Chase Caulkins found a good way to run with the crowd Saturday at the 34th annual Bob Firman Invitational 5-kilometer cross country race in Boise.
He stayed ahead of it.
Wood River High School junior Caulkins, after three podium finishes in his first three races, won his first 3.1-mile event of the 2008 season by a four-second margin in the Boys' Division 1 class. There were 236 runners behind him.
Improving by 41 seconds over his 34th-place finish in the Bob Firman last September, Caulkins (16:58) outdistanced runner-up Eric Sandall of Elko (Nev.) by four seconds. The chase group behind front-runners Caulkins and Sandall were 16-30 seconds back.
Other Wood River boys' varsity runners included Danny Sundali 34th in 18:03, James Paris 39th in 18:10 (31 seconds faster than last year), Brendan Freund 77th in 18:47 and Andrew Pfeiffer 88th in 18:59.
The Caulkins win helped Hailey into sixth place of 35 schools in the Division 1 boys' standings with 231 points, 107 behind winner Centennial of Boise. Trailing Wood River were Great Basin rivals Century (10th, 316), Preston (13th, 405) and Jerome (15th, 433).
In a rainstorm, mud and blowing wind, there were 2,038 runners from middle school through high school at Eagle Island State Park, and six states were represented. Counting collegiate runners, there were 3,500 contestants in Idaho's biggest event.
Posting the fastest prep times of the day in the Elite Division were Jonathon Nelson of Timpview, Utah in 15:51 and Shalaya Kipp of Skyline High School (Utah) in 18:28.
The Wood River team of coaches Joel Zellers, Monte Brothwell and Shari Kunz entered 41 runners in the big race including 14 in the varsity division and 27 in junior varsity.
Another notable result was senior Julia Bowman's 12th place of 216 finishers in 20:52 behind winner Mackenzie Chojnacky of Jerome (19:43) in Girls' Division 1. It was Chojnacky's fourth straight win.
Next: Wood River has its Homecoming Week "Carbonate Challenge" intra-squad race at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 at Hailey's Hop Porter Park.
Bob Firman Boys' Division 1 team: 1—Centennial 124. 2—North Central (Wash.) 126. 6—Wood River 231 (35 schools).
Individual Division 1 boys: 1—Chase Caulkins 16:58. 34—Danny Sundali 18:03. 39—James Paris 18:10. 77—Brendan Freund 18:47. 88—Andrew Pfeiffer 18:59. 168—James Mark 20:58. 203—William Spiller 25:26 (237 runners).
Bob Firman Girls' Division 1 team: 1—Kuna 106. 2—Hillcrest of Idaho Falls 174. 13—Wood River 423 (33 schools).
Individual Division 1 girls: 1—Mackenzie Chojnacky (Jerome) 19:43. 12—Julia Bowman 20:52. 65—Tristin Bowers 22:13. 95—Corrine Smith 22:50. 135—Brooke Bowers 23:32. 141—Anna Moerch 23:40. 151—Clarice Stevens 23:47. 182—Chelsey Souligny 24:40 (216 runners).
Bob Firman Boys' JV Division 1 team: 1—Mountain View 40. 2—Timpanogos (Utah) 56. 11—Wood River 322 (22 schools).
Individual Division 1 JV boys: 1—Jared Swain (Mt. View) 17:32. 32—Dale McLaughlin 19:36. 66—Sam Colesworthy 20:40. 68—Walker Royston 20:41. 82—Drew Deffe 21:00. 102—Luke Poster 21:27.09. 103—Greg LeBlanc 21:27.34. 115—Sage Sauerbray 21:41. 123—Jackson Long 21:47. 141—Andres Morales 22:20. 144—Chris Clark 22:22. 155—Connor Hesselbacher 22:37. 202—Andrew McKean 24:30. 230—William Drier 27:40 (233 runners).
Bob Firman Girls' Division 1 team: 1—Timpanogos (Utah) 32. 2—Mountain View 46. 8—Wood River 216 (17 schools).
Firman Division 1 girls: 1—Kara Soucek (McCall-Donnelly) 20:45. 24—Claire Bowman 23:08. 41—Allie Freund 23:46. 49—Erin Burbank 24:00. 69—Jamie Colver 24:40. 81—Maddie Cordovano 24:55.02. 83—Dani McLaughlin 24:55.58. 93—Meggie Rose 25:16. 100—Laura Kunz 25:20. 106—Lyndsey Lascheck 25:25. 124—Maddie Deffe 25:32. 134—Madeline Flade 25:41. 137—Ashton Lupton 25:48. 148—Amy Tamayo 25:55. 156—Brita Gaeddert 26:06 (175 runners).
Cutthroats at Magic Mountain
Six Community School cross country runners, three boys and three girls, finished in the top 10 of the Kimberly Invitational cross country meet Thursday at Magic Mountain Ski Area south of Twin Falls.
Boys' varsity: 1—Bryce Beard (Filer) 18:59. 3—Sam Farnham (CS) 19:17. 4—Sean Dumke (CS) 19:47. 7—Scotty Phelan (CS) 20:20.
Girls' varsity: 1—Kaitlyn Gerard (Kimberly) 23:44. 4—Emily Williams (CS) 26:13. 5—Courtney Hamilton (CS) 26:28. 10—Morgan Atkinson (CS) 27:26.
Courtesy photo by Joel Zellers
Wood River High School junior Chase Caulkins, who won Saturday’s Bob Firman Division 1 boys’ 3.1-miler in wet Boise, tunes up for his big day by placing third among boys here in the Wood River Invitational along Trail Creek paths near Boundary Sept. 11.
