Southern foes steal the spotlight at Idaho state cross country

Oct. 30—Individuals and teams hailing from south Idaho dominated across size classifications on the boys and girls sides in unseasonably warm and fair late-October weather Saturday at the Idaho state cross country meet at the Lewis-Clark State Cross Country Trail.

No area athletes finished first, but Logos of Moscow's girls came closest with Class 1A runner-up showings in individual and team competition. The flat grassy course and favorable conditions made for a host of strong finishes, with Landon Heemeyer of Boise's Rocky Mountain High School running the fastest cross-classification 5K time of the day at a blistering 14 minutes, 38.79 seconds to win the Class 5A race while Post Falls' Annastasia Peters made a rare sub-17-minute showing on the girls side with a first-place 16:56.07 in Class 5A.

Casebolt leads Knights' charge

Sara Casebolt of Logos logged a time of 18:55.51, which represented a new personal record and was the top mark for any area girl on the day across all size classifications.

"I was just hoping to mostly PR, and just run my best race and give it my all and just finish the season strong," said Casebolt, who estimated that she had topped her previous best 5K by around four to five seconds. "I'm really proud of my girls, no matter what the outcome."

Her runner-up showing was an improvement over a fifth-place finish from last year, and the junior is eager to take one more crack at a title — but Raft River's Allie Black, a fellow junior who now is a back-to-back titlist, looks to stand in her way.

Title defense falls short

The Knights of Moscow were defending Class 1A girls state champions, having narrowly won the 2021 meet with a team score of 39 to Raft River of Malta's 41. Prospects might have looked bright for another Logos title after Casebolt and Mari Calene charged down the home stretch for second- and third-place individual finishes. However, Raft River claimed its revenge, fielding the individual champion in Black and five of the top 16 finishers to score 32 to the Knights' 63.

Logos' third and fourth runners also came in as a pair, with Alyssa Blum catching up to teammate Lizzie Crawford in the closing meters and edging in front of her by a photo-finish .04 of a second for a 23rd-place 21:08.20. The team's fifth scorer was Cora Johnson, who ran a 29th-place 21:56.38.

Outside of Logos, the only area girls to break under 20 minutes were Moscow's Cora Crawford and Geneva McClory, who ran times of 19:47.05 and 19:51.15 to finish 39th and 41st, respectively, in Class 4A.

Three area boys break 17 minutes

James Stubbers, the only Lewiston runner to qualify this year, ran the fastest time of the day among area boys with a 51st-place showing of 16:34.80 in the Class 5A race. Zach Atwood led the Logos boys with a 10th-place 16:42.60 in the Class 1A event to conclude his high school career, and Moscow's Kieran Long also broke under 17 minutes with a 47th-place 16:49.04 in Class 4A.

No area boys program mustered a top-five team finish, with Logos doing best at a sixth-place 156 points behind meet champion Victory Charter of Nampa's 48.

BOYS

Class 5A

Team scores — 1. Rocky Mountain 30; 2. Boise 71; 3. Coeur d'Alene 73; 4. Highland (Pocatello) 146; 5. Centennial 147.

Individual — Landon Heemeyer (Rocky Mountain) 14:38.79.

Lewiston individual — 51. James Stubbers 16:34.80.

Class 4A

Team scores — 1. Bishop Kelly 53; 2. Idaho Falls 63; 3. Skyline 118; 4. Pocatello 130; 5. Twin Falls 146. Also: 13. Moscow 361.

Individual — Matthew Thomas (Blackfoot) 14:47.61.

Moscow individuals — 47. Kieran Long 16:49.04; 62. Jason Swam 17:02.99; 70. Noah Lingo 17:16.67; 96. Noah Bujnicki 18:21.51; 100. Levi Beus 18:51.74; 101. Kelton Long 18:52.03; 102. Sayer Latta 18:58.83.

Class 3A

Team scores — 1. Kimberly 74; 2. Sugar-Salem 91; 3. Fruitland 112; 4. Timberlake 131; 5. South Fremont 131.

Individual — Jacob Barnhart (Timberlake) 15:47.56.

Class 2A

Team scores — 1. West Side 66; 2. North Fremont 80; 3. Soda Springs 81; 4. Firth 136; 5. Cole Valley Christian 171.

Individual — Corbin Johnston (North Fremont) 15:21.30.

Grangeville individuals — 36. Ryan Detweiler 17:40.81; 37. Simeon Sanchez 17:41.80.

Class 1A

Team scores — 1. Victory Charter 48; 2. Rockland 81; 3. Grace 94; 4. Valley 122; 5. Liberty Charter 145. Also: 6. Logos 156; 11. Potlatch 266; 12. Prairie 334.

Individual — Ian Stockett (Victory Charter) 15:19.49.

Logos individuals — 10. Zach Atwood 16:42.60; 24. Simeon Rauch 17:33.50; 30. Bear Lopez 17:51.23; 62. Bo Whitling 19:03.80; 66. Ethan Bremer 19:16.36; 73. Clive Miller 19:36.06; 75. David Daniels 19:40.38.

Potlatch individuals — 41. Tanner Smith 18:20.34; 46. Micah Smith 18:26.50; 69. Marius Luker 19:23.70; 88. Caleb Laprath 23:12.12; 91. Jonas Oliver 24:46.03; 95. Jude Oliver 27:44.63; 96. Colton Minden 28:19.04.

Prairie individuals — 70. Ben Secrest 19:24.39; 80. Jackson Enneking 20:34.48; 87. Morgan Poxleitner 23:02.74; 92. Dylan Klapprich 25:12.88; 93. Zane Uptmor 26:11.78; 94. Landon Riener 26:58.34.

Other area individuals — 43. Noah Johnson (Troy) 18:22.28; 48. Dayton Mitzkis (Clearwater Valley) 18:34.84; 59. Blayne Mosman (Nezperce) 18:59.37; 60. Wyatt Anderberg (Clearwater Valley) 19:00.97; 68. Tristan Currall (Nezperce) 19:20.19; 76. Ben Farr (Genesee) 19:50.68; 77. Charlee Denmark (Kamiah) 19:59.64;

GIRLS

Class 5A

Team scores — 1. Boise 54; 2. Rocky Mountain 83; 3. Highland 138; 4. Mountain View 149; 5. Post Falls 151.

Individual champion — Annastasia Peters (Post Falls) 16:56.07.

Class 4A

Team scores — 1. Preston 61; 2. Skyline 97; 3. Idaho Falls 118; 4. Pocatello 120; 5. Twin Falls 141. Also: 13. Moscow 267.

Individual — Nelah Roberts (Skyline) 17:31.72.

Moscow individuals — 39. Cora Crawford 19:47.05; 41. Geneva McClory 19:51.15; 57. Anna Lynn 20:17.75; 72. Indigo Wulfhorst 20:47.67; 81. Mia Heinlein 21:24.86; 90. Christine Hall 21:59.00; 93. Laura Pollard 22:12.10.

Class 3A

Team scores — 1. Sugar-Salem 74; 2. Snake River 76; 3. Teton 81; 4. Coeur d'Alene Charter 95; 5. Weiser 111.

Individual champion — McKenna Kozeluh (Coeur d'Alene Charter) 17:43.80.

Class 2A

Team scores — 1. Soda Springs 51; 2. Ririe 69; 3. Malad 80; 4. Declo 88; 5. Salmon 123.

Individual — Cameron Moore (The Ambrose School) 18:33.04.

Grangeville individuals — 60. Kylie Rasmussen 22:50.02; 74. Kacee Evans 25:18.52.

Class 1A

Team scores — 1. Raft River 32; 2. Logos 63; 3. Grace 90; 4. Tri-Valley 96; 5. Victory Charter 108. Also: 8. Potlatch 210.

Individual — Allie Black (Raft River) 18:34.30.

Logos individuals — 2. Sara Casebolt 18:55.51; 3. Mari Calene 19:09.72; 3. Alyssa Blum 21:08.20; 24. Lizzie Crawford 21:08.24; 29. Cora Johnson 21:56.38; 31. Josephine Wyrick 22:18.17; 47. Chloe Jankovic 23:57.01.

Potlatch individuals — 51. India Luker 24:19.29; 53. Jessica Biltonen 25:36.42; 54. Britton Tunnell 26.15:23; 55. Rebecca Cerruti 26:18.55; 56. Lucy Tunnell 26:32.34; 47. Victoria Webber 27:05.56; 61. Wisteria Mulford 31:06.47.

Other area individuals — 49. Evelyn Ward (Clearwater Valley) 24:13.49; 52. Macie Ashmead (Deary) 25:07.61; 58. Gracie Beck (Deary) 27:25.58.

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.