Lake City girls: best of the best

BOISE – Kelly Reed has no doubt where his two-time State 5A track champion Lake City High girls team stands in state history.

At the top looking down.

“It’s the best girls track team in the history of the state,” Reed said emphatically. “I’ll never have another team like this one. Not to take anything away from the group that won last year - because most of the (athletes) are the same - but the depth and quality of performance this year was insane.”

Slight hyperbole perhaps, but it’s close to the truth.

Led by the individual state titles of junior Breanna Sande and three golds in four relays, the Timberwolves pulled off a repeat in grand fashion, running away from the field. LC piled up 118 points, 38.5 more than last year and nearly double runner-up Twin Falls (69.5), as the 87th annual state meets for 5A and 4A concluded Friday evening at Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium.

Dominating only begins to describe the Timberwolves. LC also had three runner-up finishes among state medals in 16 of the 18 events, not to mention a couple of handfuls of school records and personal bests.

While several pair of feet were involved, none were more valuable than Sande. She pulled off the long-distance triple, capturing state titles Friday in the 1,600 (5:11.3) and 800 (2:18.29) to go with gold in the 3,200 on Friday. Then less than 20 minutes after defending her title in the 1,600, she ran a 400 leg on the winning 1,600 relay that broke the magical 4-minute mark (3:57.64) and came within .29 of a second from breaking the state record set in 1986.

Sande not only ran as far as an athlete is allowed under state rules, she was no doubt the fastest distance runner.

“I’m so excited; I have more energy now,” said Sande, who should have been gasping for breath after the relay, the last event in the meet. “I get excited when I win, but mostly I’m thinking about team points.”

Sande wouldn’t toot her own horn. Her teammates and coach had plenty to say about her, though.

“She could not have performed any better,” Reed said. “When she needed to put the throttle down, she did. She not only won three (gold medals), she blew away the field and left no doubt who the best distance runner is in the state.”

“I can’t say enough about Bre,” said senior sprinter Meagan Garcia, who anchored a threepeat in the 400 relay (48.52), anchored the winning 1,600 relay, took second in the 200 (25.52) and third in the 100 (12.74). “She’s a great athlete. Her endurance is amazing.”

Garcia teamed with seniors Natalie Hammons and Marisa Schneider and sophomore Sasha Tucker in the 400. The foursome broke an 18-year-old state record (48.59) set by Meridian in 1986.

It was Garcia’s third straight title in the 400 relay. She also teamed with Hammons and Schneider last year.

“I’ll be smiling for a week, maybe longer,” Schneider said after learning the T-Wolves broke the record in the 400 relay. “That’s how old I am (how long the record stood). I hope it stands another 18 years.”

Combining with Sande and Garcia in the 1,600 relay were Tucker and Hammons.

“I never even thought when I first turned out for track (last year) I’d be a state champion,” a reflective Hammons said. “I never thought I’d be a part of such a great team. And we couldn’t have done it without Reed.”

Tucker took second in the 400 in a personal-best 57.96.

“I honestly have no words to describe how I’m feeling,” said Tucker, who wanted to crack 58 seconds in the 400. “Being a sophomore on this team, it’s been the biggest opportunity I could have.”

Garcia had no difficulty summing up what the second team title means to her.

“It’s sweeter than last year,” Garcia said, “because everybody did so well. This is awesome. We just had to come out and perform and we did. It’s a great way to cap off my senior year.”

Overshadowed by their female teammates, but no less impressive was the state title in the 400 relay by the LC boys, the first gold medal in a relay for the boys in the school’s 10-year history.

Seniors Alex Hamill, Josh Mylan and Travis Kaestner teamed with sophomore Chris Delport, a late replacement last week at the state-qualifying regional meet for injured senior Matt Troxel. They zipped to a time of 43.13, shaving nearly nine-tenths of a second off the school record.

Delport, a relative rookie in the sprints, grew up in a hurry as he anchored the relay and fought back a late charge by Twin Falls’ anchor at the finish line.

Hamill said the key was improved handoffs.

“My handoff to (Delport) at regionals was terrible,” Hamill said. “(The seniors) are glad to finish our high school careers with a state title.”

Borah captured the boys team title with 88 points. Twin Falls was second (75) and Lewiston took sixth (47).

Other medal winners Friday were: Kristin Palmer of Coeur d’Alene, fourth in the 800; freshman Anna Stone of CdA, fifth in the 1,600; Brenda Finney of LC, fifth in the 300 hurdles; LC’s boys 1,600 relay took third; Reny Follet of Lewiston, third in the 400; Taylor Neal of CdA, third in the 800; and Lewiston’s 800 relay took second.

4A

The Sandpoint boys, the 2003 state champions, didn’t come close to a repeat, but the Bulldogs took fourth, finishing with 59.33 points.

“For what we went through this year, that’s amazing,” Sandpoint coach Dave DeMers said.

DeMers was alluding to a handful of state-medal winning athletes from a year ago who didn’t turn out or quit during the season.

Post Falls’ boys finished fifth (56.5), one spot out of a trophy. Madison (89.33) edged Century (83.5) for the boys title. In the girls, Bishop Kelly (125) nearly doubled the field as Emmett and Vallivue tied for second (66.5). Moscow took sixth (56.5).

John Willy and K.C. Billetz led the Trojans. A day after finishing one-two in the triple jump, Willy and Billetz took second and fourth, respectively, in the long jump.

Other medal winners Friday were: Roger Blair of Sandpoint, third in the 110 and 300 hurdles; Sandpoint’s boys 400 and 800 relays each took third; Nick Mehalechko of Post Falls, fifth in the 100; Allix Lee-Painter of Moscow, second in the 800 and fourth in the 1,600; Meredith Dolny of Moscow, fifth in the 300 hurdles; and Courtney Adams of Sandpoint, fifth in the 100 hurdles.