CROSS COUNTRY

DANI BATES INVITATIONAL

Pocatello's Bailey Bird and Shane Gard continued their strong seasons at the Dani Bates Invite on Thursday in Twin Falls, with Bird winning the girls race and Gard losing a photo finish to Idaho Falls' Mitchell Athay in the boys race.

Bird ran 18 minutes, 50.5 seconds to take first place in the girls race, eight seconds ahead of her closest competitor.

West Side freshman Aubrie Barzee, eighth in 19:57.9, was the only other local runner in the top 10.

Pocatello finished second overall with 86 points, 20 behind Idaho Falls' 66.

Soda Springs was fifth, Century 11th and West Side 12th.

In the boys race, Gard was narrowly beaten by his rival Athay at the finish, clocking a 15:40.6 to Athay's 15:40.0.

Pocatello's Brevin Vaughan finished third in 15:58.5. Century's Xander Thompson was fourth.

In the team standings, Pocatello was again beaten by Idaho Falls for the title, with 65 points to the Tigers' 34.

Soda Springs was third, Century fourth and West Side 14th.

BOYS SOCCER

PRESTON 2, BURLEY 1

At Burley, Ty Miller scored in the second half to break a 1-1 tie and give the Indians the win.

Parker Kofoed had scored in the first half for Preston, which led 1-0 at halftime before Burley equalized in the second half.

"It was a slow start, but we finished strong," Preston coach Kira Matthews said.

Preston (7-5-2, 1-2-1) plays Pocatello in the 4A District 5 tournament on Tuesday.

MADISON 3, HIGHLAND 1

At Highland, Kellan Sagendorf scored the only goal for Highland.

Highland (0-9-1, 0-6-0) hosts Thunder Ridge on Monday.

GIRLS SOCCER

HIGHLAND 3, MADISON 0

At Madison, Morgan Christensen, Kayzee Vaughan and Saydree Bell scored to give the Rams the win.

Highland (11-1, 6-0) plays at Thunder Ridge on Monday.

PRESTON 8, BURLEY 0

At Preston, the Indians celebrated senior night in style.

Addison Moser scored four goals for Preston, and Sam Palmer, Abigail Lyon, Tessa Hyde and Aimee Harris each added goals of their own.

"We played well," Preston coach Brandon Lyon said. "It was a good way to celebrate the seniors, we got a lot of girls some playing time."

Preston (8-6-0, 3-1-0) will be the No. 1 seed in the 4A District 5 tournament next week, and will play either Pocatello or Century on Thursday.

CENTURY 1, POCATELLO 1

At Pocatello, the Indians and Diamondbacks fought to their second draw of the season.

Keli'a Tatom scored to put Pocatello up 1-0 at halftime before Amabel Avila scored on a corner kick for Century in the second half.

"We put a lot of pressure on them," Century coach Matt Shutes said. "It's getting there. It's been tough for us, but the kids are starting to peak and come around a little bit."

Century (1-5-3, 0-2-2) will go into district tournament play against Pocatello on Tuesday. Poky (5-6-2, 1-1-2) has one more regular-season game against Hillcrest on Saturday.

VOLLEYBALL

HIGHLAND 3, RIGBY 1

Playing its senior night match, Highland used a dominant first and fourth set to knock off Rigby, 25-14, 22-25, 25-22, 25-13.

“We are still working on playing consistently aggressive each set that we play,” Highland coach Kelsey Rhoades said. “All of our seniors played really well. They are a great group that really carries our team in a lot of ways.”

Mackenna Thayne and McKenna Armstrong pounded 17 kills each for Highland. Kaylee Nielsen led the Rams with 27 digs, and setter Autumn Thomson tallied 41 assists.

Highland will play Century on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

SKYLINE 2, POCATELLO 1

THUNDER RIDGE 2, POCATELLO 0

In a dual match at Thunder Ridge, Poky wasn’t able to come out with a victory, falling to Skyline in three sets before being swept by Thunder Ridge.

“We are a young team. We lost eight seniors last year,” Poky coach Jasmine Corsetti said. “This whole year, we’ve been working on our consistency. Against Skyline, we were consistent. But it was different errors, like serving errors and things we have control over.”

Poky plays in the Madison tournament starting Friday.

ROCKLAND 3, LEADORE 1

After switching up the positions of her starting lineup in Wednesday’s victory, Rockland coach Shalissa Tomkinson figured, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

For the second straight night, it worked. On the road, Rockland downed Leadore in four sets, 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 26-24.

“We really just gelled as team,” Tomkinson said. “When we gel as a team, it’s them knowing each other and being comfortable on the court. We weren’t being timid. We were aggressive and not letting the ball drop.”

Taylor Wilson led Rockland with 17 kills. Setter Angie Lee had a team-high 26 assists, and libero Addie Wilson racked up 20 digs.

Rockland (7-5, 4-4) plays at Mackay on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

GRACE 3, CHALLIS 1

Grace followed up its sweep of Valley on Wednesday night with a four-set victory over conference foe Challis, 25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-13.

The Grizzlies combined for a dozen aces. Individually, senior Maniah Clegg had 12 kills and freshman Sydnee Smith had 11. Libero Sara Anderson picked up 36 digs for Grace.

“I’m definitely happy because it was a conference win. It’s nice to see all their hard work pay off and show that they trust our coaching staff,” Grace coach Heidi Stoddard said. “I’m excited to see things finally fall into place for us — that we’re going to be able to complete at a high level.”

Grace (6-8, 2-1) heads to Raft River on Saturday for a dual match against Raft River and Declo. The first game begins at 2 p.m.

AMERICAN FALLS 3, MARSH VALLEY 1

At Marsh Valley, American Falls beat the hosts in four sets, 25-27, 25-16, 25-17, 25-8.

"We started out pretty slow, but when we started playing scrappy and got our serves in, we played really well," American Falls coach Jami Adair said.

Emma Barclay had eight kills for the Beavers, and Mitana Robinson, Paige Adair and Lili Bell added five kills apiece.

"We had some good scrappy defense," Marsh Valley coach Kimberly Call said. "It was mentally challenging towards the end."

American Falls (12-9, 2-0) plays at Wendell on Tuesday. Marsh Valley travels to Snake River.

SHELLEY 3, BLACKFOOT 0

At Blackfoot, the Broncos fell in straight sets, 12-25, 15-25, 23-25.

"Malia Taufu'i went in and gave a great energy performance on the court," Blackfoot coach Kiarra Johnson said.

Elyssa Smith had seven kills for the Broncos (9-11, 1-4), who play at Bonneville on Tuesday.

BEAR LAKE 3, WEST SIDE 0

At West Side, Kalisha Parker had 14 kills to lead the Bears to a three-set sweep, 25-14, 26-24, 25-23.

Hailey Humpherys added eight kills for Bear Lake (15-10, 4-1), which plays Wednesday at Aberdeen.