Sandpoint Boys 2nd out of 17 Schools at Timberlake Invitational

09/08/2018

The Sandpoint High School Cross Country team was ready to race after 4 weeks of practices, and took that enthusiam into their first big invitational at Farragut State Park on Saturday. The Boys Varsity placed 2nd out of 17 schools, with only Boise area 5A Borah beating them, and the JV boys took 3rd place. The girls team placed 5th with with just 5 girls on the varsity line, while the JV placed 7th.

The boys team started out patient and packed up, with Ephriam Weisz leading the charge. The boys took a page from the girls playbook over the past 5 years and packed up tight. Ephriam was 7th overall out of 127 runner with a 17:28. Sophomore Jett Lucas was 9th with a 17:34. Nikolai Braedt, also a Sophomore, was 21st in 18:14, Brady Nelsen was 24th with an 18:16, Gabe Merithew was 27th in 18:19, Keegan Nelson was 30th in 18:22, and Seth Graham was 55th in 19:27 after suffering a massive sideache. The boys placement was even more impressive because they were missing team #2 Kieran Wilder, who will race in 2 weeks. This was an excellent start, competing and beating multiple 5A schools.

In the girls race, Niah Brass led all Sandpoint runners in 18th place out of 87 runners. She ran a 21:44, and in typical Sandpoint Cross Country Girls team fashion, she had a pack of teammates close behind. Paige Davidson was 21st in 22:08, Chloe Braedt was 24th in 22:13, Bionce Vincent was 31st in 22:38, and Megan Oulman was 41st in 23:30. The girls were missing pack runner Corina Wallace this weekend, and racing down 2. This was an impressive start and bodes well for competitiveness in the Region.

The boys JV race was the biggest of the day with 188 runners, and Tyler McNamee took 1st place overall with an 18:18. He started agressive, held with the front pack through two miles, then tore up the last big hill to take the lead. He gapped the next runner by 9 seconds for the win. Sloan Woodward was 17th in 19:17, Trey Clark was 22nd in 19:25, Gabe Christman was 25th in 19:28, and Jason Leedle was 30th in 19:48 to round out the scoring 5. The boys showed great team depth and ran a great packed race, finishing 3rd behind Boise and Meridian.

The JV Girls had 105 runners, and the top Sandpoint finisher was Quinn Hooper in 25th, running a 24:46. Also competing were Chloe Pierce (54th), Kenzie Suhy-Gregoire (55th), Valerie Wickboldt (56th), Elisa Eastly (59th), Lydia Nelsen (73rd), and Kylan Hagen-Moore (83rd). The team placed 7th in the meet.

Sandpoint will have a weekend off next week, and race again in Cheney on the 22nd of September at the Battle of the 509 Invitational. The Invite will feature GLS powers North Central, Mead, Shadle Park, U-High and more, and should be a great build for local and State championship season in October.

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