Moscow’s Boys Breeze; Girls Rally Past Lakeland

A-2 track

Moscow coach Chris Tarabochia has watched his boys and girls track teams dominate meets all spring.

He expected fairly easy victories in the A-2 District I-II meet Saturday at Lakeland High School’s Corbit Field.

But not this easy.

The Moscow boys practically lapped a six-team field, posting 186 points to top surprising runner-up St. Maries’ 97. Lakeland finished third with 95.

Lakeland’s girls - powered by four firsts from sophomore phenom Sarah DeBoer and three from Amber Jamison - led most of the meet until the 1,600 meters. That’s when Moscow overtook the Hawks with first, third and fourth places for 20 points.

And Moscow capped the meet by winning the 1,600 relay, allowing the Bears to pull away with 143 points to Lakeland’s 128. Kellogg finished third with 92.

“We knew we’d win, especially in the boys, but not by that big of a margin,” Tarabochia said.

Here’s another way to put Moscow’s district titles in perspective: The Bears may need two buses to haul their state qualifiers to Boise.

Moscow’s boys collected eight firsts, four seconds and five thirds. The girls had eight firsts, three seconds and four thirds.

The top three placers in each event go to state along with the winning relays. Some athletes and relays may receive at-large berths. Those will be announced on Monday.

Moscow’s boys dominated the middle to long distances and took two relays.

Tony Smith coasted to victory in the 1,600 (4:35.2). Brandon Workman did likewise in the 3,200 (10:14). The Bears captured the 400 relay (45.5), and Smith anchored the winning medley (3:41.9).

Other multiple winners among the boys were Bonners Ferry’s Kevin Carey (discus, shot), Lakeland’s Paul Kowalczyk (long and triple jumps) and St. Maries’ Brad Roe (200, two relays).

The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Carey, who plans to play football at Idaho State University, tied a 15-year-old school record in the shot with a put of 53 feet, 6 inches. Earlier, he won the discus with a toss of 157-2.

Carey would like to break the tie in the shot record at state and erase the discus record (164-2), which has stood for 17 years.

“But my first goal is to win (both events at state),” Carey said.

Melissa Mills and Jeannine Korus shone for the Moscow girls.

Mills set personal bests with victories in the shot (40-8) and discus (125-5-1/2).

Korus had individual victories in the 400 (1:00) and 800 (2:19.4). The latter was a PR by nearly 2 seconds, but she may have been most impressive in her anchor leg of the medley. She was about 40 meters behind the leaders when she took the baton, but pulled even with 75 meters to go and won sprinting away.

If there was an athlete of the meet, it had to be DeBoer.

DeBoer improved her Lakeland school record in the 300 hurdles (47.7), trimmed five-tenths of a second off her PR with an easy win in the 100 hurdles (15.9) and won the high jump (5-4).

But in the 200, she not only cut a second off her PR but broke the 11-year-old school record with a time of 26.7.

Amazingly, DeBoer remains unimpressed by her accomplishments.

Asked how many state titles she hoped to win, she answered “I just want to get more (personal bests) at state. And if I win, that’d be great, too.”

Jamison led a one-two-three sweep in the long jump for Lakeland with a vault of 16-10. She also anchored two winning relays, the 400 (53.1) and 800 (1:52.8), both season bests.

, DataTimes