SHS track and field kicks off the season in Lewiston
Sandpoint track and field team finally got to practice outside this week — just in time for a two-meet in three-day stretch to kick off the season.
Yet the early-season rust didn’t show for some of the Bulldogs at the Lewiston Invitational on Thursday.
In a meet that had strong performances across the disciplines, Elaine Huang won the high jump at 4’10 — despite not practicing in a high jump pit all season — junior Paige Davidson won the pole vault with a new personal best of 9’6, and Braedon Dressel set new PRs in the 100 (11.89) and 200 (23.88) en route to second place finishes.
“They were all really excited to actually be on a track, competing,” Head coach Matt Brass said. “Across the board, there wasn’t anyone who was trying to get out of events — they wanted to get in more events. They just really wanted to compete and start setting a bar so they can start working towards improvement.”
Pick a specialty; chances are, Sandpoint had a standout, which bodes well for the first meet of the season.
Sandpoint’s mid-distance duo Sloan Woodward and Seth Graham went 1-2 in the 800 meters, with Woodward edging out Graham by two-hundredths of a second to win it in 2:08.45. Bionce Vincent won the 800 as well in a 2:29.38 — four seconds ahead of the next finisher.
Nikolai Braedt finished second in the mile with a 4:53, yet this was 40 minutes after leading off the Bulldogs’ meet-winning distance medley relay team.
Speaking of, both of Sandpoint’s distance medley relay teams qualified for Pascoe Invitational — Sandpoint’s largest meet of the season, which requires athletes to qualify just to get in the meet — the girls took second place in a 13:46.81, while the boys won the meet with a 11:23.39.
The next step for the team will be making a quick turnaround for Saturday’s meet at Bonners Ferry. The meet will give more Bulldogs opportunities to lower their times, jump higher and throw further in order to put themselves closer to the Pasco Invitational’s qualifying standards.
Eight schools are signed up for the event so far, but Sandpoint is the largest. Nearby Priest River will also be attending.
For a team that is just starting the season, mindfulness will be key between now and then — plus reining in the team’s early-season eagerness by taking on too many events on only two day’s rest.
“For the sprinters, [the key] is not overdoing it and not doing too many events on two days rest,” Brass said. “We just got outside this week. For the distance crew, they put together over 8,000 miles as a team [in the offseason], so they’re revved up and ready to run. The throwers are just excited to be out there, throwing the shot and the discus in every meet.”
Sandpoint will compete at the Bonners Ferry Invitational this Saturday. Field events start at 10 a.m. and running events start at 11 a.m.
Full results were not available at press time, but will run tomorrow.