Wood River High School is going to have to make some room in the school's trophy case, thanks to an outstanding performance by the girls' swim team at the state championships.
For the fourth consecutive year Wood River brought the championship trophy back from the state meet in Boise, Nov. 7-8. This year's event, held at the West Boise YMCA and featured 525 athletes representing 27 girls' teams and 31 boys' squads.
Swimming is the one of the only sports in Idaho that is not broken into classifications based on a school's student enrollment. Therefore, Wood River, with only 11 girls and 7 boys at state, competes against teams that routinely bring as many as 50 kids to a meet. Up to four swimmers on the same team can swim in a single race, but Wood River makes up for lack of quantity with a serious splash of quality.
"Some events we will only have 2 or 3 girls, but they will all place in the top eight," coach Brian Gallagher explained. "It's tremendously gratifying to win that kind of championship since we don't have many swimmers."
Gallagher attributes both the girls' and boys' success to the dedication of his athletes, who are willing to put in countless hours of training all year long.
"I am really fortunate to have girls and boys who are willing to commit to the swimming program and swim. The kids show up with smiles on their faces at 6:30 a.m. all summer long and they do the extra stuff it takes like lifting weight a couple times a week. You need that commitment to be successful."
Commitment personified busted off the blocks in the 400-yard freestyle relay in which Megan Hayes, Michael Coiner, Taylor Coiner and Racheal McGinnis set a new state and school record of 3:44.41.
Hayes, T. Coiner, Elizabeth Fry and McGinnis out-touched Moscow at the wall in the 200 freestyle relay, winning by 2/10ths of a second in 1:43.42. Relay winners receive 40 points with 34 going to second place. In the overall team standings, the Wolverines beat runner-up Moscow by 37 points, 237 to 200. Idaho Falls was third with 194.5.
"It was an unbelievable weekend and a weekend to remember for the girls," Gallagher said.
The victory cemented a stellar streak for the Lady Wolverines, who, according to Gallagher, have not lost a dual, tri, invitational or regional meet in five years.
"People have been very gracious to us. When we won four years ago it was one of the biggest surprises and I think people thought we would not hold on, but we have," Gallagher said.
Helping the team keep a firm grip on the golden ring are seniors Megan Hayes and Racheal McGinnis, who has never lost in a relay race at the state level.
"It's quite an accomplishment if you think about it. She's (McGinnis) been on eight state championship relay teams, won three individual championships and been second four times, dating back to her freshman year," Gallagher noted. "And Megan Hayes has been on five state championship relays. It's tough to get just one championship win."
McGinnis also picked up points with a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle, in which the winner, Kjirsten Magnuson of Lake City, set a new state record of 24.0. McGinnis broke the school record in the preliminaries with a time of 24.7. The pair also went one-two in the 100 free, with Magnuson winning in 53.0. McGinnis finished in 54.3, but lowered the school mark to 54.0 in the prelims.
Hayes swam to a bronze medal in the 100 back in 1:01.13.
Ashleigh Share and Esther Williams are the other two seniors on the squad and Gallagher has said he has coached the quartet for the "last eight to ten years."
Also garnering valuable points for finishing in the top 16 were Taylor Coiner, Michael Coiner, and Elizabeth Fry. The 200 medley relay of Michael Coiner, Tori Emerick, Elizabeth Fry and Ashleigh Share was 8th in 2:05.2.
But success was not confined only to the girls' team. The Wood River boys posted their best-ever finish at state, finishing 13th in a field of 30 teams. The Wolverines posted 89 point, which is the highest total they have reached at state. It is also notable that only 13 points separated 13th place from 7th.
"They were very competitive and all the boys come back. Next year looks even bigger and better for us," Gallagher noted.
The Hailey boys broke five school records at state and Jon Atkinson recorded the team's best-ever finish, placing 5th in the 100 freestyle finals in a school record 51.6. He also set a new low in the 50 free of 23.2 seconds and finished 9th.
Gene Fairbrother stroked to 9th in 100 butterfly in a school record 59.3. Max Jones was 9th in the 200 free and 10th in the 100 back.
The other two records were set in relay events. Wood River's Jones, JT Sutton, Fairbrother and Atkinson were 6th in the 400 freestyle, swimming to a school record 3:37.1 in the prelims. It was the first time a Wood River boys' team qualified to compete in the finals. 1:39.1 is the new boys' mark in the 200 free, thanks to a great effort by Jones, JT Sutton, Sean Sutton and Atkinson, who placed 11th.
Formerly a racer at the University of Arizona, Gallagher has been Wood River's only coach for the last 14 years, a feat for which he was given the National Interscholastic Coach's Association Fraternity Award in 2005. He knows what kind of determination and dedication it takes to succeed as a swimmer and recognized the effort as such.
"Ask any of the kids if winning the championship meet was worth all the hard work, they would say it was well worth it and beyond," he said. "It was just an unbelievable weekend."
Final girls' standings
1—Wood River 237. 2—Moscow 200. 3—Idaho Falls 194.5. 4—Sandpoint 164. 5—Hillcrest 151. 6—Lake
City 137.5. 7—Liberty Charter 126. 8—Boise 118. 9—Centennial 118. 10—Eagle 94. 11—Century 92. 12—
Caldwell 74. 13—Coeur d'Alene 70. 14—Rocky Mountain 64. 15T—Bonneville & Timberline 50. 17—
Lewiston 48. 18—Post Falls 37. 19—Columbia 29. 20—Vallivue 27. 21T—Minico & Bishop Kelly 24. 23—
Skyview 21. 24—Pocatello 18. 25T—Twin Falls & Meridian 6. 27—New Plymouth 4.
400 freestyle relay: 1—Wood River (Megan Hayes, Michael Coiner, Taylor Coiner, Racheal McGinnis)
3:44.41 (state record).
200 freestyle relay: 1—Wood River (Megan Hayes, Taylor Coiner, Elizabeth Fry, Racheal McGinnis)
1:43.23. 2—Moscow 1:43.42.
200 medley relay: 8—Wood River (Michael Coiner, Tori Emerick, Elizabeth Fry, Ashleigh Share) 2:05.25.
200 freestyle: 5—Michael Coiner 2:04.31. 10—Esther Williams 2:11.61. 28—Melissa Becker.
200 IM: 5—Taylor Coiner 2:20.6. 12-Elizabeth Fry 2:29.56. 22—Ashleigh Share.
50 freestyle: 2—Racheal McGinnis 24:89.
100 freestyle: 2—Racheal McGinnis 54:33. 26—Tori Emerick.
100 butterfly: 5—Megan Hayes 1:03.01.
500 freestyle: 6—Taylor Coiner 5:39.57. 11—Esther Williams 5:54.38. 18—Ashleigh Share (2nd alternate to
finals). 20—Melissa Becker.
100 backstroke: 3—Megan Hayes 1:01.13. 9—Michael Coiner 1:04.70. 22—Tori Emerick.
100 breaststroke: 14—Elizabeth Fry 1:16.60. 30—Zoey Olbum.
Final boys' standings
1—Moscow 259. 2—Bishop Kelly 208. 3—Boise 187.5. 4—Sandpoint 161. 5—Lake City 138. 6—Timberline 124. 7—Rocky Mountain 102. 8T—Eagle & Coeur d'Alene 101. 10—Skyline 99. 11—Centennial 96. 12—Mountain View 93. 13—Wood River 89. 14—Liberty Charter 70. 15—Idaho Falls 66. 16—Caldwell 46. 17—Capital 41. 18T—Hillcrest & Meridian 32. 20—Minico 28. 21—Century 24. 22T—Highland & Pocatello 16. 24—Borah 12. 25T—Marsh Valley & Lewiston 9. 27—Lewiston 8. 28—Jerome 6.5. 29—Skyview 6. 30T—Victory Charter & Post Falls 4.
400 freestyle relay: 6—Wood River (Max Jones, JT Sutton, Gene Fairbrother, Jon Atkinson) 3:38.06.
200 freestyle relay: 11—Wood River (Max Jones, JT Sutton, Sean Sutton, Jon Atkinson) 1:39.18 (school record).
200 freestyle: 9—Max Jones 1:57.32. 32—Adam Potts.
50 freestyle: 9—Jon Atkinson 23:25 (school record).
100 butterfly: 9—Gene Fairbrother 59:31 (school record).
500 freestyle: 16—JT Sutton 5:52.48
100 backstroke: 10—Max Jones 1:01.04. 23—Gene Fairbrother.
The State record breaking 400 relay team photo names in order left to right: Taylor Coiner, Megan Hayes, Michael Coiner and Racheal McGinnis
