Storybook run for CdA Charter

BOISE – It was two for the show for the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy track teams Saturday.

Coeur d’Alene Charter went to the State 1A track meet expecting to run away with the girls championship. Charter’s boys, meanwhile, hoped to challenge for a top-four finish and a trophy.

Coeur d’Alene Charter captured two state championships at Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium. The girls did it in the runaway fashion they were expected to with 93 points. Runner-up Lapwai finished with 64 points.

The Charter boys won the 1,600 relay, the final event, to secure their state title with 61 points.

“It’s storybook. You can’t write it any better than that,” Charter coach Lewis Watkins said. “It was a goal for both teams at the beginning of the season. I couldn’t have dreamed it better than this.”

It’s an appropriate send off for Charter from the 1A ranks. The school moves up to 2A next year.

Senior Mark Weller led the boys, defending individual state titles in the 200 and 400 meters and anchoring the winning 800 and 1,600 relays. He cruised in the 200 in 22.41 seconds and pulled away from the field in the 400 (49.79). The 800 relay was won in a time of 1:33.07, and the 1,600 (3:35.27) wasn’t challenged.

“I didn’t expect this,” Weller said of defending his titles and assisting on the relays. “God has blessed me with these (medals).”

He was overwhelmed by the team championship.

“I’m still in shock,” Weller said. “I’ll have to let it sink in. We knew we’d have to push really hard to finish in the top four.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Stadley nearly matched Weller’s feats. She won the 200 (26.41) and 400 (58.88) after anchoring the medley on Friday.

In the 400, Stadley felt a surge of energy.

“I just felt I had this energy come out of nowhere,” she said.

Stadley was trailing teammate Dominique Billingslea with about 30 meters to go in the 200 before pulling ahead near the finish line. While Stadley was joyful about winning, she had to contain it.

“It’s tough. She (Billingslea) really wanted it,” Stadley said. “But we’re a team.”

The Charter athletes weren’t the only ones from North Idaho with reason to celebrate.

Clark Fork junior Bailey Hewitt, who won titles in the long and triple jump on Friday, followed up by defending titles in the 100 and 300 hurdles Saturday. She finished in 16.08 in the 100 and came back in 47.52 in the 300.

Her four individual victories accounted for 40 points and secured the fourth-place trophy.

Clark Fork coach Frank Hammersley stepped up to the top of the podium to accept the trophy. Hammersley later said that he plans to have a duplicate trophy made and give it to Hewitt since she accounted for every point.

“I just can’t believe it,” Hewitt said moments after winning the 300 and securing her fourth state title. “The thought that kept pushing me is it would crush me if I lost.

“There was so much motivation. I couldn’t be happier.”