BY MICHAEL DAVID
The Bob Shay Invitational track meet drew 13 schools from Southern Idaho and Northern Nevada to Hailey Friday afternoon.
Wood River High School and Mother Nature were the perfect hosts, setting the scene for some fantastic individual and relay performances.
Local athletes from Wood River and Community School captured several events amidst fine competition from Buhl, Burley, Challis, Declo, Filer, Gooding, Jackpot, Jerome, Mackay, Minico and Shelly.
Wood River junior Will McGonigal won the 3200 meter and 1600 meter runs in dominant fashion. He posted a 10:22.80 time in the 3200 to beat the second place runner from Buhl by over eight seconds. In the 1600, McGonigal pulled away late from Community School runner Henry Raff, who finished second.
Community School junior Sophia Mazzoni pulled off an impressive double also, capturing both the 800 meter and 1600 meter races.
Wood River High School athletes captured the boys and girl’s high jump, as junior Brayden Olson and senior Stella Barsotti jumped 6’0” and 5’4” respectively. This is Olson’s first year competing in the high jump and he bested his previous personal best of 5’10”. Barsotti, who finished second in the state last year, equaled her personal best after narrowly missing her attempts at 5’5”.
Wolverine senior Dakota Hutton-King capped an impressive day with a victory in the girl’s long jump, flying 15’8.5” to capture first place. Hutton-King also finished second in the triple jump (34’1”), fourth in the 100 meter dash, and ran a strong first leg on the Wood River 4 x 100 meter relay team which captured 3rd place.
Wood River junior Jenna Nurge narrowly defeated Searle from Burley to win the 400 meter dash in a time of 1:02.29.
Senior Taylor Koth ran an incredible 49 second anchor in the boys 4 x 400 meter to help his Wolverine relay team to victory. Koth, faced with a sizeable deficit after receiving the baton, ran down the Minico runner with about 50 meters left and held on for the victory. Jaren and Christian Bothwell and Cole Reeves all ran solid legs as well in the win.
Koth also finished second in the 400 and 3rd in the 200 meter dashes.
Other notable WRHS finishes:
Kate Stone (sophomore)—8th place, Triple Jump, 30’10.5”
Jaren Bothwell (senior)—6th place, Long Jump, 7th 100 meter, 19’1”, 8th, Triple Jump,
Kirsys Campbell (senior)—3rd place, 3200 meter
Cole Reeves (sophomore)—6th place, 400 meter
Lillian Hogan (freshman)—6th place, 100 meter
Karina Stelck (junior)—3rd place, Discus,
Marit Kaiser (freshman)—6th place, 200 meter
Kat Holden (sophomore)—6th place, 300 meter hurdles
WRHS 4 x 100 Girls Relay—3rd place (Hutton-King, Nurge, Barsotti, Emily Vandenberg)
WRHS 4 x 200 Girls Relay—4th place (Sayler Peavy, Kat Holden, Lillian Hogan, Kate Stone)
Other notable Community School finishes:
CS 1600 Sprint Medley Relay—3rd place, (Jake Lunn, Huck Durksmeri, Johnny Hagenbuch, Raff)
Next up for Wood River and Community School are District meets.