Windy spring afternoons in southern Idaho are the rule rather than the exception, but the strong gusts during last Friday's Minico Triangular at Rupert were a little out of the ordinary, even for Idaho.
"Probably one of the windiest track meets I've ever been to," said Wood River High School track coach Monte Brothwell, who has attended meets for nearly 40 years. "But Wood River High did well."
Sending a small squad of girls and boys, Wood River nevertheless won three golds in the boys' meet and three golds in the girls' competition, to go with eight second-place individual finishes. The Wolverines had no points in hurdles or relays on the afternoon.
Distance runner Chase Caulkins, a senior expected to rule the long events, won all three distances races—the 800-meter run (2:11.0) by over four seconds, the 1600m (5:15) by four seconds and the 3200m (10:20.9) by about 53 seconds.
Indeed, Wood River's boys amassed 28 of their 41 points in the distances and had five runner-up finishes paced by distance men James Paris and Ben Stout. Minico (20 sprints, 24 field, 18 relay) won the meet with 80 over Canyon Ridge of Twin Falls (65, 37 in field).
Coach J.C. Nemecek's Wood River girls compiled 40 points (19 field, 15 distances) led by sophomore Cheyenne Swanson, who swept individual wins in shotput (28-3) and discus (93-4). Alison Town had the other gold, winning 3200m (15:06).
The Wood River girls collected 25 points in sprints, 25 hurdles and 25 in the field to finish the seven-school meet with 75 points, good for fifth place. The Jerome girls (6 golds) captured first place with 202 points topped by 84 in the field events.
Nemecek said, "We took a small team to Rupert and the weather wasn't the most cooperative, but the girls did a nice job. They're fun to work with. We had several good beginning marks and I feel we have a lot of improvement in weeks ahead."
Next: Two trips to Burley for scheduled meets Friday, April 2 and again on Friday, April 9. The April 9 meet was originally scheduled for Phil Homer Field in Hailey.
Here are team standings and Wolverine placings from last week's Minico Triangular:
Girls' results
Teams: 1—Canyon Ridge of Twin Falls 79 points (8 sprints, 16 hurdles, 10 distances, 27 field, 18 relays). 2—Minico of Rupert 62 points (18 sprints, 6 hurdles, 8 distances, 19 field, 11 relays). 3—Wood River of Hailey 40 points (6 sprints, 0 hurdles, 15 distances, 19 field, 0 relays).
100m: 3—Lucy Paisley 14.1. 4—Gracie Eagan 15.0. 200m: 3—Lucy Paisley 30.8. 4—Gracie Eagan 32.0.
800m: 3—Telar McClure 3:08.0. 1600m: 2—Telar McClure 7:14.4. 3—Jade Glenn 7:42.9. 3200m: 1—Alison Town 15:06.0. 2—Dani McLaughlin 15:09.0.
High jump: 4—Grace Lagodich 4-4. Long jump: 4—Grace Lagodich 13-1. Triple jump: 4—Nicole Pratt 28-6.5.
Shotput: 1—Cheyenne Swanson 28-3. 2—Hanna Stocks 27-2. 4—Karissa Coonce 25-7.5. Discus: 1—Cheyenne Swanson 93-4. 3—Hanna Stocks 80-2.
Boys' results
Teams: 1—Minico 80 points (20 sprints, 16 hurdles, 2 distances, 24 field, 18 relays). 2—Canyon Ridge 65 points (5 sprints, 6 hurdles, 3 distances, 37 field, 14 relays). 3—Wood River 41 points (8 sprints, 0 hurdles, 28 distances, 5 field, 0 relays).
200m: 3—Miles Hendrix 26.4. 4—Alberto Salinas 27.8. 400m: 2—Miles Hendrix 1:03.1. 3—Connor Hesselbacher 1:06.6.
800m: 1—Chase Caulkins 2:11.0. 2—Ben Stout 2:15.6. 1600m: 1—Chase Caulkins 5:15.0. 2—James Paris 5:19.0. 3—Ben Stout 5:24.7. 3200m: 1—Chase Caulkins 10:20.9. 2—James Paris 11:13.9. 3—Andrew Pfeiffer 11:25.1.
Shotput: 3—Colton Seely 38-4.5 (personal record). Discus: 2—Colton Seely 107-6 (PR).
