U-Hi, EV Are Lake City Victors North Idaho Athletes Win Individual Awards At Track Meet

A pair of Spokane schools captured the team titles in tightly contested action at the windy Lake City/Super 1 Invitational track meet Saturday, but the outstanding athlete trophies remained in North Idaho.

The University High boys used late victories in the 1,600-meter relay and triple jump to post 85.5 points and best runner-up Post Falls (74). East Valley (65), Gonzaga Prep (47) and North Central (42) rounded out the top five.

In an even tighter team contest, East Valley didn’t win one event but managed 79 points to trip runner-up Post Falls, which finished with 71 and had two double winners. Sandpoint (54), G-Prep (48) and U-Hi (40) rounded out the top five.

The athletes-of-the-meet honors went to Post Falls’ Ian Waltz (field) and Lewiston’s Josh Raymond (track) and Post Falls’ Shannon Siverson (field) and Sandpoint’s Amber Lauritzen (track).

Boys

U-Hi coach Kevin Frandsen, a Coeur d’Alene native, didn’t bring his team to the meet with the intention of winning a team title.

“It’s kind of a surprise,” Frandsen said. “We didn’t come to win the meet. We didn’t double up any of our kids. I just told them to pick their favorite event and a relay.”

The Titans’ Terry Coy, though, was a double winner. Coy captured the 110 high hurdles in a time of 15.18 and, in the final racing event of the day, the 1,600 relay, he assisted Jason Berger, Billy Criddle and Tim Buchanan in a winning time of 3:32.69.

Mike Pugh added a win for the Titans in the triple jump (44 feet, 3 inches).

Coy was the Titans’ lone senior winner.

“We’re mainly a group of sophomores,” Frandsen said. “The future of the team is ahead of us really.”

Post Falls’ Waltz had another personal-best day. The Washington State University-bound Trojan captured the discus (176-11 1/4) and extended his best in the shot put by nearly foot with a winning toss of 61-5.

The shot put pit couldn’t hold two of Waltz’ throws, including his PR that sailed beyond the newly built pit. His first throw (60-10) knocked out a board marking the perimeter of the pit.

“I’m starting to get my throws back up there again,” Waltz said.

After Waltz threw 61-5, his event coach, Dan Nipp, told him it wasn’t good enough. “You need 7 more inches. Come on,” Nipp said.

But Waltz scratched on his final throw.

“That’s a good jump today,” Nipp said. “He’s got 62 in him. It’s coming.”

There were several other solid efforts among the boys.

Travis Harken of Valley Christian easily won the high jump, vaulting 6-8.

Chris Frizzel of Chewelah captured the 800 in 1:59.02.

The Post Falls foursome of Josh Mort, Don Linerud, Keith Shepherd and Mike McLean clocked 44.44 to win the 400 relay.

Scott Edinger of Colfax took the 300 hurdles in 40.52.

Raymond sprinted to first in the 200 in 23.27 and was runner-up in the 100.

Girls

The Knights of EV captured the team championship by virtue of its depth. They had seven runner-up finishes and two thirds.

Leading the way was jumping standout Star Olson. She grabbed seconds in the triple jump (35-5 1/4) and long jump (15-4).

Finishing ahead of Olson in both events was Post Falls’ Siverson. The Trojan used a leap of 15-8 on her first jump in the long jump finals to overtake Olson and she set a meet record in the triple with a vault of 35-8, breaking the old mark of 33-9 set by former Trojan Michelle Schultz.

It was a long day in the field events - particularly for the girls. The triple jump, divided into six flights, took 4 hours to complete, and the finals of the long jump weren’t finished until nearly an hour after the meet was scheduled to conclude.

Jumping into the wind in the long jump didn’t rattle Siverson, though. In fact, she thrives on competition no matter the conditions.

“Ever since I started track I’ve noticed that once the pressure hits it helps,” Siverson said.

It was actually understood that Siverson needed to win the long jump for Post Falls to share the team title with EV. But the information was incorrect and didn’t include the results of the 1,600 relay.

Another Shannon from Post Falls captured two events. Senior longdistance ace Shannon Olson posted a time of 5:28.08 to nip EV’s Amy Simmers (5:28.65) and Olson strolled to victory in the 3,200 (11:55.56).

Other outstanding girls’ efforts:

Bonners Ferry’s Near captured both hurdles, winning the 100 highs in a school-record 15.47 and taking the 300 in a season-best 46.52.

Sandpoint’s Lauritzen took care of the open sprints, winning the 100 in 13.27 and the 200 in 27.74.

Kara Laney of Gonzaga Prep captured the 400 in a time of 1:00.97.

Kelly Hughes of Rogers took the discus with a throw of 123-9 1/2.