SPOKANE — There's only one person faster than Sandpoint junior Kai Budensiek in the school's record books: himself.

Budensiek broke his own school record for a 5K time with a 15:27 at the renowned Bob Firman Invite last weekend in Spokane. His time was five seconds faster than the record he set at the Libby Invite and was good enough for a 39th place finish at the Spokane meet, which featured the region's best runners. 

Thanks to Budensiek's record-setting run and strong performances from Hobbes Conley (15:44.8), Jack Lovin (16:11.3) and Landon Connor (16:12.4), the Bulldog boys placed 12th out of 38 teams in the Mens 5K Elite competition. Sandpoint's Cy Marshall finished with a 16:114.6 to round out the scoring for the Bulldogs. 

On the girls side, Sandpoint's group of scorers was once again at full strength with all five scoring runners finishing within 45 seconds of each other. The Bulldogs were led by Delaney Barron (19:54.9), followed by Olivia Betz (20:06.4), Ruthie Laughridge (20:20.5), Elizabeth Storms (20:30.0) and Charli Hall (20:39.7).  

Despite having no high finishers, the grouped scoring effort allowed the Bulldogs to place 27th out of the 31 teams in the Womens 5K Elite event.   

After tackling the massive event, the Bulldogs will get time off until Oct. 10 when the school's best will head to the Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational to compete against some of the best runners in the Pacific Northwest. Sandpoint's other runners will take on the annual Battle for the 509 run in Spokane on Oct. 10 for their final meet before the district tournament. 

The Priest River Lamanna High Spartans also attended the event, competing in the Mens and Womens 5K Varsity Division II events. The Spartans' trip to Spokane was headlined by an impressive showing from Spartans' senior Daniel Gunkle, who finished 51st in the event with a 17:50.5 time, and freshman Seth Paschetag, who finished 80th with an 18:44.1. 

The Spartans boys did not have enough runners to score as a team, but the Priest River girls did. For their effort, Priest River finished 16th out of 16 teams in the 5K varsity event thanks to a nice outing from their youth. 

Freshman Ailish McLaimtaig finished 82nd with a 23:22.3 time, and sophomore Abagail Shaulis finished 89th with a 23:44.3. 

Priest River's runners are back in action at the Ben Castro Invite at the Pinehurst Golf Course on Oct. 1 before they, too, will head back to Spokane for the Battle for the 509 event on Oct. 10.