Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Trojans look sharp in state track preview

Camas County sends nine to state, Carey two


The Raft River Trojans look ready to reclaim both the girls' and boys' 1A championships during the 88th annual Idaho High School State Track and Field Championships May 19-21 at Bronco Stadium, Boise.

It sure looked that way last week when the state-qualifying Fourth District 1A track meet was staged on the ISDB oval in Gooding.

Winning 11 of 18 events and showing particular strength in the field and relays, Raft River's boys ran away with the boys' title with 228 points. Camas County's deep Mushers settled for second with 68.5 points, Bliss (62) was third and the Carey Panthers (27 points) 11th.

Sprinters Joe Edwards (100-meter dash winner) and Paden Baker (200m, 400m) led the Trojans, but Camas County's boys had something to brag about when they qualified four boys in eight events for state. Carey will send one boy to state.

The Raft River girls were nearly as dominant, sweeping the relays in Gooding and amassing 158 points to runner-up Richfield's 97. Shoshone (59) was fourth and Carey (50) sixth out of the 12 Northside/Southside conference schools sending girls.

Outstanding Northside girls were Richfield's Brooke Norman, winner of the 3200m by 23 seconds and the 1600m by three seconds, and Shoshone sprinter Katie Strunk, the 400m winner and 100m runner-up.

Like the school's boys, Camas County didn't boast any individual winners at district, but five girls in five events will compete at state. The Carey girls will send one to state.

The State 1A field events begin Thursday, the 1A running preliminaries are Friday morning and the running finals are Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at Lyle Smith Field.

Raft River's boys, 1997-2000 state champs, finally reclaimed their title 84-64 over Nezperce last May. The Trojan girls, winners of five straight State 1A titles from 1997-2001, have something to prove after they placed a lowly sixth behind three-time defending state champ Kootenai last May.

It looks like the Raft River girls could do it, with tremendous balance and a challenge in each relay. Kootenai should sweep the hurdles with junior Darcy Collins, and Greenleaf Friends Academy has tremendous runners, but don't count out Raft River when it's all over.

Camas, Carey state qualifiers

The Camas County boys headed to Boise are seniors Dakota Dalin, Mike Blodgett and Travis Van Gelder, and sophomore Chase Lee.

Dalin, last year's State 1A silver medalist in the 300m intermediate hurdles, placed second in the district 110m high hurdles (15.94 state seeding time) and second in the 300m hurdles (43.64). He also qualified with a fourth in the 100m (11.94).

Blodgett put up a couple of thirds, in long jump (19-4) and 400m (54.74). Lee was fourth in the high jump (5-8) and made state on time in the 110m high hurdles (17.44). Van Gelder made it in high jump (5-6).

Only the top four individuals and top two relay teams at Gooding were guaranteed of state berths.

Carey's only state qualifier, on time, was freshman Blake Whitby in the 3200m. Whitby will have the sixth-fastest seeding time (10:40) after placing fifth at district.

Coach Blaine Tingey's youthful Carey boys just missed in several events. Tyler Parke was fifth at 1600m, Allen Peck sixth at 3200m and the Panthers had one fourth-place relay team—the 4x400m with Brad Hunt, Peck, Tadd Green and Scott Ellsworth (4:02.00).

Musher juniors Beth McLam and Rose Schwarzbach are going to Boise. McLam was third at district in the 300m intermediate hurdles (51.9) and third in the 100m high hurdles (17.64). Schwarzbach placed fourth at 200m (28.94) and made it to state on qualifying time in the 100m (13.84).

Camas County also qualified one girls' relay on time—the 4x100m with Kasey Lemons, Kandace Boggs, Kayme Backstrom and Schwarzbach.

The only state qualifier for coach Lane Kirkland's Carey girls was sophomore Serene Bingham with a fourth in 300m intermediates (53.94). Near misses for Carey included Whitney Peck in discus and Lacey Peterson in high jump.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.