Caleb Bowman Sandpoint Year: Junior Sport: Track Events: Sprints/ Relays

As Caleb Bowman sprints to the finish line, he’s figuratively carrying a football and dodging would-be tacklers.

If Bowman is the first to break the tape this weekend in the 100- or 200-meter dashes at the state high school championships, he’ll be thinking about scoring a touchdown, not garnering a gold medal.

He’s not participating in track for medals. He’s doing it to make himself the best football player possible.

If there was a preseason all-state vote, Bowman would likely be a unanimous selection. And he knows he’s going to be a much-improved player in the fall because of giving full attention to track.

That’s the primary reason he isn’t pulling double duty this spring. Last year he split time between baseball and track. More accurately, he spent more time on the diamond than on the oval.

Bowman’s already reaping the fruits of hard work.

At the regional meet last weekend, he qualified for state in the maximum four events. In so doing he broke or tied school records set in the mid-1950s in the 100 and 200.

Bowman broke the 11-second barrier in winning the regional title in the 100, clocking 10.9 seconds and matching the school mark set by Chuck Heath in 1956.

He won the 200 in 22.2, shattering the 42-year-old record held by Lee Hall (22.4).

Bowman also anchored the school-record 400 relay (44.3), eclipsing the mark of 44.4 established in 1978.

The old records were in events run in yards and the times were converted to metric equivalents.

Both Sandpoint coach Tom Albertson and Bowman agreed the records occurred because of “overtraining.”

“It took some convincing, but about halfway through the season we got Caleb to start running open 400s and the 400 (leg) of the medley relay,” Albertson said. “He seemed to be stuck at 11 flat or 11.1 in the 100. He was getting a little frustrated. But he started to bring his 100 and 200 times down after he started running the 400s.

“He’s a very gifted athlete; I knew he had it in him. But track is hard work, even for gifted athletes.”

Bowman runs effortlessly, seemingly gliding along the track like a deer.

“I’ll give it my all for a medal - I expect to place - but I’m doing it for football,” Bowman said.

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