badger track

BONNERS FERRY — While Timberlake dominated, the Badger harriers kicked off their season in style Saturday at the Bonners Ferry Invitational, with the girls finishing the tourney in second place among nine participating teams and the boys finishing third out of ten teams.

Senior Erin Hiatt had an outstanding meet, sharing female track athlete of the meet honors with Dominique Billingsley, Coeur d'Alene Charter, by winning both the 800 and the 300 hurdles and by anchoring the winning 800-sprint medley team along with Mikki Erickson, Elizabeth Racer and Allyson Merrifield.

Sabrina Ewing, winner of the triple jump and high jump, was named outstanding field athlete of the meet.

In girl's team scoring, Timberlake took the win running away with 202.83 points, followed by Coeur d'Alene Charter with 106 points.

The Badgers came in next with 102.33 points, followed by Priest River Lamana, 59, Kootenai, 56, St. Maries, 45.33, Clark Fork, 28, Noxon, 9.5 and Mullan, 3.

Courtney Tucker finished first in the preliminary round of both the 100-meter dash, 13.37, and the 200-meters, 27.63, but finished second in the 100 finals behind Billingslea and third in the 200, behind Billingslea and Caitlyn Nichols, Timberlake, She finished second in the 400 meter dash at 1:02.84, behind Elizabeth Stadley, Coeur d'Alene Charter, who came in at 1:01.37.

Hiatt finished the 800 meter run with two seconds to spare, crossing the line at 2:29.62 ahead of Alex Turbin, Timberlake, at 2:32. Badgers Aimee Sayers finished the race in eighth place at 3:09 and Sally Balcean ninth at 3:14.

Ashley George, Timberlake, won the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:57; the first Badger across the line was Katy Hiatt, who finished in 10th place with a time of 7:13. George also finished strong in the 3200 meter run at 12:37, followed by Rachel Pinkerton, Coeur d'Alene Charter, at 12:43. Sayers finished in eighth place at 15:22 to lead the Badger effort, followed by K. Hiatt at 15.28.

Whitney Hill, Priest River, finished first in the 100 meter hurdles at 17.1, followed by Sydney Hubbard, who finished at 18.5, both shaving seconds off their preliminary times. Natasha Litterall came in 12th at 21.54, followed by Laticia Perez at 21.54.

E. Hiatt blazed through the 300-meter hurdles, finishing at 50.56, ahead of Zara Palmer, Clark Fork, who came in second at 52.59. Hubbard finished the race in seventh at 57.29, and Jessica Merz came in at 13th with a time of 1:03.8.

The Badger relay teams faltered early, coming in fifth in the 4x100, not placing in the 4x200 and finishing third in the 4x400. They came roaring back in the 800 sprint medley, finishing nearly four seconds ahead of Timberlake at 2:01.25.

Merz finished third in the high jump with a 4-06 effort and Mikki Erickson finished second in the long jump at 13-05, edged out by two inches by Kelly Madsen of Timberlake. Erickson also finished second in the girls triple jump at 30-02, Sabrina Ewing, Coeur d'Alene, came in first at 33-11.5.

The Badger girls didn't fare well in the field events, with McKenzie Nash finishing 21st in shot put with a 19-07 throw, followed by Jaylee Ludolph, 17-03.24. Ana Parker, Kootenai, won the event with a 29-04.25 toss.

Nash finished 13th in the discus, throwing 61 feet; Tiffani McGlothlan, St. Maries, won that event, 91-08.5.

On the boys side, Timberlake swept the meet with 202.83 points, followed by Coeur d'Alene Charter, 106, and the Badgers, 102.33. Priest River Lamana came in fourth with 59, Kootenai, 56, St. Maries 45.33, Clark Fork 28, Wallace 28, Noxon 9.5 and Mullan, 3.

Timberlake's Ryan Sacksteder, who won both the 1600 and 3200 runs, was named male track athlete of the meet; Travis Porter, also of Timberlake, was the field athlete of the meet, winning the high jump and triple jump.

Colton Watt had a good outing for the Badgers, winning the 110-meter hurdles at 15.35, edging Timberlake's Derek Puckett, 15.4, and placing second in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing at 40.87 behind Puckett, who won at 40.06. Watt finished third in the discus with a 127-06 toss, and ran on the winning 4x200 meter relay team with Jacob Callister, Ben Horton and Blake SkjeVeland, who finished at 1:36.37. Timberlake came in second at 1:39.8.

Callister finished second in the 200 meter dash at 24.1 behind Coeur d'Alene Charter's Wes Billingslea, 23.97, and second in the 400 meter dash at 52.65, behind Jacob Bowman, also of Coeur d'Alene. Nathan Grow finished that race in 10th place with a time of 1:00.25.

In the 1600 meter run, Sacksteder posted a 4:49 first place finish. Badgers Keaton Tremble, Zach Hammond and Micah Krmpotich finished in fifth through seventh places, respectively. Sacksteder also won the 3200 meter run at 10:16.91, and Krmpotich finished in second place at 11:03. Hammond came in at sixth place with a time of 11:23.

In the field events, Brandon Ratcliff came in second in the discus at 129-09, two inches shy of the mark set by Travis Caldwell, Priest River, who won with a 129-11 throw. Ratcliff finished seventh in the shot put, throwing 37-09; Carmen Kirchbaum finished fourth at 38-09.25.

Gregory Wallace, Kootenai, took the top spot in pole vault, hitting 12-feet; Badgers Taylor Tompke, Jesse Gondek and Dave Mortin each hit 10-feet to finish in fifth through seventh places, respectively, and Hayden Wakkinen came in eighth with a 9-06 effort.

The Badgers track team travels to Sandpoint at 3:30 p.m. today, and take part in the Interstate Rivals Meet on Saturday, April 10.