Lylah Freeman, Sandpoint, 13:04.1.

    The Sandpoint Middle School girls cross country team shows off the trophy they earned for winning the District 1 title on Wednesday at Farragut State Park.