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BRI E FLY
PRIEST RIVER – Priest River ended the baseball season with zero wins after having played against St. Maries with a loss of 13-6 Saturday.
Coach Jeff Best is optimistic. The Spartans will lose two seniors, but Best says the team will gain seven upcoming freshman that have played together for multiple years.
“And will have good returning sophomores and juniors. There is lots of hard work ahead of us to get back to being competitive,” Best says.
Priest River suffers losses
PRIEST RIVER – After losing to Kellogg 11-3 in the district play-in game Friday, the Priest River softball team ended the season in a slump.
“We played better most of the year,” coach Ron Kruse says.
Pitching was a weakness from the start.
“Most of the teams we played this year had senior pitchers that have been toeing the rubber for years, while all our pitchers had less than two years,” Kruse says.
“I was able to play five freshmen on the varsity team for much of the year and I am excited for the improvement they all made, especially in hitting at a higher level,” he says.
Kruse says he feels positive for next year.
Priest River will lose five graduating seniors this year, but he says the team will have lots of opportunities for younger girls next year.
“We do have a good group of underclassmen that got to play more games this year than in the past so they will be better prepared for the start of next season.
Spartans place at Kellogg
KELLOGG – The Priest River Spartans’ track and field team athletes turned in some top five performances at the District 1 Meet of Champions held Thursday, May 2 at Kellogg.
Gavin Griesmer seems to be peaking at the right time, throwing another personal record in the javelin, a throw of 144feet, 4 inches. Griesmer also placed fifth in the discus and seventh in the shot put.
Braden Lamanna finished third in the 3,200 race, turning in a personal best of 10:17.14. Carter Korf won third in the long jump. He finished eighth in the triple jump.
Niki Porinchok placed fifth in the discus with a 126 feet, 9 inch throw. He finished seventh in the shot put.
On the girls’ side, Chase Smith had a third place finish in the javelin. Kylee Swoboda tied for sixth in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 8 inches.
