Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Wood River girls add gold in district tune-up

Richards, Fahey spark victory

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It was quite a day for Wood River High School juniors Rachael Richards and Casey Fahey Thursday at the Filer Invitational track meet.

Richards legged out a sweep of the distance runs (800 meters, 1600m, 3200m) and collected three individual golds for Hailey. Sprinter/jumper Fahey also picked up 30 points including a triple jump victory.

Throw in the fact that Wolverine senior Jessica King made significant improvements in shotput and discus and won the two events—and Wood River (142) piled up a 47-point win over Gooding (95).

In all, coach J.C. Nemecek’s Wood River girls won six golds featuring significant totals in the distance runs (58 points) and field events (53) to make up for having no relay teams.

Richards won the 3200m by five seconds in a rare 1-2-3 Hailey sweep along with second-place Lindsay Niedrich and third-place Hannah Richards. Rachael Richards and Niedrich went 1-2 at 1600m. Rachael won the 800 by nearly four seconds.

King (34-1 ½ shotput, 113-5 discus) improved her Bob Shay Invitational shotput by two-and-a-half feet and lengthened her discus throw by over 13 feet over the previous meet. Fahey (a winning 31-4 ½ triple jump) added third places at 100m and 200m and second in long jump.

Coach Dale Martin said, "The girls were real excited. Now, they’ll have to come back again and see if they can beat Gooding at the district meet."

The six-team Filer Invitational, with only Declo not competing from the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference, was a good tune-up for this week’s state qualifying district meet.

Wood River, headed for the 4A ranks next year, races in its final SCIC district meet Wednesday and Thursday, May 12-13 at ISDB in Gooding. Qualifying for the State 3A meet May 20-22 in Boise will be the top three individuals and winning relay.

Wood River’s boys didn’t have their best day at Filer, earning 49 points for fifth place.

Chris LeBlanc had seconds in the triple jump and 800m run, Alex Hamlin was caught in a box of Gooding 3200m runners and settled for second, and Corbin Miniard placed second in the shotput.

Senior sprinter Matt Pruett’s best finish was third place at 100m, but he also clocked a fine 50.8-second lap around the track in Wood River’s fourth-place finish in the 1600m relay.

Here are Hailey placings last Thursday from the Filer meet:

Girls’ standings: 1—WR 142. 2—Gooding 95. 3—Wendell 84. 4—Filer 78. 5—Kimberly 74. 6—Buhl 62.

Boys’ standings: 1—Kimberly 147. 2—Gooding 135. 3—Filer 133. 4—Wendell 52. 5—WR 49. 6—Buhl 36.

WRHS placings:

1—Rachael Richards 800m (2:40.44), 1600m (6:01.45) and 3200m (13:11.9); Jessica King shotput (34-1 ½); and discus (113-5); and Casey Fahey triple jump (31-4 ½).

2—Syringa Stark triple jump (31-4 ½); Casey Fahey long jump (15-10); Lindsay Niedrich 1600m (6:11.98) and 3200m (13:16.9); Chris LeBlanc 800m (2:09.35) and triple jump (37-4 ½); Alex Hamlin 3200m (11:02.6); and Corbin Miniard shotput (43-3).

3—Casey Fahey 100m (13.0) and 200m (26.9); Hannah Richards 3200m (14:02.7); Jennifer Spinelli 300m intermediate hurdles (53.2); Syringa Stark high jump (4-8); and Matt Pruett 100m (11.21).

4—Jenni Borda 400m (1:10.67); Hannah Richards 1600m (6:21.31); Matt Pruett 200m (23.58); and boys’ 1600m relay (Steve Fields, Alex Hamlin, Matt Pruett, Chris LeBlanc) in 3:46.4.

5—Tess Dahlgren 1600m (6:30.0).

6—Nhi Pham 100m high hurdles (19.0); Charlene Fields 100m (13.47); Syringa Stark long jump (14-8 ¼); Steve Fields 300m intermediate hurdles (46.6); Craig Werley triple jump (34-5 ¾); and Cody Linderman long jump (16-10 ½).

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