Justin Janke leads North Central’s boys to Tracy Walters title

North Central boys cross country coach Jon Knight cautioned his top runner to be patient Saturday.

Knight didn’t want senior Justin Janke busting out from the starting line and do all the heavy lifting for the talented field in the annual Tracy Walters Invitational.

“Coach Knight and I were talking about it before the race and he looked at me and said, ‘I know you’re going to want to go out pretty hard, that’s always the temptation at the beginning of the race,’ but he said to hold on until about the mile and from there just pull away,” Janke said.

The straight-A student chalked up another top grade, leaving a pack of would-be challengers in his wake, as he cruised to victory in a time of 15 minutes, 51 seconds on a new 3.1-mile course at Audubon Park. Janke finished 14 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

When it comes to the course, looks can be deceiving. It’s quite challenging.

“Half of it looks completely flat,” Janke said. “The deceiving part is there are a lot of 90-degree corners, really sharp turns. And there are six hills total.”

Janke and his teammates cruised to the team title, as the Indians finished with 129 points. The meet for the boys and girls uses a unique scoring method. Each team enters 10 runners and the top eight are scored.

Finishing a distant second was Kamiakin (129), followed by Jesuit of Portland (223) and Lewis and Clark (229).

Hunter Simpson of University was the next-best local finisher in fourth (16:25). Zak Kindl led LC, finishing sixth (16:35).

NC placed eight in the top 27.

“They came on at the end,” Knight said. “I was very worried halfway. Kamiakin had three ahead of our second (runner) and LC and U-Hi both had at least two ahead of our second. But it’s a 5,000-meter race and you’ve got to run the whole thing. Our guys seemed like they came on.”

Knight said it was a good early-season test.

“This course is tough. It’s hilly and a lot of 90-degree turns that can slow you down and wear on you,” Knight said.

Janke praised his teammates.

“This race is always a good starting point,” Janke said. “Today was a really strong showing. I turned around at the end and watched them come in and they looked really good.”

In the girls, Jesuit sprinted past all comers, placing three freshmen 1-2-3 to finish with 59 points. LC nipped Central Valley for second. The Tigers finished with 133 to the Bears’ 148.

Briegan Bester of CV was the top local finisher in sixth (19:49). Sophomores Abby Smith and Katie Thronson led LC. They finished seventh (19:50) and eighth (20:09), respectively.

“It’s a good confidence boost for some of our girls,” LC coach Kevin Swaim said. “We had girls working through some injuries. It’s maybe what we anticipated, but it’s nice to actually see it as opposed to celebrating before it happens.”

CV coach Dennis McGuire ran four new girls in his 10-person lineup that had never run varsity.

“I’m really happy with the way we ran,” McGuire said. “We set up a controlled lap system. We wanted them to run these certain times the first two laps and then on the third lap whatever you’ve got you go.”

• In a preview of the Idaho state course, the Mountain View boys and girls of Meridian ran away with the titles at the Timberlake Farragut Invitational at Farragut State Park.

Mountain View had 27 points. Second was Capital of Boise (105). Coeur d’Alene (18) was sixth. Noah Horsburgh of Mountain View won (16:09). Austin Byrer of Lewiston was the highest-finishing area runner in fifth (16:37).

Mountain View’s girls posted 46 points, well ahead of runner-up Meridian (73).Defending State 4A champ Sandpoint was the highest area finisher in fourth (119) and defending State 5A champ CdA was fifth (186).

Katherine Ruck of Moscow won (18:47).

• Mt. Spokane junior Hayden Dressel posted the best time in the boys junior race at the Highlander Invitational at Shadle Park High School.

Dressell completed the 2.5-mile course in 12:40.50 seconds. Ferris’ Eric Holm posted the next-best time and won the senior race in 13:08.50. Richland’s Riley Moore won the freshman race in 13:16.22 and Central Valley’s Gabe Romney was the sophomore champion in 13:27.10.

The girls ran a varsity race, not separated by grade level. Mt. Spokane senior Micaela Kostecka claimed medalist honors, completing the 2.5-mile course in 14:55.40.

Mead edged the Wildcats for the team title. Mead’s top finisher, junior Jenna Rogers, took fifth place in 15:54.50.