Braden Rambles To A-2 Championship

Idaho cross country

Forest Braden of Bonners Ferry ran away from the field en route to the individual title in the boys A-2 cross country championship at Eagle Island State Park on Saturday.

Braden, who placed second last year, finished in 16 minutes, 43.9 seconds over the 5,000-meter course, 25 seconds ahead of the nearest challenger.

Preston beat runner-up Snake River 64-81 for the team title. Bonners Ferry was third with 101 points.

Farron Kunkell (18:38.58) finished 28th for St. Maries. Jake Nielson (19:14.45) topped Lakeland and finished 55th.

Travis Newby and Chris Vails helped the Coeur d’Alene Vikings take home the fourth-place trophy at the A-1 Division I championship.

Newby finished fourth on the 5,000-meter course with a time of 17 minutes, 13.97 seconds. Vails’ fifth-place finish in 17:19.16 led CdA to 127 team points.

Capital edged Meridian 93-100 for the team title.

Highland’s Matt Knoff turned in the top time at 16:38.58.

Bobby Haymes’ meet-high time of 16:50.98 sparked Vallivue to the A-1 Division II state title.

Vallivue beat runner-up Bishop Kelly 38-53.

Sandpoint, led by Isaac Zentner’s third-place 16:59.22 clocking, finished fifth with 125 points.

Post Falls (160) was seventh. Etahn Anyan paced the Trojans with a fourth-place showing in 17:17.23.

Girls

Coeur d’Alene was one point better than Eagle en route to a thirdplace finish in the girls A-1 Division I championship at Eagle Island State Park.

The Vikings edged Eagle 99-100. Meridian won the team title over runner-up Hillcrest 60-74. Hillcrest’s Karley Meikle won the individual title in 19:52.65 over 5K.

Holly Grant (20:36.5, 10th) and Brenna Giesen (20:38.34, 11th) topped the Vikings.

Vallivue, behind Tausha Kuzmic’s first-place time of 19:53.51, won the A-1 Division II state title with a 42-52 victory over runner-up Bishop Kelly.

Sandpoint (104) and Post Falls (111) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Allie Brosh turned in the top time for Sandpoint with a third-place showing in 20:25.79.

Candance McEnespy ran a 21:10 to place ninth for Post Falls.

Preston eked out an 87-90 victory over Snake River to capture the A-2 championship.

Carin Patterson of Gooding won the individual title in 20:26.89.

St. Maries, which finished seventh, was led by Stephanie Thurston’s seventh-place showing in 20:59.49.

Meadow Braden placed 15th in 22:06.37 to lead Bonners Ferry to tenth place.

Ellen Crecelius paced Lakeland with an 18th-place finish in 22:12.86.

Kootenai freshman Amy Collins finished ninth in the A-3 championship with a time of 21:26.06. Christy Luthy of Ririe won the individual title in 20:08.89.