Final race is golden for Wolverines
Boys win 4x400-meter relay at state
They didn’t get much respect, but they
came away with the gold medal and earned respect on a hot, hot day.
Wood River High School’s boys’ 1600-meter
relay team held off Filer and defending champion Preston to win the final event
of Saturday’s 48th annual Idaho State Track & Field Championships in 96-degree
Boise.
Fighting tremendously hard on each leg,
the Wood River foursome of Matt Pruett, Zach Bloomfield, Dylan Welcome and
anchor Robert Slough nipped SCIC conference rival Filer by .22 seconds at the
tape. Preston was third, about a second behind.
It was only the third time that the four
boys—three seniors and junior Pruett—had run the 4x400m together. They needed to
wild-card into the state meet after Filer beat the Wolverines by .60 seconds at
district. But they were determined to put forth their best efforts in the final
race of Saturday’s State 3A meet. Pruett started it with a 53-second leg,
Bloomfield stepped up at 52 seconds, Welcome ran a 53-second leg and Slough
finished at 51 seconds.
Assistant coach James Foster said a
tactical change helped the champs.
Previously, Welcome had run the anchor leg
on the relay with Slough third. But Welcome had done the difficult turnaround of
the 800m run and 400m dash earlier Saturday. He said the heat tired him in the
400m. He switched with Slough for the final.
It was a total team effort.
Foster said, "Matt had been hampered by a
hamstring injury in the short sprints, but he could stretch it out more in the
400. Zach fought all the way on his leg. Dylan really came back and fought hard.
And Robert held off the Filer kid at the end."
It was Wood River’s only gold medal of the
three-day state meet at Lyle Smith Field in Bronco Stadium.
The Salmon Savages claimed their first
State 3A boys’ title since 1980 with a 80-62 win over Middleton. Salmon had 40
points in the field. Middleton had 39 points in the distances led by senior
Carlos Trujillo.
Powered by a motor that had plenty in
reserve, Trujillo anchored Middleton’s come-from-behind win in Friday’s medley
relay and also won the 3200m by six seconds over Trae Jones of Declo. Trujillo
defended his 800m crown and won the 1600m by seven seconds for his fourth gold.
The State 3A girls’ meet was a showcase
for Snake River’s sprinters, particularly senior Cachet Webb.
Snake River piled up 47 of its 120 points
in the sprints and captured its first-ever state girls’ track championship.
Bound for Utah State University on a full-ride track scholarship, Webb won the
100m, 200m, long jump and anchored the 800m relay to a new classification record
in her final Boise appearance. She won 15 gold medals in her 16 events over four
years.
Wood River gained four points in the
girls’ meet. Junior Jessica King and sophomore Rachael Richards placed seventh
in shotput and 1600m run. Richards’ time was 24 seconds faster than her
qualification time.
Here are Wood River’s point getters at
last week’s state meet. The coaches were J.C. Nemecek, Bruce Tuxhorn, Bill
Petzke and Foster:
1sts—Boys’ 1600m relay 3:29.32
(Matt Pruett, Zach Bloomfield, Dylan Welcome, Robert Slough).
4ths—Dylan Welcome 800m (2:02.04);
and boys’ medley relay 3:41.11 (Chad Hayward, Matt Pruett, Robert Slough, Dylan
Welcome).
6ths—Mikey Sinnott 800m (2:02.95).
7ths—Rachael Richards 1600m
(5:40.98); Jessica King shotput (34-6); and Mikey Sinnott 1600m (4:39.84).
8ths—Dylan Welcome 400m (52.03).
3A team standings
· Girls:
1—Snake River 102 (24 relays, 0 distances, 2 hurdles, 47 sprints, 29 field).
2—Middleton 63. 21—Wood River 4 (2 distances, 2 field).
· Boys:
1—Salmon 80 (17 relays, 2 distances, 21 hurdles, 0 sprints, 40 field).
2—Middleton 62. 13—Wood River 26 (15 relays, 10 distances, 0 hurdles, 1 sprints,
0 field).