Medals, but no golds for track athletes
At state meet in Boise
Blaine County track and field athletes
collected nine medals for placing in the top six during the 87th annual Idaho
High School Track and Field Championships Thursday through Saturday at Bronco
Stadium, Boise.
Gold for first place eluded the local prep
stars, however. The closest to gold came in the 1A girls’ 800-meter relay, but
the strong anchor leg of Carey sophomore Brenna Silva fell just shy of the
winning Genesee team.
Carey sophomore Brenna Silva came oh, so close to rallying the Panthers
to a come-from-behind victory in the 800-meter relay Saturday during the State
1A track and field finals in Boise. Express photo by David N. Seelig
Carey School’s defending state champion
800m relay team of Kiri Adamson, Cheyanne Bingham, Lacey Peterson and Silva
(1:56.80) ended up second for the silver medal in a virtual photo finish to
Genesee (1:56.76).
That same Carey team was third in the
medley relay (2:00.21) behind the runaway winners from Kootenai (1:56.10).
Kootenai won its third straight 1A girls state title 86 to 61.5 over the Oakley
runner-up squad.
The best placings for Wood River High
School came from the leaders of its district champion girls’ team—junior
sprinter Casey Fahey and junior distance runner Rachel Richards.
Fahey, posting the third-fastest
qualifying time in the 200m dash, did a good job by finishing third in the 200m
finals (26.96) Saturday behind the 1-2 short sprint punch of winner Ashley
Briggs of Sugar-Salem (26.10) and Rachel Jaynes of Filer (26.88).
Richards collected another 11 points for
the Hailey girls by finishing fourth in the 3200m run (12:14.79), fifth at the
800m distance (2:30.93) and seventh at 1600m (5:42.76).
One day after landing a track scholarship
at Boise State University, Wood River senior sprinter Matt Pruett lined up next
to defending champion Jayson Bird of Shelley in the 100m dash finals for the 3A
boys.
While Bird busted out of the chute and won
the sprint in 11.28 seconds, Pruett pulled a groin muscle and settled for fifth
place in 11.62. And senior Alex Hamlin was sixth in the 3200m run with a time of
10:19.73.
In the 3A team results, Timberlake
captured its first state championship 69 to 59.5 over Snake River, with
Kimberly’s strong sprinters claiming third place of 25 teams with 57.5 points.
The Kimberly 800m relay team set a new classification record of 1:29.33 in
winning by four seconds.
The outstanding 3A boy was Payette
sophomore Mike Hurd, who swept the hurdles once again and left open the
possibility that he’ll break the state record in the 300m intermediate hurdles
before he’s done.
Bonners Ferry won its first 3A girls’
championship 73-71 over Sugar-Salem, with Wood River 14th with 22 points.
Leading Bonners Ferry was freshman Katie Poston, who swept the throws and has
only five feet left for a new classification record in the discus.
The Raft River boys, winners of four
straight 1A titles from 1997-2000, got back on the winning track with an 84-64
team triumph over Nezperce in the 36-team small school ranks. Senior Robert
Jones of Council swept the sprints while junior Josh Dalton of Deary captured
all the distance runs.
Meanwhile, Camas County junior Dakota
Dalin had a great start-to-finish effort in the 1A 300m intermediate hurdles and
clipped nearly a second off his qualifying time to claim the silver medal in
42.30, about a half second ahead of high hurdles winner Trent Cummins of
Murtaugh.
Here are Blaine County placings and
results from the state meet:
WRHS girls’ placings:
2—Casey Fahey 200m (26.96).
4—Rachael Richards 3200m (12:14.79).
5—Rachael Richards 800m (2:30.93).
7—Jessica King discus (108-0); Rachael
Richards 1600m (5:42.76); and Rebecca Schwartzenberger 100m (13.54).
8—1600m relay (Charlene Fields, Jennifer
Spinelli, Rebecca Schwartzenberger, Syringa Stark) in 4:28.61.
Other results: Fahey 13-8 ¾ long jump;
Lindsay Niedrich 13:03.53 in 3200m for 13th place; Syringa Stark 87-6 discus and
31-3 triple jump; Jessica King 32-4 ½ shotput for 11th place; Rebecca
Schwartzenberger 1:02.9 in 400m; and Jennifer Spinelli 55.65 in 300m
intermediate hurdles.
WRHS boys’ placings:
5—Matt Pruett 100m (11.62).
6—Alex Hamlin 3200m (10:19.73).
Other results: Chris LeBlanc 2:07.84 in
800m for 11th place; Scott Bartlett 19-6 ½ long jump for 9th place; and Corbin
Miniard 39-8 shotput for 15th place.
Carey girls’ placings:
2—800m relay (Kiri Adamson, Cheyanne
Bingham, Lacey Peterson, Brenna Silva) in 1:56.80.
3—Medley relay (Kiri Adamson, Cheyanne
Bingham, Lacey Peterson, Brenna Silva) in 2:00.21.
6—Kiri Adamson triple jump (31-11).
6—1600m relay (Amanda Hill, Brooke McAfee,
Whitney Peck, Serene Bingham) in 4:40.85.
Other results: Kiri Adamson 14-5 ¼ long
jump for 11th place; Cheyanne Bingham 18.34 in 100m high hurdles for 9th
place prelims, and 51.7 in 300m intermediate hurdles for 10th place
prelims.