The Sweet Home Junior High track and field team had a “really good core group of kids who are really excited about track,” head coach Diann Rasmussen said.
“The kids that wanted to put forth the effort did really well.”
Athletes who made it to the Meet of Champions, the equivalent of a state meet at the junior high level, which requires meeting qualification standards to compete, were Noah Dinsfriend, Lance Hanson, Zoe James, Eric Seitz, Colton Smith and Casey Tow.
Hanson, an eighth-grader, ran 56.10 to place 10th in the 400 finals. He finished with a 31.01 in the 100 and 26.10 in the 200, not making the finals in either of those two races.
Seitz (15.74) and Dinsfriend (16.75), both eighth-graders, finished 12th and 26th respectively in the 100 hurdles, neither qualifying for the final.
Smith, an eighth-grader, placed sixth in the turbo javelin throw, a new event this year at the junior high level, with an effort of 150-01. Tow, a seventh-grader, was ninth with a throw of 140-06.
James, an eighth-grader ran 1:04.71 to finish 20th in the 400 and set a new school record.
In addition to the Meet of Champions qualifiers, other athletes for Sweet Home who finished in the top 10 in the Mid-Valley Central Track and Field conference were sixth-grader Jessy Hart in the 800 (2:47.30), seventh-graders Karah Lewis (73-10) and Katen Edwards (72-9) in the turbo javelin and James in the high jump (4-7) for the girls.
Boys finishing in the top 10 in the high jump were Tow (5-0), and eighth-graders Hayden McDonald and Boe Baxter (4-8); eighth-grader Robbie Yunke (122-7), Seitz (120-3), Jacob Swanson (120-0), McDonald (117-0) and Baxter (116-4) in the turbo javelin; eighth-graders Blake Keeney (112-0), Hayden Nichol (96-4) and Swanson (90-4) in the discus; Moore (35-10), Keeney (34-8) and sixth-grader Logan Raborn (34-9) in the shot; the 4×400 relay team of Josiah Armijo-Tierce, Hanson, Tow and Seitz (4:08.70); the 4×100 relay team of Tow, Hanson, Nichol and Moore (50.14); Hanson in the 100 hurdles (16.84); Tow (11:23.40) and eighth-grader Tanner Sayers in the 3000 (11:28.60); Seitz in the 800 (2:26.20); Tow in the 400 (61.64); Nichol (26.15) and Moore (27.09) in the 200; and Moore in the 100 (12.74).