It's a rare situation for the Wood River High School cross country program to have a #1-ranked runner in pre-season Idahoxc.com rankings based on last year's state results.
That's the case, with senior Chase Caulkins (6th State 4A in 2008 at 16:24) leading all 4A runners before a single meet has been held. He'll have great match-ups all season and will tangle with #2-ranked Twin Falls sophomore Erik Harris (11th State 5A in 2008 at 16:24).
Twin Falls, newly installed in Wood River's 4A league, is two-time reigning State 5A boys' champion.
The Wolverines open their seven-meet regular season Friday, Aug. 28 at the 3.1-mile College of Southern Idaho Invitational in Twin. The Wood River Invitational is Sept. 9.
Pacing the returning Wolverine girls are sophomores Tristin Bowers (12th conference, 48th state) and Corrine Smith (14th conference, 44th state). Not far behind is junior Brooke Bowers (25th conference and 67th state).
Girls' head coach Shari Kunz said, "We are excited about our team. We have a strong varsity team with new and returning runners. After losing 12 seniors, we are rebuilding with a great new group. We have committed athletes with talent, and most importantly we have runners with heart who are excited to run hard for themselves and their team, to push limits and to discover potential."
Said boys' head coach Monte Brothwell, "We are going to have well-rounded cross country teams. Both girls' and boys' teams have seasoned athletes returning and new ones coming in." Both the boys and girls teams will be helped by new assistant coach Julie Carney.
New runners are welcome.
The Hailey boys include Caulkins, James Paris (21st state), Andrew Pfeiffer, Will Spiller, Miles Hendrix, Josh Arters, Nolan Arters, Rusty Williams, Nick Howard, Brendan Freund, Drew Deffe, Zeb Glenn, Jacob Adicoff, Connor Hesselbacher, JR Hill, Andreas Morales, Lewis Fischer and Brendan Beuhl.
WRHS girls include senior Erin Burbank; juniors Jamie Bennett, Brooke Bowers, Aunika Phillips and Alison Town; sophomores Tristin Bowers, Dani McLaughlin and Corrine Smith; and freshmen Amelia Fugate, Kennedie Howard, Megan Jones, Kaitlyn Landis, Brooke Lawrence, Christina Leyba, Ashton Lupton and Maranda Stopol.
