Wood River High senior Janel Passey brought her “A” game to the 4th District 4A track and field championships Wednesday and Thursday at Jerome High School.
She made it a clean sweep in the distance runs.
Passey became the first girl in Wolverine annals to sweep the 800-meter, 1600m and 3200m district runs, in the process giving the Hailey girls their only three gold medals at Jerome.
She won Thursday’s 800m run by 1.25 seconds and the 1600m by 5.37 seconds, and Wednesday’s 3200m by 0.08 seconds in a thrilling finish with junior teammate Kenya Schott.
The 62-point distance running effort at district sparked the Hailey girls to a fourth-place team finish with 110 points—just three points behind Jerome and 11 behind Twin Falls. The Canyon Ridge Riverhawks (126.5, 56.5 in field) led the way.
Besides Schott’s second place in the 3200m, Wood River’s other second places at district came from senior Mariah Stout (1600m), sophomore Sara Lichtenberg (high jump) and freshman Michelle Mason (100m dash).
Third placers were Schott (800m, 1600m), Mason (200m), junior Alexis Gonzalez (1600m, 3200m) and junior Kyle Mungal (400m). In fourth were Gonzalez (800m), junior Taylor Douthit (discus), Stout (3200m) and Sara Lichtenberg (400m).
Passey, boasting the second-best qualifying times in the 800m and 1600m, leads a group of eight Wood River qualifiers to the 97th annual Idaho High School Track and Field Championships Friday and Saturday, May 16-17 in Boise.
Other top athletes winning multiple events at district:
Canyon Ridge senior Scott Warner (100m, 200m, long jump), Twin Falls senior Jeremy Stark (800m, 1600m, 3200m, medley relay), Minico junior Josh Barclay (shotput, discus), Twin Falls senior Jacob Johnson (400m, medley) and Jerome junior Haziel Ledezma (100m and 300m hurdles, 4x400m);
Also, Canyon Ridge senior Marney Tripp (long jump, triple jump, 4x100m, 4x200m), Minico senior Rebecca Child (100m and 300m hurdles) and Canyon Ridge junior Jullia Aguayo (200m, 400m and 4x200m relay).
Wood River coach Monte Brothwell said he thought Passey’s feat was the first time a Wood River girl had won all three individual distance events at the district track meet.
That dates back nearly 30 years to 1985, when Wolverine senior Maureen McGinnis won 1600m and 3200m runs at district and, along with senior sprinter Nicole Terra and district 800m winner Julie Gardner, led Hailey into the state meet.
That year, the Wolverine girls might have won their first and only state track team championship if not for a case of bad food that McGinnis ate before the 3200m run.
She was leading the event when stomach cramps slowed her down and she finished fifth. The next day McGinnis won the State A-2 1600m run, but Wood River settled for second place as a team 63-60 behind Kellogg’s first-time state champs.
Team results, event winners and Wood River top-six placers from last week’s 4th District 4A track at Jerome:
District girls’ results
Teams: 1—Canyon Ridge 126.5 points (28 sprints, 0 distances, 8 hurdles, 34 relays, 56.5 field). 2—Twin Falls 121 (41 sprints, 0 distances, 17 hurdles, 36 relays, 27 field). 3—Jerome 113.
4—Wood River 111 points (18 sprints, 62 distances, 1 hurdles, 20 relays, 10 field). 5—Minico 64.5. 6—Burley 15.
100m: 1—Madi Ford (TF) 13.07. 2—Michelle Mason (WR) 13.12. 200m: 1—Jullia Aguayo (CR) 26.76. 3—Michelle Mason (WR) 27.15. 400m: 1—Jullia Aguayo (CR) 1:00.69. 4—Sara Lichtenberg (WR) 1:02.46.
800m: 1—Janel Passey (WR) 2:27.74. 3—Kenya Schott (WR) 2:31:48. 1600m: 1—Janel Passey (WR) 5:28.79. 2—Mariah Stout (WR) 5:34.16. 3—Kenya Schott (WR) 5:35.86. 3200m: 1—Janel Passey (WR) 12:06.1. 2—Kenya Schott (WR) 12:06.9. 4—Mariah Stout (WR) 12:15.7.
100m high hurdles: 1—Rebecca Child (Minico) 16.50. 300m intermediate hurdles: 1—Rebecca Child (Minico) 47.45.6—Pilar Pennell (WR) 51.86.
4x100m relay: 1—Canyon Ridge (Carissa Burks, Marney Tripp, Rebecca Cabello, Ellie Packham) 51.01. 4—Wood River (Allyson Cavallo, Emilia Bingham, Emily Todd, Bailey Rierden) 56.06. 4x200m: 1—Canyon Ridge (Rebecca Cabello, Marney Tripp, Ellie Packham, Jullia Aguayo) 1:45.66. 3—Wood River (Lexie Browne, Chloe Lichtenberg, Michelle Mason, Sara Lichtenberg) 1:51.07.
4x400m: 1—Twin Falls (Kaitlyn Merritt, Sara Christensen, Jessica Aquirre, Jencen Campbell) 4:12.56. 4—Wood River (Michelle Casas, Amy Cantrell, Kenya Schott, Margot Griffith) 4:44.47. Sprint medley relay (100, 100, 200, 400): 1—Twin Falls (Sara Doerr, Maci Urrutia, Kaitlyn Merritt, Madi Ford) 1:52.4. 3—Wood River (Lexi Browne, Michelle Mason, Sara Lichtenberg, Janel Passey) 1:56.9.
Shotput: 1—Jessalynn Garnett (Jerome) 35-8.25. Discus: 1—Caitlyn Joslin (Canyon Ridge) 110-6.
Pole vault: 1—Gabby Borrayo (Jerome) 10-6.
High jump: 1—Emily Bell (Canyon Ridge) 5-1. 2—Sara Lichtenberg (WR) 4-10. Long jump: 1—Marney Tripp (Canyon Ridge) 17-7. 5—Bailey Rierden (WR) 15-1. Triple jump: 1—Marney Tripp (Canyon Ridge) 37-7.75.
Boys’ results
Teams: 1—Twin Falls 178 points (29 sprints, 41 distances, 16 hurdles, 34 relays, 58 field). 2—Jerome 142. 3—Canyon Ridge 141.5. 4—Minico 39.5.
5—Wood River 36 (6 sprints, 16 distances, 2 hurdles, 8 relays, 4 field). 6—Burley 17.
100m: 1—Scott Warner (Canyon Ridge) 11.54. 200m: 1—Scott Warner (Canyon Ridge) 22.7. 400m: 1—Jacob Johnson (Twin Falls) 51.97. 3—Kyle Mungal (WR) 53.57.
800m: 1—Jeremy Stark (Twin Falls) 2:03.45. 4—Alexis Gonzalez (WR) 2:08.71. 1600m: 1—Jeremy Stark (Twin Falls) 4:27.81. 3—Alexis Gonzalez (WR) 4:46.13. 3200m: 1—Jeremy Stark (Twin Falls) 9:52.0. 3—Alexis Gonzalez (WR) 10:26.3.
110m high hurdles: 1—Haziel Ledezma (Jerome) 15.57. 300m intermediate hurdles: 1—Haziel Ledezma (Jerome) 40.05. 5—Noah Russell (WR) 42.68.
4x100m relay: 1—Canyon Ridge (Portor Casdorf, Bailey Hiebert, Keegan Barton, Teague Sweesy) 44.68. 5—Wood River (Noah Russell, Alberto Gonzalez Jr., Brandon Yagla, Kyle Mungal) 48.77. 4x200m relay: 1—Canyon Ridge (Portor Casdorf, Adrian Borrayo, Bailey Hiebert, Teague Sweesy) 1:32.52.
4x400m relay: 1—Jerome (Haziel Ledezma, Jonathan Shobe, Brayden White, Erik Nordquist) 3:33.26. 5—Wood River (Cormac Heneghan, Noah Russell, Kenny Pratt, Irvin Gonzalez) 4:06.38. Sprint medley relay (200, 200, 400, 800): 1—Twin Falls (Jeremy Stark, Garrett Karl, Braeden Lowe, Jacob Johnson) 3:41.7. 4—Wood River (Alberto Gonzalez Jr., Kyle Mungal, Brandon Yagla, Alexis Gonzalez) 4:08.2.
Shotput: 1—Josh Barclay (Minico) 59-10. Discus: 1—Josh Barclay (Minico) 167-3. 4—Taylor Douthit (WR) 127-1.
Pole vault: 1—Brayden White (Jerome) 13-6.
High jump: 1—Karsten Hinckley (Burley) 5-10. Long jump: 1—Scott Warner (Canyon Ridge) 20-5. Triple jump: 1—Lorenzo Foffo (Twin Falls) 43-1.
Dominating the 4th District 4A 1600m run podium Thursday at Jerome are Wolverine girls, from left, Mariah Stout, Janel Passey and Kenya Schott.
Courtesy photo
