Wednesday, October 25, 2006

District team victory is sweet for Wolverine thinclads

Hailey girls


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Triumphant Wood River High School girls celebrate their first-ever Great Basin Conference district championship Thursday in cold Pocatello.

Maybe it was the challenge of the hills. Maybe it was the cold day in Pocatello last Thursday. And maybe it was just total team determination.

Whatever the reason, the Wood River High School girls' cross country team rose to the occasion and won its first-ever Great Basin Conference 4A district team championship by a 53-60 margin over Preston.

The Wolverines placed four girls in the top 12 led by fifth-year varsity runner and co-captain Tess Dahlgren (6th place, 21:39), sophomore Julia Bowman (8th, 21:50), senior co-captain Ashley Rendahl (9th, 21:59) and sophomore Rosie Gilchrist (12th place, 22:22).

It represented quite a rise for the Wood River girls, third behind district champion Pocatello last year and sixth behind Century of Pocatello in Hailey's first year at 4A in 2004.

Sixth-year coach Joel Zellers, who guides the Wolverine boys' and girls' teams along with ninth-year coach James Foster, said, "Our girls just kicked butt on a brutal course. It was cold, 45 degrees at the start for the girls cooling to 35-to-40 for the boys.

"It was a fast race and the eight-foot wide wood chip trail didn't have one flat section on it. On every hill they came up, we asked them to go as hard as they could and drop the person next to them. On downhills we asked them to flap their arms, defy gravity and just go for it.

"They did everything we asked them to do. It was great to watch."

And it was something that doesn't happen every day. The Wolverine girls last won district at the 3A level in 2002 at Gooding. Before that you have to go way back in 1984, when the Wolverines also won state.

Thursday's girls' field was a good one, paced by the last two State 4A champs. Winner was reigning state champ Bethany McInturff of Century (19:53) ahead of 2004 queen Carissa Lee of Jerome (20:50). McInturff is a junior and Lee is a senior.

Dahlgren's sixth-place finish wasn't a surprise. Having run for the varsity since eighth grade, Dahlgren has consistently put up excellent times and has been a team leader. She was 31st in last year's State 4A meet.

But coaches Zellers and Foster were pleasantly surprised by Julia Bowman's eighth-place finish. Zellers said, "The last two races, Julia has run great. She just reels people in, utterly amazing. And she has this great attitude, smiling all the time."

Like last year, Wood River qualified its girls' team for the State 4A cross country meet Saturday, Oct. 28 at Hells Gate State Park, Lewiston. The 4A girls' race starts at 1:30 p.m.

Wood River was ranked fourth behind Bishop Kelly of Boise, Sandpoint and Hillcrest of Idaho Falls in the Oct. 18 4A girls' rankings. Bishop Kelly has won three straight girls' team cross country titles and four in five years, interrupted by Sandpoint in 2002.

Zellers said the team plans to leave Thursday from Hailey and get loose with a short workout Thursday afternoon in Stanley before continuing its drive to Lewiston. Joining the girls will be individual state qualifier Joe Zeman, a senior.

At Thursday's district meet, Zeman showed great determination to earn his state berth. He was in 20th place with a mile left in the 3.1-mile race. Zeman passed three other runners on a hill to grab 17th. That was the cutoff for individuals, 17 of 105 taking state trips.

Thursday's seven-school race took place on Idaho State University's Centennial cross-country course in Pocatello. There were 182 finishers between the boys and girls. Top results and Wood River finishers for the 5-kilometer event:

4A girls: 1—Bethany McInturff (Century) 19:53. 2—Carissa Lee (Jerome) 20:50. 3—Carey Downey (Pocatello) 21:02. 4—Allie Ford (Preston) 21:31. 5—Liz Child (Preston) 21:36.

6—Tess Dahlgren 21:39. 8—Julia Bowman 21:50. 9—Ashley Rendahl 21:59. 12—Rosie Gilchrist 22:22 (top 15 qualified as individuals for state).

18—Bronwen Raff 23:20. 27—Maddie Cordovano 23:55. 29—Chelsea Herren 24:04. 32—Maddi Deffe 24:12. 40—Heidi Bergt 25:03. 49—Tricia McLaughlin 26:03. 60—Desi Peters 27:28. 61—Jordan Scanlon 27:34. 70—Aimee Loudenslager 29:25 (77 racers).

Girls' team: 1—Wood River 53 (average time 22:14). 2—Preston 60 (22:19). 3 (tie)—Jerome and Pocatello 72 apiece (22:41). 5—Century 96 (22:43). 6—Burley 155 (22:55). 7—Minico 219 (25:09).

4A boys: 1—Chio Lopez (Century) 16:22. 2—Aaron Jenkins (Century) 16:59. 3—David Fillmore (Burley) 17:19. 4—Taylor Bean (Burley) 17:21. 5—Ed Christenson (Burley) 17:22. 17—Joe Zeman 18:22 (the top 17 qualified for state).

26—Pedro Morales 18:51. 27—Gerardo Garcia 18:51. 28—Cole Wells 19:01. 31—Chase Caulkins 19:03. 35—Bryce Moulton 19:14. 38—Sam Colesworthy 19:18. 42—Zach Thornton 19:24. 59—Brad Dobie 20:36. 60—Connor Caraluzzi 20:48. 61—Brandon Baertschi 21:03. 64—Greg LeBlanc 21:05. 67—Zach Lowry 21:09. 68—Jack VanPaepeghem 21:22. 69—Clay Johnson 21:26. 72—Dale McLaughlin 21:54. 73—Trevor Tomez 21:55. 74—Chris Clark 22:09. 78—Josh Berry 22:18. 88—Cody Mortensen 23:08. 97—J.D. Davidson 24:34. 98—Khayman Stauffer 24:55 (105 racers).

Boys' team: 1—Burley 37 (average time 17:41). 2—Century 76 (17:55). 3—Pocatello 86 (18:28). 4—Preston 95 (18:32). 5—Jerome 98 (18:28). 6—Wood River 129 (18:48). 7—Minico 188 (20:01).




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