Jessy Hart became the first Sweet Home girl in five years to qualify for the state cross-country meet Thursday, Oct. 25, when she placed fourth in the 4A-3 Oregon West Conference Championships at Lane Community College.
Hart, a sophomore, went out with the leaders and stayed in the pack behind district champion Hannah Hernandez of Philomath, a junior, who finished in 18:22.46, running by herself the entire race. Behind Hernandez were junior Kate Bowen of Sisters (19:35.97) and sophomore Hailey Notman of Stayton (19:35.44).
Hart was ranked seventh in the league going into the race, with a previous best time of 20:53.3, on a course considered faster than the one at LCC. Hart finished in 19:58.0, a personal best by nearly a minute.
“I’m really, really proud of what she did out there,” Coach Kambria Schumacher said.
Hart said she was “nervous” going into the race, after finishing seventh last year. The only way for an individual runner to qualify for state in the 4A Division is to finish in the top five.
“That was my goal for the whole high school year,” she said.
Hart was running with seniors Alanna Fanning of Newport and Ella Cole of Sisters as they entered the last quarter mile of the race, which involves a tight turn after circling the ponds on the LCC campus.
She turned in on at that point and managed to establish a gap between them.
“I was pretty tired, but I had to decide I was going to state,” she said.
Sweet Home’s boys placed sixth out of seven teams in the varsity race – the Huskies didn’t the necessary five runners to score as a team in the other races.
Sophomore Gavin Walberg was the Huskies’ top finisher, placing 22nd out of 49 runners in 17:54.13, his first time under 18 minutes.
“Gavin ended his season really well after a horrible race at Country Fair (the meet preceding the district competition),” Schumacher said. “He did everything right