Bulldogs do well at home XC meet

LACLEDE — Ara Clark finished fifth at 19:54.03 and Nate Roche finished fourth at 16:27.3 to lead the Bulldogs at Saturday's William Johnson Sandpoint Invitational at Riley Creek.

Sandpoint finished second in the team division for the boys and fourth for the girls at the seven-team invite with 5A powerhouses Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls as well as stand-out smaller schools Logos and Coeur d'Alene Charter.

The invite combines the varsity and junior varsity teams for a combined girls and boys race.

"The format of the combined races is a great way to prepare and have team members ready for the regional meet that is in the same format, but also allows for more pack running and the back end of varsity and upper end of JV," Sandpoint girls coach Angie Brass said.

With two of the Bulldogs' top three not competing — Maren Davidson and Lily Richards did not compete due to one taking part in a swim meet and the other out of town — Brass said the home meet was Sandpoint's last before the district meet on Oct. 20.

"Our goal is always to utilize this as a sharpening opportunity for areas that need refining prior to our regional meet," Brass said.

Clark had an "exceptional race," Brass said, noting the senior finished with a season best of 19:54.

"[She] really embraced the last home meet as a senior, driving from gun to tape, running in the top five for the entire race," she added.

Running second for Sandpoint was Payton Betz (21:30, 18th), followed by Grace Rookey (21:35, 22nd) who are looking strong and ready for the regional meet, Brass said. Freshmen Izzy Davidson (22:31, 26th) and Makiyah Hagstrom (22:34, 27th) ran strong together, "stepping up huge" to round out the Bulldog's top five.

Devin McDaniel (22:43, 30th) and Terra Bode (22:45, 31st) were the Bulldogs' next duo in, completing the varsity. The next six in for Sandpoint comprised the JV team today, who continue to improve and move forward, led by Hazel Keating this week, who took a hard fall 1/2 mile into the race, but got up and used the rest of the race to work her way up.

"I think we are in a good place heading into the regional meet and we are all prepared and excited to go after our 10th consecutive regional team title," Brass said. 

In the boys race, Nate Roche (16:27, 4th) ran a very well-paced race, boys coach Matt Brass said.

"[He utilized] his strengths or smart pacing and grinding the middle mile, running one of the best complete races of his season," he said.

Next in for Sandpoint was Dan Ricks (17:04, eighth), who is putting together a strong season of races, contributing to his team each week. Captain and senior Slate Fragoso (17:07, 11th) was third in for Sandpoint, just one spot out of medal contention.

"In a photo finish between ninth, 10th and 11th, there was a .05 second difference," Brass said. "The top three did a great job of staying tight in the mid-race."

Kasten Grimm (17:51, 15th) ran a very solid race this week, holding down the fourth scoring spot and finishing strong. Grimm and Michael Hall (18:09, 20th) did a great job of holding the scoring 5 in the top 20, Brass said.

Keane Haesle (18:26.2, 22nd) and Klein Fragoso (18:26.3, 23rd) ran their first meets scoring in the top varsity seven. The duo were part of a solid pack with Isaiah Hagstrom, Anders Eastley and Fletcher Barrett that was the chase group after varsity, Brass said.

"I am really happy with the way we ran today," he added. "We pulled the scoring groups closer together and had a hungry pack keeping the team score low. This puts us in a good place with the district championships just a week-and-a-half away."

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Coeur d’Alene 22. 2, Sandpoint 55. 3, Lake City 81. 4, Post Falls 116. 5, Logos 129. 6, Lewiston 152.

TOP 10 — 1, Max Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 16:08.15. 2, Jacob King, Coeur d’Alene, 16:22.07. 3, Lachlan May, Coeur d’Alene, 16:24.19. 4, Nathan Roche, Sandpoint, 16:27.3. 5, Zack Cervi-Skinner, Coeur d’Alene, 16:40.19. 6, Logan Anderson, Lake City, 16:55.5. 7, Zach Atwood, Logos, 17:01.52. 8, Daniel Ricks, Sandpoint, 17:04.65. 9, Nathan Russell, Cd’A Charter, 17:07.5. 10, James Stubbers, Lewiston, 17:07.54.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Coeur d’Alene 36. 2, Post Falls 57. 3, Logos 79. 4, Sandpoint 96. 5, Lake City 128. 6, Cd’A Charter 130.

TOP 10 — 1, Annastasia Peters, Post Falls, 17:22.16. 2, McKenna Kozeluh, Cd’A Charter, 18:02.41. 3, Olivia May, Coeur d’Alene, 19:10.58. 4, Talia Bonville, Post Falls, 19:34.16. 5, Ara Clark, Sandpoint, 19:54.03. 6, Ann Marie Dance, Coeur d’Alene, 19:57.53. 7, Elliana Rietze, Coeur d’Alene, 20:12.16. 8, Zara Munyer, Coeur d’Alene, 20:14.03. 9, Sara Casebolt, Logos, 20:22.11. 10, Mari Calene, Logos, 20:40.41.