It was quite an accomplishment for Wood River High School senior Chase Caulkins to win Saturday's State 4A boys' cross country footrace at Circling Raven Golf Course in Worley south of Coeur d'Alene.
Running on a wet and muddy two-lap, 5-kilometer course, Caulkins out-distanced all 105 boys in the 4A class and captured first place with a time of 16 minutes and 15 seconds—over 17 seconds ahead of Twin Falls sophomore Erik Harris.
Caulkins had the third-fastest time of all 380 boys in four classifications who competed in the Idaho High School Activities Association event. Only 5A top finishers Eric Fitzpatrick of Boise (16:01) and Cody Helbling of Lake City (16:02) finished faster.
The Wood River runner was one of four new individual champions crowned Saturday. Last year at state, Caulkins finished sixth overall in much faster conditions in 16:24. Two years ago, he was 12th in 17:18.
It was the fifth race victory of the 2009 season for Caulkins, who has been ranked wire-to-wire as the #1 4A runner in Idaho by Idahoxc.com. Besides Worley, Caulkins also won twice in Twin Falls, and in Mountain Home and in Rigby. He was the top Idaho 4A runner in the prestigious Bob Firman.
More impressively, Caulkins gave Wood River its first state individual boys' gold medal since his coach, Bellevue's Monte Brothwell, won the State Boys' Class B crown for coach Bob Shay's Wood River state team champs way back in 1972.
Brothwell said, "The weather made the course very mushy in five or six spots, and a breezy headwind played a factor in the last half mile.
"Chase controlled the field from about a half-mile after the start. At the start of the second loop Chase only had about 15 yards on Harris. I told him to kick it up and get more of a lead. By the time Chase was about halfway around the second lap he had opened up about a 100-yard lead, and he finished with about a 150-yard lead."
The first-place effort of Caulkins plus the 19th-place finish of junior James Paris (17:20) and the 25th-place finish of junior Andrew Pfeiffer (17:41) helped Brothwell's Wood River squad to a fourth-place trophy in the 4A boys, behind state champion Twin Falls.
Besides Caulkins and Paris, another local runner brought home a medal for finishing among the top 20 in each classification race at Worley.
He was Community School senior Torin Tucker (17:33), who placed ninth of 106 runners in 2A boys. It represented a major 45-second improvement for Tucker, who was 37th in 18:18 at State 2A last fall.
In all, there were 753 finishers in eight separate races Saturday, all with different stories of training and perseverance.
Making it a rare three-peat individual title among the boys with the fastest boys' time Saturday was Boise senior Fitzpatrick (16:01). In the closest finish of the day Fitzpatrick nipped Lake City senior Cody Helbling by 0.73 seconds.
Fitzpatrick is only the sixth Gem State runner to win three state titles since the races begin in 1965. Others are Jason Uhlman of Lewiston (1989-91), Matt Knoff of Highland (2000-02), Brenda Falash of Twin Falls (1975-77), Cydney Jacobsen of Bear Lake (2005-07) and Greta Johnson of Potlatch (1996-98).
Other team results:
Coming down a classification from 5A, where Twin Falls won back-to-back boys' titles in 2007-08, the Bruins placed two runners in the top four and won their first 4A team championship 55-71 over Hillcrest of Idaho Falls. Wood River's boys were fourth with 146 points.
In the 4A girls' team standings, Bishop Kelly (36 points) won its sixth championship in seven years by a 52-point margin over Hillcrest.
Soda Springs made its presence known as always in the 2A team rankings—winning its fourth straight girls' title 46-94 over New Plymouth and making it close 87-91 over two-time defending champion Firth in the final boys' standings.
First-time 3A winner Timberlake (84) captured a 13-point girls' team victory over Gooding (97), thereby snapping a six-year winning streak by Bear Lake. Second last year, Sugar-Salem of Sugar City (63) won its first-ever 3A boys' championship over 2008 king Teton (70).
The Boise girls (57) placed three runners in the top seven and captured their fourth State 5A title in five years over defending champ Mountain View of Meridian (62). Winning her second girls' title in three years with the fastest girls' time of the day was Coeur d'Alene junior Kinsey Gomez (18:09).
Top results plus Wood River and Community School runners from Saturday's state meet in northern Idaho:
State 4A boys' teams: 1—Twin Falls 55. 2—Hillcrest of Idaho Falls 71. 3—Bishop Kelly of Boise 88. 4—Wood River 146 (13 schools).
State 4A boys: 1—Chase Caulkins 16:15. 2—Erik Harris (Twin Falls) 16:32. 19—James Paris 17:20. 25—Andrew Pfeiffer 17:41. 57—Rusty Williams 18:23. 65—Ben Stout 18:34. 101—Miles Hendrix 20:00. 102—Brendan Freund 20:01 (105 runners).
State 4A girls' teams: 1—Bishop Kelly 36. 2—Hillcrest of Idaho Falls 88. 3—Twin Falls 100. 12—Wood River 299 (13 schools).
State 4A girls: 1—Emily Nist (Bishop Kelly) 18:20. 39—Corrine Smith 21:57. 48—Tristin Bowers 22:10. 67—Maranda Stopol 23:00. 82—Dani McLaughlin 24:00. 83—Alison Town 24:07. 95—Brooke Bowers 25:54. 96—Brooke Lawrence 25:55 (97 runners).
State 2A boys' teams: 1—Soda Springs 87. 2—Firth 91 (14 schools).
State 2A boys: 1—Kasey Meyers (Soda Springs) 16:26. 9—Torin Tucker (TCS) 17:33 (106 runners).
State 2A girls' teams: 1—Soda Springs 46. 2—New Plymouth 94 (14 schools).
State 2A girls: 1—Natalie Evans (New Plymouth) 19:56. 44—Morgan Atkinson (TCS) 23:59 (114 runners).
Chase Caulkins, running here out Trail Creek in Sept. 2008, has earned Wood River High School’s first boys’ state cross country title in 37 years. Photo by
