For the week of October 8 - 14, 2003

Arritola sprints
into top five

Part-time thinclad is third in the canyon

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During the fall prep athletic season, Morgan Arritola’s "day job" at The Community School in Sun Valley is being the star player on the Cutthroat girls’ soccer team.

Morgan Arritola of The Community School takes a breather after her third-place finish in Thursday’s Twin Falls Invitational. Express photo by Jeff Cordes

The determined senior is one of the best soccer players in the state of Idaho, and she gives the Cutthroat girls’ varsity a good chance to win every time the team steps on the field.

But, as one of the region’s premier cross-country ski racers for the Sun Valley Junior Nordic team, Fairfield resident Arritola also has a well-tuned motor in endurance sports.

Thursday at Canyon Springs Golf Course in Twin Falls, she showed she can accelerate that motor at any point and compete with the best cross-country runners in the Gem State.

Arritola, running in her first cross-country race of the 2003 season, finished third overall out of 140 girls’ varsity runners in the Twin Falls Invitational cross-country meet staged on an unseasonably hot and muggy day.

Pretty good for a part-timer.

And any time her busy soccer and academic calendar allows, Arritola can join the Sun Valley team for a run, in the view of Community School cross-country coach Mark Kranwinkle.

Lindsay Niedrich of Wood River had one of her best races at Canyon Springs Golf Course, finishing 27th overall. Express photo by Jeff Cordes

Small-school 2A runner Arritola was wedged between big-school runners from 5A and 4A schools like Skyline, Hillcrest and Burley, but Arritola nevertheless clocked a solid 20 minute and 39-second time on the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) golf course layout.

Wood River High’s Rachael Richards, a junior who normally is a key player on the Hailey school’s highly-regarded volleyball team, also did admirable part-time work at Twin Falls with a team-best 25th-place result.

Richards (22:54) and 27th-place Lindsay Niedrich (22:57) topped the Hailey girls, while 39th-place Alex Hamlin (18:52) and 41st-place Taylor Sundali (18:59) hung tough together and led the Wolverine boys.

Last year’s State 4A boys’ titlist Aaron Wolfe of Century (16:33), a senior, was the boys’ medalist in a head-to-head match-up with Idaho Falls senior Adam Follett (16:37), fourth in the State 5A meet in 2002.

Next, Wood River runs at the Madison Invitational in Rexburg Friday, Oct. 10 and continues to the Gooding Invitational Tuesday, Oct. 14. Those are the only two meets remaining prior to the district run.

Wood River and Community School (CS) results follow from the Twin Falls Classic:

Varsity boys: 1—Aaron Wolfe (Century) 16:33. 2—Adam Follett (IdFalls) 16:37. 3—Gary Attebury (Hillcrest) 17:14. 4—Tim Downey (Pocatello) 17:16. 5—Austin Becker (Skyline) 17:25.17. 6—Drew Johnson (Burley) 17:25.83.

39—Alex Hamlin 18:52. 41—Taylor Sundali 18:59. 52—Jackson Harris 19:26. 72—Chris LeBlanc 20:32. 80—David Kunz 20:58. 91—Joseph Zeman 21:44. 94—Josh Flade 21:56 (114 runners).

Boys’ varsity team: 1—Hillcrest 73. 2—Highland 77. 3—Skyline 97. 9—Wood River 284 (17 teams).

Varsity girls: 1—Rilee Buttars (Skyline) 19:59. 2—Stephanie Johnson (Burley) 20:31. 3—Morgan Arritola (CS) 20:39. 4—McKenzie Walton (Skyline) 20:42. 5—Karley Meikle (Hillcrest) 20:46.

25—Rachael Richards 22:54. 27—Lindsay Niedrich 22:57. 40—Tess Dahlgren 23:37.26. 41—Mali Noyes (CS) 23:37.93. 72—Maddie Thies 24:58. 115—Amanda Moulton 27:40. 117—Jenni Borda 27:46. 124—Georgia Thies 28:43. 130—Dawn Bird 29:20. 136—Amy Loudenslager 30:36. 138—Isabelle Cannell (CS) 31:03 (140 runners).

Girls varsity team: 1—Skyline 46. 2—Hillcrest 59. 3—Jerome 112. 9—Wood River 279 (14 teams).

Boys’ junior varsity: 1—Marc Irving (Hillcrest) 18:12. 2—Jason Jardine (Hillcrest) 18:40. 3—Ed Christenson (Burley) 18:41. 4—Josh Gilgen (Hillcrest) 18:59.62. 5—Brady Hodges (Skyline) 18:59.92.

61—Kyle Niedrich 22:00. 67—Bryce Moulton 22:20. 70—Nick Purdy 22:29. 96—Kurtis Fieguth 24:13. 110—Robbie Hamlin 26:52. 113—Nick Stevenson (CS) 29:30. 114—Chris Thomas 29:42. 115—Tyler Chandler (CS) 30:43. 116—Bobby Pidgeon (CS) 31:42 (116 runners).

Boys’ JV team: 1—Hillcrest 30. 2—Idaho Falls 67. 8—Wood River 404.

 

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