Last summer, when his classmates were sleeping in, Tanner Sayers was putting in the miles.
Now it’s paying off for the Sweet Home junior, who has lowered his personal-best 5K time by more than a minute in his first two cross-country races this year.
At the Silver Falls Oktoberfest Invitational Wednesday, Sept. 13, at Silver Falls State Park, Sayers finished fourth in a field of 178 runners in 16:43.4, chopping nearly 30 more seconds off the PR he established the week before in the Huskies’ opener at Cascade.
“It’s just hard work for him,” said former Sweet Home coach Billy Snow, who coached the team at Silver Falls because Head Coach Kambria Schumacher was in The Netherlands last week competing in the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final championships in Rotterdam.
“I was really surprised when I came across the finish line and saw my time,” Sayers said. “I wasn’t expecting those kinds of times so early in the season.”
He said his performances are causing him to readjust his goals for the season, from just making state to placing.
“I was able to keep up with some of the better 5A runners,” he said.
The Silver Falls 5K course includes two hills, including a steep “monster” climb at the end that slowed the majority of the competitors to a walk at the top, Snow said.
Sayers ran 18:33 last year over the same course.
He said Sayers wasn’t the only one who ran well.
“Three or four kids had great races,” he said. “The varsity girls had good races. They were in the 30s (pace) at the 3000 mark but they both closed the gap.”
Freshman Jessy Hart was 41st of 131 runners in 23:02.8 and sophomore Zoe James, also a newcomer to cross-country, was 55th in 24:07.4.
Snow said freshman Summer Hicks also ran well. Hicks finished 11th out of 171 runners in the girls junior varsity 3,350-meter race in 16:30.6, her first high school cross-country race.
“She went out hard and near the front of the pack,” Snow said.
The other boys varsity finishers were senior Ricky Yunke, 75th in 19:25.7; junior Noah Dinsfriend, 78th in 19:54.1; senior Cameron Taber, 114th in 20:59.7; Zach Zanona, 115th in 21:00.0; sophomore Tristan Saultz, 125th in 21:34.3; and senior Noah Taraski, 150th in 23:00.7.
Sweet Home finished 12th out of 24 teams with 359 points, behind fellow 4A teams Philomath in third (105 points), Estacada in fifth (196) and Valley Catholic in 10th (333).
“On the guys side, they just need to go out as a group and try to stick together,” Snow said. “If they could all move into the 18s, they would be in pretty good shape.”
The junior varsity boys were eighth out of 12 teams.
Connor Ford led the Huskies, placing 69th out of 173 runners in 14:43.2. Behind him were Jake Hindmarsh, 74th in 14:46.5; Bryce Porter, 76th in 14:47.5; Gavin Walberg, 83rd in 14:55.6; Corban Wright, 99th in 15:12.5; Justin Kurtz, 104th in 15:17.6; Eric Roddy, 106th in 15:21.1; Tristan Caulkins, 132nd in 15:47.5; Robert Watkins, 149th in 16:38.0; Jaren Adams, 153rd in 17:41.3; Trace Marler, 155th in 17:50.9; and Mason Hook, 158th in 18:10.9.
Sophomore and cross-country rookie Katen Edwards also finished the girls JV race, placing 124th in 20:35.6.
“Overall, it was a pretty good day,” Snow said. “We had a number of kids PR. You PR in a meet with two hills, that’s pretty good.”
The Huskies will be back in action on their biggest road trip of the season Sept. 23 when they compete at the Three Course Challenge at Camp Rilea north of Seaside. As of last week, 76 teams were signed up to compete in the high school races, about half from Washington and at least two from California and from British Columbia.