For the week of May 7 - 13, 2003

Depth gives Shay title to Hailey girls

High school track in Hailey

---

It was quite a day for the Wood River High School track and field team—which had one of its better days Thursday during the running of the 2003 Bob Shay Invitational track meet.

Jessica King won the shotput (34-2) and placed second in the discus (107-5) Thursday in Hailey. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Coach J.C. Nemecek’s Wolverine girls piled up 41 points in the field events and used their point-getting depth to nip the Gooding Senators 118-114 for the team championship.

Sophomore Syringa Stark won the triple jump and the long jump while Wood River junior Jessica King captured the shotput by nearly two feet over Buhl’s college-bound senior state placer Abelee Esparza.

In the 200-meter dash, Wol verine junior sprinter Rebecca Schwartzenberger had plenty of gas left in the tank to tie Gooding junior Katie Rice for first place in a very close race.

Dylan Welcome takes the baton from Robert Slough for the final leg of Wood River’s winning medley relay at Homer Field. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Wood River earned points in nearly every event including second places from King in the discus, from Kelsea Ballantyne in the 800-meter run, from Rachael Richards at 1600m and from its 1600m relay team.

On the mile relay squad that finished less than five seconds behind Gooding were Ballantyne, Charlene Fields, Natalie Green and Jennifer Spinelli.

"We don’t have many wheels but we put a lot of mileage on them," Nemecek said.

Natalie Green (left) and Kelsea Ballantyne sprint to the finish line of the 800-meter run, Ballantyne finishing second and Green third. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Always strong in the distances, Gooding swept the girls’ distance races behind senior state contender April Homan (runaway winner at 800m and 3200) and freshman hopeful Hailey Gill (the 1600 winner).

The Senators won five golds to Wood River’s four, but the Wolverine girls had enough depth to out-point Gooding.

A strong, young Hailey sprinter is Jennifer Spinelli, who ran the second leg of the medley and anchored the 400m relay, both third places. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Gooding nearly swept every distance race, with the boys’ tandem of Drue McHan winning the 1600m and Eric Gushee taking the 3200m. But a Hailey runner had a big answer for Gooding’s dominance.

Wood River senior Mike Sinnott put together a strong closing charge to win the 800m run in a photo-finish over senior teammate Dylan Welcome. Sinnott’s final time was 2:04.7 and Welcome’s 2:04.8.

It was the only individual gold for the boys of coach Bruce Tuxhorn, who piled up 78 points including 22 in the field and 24 relays to finish third of seven teams with 78 points. Kimberly won it with 164.5.

Syringa Stark, Wood River sophomore, won both the triple jump and long jump Thursday at the middle school. Express photo by David N. Seelig

But Wood River’s boys’ medley relay started off the first-ever track meet on the new Phil Homer athletic field with a come-from-behind victory over Kimberly. Welcome closed the gap on the final 800m leg to beat the Bulldogs by 1.1 seconds.

Matt Pruett and Chad Hayward ran the 200m legs on the winning medley team, and Robert Slough did the 400m as Wood River clocked 3:44.6.

Rachael Richards, another Wolverine sophomore, was second in the 1600m run. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Tuxhorn was proud of his team, which has grown to over 30 boys this spring. Next up is the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference meet

The Shay meet is named after Bob Shay, the legendary coach and Cleveland Indians fan who taught in the Blaine County School District for 33 years. He died in 2000 at 73.

 

Here are Wood River’s point getters at Thursday’s meet:

1sts—Syringa Stark TJ (32-8 ½) and long jump (14-11 ½); Jessica King shotput (34-2); Rebecca Schwartzenberger 200m (28.2); and Mike Sinnott 800m (2:04.7).

Boys’ medley relay 3:44.6 (Matt Pruett, Chad Hayward, Robert Slough, Dylan Welcome).

2nds—Jessica King discus (107-5); Kelsea Ballantyne 800m (2:40.5); Rachael Richards 1600m (6:24.6); Dylan Welcome 800m (2:04.8); and Chad Hayward 110m HH (17.4).

1600m girls’ relay 4:38.4 (Kelsea Ballantyne, Charlene Fields, Natalie Green, Jennifer Spinelli); and 400m boys’ relay 48.0 (Joshua Jones, Steven Fields, Carl Browning, Cooper Lee, Joseph Zeman).

3rds—Natalie Green 800m (2:40.6); Rachael Richards 3200m (14:21.9); Maddie Thies 100m HH (18.8); Christian Blackman high jump (5-6) and shotput (39-4 ½); Steven Fields 100m (12.0); and Scott Bartlett long jump (17-11).

Girls’ medley relay 2:05 (Charlene Fields, Jennifer Spinelli, Rebecca Schwartzenberger, Kelsea Ballantyne); 400m girls’ relay 55.1 (Charlene Fields, Noilyn Corrales, Rebecca Schwartzenberger, Jennifer Spinelli); and 1600m boys’ relay 3:57.9 (Chris LeBlanc, Scott Bartlett, Derrick Woodall, Cooper Lee).

4ths—Charlene Fields 100m (13.85); and Jason Hofman high jump (5-4).

5ths—Syringa Stark shotput; Maddie Thies 300m intermediate hurdles (56.5); Aleah Wiesen 3200m; and Lindsay Niedrich 1600m (6:47).

6ths—Syringa Stark discus; Noilyn Corrales 100m (14.6) and 200m (30.7); Whitney Richards 400m (1:12.88); and Jenni Borda 3200m.

 

Team standings

Girls: 1—Wood River 118 (20 relays, 33 distances, 8 hurdles, 16 sprints, 41 field). 2—Gooding 114. 3—Wendell 85. 4—Valley 61. 5—Kimberly 53. 6—Glenns Ferry 41. 7—Buhl 40.

Boys: 1—Kimberly 164.5. 2—Gooding 142. 3—Wood River 78 (24 relays, 8 hurdles, 18 distances, 6 sprints, 22 field). 4—Buhl 57.5. 5—Wendell 22. 6—Valley 16 and Glenns Ferry 16.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.