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Coeur d'Alene girls second

By MIKE SULLIVAN/Special to The Press The Coeur d' Alene Press  | Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2012

MERIDIAN - When Morgan Struble set the state record in the girls 300-meter hurdles last season, it took three months for the accomplishment to sink in.

"I just thought, 'Oh, I have the state record,'" Struble recalled. "It was weird to say."

The Coeur d'Alene High senior is a record holder once again after setting another state mark in her signature event during the second and final day of the 5A track and field championships at Rocky Mountain High.

Struble blistered the 300 hurdles course in 42.84 seconds, bettering last year's winning time of 43.40 in a dominating performance.

"That was huge," Coeur d'Alene coach Linda Lanker said. "It was our goal all year for her to break 43 seconds."

Struble wasn't the only local state champion during Saturday's festivities. Coeur d'Alene senior Madison Seaman won the shot put title to go with Friday's title in the discus and Lake City junior Leanne Asper had a superb day - winning the 800 title and running the final leg of the school's winning entry in the 4x200 relay.

Mountain View easily won the girls team title with 106 points, but Coeur d'Alene (71) finished second and Lake City (70.5) was third in a strong showing by the two North Idaho schools.

“People down (in the Boise area) don’t understand maybe the weather difficulties we consistently have in the north, so for two teams to come down and perform this well is really nice to see,” Lake City coach Kelly Reed said. “We’re in snow until the end of March a lot of times. We had three or four meets canceled this year due to weather, so for them to perform like this shows the level of talent that a lot of the kids in the north have.”

Said Lanker: “To have a second and third against all these Boise schools that get to train outside every day, that’s a huge showing for our part of the state.”

Struble, who has signed with Hawaii, was geared up to again be the best in the state of Idaho in the 300 hurdles but was unaware she had surpassed her own record until a few minutes after the race.

“I had no idea that it was that fast, especially when they were announcing the other girls’ times,” Struble said. “I was surprised.”

Struble also surpassed the previous record in the 100 hurdles, but her time of 14.40 seconds was only second best as Capital High’s Jade Childs won with a state record time of 14.37 seconds. The previous record was 14.45 by Skyline’s Tia Lumpkin in 2006. 

Seaman capped her Coeur d’Alene career by following up a winning effort in the discus — she tied the state record in that event on Friday — with a strong performance while winning the shot put in 40-10 1/4.

“It’s like a weight lifted,” Seaman said. “People expected this from me and I kind of fulfilled my duties for my school.”

Seaman had a toss of 40-6 early in the competition and made her final high school throw a memorable one with the shot sailing more than four inches farther.

The throw was a personal best, just like her winning discus throw on Friday.

“To go out with two PRs in two days is a pretty decent time,” Seaman said.

Lake City junior Brittany Pope finished second in the high jump at 5-2. Coeur d’Alene senior Michelle Flannery finished fifth, also with a 5-2 that represents a personal best.

Coeur d’Alene’s 4x400 relay team of freshman Victoria Goetz, sophomore Brittany Tackett, freshman Kaitlyn Gunnerson and Struble finished second in 3:57.67. Lake City’s quartet of Ward, Jolliff, freshman Meaghan Bare and Asper were third in 3:58.59.