Trey Reed and Sierra Swanson were named Most Valuable Runners for the boys and girls cross-country teams at the Huskies’ awards dinner Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Reed suffered a serious ankle injury during the summer that seriously diminished his training and Swanson underwent knee surgery about the same time, with the same results. Both came back to lead their teams at district, he said.
“Typically, the Runner of the Year may not be necessarily your best runner , but this year they were,” said Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen. “The ability to push teammates and be a leader is the main thing.”
Rookie of the Year for the girls was senior Allison Wickline, a soccer player who decided to add cross-country to her repertoire and “trained all summer” for that purpose. Wickline suffered a serious knee injury midway through the soccer season and had to sit out until the district meet, where she showed up with a knee brace and ran for the Huskies.
“I didn’t think she’d be there,” Allen said. “She gave it her all, even though she didn’t meet what she was fully capable of. She was always pushing.”
For the boys, freshman Tanner Sayers was Rookie of the Year, after finishing the season as Sweet Home’s third runner. Allen said Sayers’ serious approach to the sport – starting in junior high – and dedicated training were key to his performances. He noted that fellow freshman Noah Dinsfriend also was a standout, who made the choice more difficult.
“Tanner was in the top three for our team and ran second for most of the races, even if he got passed in the end by (senior) Julian (Hesberg) or someone else. He wants to be good. He wants to be great and he’s putting in the time. It’s well-deserved.”
Most Improved Runner went to sophomore Cameron Taber.
“He could have been either Most Improved or Most Inspirational,” Allen said. “Cameron didn’t run a varsity race, but he exemplified the varsity mentality or persona, the attitude we want. He had a great work ethic, a great attitude. He was always trying his best.”
The boys team was “very deep” in numbers and tightly bunched, talent-wise, Allen said. “I’d watch one come in, then the next, the next, the next. We never knew what order they’d be in. We were bumping guys up and down from JV and varsity all season long, because we had enough depth to do that. I was very proud of the guys to be able to do that.”
The girls squad was “veteran,” he said, with five seniors. “All but one ran on the last team we had that went to state.
“We had a good group, overall, between the guys and girls, except we didn’t have a front runner. That was partially due to our willingness to work out in the off-season.”
Swanson was the lone fourth-year letter winner. Third-year letters went to Kayleen Keeney, Maria Daniels and Dana Hiett.
Second-year letters went to Bethany Gingerich, Reed, Julian Hesberg, Nelson Rodgers and Noah Taraski.
First-year letter winners were Tanner Sayers, Noah Dinsfriend, Ricky Yunke, Kobe Olson, Allen Cuilla, Allison Wickline and Faith Black.
Junior varsity certificates recipients were Jake Hindmarsh, Cameron Taber, Joe Rasmussen, Nick Tolman, Nick Rietz, Sean Wolthuis, Christian Baham and TJ Baham.