Prep track and field athletes from Idaho's small schools will gather at Lyle Smith Field in Boise's Bronco Stadium Thursday through Saturday, May 18-20 for the 89th annual Idaho High School Track and Field Championships.
Carey School, a traditional track power, has made some strides this year by qualifying eight athletes for the State A1 meet—quite a gain from last year's one qualifier. Camas County of Fairfield has qualified 10 athletes for state track.
Those two local schools, along with athletes from 11 other Northside and Southside Conference schools, competed for state berths last Wednesday and Thursday in the Fourth District 1A Championships on the ISDB oval in Gooding.
Camas County junior Chase Lee, third at state last year in high jump, won the district high jump title with a 6-1 leap at Gooding. He is seeded second among all high jumpers in the 2006 State 1A meet.
Second places at district included Carey senior sprinter Brenna Silva in the 100-meter and 200m dashes; freshman Kelsey Green of Carey in the 800m run; Camas senior Beth McLam in 100m high hurdles; Carey junior Allen Peck in 3200m; Camas sophomore Ben McLam in the 100m; and Camas senior Josh Shroyer in the long jump and triple jump.
Carey also has a good chance for points in the 3200m run where Allen Peck has the fourth-best time entering state and sophomore Kade Peterson has the fifth-best clocking.
Fairfield's Ben McLam, entered in four events at state, has probably the best chance at the gold since he is seeded second among the 100m sprinters.
Camas County also had a second-place relay in the 4x100m at district featuring Josh Rast, Jordan Lemons, C.W. Stewart and Ben McLam.
Raft River's boys recaptured the district championship 167-88 over second-place Camas County and Oakley. Carey was sixth of 13 schools with 58 points. On the girls' side, Raft River nipped Shoshone 106 to 103.5. Richfield (93.5) was third and the Carey girls (66) fourth.
At the state meet the 1A high jump and girls' discus events are Thursday at 7 p.m. The remaining field events begin Friday at 9 a.m. Preliminary 1A races are Friday at 11:30 a.m. preceded by the 3200m runs at 9:30 a.m. The 1A running finals are Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Fourth District athletes to watch at state include:
Shoshone senior distance runner Kyli Astle, who has the top time by 34 seconds in the 3200m and the best time of all State 1A qualifiers by four seconds in the 1600;
Two Bliss seniors, Jackson Burk and Joseph Huxhold. Burk has the best seeded time in the 1600m run, the second-best at 800m and the third-best at 1600m; and Raft River senior Paden Baker, who has the top time in all three sprints.
Kootenai's girls have won four straight 1A state titles and the Warriors are led again by senior Darcy Collins, winner of four golds last year. Collins is a favorite once again in the two hurdles events plus the 200m dash and high jump.
Raft River's boys have won two straight 1A state titles, last year by a resounding 73.5-point margin over Nezperce.
Here are the district placings and state-seeding times and distances for Carey and Camas County athletes from last week's ISDB meet:
Boys
1sts—Chase Lee (CC) in high jump (6-1).
2nds—Josh Shroyer (CC) in long jump (19-7) and triple jump (40-4); Allen Peck (C) in 3200m (10:36.24); Ben McLam (CC) in 100m (11.74); 4x100m relay from Camas County (47.04);
3rds—Kade Peterson (C) in 3200m (10:36.54); C.W. Stewart (CC) in discus (122-6); Cody Baird (C) in 300m intermediate hurdles (44.14); Trevor Dalin (CC) in triple jump (39-0); Tyler Parke (C) in high jump (5-8).
4ths—Ben McLam (CC) in 400m (53.74); Chase Lee (CC) in 110m high hurdles (17.24).
Girls
2nds—Brenna Silva (C) in 100m (13.74) and 200m (27.84); Kelsey Green (C) in 800m (2:41.34); Beth McLam (CC) in 100m high hurdles (17.14).
3rds—Lindsey Peterson (CC) in 100m (13.94); Beth McLam (CC) in 300m intermediate hurdles (51.64).
4ths—Allison Shaffer (C) in 1600m (6:39.54); Katrina Davis (CC) in discus (80-5); Serene Bingham (C) in 300m intermediate hurdles (53.74).
