Mt. Spokane boys win District 8 cross country championship

It took a two-point loss in a Greater Spokane League cross country dual in late September to get the attention of the Mt. Spokane boys team.

Mt. Spokane has been a different team since, and the growth continued to be on display Saturday afternoon at the District 8 championship meet.

The Wildcats posted 41 points, 26 ahead of runner-up Cheney. Hermiston (Oregon) claimed the third and final state berth with 91, two ahead of North Central.

The top 21 individuals qualified for state, Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

3A: Junior Kade Brownell led the Mt. Spokane wave.

Brownell seemed to glide around the Wandermere Golf Course, winning in 15 minutes, 35.21 seconds on the 3.1-mile layout.

Cheney’s Calvin Hilton (15:42.03) was second and Parker Westermann of Mt. Spokane (15:54.19) took third.

The racing began in crisp 38-degree temperature under sunny skies.

Brownell cruised through the first 2 miles, then he began to pull away from the pack.

The question for Mt. Spokane was how its third through fifth runners would do. The answer was well. The top five Wildcats finished in the top 14, making it difficult on upset-minded Cheney.

“I didn’t race as good as I wanted to, but I still felt good,” Brownell said.

“I went out a little slower but picked it up in the end.”

Brownell was proud of the third through fifth finishers.

“They’ve progressed a lot,” Brownell said. “We didn’t really improve that much in the first half of the season, but once we hit the second half, everyone just kind of snapped then we all started to get things together well.”

Brownell expects to race even better at state.

Mt. Spokane coach Scott Daratha said while he was especially pleased , his team will have to take it up another level to challenge for a state championship.

“I was pretty proud of what I saw today,” Daratha said. “We were coming here to win the race and they stepped up to it.”

Daratha said he talked with Brownell about a specific strategy .

“We talked about running a race that would prepare him for state,” Daratha said. “We talked about him not being to run away from the guys at state, so we said go run with the guys the first half of the race and see what you can do the second half. He followed instructions well. It’s amazing what he can do.”

In the girls race, Mead’s Raegan Borg won in 18:29.96, beating teammate Charlotte Cullen (18:45.38) for the first time this season.

Mead won with 39 points, 40 better than runner-up Mt. Spokane. Hermiston nabbed the third state berth with 92, two better than Ferris.

4A: Katie Lubbe led Lewis and Clark to the girls team title, winning in 19:16.62.

Lewis and Clark finished with 58 points, six ahead of Kamiakin. Just two teams earned state berths and the top 14 individuals advance.

Central Valley’s Mackenzie Munn (19:32.87) took second.

In the boys race, Kamiakin won with 35 points, two ahead of LC.

Parker Whitmore led LC, taking third (16:20.56). Eza Teeples of Kamiakin won (15:52.43).

2A: The Shadle Park and West Valley boys tied with 41 points, but Shadle won the tiebreaker when its sixth-place runner finished ahead of the Eagles’ sixth-place finisher.

The top two teams and top 14 individuals advance to state.

West Valley’s Tony Belko won in 16:25.05.

In the girls race, defending state champ Logan Hofstee of East Valley cruised to victory in 17:43.27.

East Valley took the team title with 34 points, three ahead of West Valley.

CdA wins state title

As expected, the Coeur d’Alene boys captured the State 5A championship at the Portneuf Wellness Center in Pocatello.

Coeur d’Alene posted 45 points, beating defending state champ Rocky Mountain (60).

Maximus Cervi-Skinner led the Vikings by taking sixth in 15:35.21. Teammate Jacob King (15:48.25) was eighth. The Vikings put five in the top 16.