The Lakeland Hawks track team did phenomenally at districts this year. They broke records, had some personal records, and had a handful of state qualifiers.
The youth of this team is also impressive and promising. They had two qualifiers who were freshmen, one being Kenai Munyer, a discus thrower, and the other being Sapphire Ruelle, who won the 100m and 200m. S
he was also a part of the 4×1 team, which qualified and broke the previous school record with a time of 49.52. The rest of her team consisted of Regan Wright, Melia Gilbert and Karstyn Kiefer.
Munyer threw an outstanding 115 feet and got a personal record. Adding onto that, he won districts for discus and is happy about qualifying for state.
“I’m just going to try to keep having fun and keep doing my thing going into the state competition,” Munyer said.
Ziya Munyer is the sibling of Kenai and also qualified for the triple jump, in which she jumped 34’ 2, and qualified for the long jump, in which she jumped 15’ 4.
Ruelle ran a 12.70 100m dash and even hit a new personal record. She also ran a 26.00 for the 200m, which was also a personal record, and she won districts for both events.
“I am most excited about the 100m, going into state, and I would like to thank Coach Clark for helping me this whole season and pushing me to be the best that I can,” Ruelle said.
All of these achievements are greatly celebrated. The track team had the opportunity to walk through the hallways while getting a standing ovation from all of the students.
The state tournament goes from May 17-18 and is hosted at Eagle High School in Eagle, Idaho.
Alana Hinkle also placed first at districts and even broke the school record, maneuvering a 10-foot pole vault. She is the only female who is going down to state representing the Hawks in the pole vault.
“I’m really excited about how I performed, and I think that if I get a bigger pole, then I could get even higher. I am excited for state,” Hinkle said.
The other pole vaulter who will be representing the Hawks is junior Kros O’Brien. O’Brien got up to 12 feet and placed first at districts.
“Districts was way warmer than all of the other meets that we have gone to, so I had to switch poles because I could not get a good grip on the pole. I think with the right pole, I can get a new personal record, and do the best that I can going into state,” O’Brien said.
Weston Saptuski also did very well in districts. He qualified in four events, which included, the 100m in which he ran an 11.33, the 200m which he ran a 22.62, the 4×1 team, which they ran a 43.87, and lastly, the 4×2, in which they finished with a time of 1.31. The 4×1 team consisted of Jaron Yager, Kayden Karle, Saputski and Apolo Gratzinger.
The 4×4 team also made it to state with a time of 3 minutes and 34.79 seconds. This team consists of Scott Glass, Peyton Sardinha, Abbott and Gratzinger.
With the track team heading down to Eagle, all of Rathdrum will be supporting and cheering for our athletes.