Cross country notebook: Nationally ranked Coeur d'Alene boys win at '509'; GSL standings and rankings
Oct. 4—Stop if you've read this somewhere before — the Coeur d'Alene boys cross country team is good.
The Vikings are ranked No. 10 in the country by Dyestat, which has reached out to Vikings coach Cathy Compton because her team has become known in national circles.
"We've proven worthy to talk to, I guess," Compton said of the national attention.
Closer to home, Coeur d'Alene left its 208 area code to dominate the Battle for the 509 last weekend at the Spokane Polo Grounds in Airway Heights.
If running away with the 509 championship wasn't enough — the Vikings posted 24 points to runner-up Kamiakin's 117 — Coeur d'Alene put a junior varsity team in the smaller varsity Red Division in which the Vikings' lineup featured four freshmen in its top five.
Coeur d'Alene's JV took second to Kamiakin's JV. Compton said her team was missing another freshman and the varsity includes a freshman.
"On any other team, they'd be a heckuva varsity team," Compton said of her freshmen.
Her varsity team graduates just two out of its top seven.
Throw in a couple of underclassmen and it could be a bottleneck for varsity positions a year from now.
"It's a good problem," Compton said. "To see these kids so driven, so focused and wanting to be part of it is so exciting. These are situations that are once in a lifetime, or once in a coaching career, I should say.
"... there are more coming."
It makes a 27-year coach feel young again.
"We have personal bests flying off the wall," she said.
Vikings Lachlan May, Maximus Cervi-Skinner and Jacob King finished 1-2-3 at the 509 and CdA's fourth runner, freshman Wyatt Carr, was eighth. All seven CdA runners finished in the top 19.
Coeur d'Alene finishes up its regular-season schedule Saturday at the 41st Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational at Lakewood High School in Arlington, Washington. A number of the top Western Washington teams will be in the elite field.
Like the course at the Spokane Polo Grounds, the Hole in the Wall trek is expected to be fast because it's at sea level.
"The times last Saturday were blazing," Compton said of the 509 meet.
Coeur d'Alene will be off until the district state-qualifying meet at Farragut State Park on Oct. 19. The Idaho state meet is Oct. 28 in Pocatello.
509 leftovers
Coeur d'Alene certainly clogged up the finish line at the 509, but it also made the meet highly competitive.
The top finisher from the Greater Spokane League was Micaiah Aden of North Central in fourth. Cheney's Calvin Hilton, for example, took ninth but broke the school record.
"Last year, he wins," Cheney coach Derek Slaughter said.
The future of the meet looks bright. It has quickly become the go-to meet in the Spokane area.
"I grew up with the Highlander being my home race," said Slaughter, a 2008 Shadle Park grad. "It was huge in its day. (The 509) is the biggest meet by far now. It went perfect (Saturday) with perfect weather. Each race had blazing times.
"I'd like to see one more big meet in the area so we don't have to travel every week."
State rankings
Area big schools have slipped some in the state rankings, but many of the smaller schools are getting some attention.
In boys rankings, Lakeside is sixth in the 1A poll. Chewelah, Valley Christian and Davenport are second, third and fourth, respectively, in 2B/1B.
Among girls, Lakeside is atop the 1A poll. Garfield-Palouse is third and St. George's, Davenport, Valley Christian and Chewelah are fifth through eighth, respectively, in the 2B/1B.
The Lewis and Clark boys are eighth in 4A; Mead's girls are third in 3A.
A week off
Greater Spokane League teams reached the halfway point of their dual season with a bye this week. Two more weeks follow before they embark on the postseason.
Among boys, Lewis and Clark is undefeated at 4-0, followed by Mt. Spokane (4-1), North Central (4-1) and Cheney (3-1).
Among girls, Mead is out front at 5-0, followed by Ferris (3-1), LC (3-1) and University (3-1).
Shadle Park and West Valley boys and Pullman girls are off to 2-0 starts.
Around the state
The top times of runners for all classifications in Washington and Idaho can be found at athletic.net, an easy site to navigate.
Here are where the top athletes from the area stack up in their respective classifications:
Boys: Scotty McIntyre of Gonzaga Prep has the top area time in 4A at 15:52.8, which ranks 16th. NC's Aiden is fourth in 3A at 15:46
In 2A, Tony Belko of West Valley is 14th (16:01); in 1A, Barrett Poulsen of Freeman (16:19.6) is 11th; and in 2B/1B, Benjamin Morales of St. George's ranks first (15:8.3).
Girls: Katie Lubbe of LC is 19th in 4A (18:42.2); Charlotte Cullen of Mead (17:56.0) is fifth in 3A; Logan Hofstee of East Valley (17:03.5) leads 2A; Sadie Meyring of Lakeside (18:58.6) is fifth in 1A; and Allie Robertson of Northwest Christian (18:52.9) leads 2B/1B.
