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

Booth, Norris light up IEL track meet

Sandpoint’s Susan Kovalchuk wins the Inland Empire League Championships girls pole vault Thursday by clearing 9 feet, 3 inches. (Kathy Plonka)

Kadie Booth wore an ear-to-ear smile.

The leak in the clouds was about to burst but Booth, still breathless from her third race on a cold Thursday afternoon with her hardest race still to come, didn’t seem to notice.

When it comes to running, she doesn’t want to stop.

That attitude helped Post Falls end the Coeur d’Alene girls’ two-year reign at the Inland Empire League Championships at Lake City.

The Trojans piled up 170 points to hold off the Vikings by 45½.

David Norris also sported enough smile to brighten the dreary day. The Coeur d’Alene junior set a school record in the 800 meters (1 minute, 56.98 seconds) and doubled back to win the 1,600 (4:32.66), helping the Vikings score 144 points, 27 more than Moscow, for their second straight IEL title. Lake City was third in both.

Booth and Norris are in their second season with their teams.

Booth gave up softball to be part of a deep stable of sprinters for Post Falls. Norris moved from Kellogg when his parents saw that school district was struggling financially and became part of the Vikings’ deep distance corps.

Norris shared male track athlete of the meet with Jayson Washington of Moscow, who won the 100 (11.44) and 200 (23.34). The male field athlete was Matt Wardell of Post Falls, who won the shot put (53 feet, 1 inch) and discus (152-9). The only other double winner was Moscow hurdler Wade Schumaker.

The female track athlete was Post Falls sophomore Shaundra Scott, who led Booth to the finish line in the 100 (13.22-13.25) and 200 (26.85-27.21) before they hooked up to lead the Trojans to a pair of relay wins, the 800 (1:48.14) and 1,600 (4:16.87).

Josie Tennison and Allison Meehan were also on both relays, as well as the winning 400 quartet (52.02). Meehan won the triple jump (34-5½).

The female field athlete was Shae Carson of CdA for her win in the discus (130-11). Teammate Kinsey Gomez was a double winner in the long distances.

When Booth joined the track team last year she didn’t envision running beyond this season.

“I didn’t think about doing track in college, but I liked it so much I wanted to keep going,” she said about her decision to run at Eastern Oregon. “I like it because it’s individual. You compete as a team, but you compete as an individual. The only person you can be mad at is yourself. I’m all right at it so that’s good.”

She was also a good softball player, good enough to think she might play in college.

“I played softball since I was 5 and I got kind of tired of it,” she said. “The only reason I was good was because I could run the bases fast. I liked to run so I thought I would try this.”

Norris also likes to run, but he had a tough time believing he could compete at the big-school level.

“I didn’t think I was going to able to run with these big guys,” he said. “I always looked up to them at state. They looked so much bigger.”

Setting a record at 800 seemed just as far-fetched for a guy who likes the strategies of the longer distances, especially considering the weather.

“I didn’t believe them when they said it at first, I felt so slow the last 100 coming in,” Norris said. “I guess I’m used to running in cold and wind. The last meet we had I got a PR in a huge wind running by myself. I kind of have to get used to running without anybody, without (Lake City’s) C.J. (Helbling) and (sick teammate) Cody (Curtis) at least.”

GSL

At Hart Field, the North Central boys won the 1,600 relay by less than 3 seconds to edge host Lewis and Clark 74-71 in a triple dual that included Gonzaga Prep. The LC girls won both meets handily. Levi Taylor won the javelin and both horizontal jumps for the LC boys. Celena Ward of NC had an area-best 134-1 in the javelin.

At Spokane Falls Community College, Mead coasted past Shadle Park and University in boys and girls. Mead sophomore Wes Bailey, the area leader in the 100 and 300 hurdles, added the 400 to his list (50.5), while teammates Casey Monahan won the 200 (23.2) and 110 hurdles (14.6) and Sam Wright took the shot (53-7) and discus (157-2). Jazmine Redmon ran an area-best in the 200 (25.8) to go with her long jump win (16-4½) for the Mead girls, while teammate Courtney Hutchinson improved the best in the shot put to 42-10½.

At Ferris, the host Saxons boys and girls coasted past East Valley and Rogers. Injured sprinter Kelsey Lin returned to action for the Ferris girls, winning the 100 (12.5). Cor’de Bailey of Rogers had the 100-200 boys double (10.8, 22.9). The pole vault was postponed until today because of the rain.

At Mt. Spokane, the host Wildcats boys and Central Valley girls won in a dual meet. Allen Schroeder won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 for the Wildcats, helping offset a 22-5 advantage in the throws and 16-2 in the hurdles for the Bears. Kendra Szoke won the horizontal jumps for the CV girls.