Post Falls Dominates Invitational

Prep roundup

The Post Falls High boys and girls track teams captured team titles Saturday at the sun-kissed Sandpoint Invitational.

Post Falls’ boys captured 11 of 18 events to win going away. The Trojans posted 182 points to runner-up Sandpoint’s 117. Coeur d’Alene finished third with 104.

The Trojan girls, meanwhile, notched a convincing win by using their depth, particularly in the jumping events. Post Falls tallied 158 points, while runner-up Sandpoint had 121. Bonners Ferry finished a distant third with 69.

The usual suspects led the Post Falls boys. But it was just an average day for senior weight specialist Ian Waltz, who posted easy wins in the shot put (57 feet, 11 1/2 inches) and discus (166-4).

Seniors Tim Cudmore and Darick Pope also were multiple winners for Post Falls.

Cudmore captured firsts in the long jump (19-10) and triple jump (40-7 1/2), while Pope cruised to victories in the hurdles, winning the 110-meter highs in 15.28 seconds and the 300 intermediates in 42.45.

Preston Martin led Sandpoint with a speedy 2:00.43 in the 800.

Post Falls’ girls won four of five field events. Shannon Siverson led with wins in the long (15-11 1/4) and triple (33-4) jumps, while Heidi Umthun took the high jump (4-10) and Jesse Downs captured the shot (33-1).

Trojan Shannon Olson captured the 1,600 (5:34.95) and 3,200 (12:05.15).

Sandpoint actually won one more event than Post Falls (seven). Leading the Bulldogs was sprinter Amber Lauritzen.

Lauritzen captured the 100 (12.88) and 200 (27.55), and ran legs on the winning 400 and 800 relays.

Bonners Ferry senior sprinter-hurdler April Near had a fine day, too. Near won the 400 (1:02.01) and 300 hurdles (48.64) and ran a leg on the 1,600 relay (4:28.0).

Lakeland’s girls finished first or second in three relays en route to victory in the Freeman Invitational at Central Valley High School in Spokane.

Lakeland’s boys, meanwhile, placed second behind Mead, 99-81.

Of the Hawk girls’ 80 points, 26 came in the 400 (first), 800 (second) and 1,600 (second) relay races.

Senior state champion Teresa Viebrock, recovered from mononucleosis, won the long jump at 16 feet. She finished second in the high jump over teammate Sarah De Boer, both at 5-3. De Boer was second in the 300 hurdles.

In addition, sophomore Melissa Hanenburg finished second in the open 400.

Lakeland also had thirds from Jessica Banbury in the long jump and Michelle Rasmussen in the shot put.

Lakeland’s boys scored in every event but three, including Jim Noble’s long- and triple-jump victories and seconds from two-event placers Mike Larsen in the 200 and Todd Bruce in the 3,200. Hurdler Brandon Mitchell also placed twice.

Softball

Lakeland improved its lead in the Intermountain League with an easy 22-1 and 19-1 sweep at Priest River.

Several Hawks got in the act as they combined for 27 hits in the two games. Lakeland moved to 4-0 in league, 9-2 overall.

At St. Maries, meanwhile, the Lumberjacks tripped Moscow 9-8 in the opener before hammering the Bears 18-9 in the late game.

St. Maries pitcher Brianne Badgett improved her record to 6-0 as the Lumberjacks moved to 3-0 and 8-0. Moscow slipped to 1-2, 5-5.

Alicia Adams, who got a save, hit her first homer for St. Maries.

Baseball

Look who’s in second in the Inland Empire League.

Sandpoint swept visiting Coeur d’Alene for the first time, 3-2 and 5-2, to move into sole possession of second in the IEL.

At Post Falls, Lewiston increased its first-place lead by sweeping the Trojans, 16-3 and 17-4, in a pair of run-ruled shortened games.

Sandpoint got a pair of solid pitching efforts from Mike Lindgren and Ryan Beard.

In the opener, Lindgren used 11 strikeouts to push his record to 4-1. With the score knotted at 2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Lindgren got a big lift from teammate Jeremy Thielbahr.

Thielbahr led off with a triple, then scored the winning run when Travis Riese followed with a single to right.

Sandpoint (4-4 in league, 7-6 overall) scored four of its five runs in the second game in the final three innings. Riese and Lindgren led the Bulldogs at the plate in the nightcap.

CdA, which fell into a last-place tie with Lake City at 2-4 (7-6 overall), couldn’t mount any offense, coach Paul Mather said.

“We didn’t compete at the plate and that’s the name of the game,” Mather said. “Sandpoint played with a lot of intensity. You have to give them credit.”

Lewiston raised its league-leading record to 7-1 (11-4) with the sweep. Post Falls fell to 3-5 and 4-8.

Post Falls committed 20 errors in the twinbill, 11 in the second game.

“I’m almost speechless,” Trojans coach John Pettoello said. “You’ve heard of a golfer having the yips on the putting green. Our infielders had the yips. We were too scared to make the routine plays.”

It made it difficult for Pettoello to evaluate how well Lewiston played.

“Lewiston beat us, but with a tremendous effort by us,” Pettoello said. “I really couldn’t tell the difference. I couldn’t tell how well my pitchers threw to tell you the truth.”

Amazingly, not one home run was hit at cozy Brett James Memorial Field.

Lewiston returns north Tuesday when the Bengals meet Coeur d’Alene at McEuen Field for a league doubleheader. The first game begins at 3 p.m.

In Intermountain League action, St. Maries and Moscow split a doubleheader at Moscow, with the home team winning the opener 14-0 before the Lumberjacks rallied for a 7-5 decision in the late game.

St. Maries pitcher Ben Schilling tossed a complete-game win in the nightcap, striking out eight and allowing four earned runs. Teammate Lane Watkins drove in two runs with two singles.

In the opener, Gil Pierce went the distance for the Bears. Eric Kiblen had a home run and Nate Colbert added three hits to lead Moscow.

St. Maries goes to 2-2 in league and 3-4 overall. Moscow is 2-1, 8-5.

In a non-league doubleheader at Wallace, the Miners swept the Potlatch Loggers 6-2 and 12-2.

Don Hulsizer picked up a win and helped his own cause in the second game with three hits. Ryan Nipp and Brian St. Peter also had home runs for Wallace in the game.

In the opener, John Heyn recorded the win.

Wallace improved to 8-1.

Soccer

Lake City (9-0-2) blanked Moscow 2-0, with both scores in its road win coming in the game’s final 5 minutes.

Ethan Dodson got the first on a counter-attack through-ball from Robin Bundy. Mike Thompson scored on a penalty kick after he was taken down going for a loose ball in front of the net.

Golf

Host Pullman won a playoff with Lewiston to win the Pullman Invitational Golf Tournament at the Moscow Country Club.

The teams tied with 320 scores. Each team’s four golfers then played an extra hole, with Pullman finishing 3-over par and Lewiston 5-over.

Pullman’s Ryan Ressa was medalist at 75, two strokes ahead of four others.