For the week of October 29 - November 4, 2003

Hailey thinclads are headed to state

District runner-up squads from WR

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Wood River High School cross country squads made a strong showing during Thursday’s Fourth District 3A four-school meet at Albion.

It was a satisfying footrace for the Wolverines of fifth-year coach James Foster and second-year coach Joel Zellers.

"Each placing counted," said Foster. "It was a great team effort to get to the state tournament."

The Wolverine girls’ and boys’ squads finished second to district champion Gooding. So Wood River and Gooding earned trips for their full teams to State 3A cross-country Saturday, Nov. 1 at Eagle Island State Park near Boise.

In all, 15 Wolverines are headed to state in Boise.

At district, Wood River’s boys nosed out Declo 47-48 to capture second place. Meantime, defending girls’ champ Wood River fell short of Gooding for first place 36-43.

Qualifying for state as individuals were boys’ runner-up Alex Hamlin, eighth-place Jackson Harris and tenth-place David Vanderpool. Only the top eight individual girls automatically qualified for state, among them fifth-place Maddie Thies of Wood River.

Coach Foster said, "Alex was in contention to win the whole way. He beat Eric Gushee from Gooding for the first time all season. I was really pleased with each of the boys’ finishes.

"Maddie ran a great, determined race to set the pace for Tess and Courtney, who were close behind. Jennifer Spinelli enjoyed her fastest outing.

"Five of the our top seven girls are seniors and will be greatly missed next season. The boys’ team is also led by five seniors whose impact will be missed next year."

Medalists on the 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) course were Declo runners Trevor Heward (17:25) and Heidi Goodhart (22:41).

Qualifying for state at Albion in the 2A run was Mali Noyes of The Community School. Here are times for the 33 Wolverine runners at Albion, along with Noyes of The Community School:

WR state qualifiers, boys: Alex Hamlin, Jackson Harris, David Vanderpool, Taylor Sundali, David Kunz, Chris LeBlanc, Joseph Zeman and Cooper Lee.

3A varsity boys: 2—Alex Hamlin 17:51. 8—Jackson Harris 18:38. 10—David Vanderpool 18:49.

11—Taylor Sundali 18:53. 16—David Kunz 19:36. 23—Joseph Zeman 20:39. 24—Cooper Lee 20:53. 27—Conor Davis 21:12. 28—Chris LeBlanc 21:13. 29—Bryce Moulton 21:15. 31—Kyle Niedrich 21:26. 33—Cole Wells 21:31. 37—Zach Thornton 21:58. 39—Nick Purdy 22:21. 45—Curtis Fieguth 23:07. 46—Jack VanPaepeghem 23:09. 48—Robbie Hamlin 23:56. 52—Josh Thornton 25:23. 53—Chris Thomas 26:07.

Boys’ 3A varsity team: 1—Gooding 27. 2—Wood River 47. 3—Declo 48. 4—Kimberly 116.

WR state qualifiers, girls: Maddie Thies, Tess Dahlgren, Courtney Perry, Jennifer Spinelli, Jenni Borda, Lindsay Niedrich and Amanda Moulton.

3A varsity girls: 5—Maddie Thies 23:15. 9—Tess Dahlgren 23:28. 10—Courtney Perry 24:18. 14—Jennifer Spinelli 25:27. 15—Jenni Borda 25:57. 16—Lindsay Niedrich 26:04. 17—Amanda Moulton 26:05. 19—Dawn Bird 27:22. 20—Chelsey Vanderpool 27:30. 22—Nini Casser 28:01. 23—Nhi Pham 28:05. 24—Amy Loudenslager 29:35. 25—Georgia Thies 29:38. 26—Melissa Fischman 29:40.

Girls’ 3A varsity team: 1—Gooding 36. 2—Wood River 43. 3—Declo 60. 4—Kimberly 85.

2A varsity girls: 1—Paige Wyatt (Valley) 21:51. 4—Mali Noyes (CS) 23:07.

At the Gooding meet

Wood River High School cross country runners continued to improve their times during the 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) Gooding Invitational Oct. 14 at Gooding Golf Course.

Coach Foster said, "We had a great meet. Our varsity boys all finished under 20 minutes and the top five all finished under 19 minutes. On the girls’ side we had personal bests almost down the line."

Alex Hamlin and Jackson Harris (17:31), in eighth place, shared the fastest times for the Wolverine boys. Lindsay Niedrich (22:12) and Tess Dahlgren (22:14) led the Hailey girls on the course, 11th and 12th. Mali Noyes of The Community School (22:15) was right behind in 13th place.

Times for the 29 Wolverine runners at Gooding:

Varsity boys: 8—Alex Hamlin and Jackson Harris 17:31. 18—Taylor Sundali 18:19; David Vanderpool 18:48, David Kunz 18:51, Conor Davis 19:15, Chris LeBlanc 19:18, Cooper Lee 20:07, Dawson Paschall 20:09, Joseph Zeman 20:39, Kyle Niedrich 20:57, Bryce Moulton 20:59, Ted Elgee 21:40, Nick Purdy 21:54, Zach Thornton 22:25, Cole Wells 22:52, Curtis Fieguth 22:55, Jack VanPaepeghem 23:03, David Ricsi 23:56, Josh Thornton 26:28, Josh Ricsi 29:42. Boys’ varsity team: 1—Twin Falls 70. 2—Jerome 78. 3—Gooding 84. 4—Wood River 100 (11 teams).

Varsity girls: 11—Lindsay Niedrich 22:12. 12—Tess Dahlgren 22:14. 13—Mali Noyes (CS) 22:15. 25—Maddie Thies 23:13. Also, Jenni Borda 23:39, Courtney Perry 23:55, Amanda Moulton 25:34, Nini Casser 26:38, Rachael Pace 28:50. Girls varsity team: 1—Jerome 26. 2—Twin Falls 70. 3—Wood River 104 (8 teams).

 

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