The Vikings placed five runners in the top 25 on Saturday at the 42nd annual meet, winning the boys elite team title by 24 points over Jesuit (Ore.) in a battle of nationally ranked teams. As of the Oct. 2 boys team rankings released by DyeStat.com, Coeur d'Alene is ranked No. 8 and Jesuit is ranked No. 5 in the U.S. The next national team rankings will be released this Thursday.

Sophomore Wyatt Morgenstern placed seventh in a personal best 14:59.3, making him the 13th Idaho high school boy on record to break 15 minutes for a 5k course and the second to do so this season, joining Centennial senior Drew Donahue (14:56 to win Inland Empire Championships on Oct. 4). Sophomore Rowan Henry was next, finishing 11th in a personal best 15:00.3. Junior Wyatt Carr, competing for the first time since winning the Timberlake Farragut Invitational on Sept. 6, finished 13th in a personal best 15:01.8, senior Mitchell Rietze finished 15th in a personal best 15:05.3 and junior Gabe Heule finished 22nd in a personal best 15:14.2.

The top nine finishers in the boys elite race all broke 15 minutes, and they did so in rainy, cold conditions.

"North Idaho kids, we like that adversity," Coeur d'Alene head coach Emry Carr said of the wet conditions. "Those boys executed the race plan to the T. They got out hard. I asked them to be patient, to be as patient as we could be attached to that front group. Once we got through that 2-mile mark, it's just a mental shift to attack. I think we were down by 6 or 8 (points in the team standings) at the first mile. We were even with Jesuit at two miles. That last mile, our boys just crushed it."

The Vikings, who have embraced a mantra of 'we before me' for the last three seasons, spent much of their time post-race Saturday discussing their team spread and the victory over No. 5 Jesuit, who they will see again at Nike Cross Northwest Regionals on Nov. 15 in Spokane. The Hole in the Wall victory followed a second-place finish by one point to Lincoln (Ore.) at the Eighth Annual Battle for the 509 on Oct. 4 in Spokane. Coach Carr said while preparing for Hole in the Wall, they analyzed and discussed their performance by watching film from 509.

"We knew going into the season (Jesuit was) stacked," Coach Carr said. "Senior heavy, great coach. We wanted to see how we stacked up. Jesuit ran well. They're gonna continue to improve."

It was not until the bus ride home Saturday that Coach Carr said he realized Morgenstern broke 15 minutes.

"Morgenstern breaking 15 as a sophomore on that course is unreal," Coach Carr said. "What makes me smile is that we didn't even talk about that. That's that team mentality. They don't celebrate that until later. It's really not just this season. That 'we before me,' it's something that over the last two to three years is what we've built the program around."

Coach Carr expressed excitement over each of his runners' performances Saturday in addition to Morgenstern and Carr: a breakout race for Heule, Henry being a second away from breaking 15 himself, Rietze running nearly a minute faster than his last time running Hole in the Wall two years ago, sophomore Blaise Howard overcoming a fall during the race to ultimately finish in 58th in a personal best 15:52.4 and freshman Andrew Brady breaking 16:30 for the first time upon finishing in 100th place in 16:24.5.

"It was all around just a fantastic day," Coach Carr said.

Wyatt Carr resumed running eight days before Hole in the Wall. Coach Carr, who is also Wyatt's dad, said he's kept his fitness up by cross training twice a day.

"We communicate constantly," Coach Carr said. "He embodies that 'we before me,' too. The week before (Hole in the Wall), he started running again and seemed to be experiencing no pain. We were confident we could let him race and not jeopardize any of the future races this season. The fact he was able to come out on his eighth day and PR, we're in a really good spot. He's really fit. We're increasing mileage. We're starting to hit the workouts hard. By the time we really need him to be 100 percent, not just fitness perspective, but running perspective and mental perspective, he's gonna be ready to roll."

Cohen Butler, a senior from Camas (Wash.), won the boys elite individual title in a personal best 14:36.8, breaking the meet record of 14:40 set last year by Mercer Island (Wash.)'s Owen Powell.

Other Idaho runners also attained personal bests in the boys elite race with their top-50 finishes. Rigby junior Jonas Porter finished 12th in 15:00.9, Century junior Ethan Hansen finished 16th in 15:05.8, Rigby senior Vincent Kisner finished 25th in 15:15.1 and Eagle junior Johnny Culpepper placed 45th in 15:39.4. Eagle placed 10th in the team standings with 246 points and Rigby was 11th with 254 points.

Eagle placed third in the girls elite race with 144 points with junior Betsy Reeder (10th, personal best 17:49.9, first time breaking 18 minutes), senior Josie Roy (31st, personal best 18:31.5) and senior Andie Roy (43rd, personal best 18:48.4) placing in the top 50 for the Mustangs. Coeur d'Alene placed sixth with 223 points, with senior Olivia May (13th, a personal best 17:55.3 for her first sub-18 minute time) and freshman Victoria Howard (29th, personal best 18.22.7) placing in the top 50 for the Vikings.

Sehome (Wash.), ranked No. 15 in the U.S., won the girls elite team title with a total of 55 points. Canada's Adrianna Buitelaar of Mennonite Educational Institute (British Columbia), a senior, won the individual title in 16:47.9, a winning margin of nearly 24 seconds and the only sub-17 minute time in the race.

Coeur d'Alene Charter senior Annabelle Carr led Idaho finishers in the girls elite race, placing eighth in a personal best 17:44.9 for her first sub-18 minute 5k time. As of Monday, 10 Idaho girls have broken 18 minutes so far this season.

Idaho Falls placed fourth in the boys varsity gold division at Hole in the Wall with 273 points, with junior Austin McCord (21st, personal best 16:02.3) and senior Will Monson (40th, personal best 16:14.7) finishing in the top 50 for the Tigers. Competing in the varsity gold division girls race was Idaho Falls senior Jaycee Jensen (10th, personal best 18:32.6), Coeur d'Alene Charter senior Helen Oyler (32nd, personal best 19:13), Idaho Falls sophomore Eliza Peck (42nd, personal best 19:25.9) and Idaho Falls senior Tess Eddington (43rd, personal best 19:26).

Big Victories Locally And Afar

Idaho also represented at another meet in Washington state over the weekend. Timberlake made the most of the trip to the Live Nation Invitational at The Gorge Amphitheatre near George, Wash., 43 miles northeast of Ellensburg. Timberlake won both varsity small school titles, claiming the girls title with 30 points and the boys with 28 points, and the individual small school titles as junior Lola Eggleston won the girls race in 19:29.60 and junior Caleb Royce won the boys race in 16:29.81. The Timberlake girls had five finishers in the top 10, with senior Vanessa McLachlan (fourth, 21:05.67), senior Malia Miller (seventh, 21:27.68), junior Emily Wright (eighth, 21:36.28) and junior Kayla Hyle (10th, 21:50.76) rounding out the scoring with Eggleston. The Timberlake boys had four other runners in the top 15 besides winner Royce: sophomore Joseph Sateren (fourth, 17:44.46), senior Josh Yeager (fifth, 17:49.64), freshman Eli Royce (sixth, 17:52.57) and senior Jacob Sateren (12th, 18:10.32). The Logos boys placed fourth in the small school race with 136 points, led by senior John Henry Crapuchettes (second, 16:47.62) and sophomore Maxwell Grauke (19th, 19:06.55) in the top 20. The Logos girls also placed fourth, totaling 80 points in the small school race and led by sophomore Livvia Rench (second, 20:37.47), sophomore Livia Longshore (fifth, 21:08.82) and sophomore Claire Farley (15th, 22:50.57) in the top 20.

Idaho went 1-2-3 in the varsity girls large school race, with Lake City winning (49 points), Sandpoint taking second (51) and Lakeland placing third (95). The top three individuals were also from Idaho: Sandpoint  junior Elizabeth Storms won in 20:13.30, Lake City junior Madison Zimmerman was second in 20:22.80 and Sandpoint's Delaney Barron was third in a personal best 20:37.88. Freshman Olivia Meredith (seventh, 21:03.02) was Lakeland's top finisher. Senior Taylon Lund (eighth, 21:12.66), junior Bridget Hunter (12th, 21:31.79), senior Kyliegh Chapman (13th, 21:32.54) and sophomore Violet Hernandez (14th, 21:48.63) rounded out Lake City's scoring with Zimmerman.

Sandpoint placed third in the varsity boys large school race with 94 points with junior Jack Lovin (14th, 17:26.68) as the top finisher. Lakeland junior Frank Mccarthy (fourth, 16:54.83) was the top Idahoan in the varsity boys large school race.

At the Blake Stephens Invitational on Oct. 9 on Idaho State's official course in Pocatello, Ririe senior Lucy Boone ran a personal best 18:58.8 to lead the Bulldogs to a two-point win over former 4A (and current 5A) powerhouse program Preston. Senior Lauren Robson (seventh, 21:13.8), senior Jayci Baxter (12th, 21:26.5) and senior Hailey Robson (14th, 22:02.8) also placed in the top 15 for the Bulldogs. Preston claimed the varsity boys title by 37 points over Ririe, led by senior Porter Campbell and sophomore Ryan Burnett going 1-2 with respective times of 16:32.3 and 16:44.3. Senior McCallen Campbell (ninth, 17:18.7), freshman Alex Scott (13th, 17:34.9) and sophomore Daylin Leffler (15th, 17:44.3) also placed in the top 10 for Preston.

Farther west on the same day at Rimrock High School, Victory Charter swept varsity boys and girls team titles and individual titles at the Rusty Fender. Senior Caleb Scharf won the boys individual title in 17:54.61 with sophomore JD Willey (second, 17:54.99), freshman Eli Baker (fifth, 18:35.93), freshman Landon Miller (10th, 19:29.84) and sophomore Oliver Kunz (11th, 19:32.32) rounding out the scoring. Junior Libby Stockett won the girls race in 20:35.24 with sophomore Leah Ray (fourth, 22:30.58), sophomore Alyssa Lee (sixth, 22:49.34), freshman Annika Snyder (ninth, 23:09.9) and junior Lydia Brewer (11th, 23:26.13) rounding out the scoring for the Vipers.

On The Horizon

We have reached the last week of the season before district championships.

The Nelson/Seifert Invitational is today in Gooding with 21 teams registered, the Winston Tilzey Invitational is Wednesday at West Park in Nampa with 25 teams registered, the Firth Cougar Classic is Thursday with 15 teams registered and the Bugtown Open is Friday at Caldwell Rotary Ponds with 18 teams registered.