Senior Abbey Shirts wins third at state

Weiser senior Abbey Shirts finished in third place in a large field of 71 runners at the 3A State Championships last Saturday in Lewiston with her best time ever.

 Shirts’ time of 19 minutes, 15 seconds was less than two seconds behind Sugar-Salem’s Sarenada Price, who finished in second place with a time of 19:13.47. Fruitland’s Emma Hillam won the varsity girls 3A race with a time of 18:47.73. 

 Saving the best race for last, Shirts’ time at the state championships was a personal record and her fastest 5,000-meter race during her years running cross country at Weiser High School. 

 Shirts finished in fourth place in 2017 at the 3A state championships and fifth place in 2016.

 Weiser coach Scott Hale said the course at Lewiston Orchards was a good course to run on and Lewis-Clark State College did a great job hosting the state championships. 

 The course was packed dirt with sparse grass, a softer surface than running on pavement but nothing unstable like gravel or sand. The long but shallow hills made for a pretty quick course, he said, and as a result there were a lot of personal record times.

 The Weiser varsity girls finished in eighth place in team scores. Defending 2017 champions Sugar-Salem won both the varsity girls and boys 3A state titles. Timberlake finished in second place and Kimberly came in third place.

 Other Weiser girls competing at the state championships include Ellie Walker (22:06.61), Kiearra Hoobery (22:47.45), Ashlyn Walker (23:58.95), Alonna Freeland (23:59.75), Libbie Rynearson (25:05.32) and Madi Cobb (26:13.61).

 Senior Rhett Kunz led the Weiser varsity boys with a 12th-place finish in a large field of 80 runners from across the state. 

 Kunz ran a fast time of 16 minutes, 43 seconds – his best time of the season and a personal record. His finish at state was a fraction of a second faster than his finish at the district championships on Oct. 18, giving him the new PR.

 Also competing for the Wolverines at the state championships, senior Guillermo Cobos finished the race with a time of 18:26.19. His posted time in the state championships was slightly slower than his personal best time of 18:14.04, which he ran at the district championships on Oct. 18.

 Sugar-Salem’s Kooper Williams won the state title 3A varsity boys race with a time of 15:23.72. He crossed the finish line 37 seconds ahead of runner-up Daniel Butler, of Buhl, who finished with a time of 16:00.27. Rounding out the top three finishers, Braidon Stokes of Snake River was a fraction of a second behind Butler and took third place with a time of 16:00.46.

 In the team scoring, Sugar-Salem won the 3A state title, followed by Snake River and Parma in third place. Weiser sent two individual runners but did not qualify a boys team to run at state.

 Hale said the teams had some goals throughout the season and both the boys and girls accomplished everything he asked of them. 

 “I think the season was a great success. Any time you can help and guide 20-plus kids to perform better at something than they ever have before in their life, you can’t help but feel successful,” he said.

 “It has been an awesome opportunity coaching an outstanding group of kids at Weiser High School. I am looking forward to working with the team again next year.”