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WENDELL BOYS SOCCER

1st Round

Defeated Hillcrest Football (51% to 49%)

Head Coach

Felipe Paniagua, 3rd Season

Key Athletes

Kaysan Acevedo, 11, D

Cesar Camargo, 11, M

Cesar Muralles, 11, F

Martin Nava, 11, D

Roberto Orozco, 11, D

After narrowly missing out on state championships over the past several seasons, a special group of juniors finally delivered Wendell’s third boys soccer title in school history.

The Trojans went 20-2-1 on the season, and navigated several heart-stopping moments at the Class 4A State Tournament in Post Falls.  A back-and-forth opener with Weiser resulted in a 5-3 win.  Then came a pair of 1-0 nail-biters against McCall-Donnelly in the semifinals and Coeur d’Alene Charter in the championship.  The win over Coeur d’Alene Charter came on the Panthers’ home field.

Cesar Muralles scored five of Wendell’s seven goals throughout the state tournament run, and assisted on the other two.  He leads a strong group that is favored to repeat in 2025, as Julian Ponce was the only senior on this year’s squad.

SUGAR-SALEM BOYS TRACK AND FIELD

1st Round

Defeated Kimberly Boys Golf (73% to 27%)

Head Coach

Brett Hill, 13th Season

Key Athletes

Ace Clark, 11, Jumps/Relays

Frank Fillmore, 11, Jumps/Relays

Andrew Galbraith, 11, Hurdles/Relays

Benjamin Hegewald, 11, Sprints/Relays

Jack Larson, 11, Jumps

The Digger boys have claimed nine of the past eleven state titles at their respective classification (previously 3A, now 4A).  It’s all been under the tutelage of legendary coach Brett Hill, who has 55 total championships combined between cross country and track in coaching stops at both Firth and Sugar-Salem.

This year’s team ran away with the 4A state title, piling up 94 points.  Second-place finisher Filer was a distance away, 25 points away with a total of 69.  Even more impressive is the fact that the Diggers only had one first-place finisher: Jack Larson in the high jump (6 feet, 4 inches).  That means that Sugar-Salem pounded the opposition with a flurry of second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place finishers, which is a more difficult path to take to a championship.

Junior Benjamin Hegewald placed in all four of his events (400, 4x200 Relay, 4x400 Relay, Sprint Medley Relay), as did sophomore Frank Fillmore (Long Jump, 4x100 Relay, 4x200 Relay, Sprint Medley Relay).