Pf Races To Victory At Coed Meet Trojans’ Win Own Invitational For Fifth Consecutive Year
North Idaho high school track teams shed their rain suits in favor of sunscreen Saturday and finally got a chance to compete on a nice day at the Post Falls Coed Invitational.
Post Falls scored 109 points behind a mammoth effort from Austin Lee to win for the fifth consecutive year. Lee had the best individual efforts in the shot put and discus and anchored the weight relay.
“This meet is always a lot of fun,” Lee said. “I don’t feel like I was throwing well today, but it’s fun to be in the relay.”
Lee was disappointed with his throws of 54 feet, 6 inches in the shot put and 144-8 in the discus, marks that were easily the best throws in each event.
The Invitational is unique in that it combines the scores of two girls and two boys to determine the winners of six field events, two hurdle races, the mile, 2-mile and eight relays in which the baton exchange alternates between boys and girls.
Lake City came in second with 101.5 points. The T-Wolves only had two first-place finishes but used their depth to beat third-place Coeur d’Alene by 10 points.
“This is the first time we’ve competed in decent weather, and I saw a lot of good things from the team,” LC coach Donna Messenger said.
Lakeland placed fourth as Amber Jamison led the Hawks to victories in the long jump and triple jump. Jamison, the defending state champ in the triple jump, put up the best individual marks in the girls jumps.
“My teammates came through and I jumped a lot better than I have recently,” Jamison said.
Post Falls pole vaulter Cameron Christiansen had his best vault of the year - 11 feet, 6 inches - the highest mark of the day. The Trojans also had the second-place girls vaulter, Shasta Cornett.
“Today has been the best meet for me this year by far,” Christiansen said.
Caleb Bowman of Sandpoint High also had an outstanding day, posting the best marks in the boys long jump and triple jump. Not bad marks for someone who didn’t even want to compete.
“I didn’t really want to go, because I’m playing in a basketball tourney tonight, but coach would have gotten mad at me if I didn’t come,” Bowman said.
Bowman’s triple-jump victory was made more impressive by the fact that the first time he had attempted the event was in practice the day before. Sandpoint also collected a team victory in the high jump and placed fifth overall.