Steel shocks field during 5A meet
Bill Murray’s character in “Caddyshack” would have called it … a Cinderella story.
Though cross country was the sport, it WAS run on Stoneridge Golf Course in Blanchard – which was nice for Coeur d’Alene’s Lloyd Steel.
The boys and girls 5A and 4A Region I and 3A District I meets all took place Friday, and somehow one unlikely high school junior managed to steal the show.
First things first: In 5A, Lake City and Coeur d’Alene finished first and second, respectively, on both the boys and girls sides – all four teams will go to state.
In 4A boys, Moscow and Post Falls went 1-2 and advanced. In 4A girls, Post Falls earned the regional title and Moscow and Sandpoint tied for second, which means all three teams go to state.
In 3A boys, Timberlake dominated, finishing in five of the top six places to earn the district crown. Bonners Ferry finished second and is also headed to state. On the 3A girls’ side, Bonners took top honors and will be joined at state by second-place Kellogg, which edged out Timberlake by a single point.
The top seven finishers in 5A, the top 10 in 4A and the top nine in 3A also earned individual state berths.
The state championships for all classifications will be held at Eagle Island in Boise next Saturday.
Now, back to Steele.
Pre-race buzz had Lake City’s strong boys team flirting with an unheard-of perfect score, which requires sweeping the top five places.
But when the leader rounded the final turn, finally coming into view of the throng gathered at the finish line, one young lady exclaimed, “That’s Lloyd! … Lloyd, you’re going to win!”
And Steel, who had never won a race, did just that, holding off a late charge by Lake City’s Logan Frederickson.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Steel, whose winning time was 16 minutes, 59 seconds. “The pace started out too slow for me, so I decided to push it more than I had been for the first part of the race and I ended up in front.
“My only goal coming in was to run under 17 minutes – I was never even thinking about winning it.”
On the girls’ side, favorites Kristin Palmer and Anna Stone of Coeur d’Alene finished as expected – first and second, respectively, a mere 2 seconds apart.
In the 4A races, which were run concurrent with the 5As, it was a pair of Post Falls Trojans taking top honors.
Senior Ben Behrends crossed the finish line in 17:13 and freshman phenom Angie Whalen posted a time of 19:50.
Moscow’s girls, by virtue of their sixth runner defeating Sandpoint’s sixth, are technically the region’s runners-up.
In 3A boys, it was all Timberlake. Led by junior standout Frank Lagrimanta, who finished in 17:05 – a full 38 seconds ahead of Bonners Ferry’s Ray Sayers – the Tigers scored 18 points with their top five runners, just three points more than a perfect score.
On the 3A girls’ side, Priest River junior Whitney Payment won in 20:39, 29 seconds better than second-place Melody Braden of Bonners.
Boys soccer
Daniel Guimares tied the match in the 78th minute and scored the winning shootout goal to give St. Maries a 2-1 victory over Orofino in a 3A Region I boys soccer semifinal at Post Falls High School. The Lumberjacks (9-10-1) advance to today’s loser-out regional championship.
Girls soccer
Senior Beverly Dickenson and freshman Jenny Connerly each scored a pair of goals to lead St. Maries to a 5-1 victory over Priest River in a 3A Region I match at Post Falls High School. … In the other loser-out semifinal, Jennifer Putman scored two goals, including the game-winning penalty kick in the 53rd minute, as Bonners Ferry defeated Orofino 3-1. St. Maries and Bonners Ferry will square off in today’s loser-out regional championship at noon at Post Falls.