| Girls
win state track team title
With 3 individual championships plus a relay championship the Prairie girls track team edged Lapwai 76-75 for the state track team title. Nicole Nida defended her 200 and 400 meter dash state titles and anchored the 4x100 relay to a first place finish while Kaylee Uhlenkott won the shot put championship. For the boys team J.D. Riener broke the school record to win the shot put title and took second in the discus. The field event finals started on Thursday evening with Uhlenkott taking third in the discus with a mark of 105’4” while Charlene Duman also earned a state medal by placing 6th with a mark of 102’0”. Gina Holthaus didn’t make the top 8 in the long jump and neither did Sam Frei in the high jump. On Friday Uhlenkott won the shot put with a new personal best of 39’2½” with Duman again finishing 6th at 32’6½”. Riener won the shot put with a mark of 52’2¾”, on his final throw, to break the school record of 52’1½” set by Calvin DeHaas in 1980. Riener also placed second in the discus at 147’6”. In the girls triple jump Tabitha Sonnen placed 8th with a mark of 31’7¾”. In Saturday’s running finals, Sonnen went into the 100 hurdles with the top qualifying time but stumbled on a hurdle and finished fourth in the final at 17.04. She didn’t make the finals in the 300 hurdles. Nida was edged out for first in the 100 meter dash, taking second in 12.99 to North Gem’s Shantay Hall. She beat Hall in the final of the 200 meter dash, winning with a time of 26.39 then won the 400 meter dash final in 1:00.51. In the 4x100 relay Sonnen started, handed off to NaTosha Schaeffer who handed off to Holthaus. Nida ran the anchor leg and appeared headed for a second place finish behind Raft River. Raft River’s anchor runner celebrated before hitting the finish line and Nida was able to edge into first place with both teams being having the same time of 52.15. Sienna Benton meanwhile took fourth in the 800 in 2:27.76. In the 1600 Prairie needed Benton to finish at least fifth to clinch at least a share of the team title with only the 4x400 relay left to run and Lapwai favored to win it. Benton ran a personal best of 5:48.78 to finish fourth and give Prairie an 11 point lead on Lapwai with 1 event to go. Frei also ran in the 1600 but didn’t make the top 8. It was Prairie’s first girls team title in track since 1978 and their third overall. Last year they were runner-up to Kootenai. Riener’s 18 points for a first and second was good enough for a tie for 16th place for the boys team. Vit Spanhel competed in the long jump for Prairie but didn’t finish in the top 8. All state track photos courtesy of Bob and Linda Nida.
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