Timberlake takes 3A crown

BOISE – A mistake here and a surprise there can be the difference in a team state track championship.

When it counted most Saturday afternoon, the Timberlake boys overcame some troubles to pull out the 3A championship by the slimmest of margins.

Timberlake led Shelley by one point going into the final event, the 1,600-meter relay, at Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium. Both qualified for state with identical times of 3 minutes, 31.94 seconds.

The final stage didn’t need any more drama.

So when sophomore Nick Puckett took the baton for the final 400 meters – after feeling as though he had let his team down in two other events – he knew what he had to do:

Just finish ahead of Shelley.

Puckett did so by a couple of noses. More specifically, by a quarter of a second as Timberlake placed third (3:29.06).

Timberlake finished with 79 points to Shelley’s 77.

The Tigers of Spirit Lake captured their second state title in three years and third trophy in the same span.

So how did Puckett deflect the pressure and not cave under it?

“I just knew that I couldn’t let my team down,” said Puckett, who held off Shelley’s anchor, Tyrel Dial, who had nosed out Puckett for fourth in the open 400. “The kid had beaten me in the 400 so I knew he was quick. I just knew I had to run hard. Last year, I had it (pressure) as a freshman and didn’t quite perform. I’m just glad that I could perform when the team needed me to.”

The day started rough for Shelley. Junior Travis Maynard, who would later win the 300 hurdles, false-started in the first event, the 110 hurdles, so the Russetts lost key points.

Timberlake coach Brian Kluss noted that his team lost some possible points, too. For example, the Tigers left their 400 relay team at home after it was disqualified for going out of the exchange zone at district last week.

“In a track meet, there are so many things that happen for you that are good and there are so many things that happen for you that are bad,” Kluss said. “The difference is which team has more good things happen than bad things happen. Really, we had a couple of bad things and they had a huge bad thing, and we had a huge bad thing happen last weekend. So we knew that was going to make things close. We had to fight back from it and the kids just stepped up.”

So before the final race, Kluss gave his relay quartet an inspirational send off.

“I said it doesn’t matter what happened the rest of the day,” Kluss said. “I said it doesn’t matter. I said you’ll forget every single bit of it when we walk home with that (state title) trophy and we have the big banner we get to hang in the gym again.”

In Kluss’ mind, though, the final race may not have been the deciding factor.

It may have come earlier when the Tigers found themselves trailing by 13 points going into the 1,600.

That’s when junior Frank Lagrimanta added a third gold medal to go with his win in the 3,200 and his anchor leg on the winning medley relay. Finishing a key fifth and picking up four big points was senior teammate Tyler Zwiers.

It was a 14-point swing that put the Tigers ahead.

“That was perhaps the biggest race of the whole day,” Kluss said. “Obviously, it set up the (1,600 relay), and that one turns out to be the biggest race at that time, but without Tyler in the 1,600 we have to beat Shelley by one more place in order to win. That would have been a whole lot tougher for us.”

Lagrimanta controlled the 1,600 as he won in 4:29.06. Bonners Ferry senior Adam Hall had a career-best time of 4:33.98 to take second.

“It was awesome. I’m still thanking God for all of this,” Lagrimanta said of his triple titles. “I was nervous for every single race, but I feel great.”

The only other area winner was Priest River junior Andrew Scott, who won the 800 (1:58.27). He held off St. Maries senior Luke Samford (1:59.69). Scott also placed third in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600.

Scott transferred from North Central of Spokane to Priest River at the start of spring. He had been living at Priest Lake and grown weary of the daily commute into Spokane.

He pulled even with Ian Faurot with 100 meters to go before pulling away.

“I knew I could get him if I stayed with him,” said Scott, who finished seventh in the Washington State 3A cross country meet as a sophomore. “I’ve wanted a state title for a long time. Now I’m here.”

Middleton finished with 70.5 points to capture the girls title.

St. Maries senior Jenna Robinson, who tripped over the final hurdle in a qualifying prelim but managed to make the finals with the worst time, took second in the 300 hurdles (47.56).

Chelsea Cazier of Timberlake took third in the 400 (1:01.94).