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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kimpel leads deep NC boys

In the minds of participating coaches and runners, the second Tracy Walters Invitational cross country meet was more about end-of-summer training than it was the beginning of a competitive fall season.

But Saturday’s boys race that completed action at Audubon Park certainly was competitive and had championship elements about it.

Prohibitive favorite North Central didn’t disappoint, placing four of its 10 runners among the top six. Led by Andrew Kimpel’s near-course-record performance, the Indians won handily 79-150-231 over Seattle Prep and Mt. Spokane, the two 3A teams ranked behind the defending two-time state team champions in Washington polls this year.

Although Kimpel won by 15 seconds, for much of it he was embroiled in a tight race with teammate Jeff Howard and eventual runner-up, Ferris junior Adam Thorne.

Thorne “jumped” him on the first lap of the three-loop course, before Kimpel responded later and got away.

“At the start I wanted to go with those guys, and if I was feeling pretty good I wanted to get some separation,” said Thorne. “I got some separation, but obviously, Andy got me in the middle of the second lap.”

They finished ahead of Howard, who succumbed to side-aches on a downhill portion of the second lap of the race in an aborted attempt to chase Kimpel after he took off.

Kimpel said Howard had obliterated Kimpel’s year-old NC team camp 4-mile record by more than 11/2 minutes this summer. It served as incentive in the NC senior’s 15:20.5 victory on the 3.1-mile Audubon course.

“Jeff wanted to win because he never got the gold shoe, our trophy, and he wanted it pretty bad,” Kimpel said of team camp. “(Today) I was expecting Adam to blast it out like he did in track and wanted to stay with the front pack.”

His goal was to take control from midpoint on and to get as big a lead as possible.

The invitational is unique in that it scores eight of 10 varsity runners. A regular meet scores five of seven team entrants. The low score in both wins, but there’s also a total team component, combining all varsity and junior varsity participants, with the high score winning as in European club races.

NC, in a testament to its numbers, also captured that segment with 2,280 points to Seattle Prep’s 1,292 and Mt. Spokane’s 1,252. Leon Dean finished fourth behind Howard and Ben Johnston was sixth in the varsity race. The Indians already had the top three finishers and five of the first seven in junior varsity.

Girls varsity champion Seattle Prep edged Richland 105-111 with Central Valley third at 160. Richland’s Katie Mahoney won in 19:13.5. CV’s Eden Lake was fifth in 19:49.7. CV won the overall points thanks to junior varsity depth, 849 to Seattle Prep’s 707.

NC coach Jon Knight was as pleased with the atmosphere of this year’s meet as with the outcome, because it included teams from Portland and Richland.

“I think it’s just great to have teams like that over here,” he said. “… It’s like (former Mead coach) Pat Tyson used to say. We all root for each other. It’s just great to see them and shake their hands. It just makes everyone better.”

“NC is a great program, the best in the country right now and looked it today,” Seattle Prep assistant coach Conor Kilpatric said. “If we are going to mix it up with them in Pasco (at state), we now know what to do. But it’s a tall order.”

Boys soccer

Tanner Williams scored a pair of goals and Spencer Swearin added a goal and assist as Sandpoint rolled over host Lewiston 7-0 in a Inland Empire League match.

Cody Dickman scored three goals to lead St. Maries to a 6-0 win at Intermountain League rival Priest River.

Football

Junior Sam Robertson ran for 189 yards and Josh Straughan and Nate Jacobs combined to throw for another 197 as Colton-Pullman Christian opened its season on Friday night with a 40-0 non-conference win at Soap Lake.