Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Carey track teams look to step up in Northside

Track and field season gets off the mark


Check your stopwatches and stretch your measuring tape—it's going to be an interesting spring in the Northside and Southside Conference prep track and field circles.

The resurgence of Carey School's boys will make things more interesting in the six-school Northside Conference, which has been won for the past four years by the sprinters and field performers from Camas County of Fairfield.

Coach Lee Cook's Carey Panthers have welcomed 24 boys to the spring program.

The Panther boys will be strong in the relays and distance running events—like last year, when Carey's 59 points in the relays and distances helped the Panthers to second place with 106 points behind Camas' 152 in the Northside finals.

But getting to the State 1A track and field meet in Boise May 17-18 will be harder. That's because the Southside Conference boys with Raft River of Malta, Oakley and Lighthouse Christian Academy of Twin Falls are all formidable in 2007.

And Carey hasn't won an individual gold medal at state since Destry Simpson (800-meter run) and Shawn Hennefer (300m intermediate hurdles) placed first four years ago.

The Northside and Southside athletes gather May 9-10 in Gooding to settle berths for the State 1A track meet. There are only four state berths to go around in the individual events and two in relays. The competition will be hot and heavy.

Carey and Camas County athletes will sample some of that competition today, Wednesday when Carey hosts its first Northside Conference meet starting at 2 p.m. at Derrick Parke Memorial Field.

Southside schools joining the Northside today are three-time defending State 1A boys' champion Raft River along with Castleford and Hansen.

It's been a while since Carey, for years a small-school track and field powerhouse, has done anything in the conference, district or state competition. But that could change in 2007.

Coach Cook has welcomed a strong distance crew led by junior Blake Whitby (3200-meter, 1600m runs), senior Allen Peck (3200m, 800m), juniors Kade Peterson (3200m, 1600m) and D.J. Simpson (800m).

"Blake is by far our best distance runner and he's really been training," said Cook about Whitby, who was Carey's only state boys' qualifier in 2005, at the 3200m distance. District runner-up Peck placed sixth in last year's State 1A 3200m run.

Carey will focus heavily on its relays, for good reason. The Panthers have the depth to put together four strong relays, and they've demonstrated the requisite teamwork after their State 1A eight-man football championship and 22-6 state tournament basketball season.

Seniors Cody Baird and Brad Hunt along with junior Scott Ellsworth and freshman Gonzalo Zarate are training together in the 4x400m mile relay. The short 4x100m features Baird, Hunt, sophomore Heith Adamson and Zarate.

Carey's medley has Ellsworth, senior James Carlswon, Hunt and D.J. Simpson with the anchor leg. And the 4x200m includes Ellsworth, Zarate, Adamson and Baird.

Ellsworth and Zarate will give Carey some candidates in the open 400m dash but the Panthers know it will be tough in the short sprints with the likes of Camas' Ben McLam and some of Lighthouse's many sprinters burning up the track.

The Carey boys have sent only four to state—Allen Peck, Baird, Kade Peterson and Tyler Parke last spring—since way back in 2003 when Carey scored 46 points and placed second to Hansen at the State 1A meet in Boise. So it's been a little bit of a drought for Carey.

Carey will need to pick up some points in the field to climb up in the team standings. The Panthers have some solid high jumpers in juniors Tyler Parke and Peterson, along with talent in the jumps with Adamson, Baird, Hunt, Simpson and James Carlson.

The weight men are mostly young and untested. They include sophomore Andrew Carlson and freshmen Brad Peck, Todd Peck and Tyler Chavez.

Carey girls' coach Lane Kirkland acknowledges that 2007 will be a rebuilding year. "We'll be led by our two seniors, but the younger kids will carry us as we look to build for the future," said Kirkland about his squad of 11 girls.

Senior Serene Bingham (hurdles, relays) will be aiming for her third consecutive state berth. She competed in the 300m intermediates last year at Boise's Bronco Stadium. Another senior and returning state performer is Allison Shaffer (3200m run and high jump).

Junior Jennifer Cenarrusa (hurdles, jumps) has shown potential, and Carey has five sophomores—returning state runner Kelsey Green (800m, relays, LJ), Shelby Hansen (100m, relays), Kayla Bailey (sprints, relays), Brooke Bingham (100m high hurdles) and Emily Andrews (throws).

In the freshman class are two sprinters, Taylor Whitby and Amy Ellsworth, who were both around the 64- and 65-second mark last year as eighth graders in the 400m dash. Kirkland said he hopes to put together three strong relays, and Whitby and Ellsworth will definitely play a role there.

Freshman Jessica Parke is promising in the high jump, already reaching the 4-9 level.

"We should score pretty well this year," Kirkland said.

The Richfield Tiger girls, Northside track champion two years ago and a one-point loser to Shoshone in 2006, should be the team to beat this spring, Kirkland said. "Richfield is bringing a lot back," he said.

Carey's girls placed fourth in the Northside finals last year behind Shoshone, Richfield and Camas County.

So the Panthers will be seeking to break a lengthy drought dating back to 2004, when they won their 12th Northside title in 13 years and scored 20 points at state. In 2003, Carey was fifth at state with 40 points behind Kootenai, which has now won five consecutive State 1A girls' track championships.




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