This year’s Sweet Home Decathlon and Heptathlon was, well … normal.
Blustery, icy winds. Torrential downpours. Drizzle. Some sunshine – especially as everyone was packing up. And some great early-season marks.
“That’s spring in Oregon,” Sweet Home Coach Billy Snow said. “Given the weather, it was just great to have people step up and do things to make this happen, whether it was another coach or a parent or whoever. There’s no way just us Sweet Home coaches could do that.”
The two events drew 20 decathletes and 15 heptathletes from around the state. Grant Shurtliff of Thurston won the decathlon, with 5620 points, while junior Miranda Brown of Summit won the heptathlon, scoring 3819 points.
Shurtliff, a junior, only won the high jump (6-2) and the long jump (20-6), but he was in the top five in every other event and that’s what won the overall title for him. Brown, who was closely followed by freshman teammate Megan Cornett, who finished third (3464 points), won the 200 (27.77), the 800 (2:33.41), the high jump (4-10) and the long jump (16-1½ ) on her way to the win.
Among the four Sweet Home boys and three girls who competed in at least one event, sophomore Josie Knight was the only single event winner, taking the shot put in 31-9, only an inch off the personal best she set in the season-opening meet at Central the week before.
Senior Spencer Knight was second in the 100 (11.64), behind Thurston senior Cody Warner, who blazed to an 11.04.
“That was the third-fastest time in the state that kid ran,” Snow said. “There were some pretty good marks out there, that early. For most people, that was their first or second meet.”
Other good marks for Sweet Home, he said, were senior Eric Flierl’s 17.57 in the high hurdles, sophomore Sierra Swanson’s 4-4 in the high jump and sophomore TJ Baham’s 9-5 in the pole vault, which was the second time the latter two had even practiced the event.
“Eric had a big season PR in the hurdles. He was feeling pretty good about that, and TJ and Sierra had one practice and almost hit a PR,” Snow said.
Then there was the star of the show, Noah Dinsfriend, a seventh-grader from Sweet Home Junior High.
He competed in every event, drawing the loudest cheer of the two-day event when he cleared 5 feet in the pole vault, which is the event that most concerns first-time decathletes.
“Noah was awesome,” Snow said. “He came back and made six, which actually outdid a couple of high school kids. He had a good attitude the whole time. He never complained.”
Snow, who is eyeing retirement, said he’s not sure what the future of the decathlon/heptathlon will be after running it with former decathlete Kevin Tarpenning for some 20 years.
“We’ll see,” he said. “It’s tiresome but fun.”
Sweet Home Decathlon Results
(1) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 5620 points; (2) Joe Dotson (Siuslaw) 4927; (3) Wyatt Thompson-Siporen (Ashland) 4925; (4) Austin McNichols (Lowell) 4696; (5) David Evans (Lebanon) 4346; (6) Jackson Stallard (Powers) 4335; (7) Zach Short (Lebanon) 4148; (8) Cole Fowler (Thurston) 4013; (9) Kobe Metzger (Central) 3998; (10) Kyle Cornett (Summit) 3819; (11) Kaelan Recca (Crow) 3735; (12) Matt Davis (Sweet Home) 3525; (13) Eric Flierl (Sweet Home) 3480; (14) Justin Schaaf (Mapleton) 3407; (15) Jason Towers (Crow) 3162; (16) Mike Shafer (Crow) 3141; (17) TJ Baham (Sweet Home) 2360; (18) Spencer Knight (Sweet Home) 2350; (19) Cody Warner (Thurston) 2028; (20) Noah Dinsfriend (Sweet Home Junior High) 1800.
Event Results – Top 3 and
Sweet Home Finishers
100 Meters – (1) Cody Warner (Thurston) 11.04; (2-tie) Spencer Knight (SH), David Evans (Lebanon) 11.64; (7) Eric Flierl (SH) 12.43; (8) Matt Davis (SH) 12.51; (18) TJ Baham (SH) 13.38; (20) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 15.25.
400 Meters – (1) Joe Dotson (Siuslaw) 54.30; (2) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 54.45; (3) David Evans (Lebanon) 56.74; (6) Eric Flierl (SH) 58.55; (15) Matt Davis (SH) 62.66; (18) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 76.46.
1500 Meters – (1) Kobe Metzger (Central) 5:02.74; (2) Joe Dotson (Siuslaw) 5:03.68; (3) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 5:04.39; (13) Matt Davis 5:56.11; (14) Eric Flierl 5:56.81; (15) Noah Dinsfriend 5:56.96 (SHJH); (16) TJ Baham (SH) 5:57.01; (20) Spencer Knight (SH) 6:12.61.
110 Hurdles – (1) Austin McNichols (Lowell) 15.91; (2) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 16.80; (3) David Evans (Lebanon) 16.94; (4) Matt Davis (SH) 17.06; (6) Eric Flierl (SH) 17.57; (11) Spencer Knight (SH) 20.47; (12) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 21.31.
Shot Put – (1) Zach Short (Lebanon) 46-8½; (2) Wyatt Thompson-Siporen (Ashland) 39-6½; (3) Cody Warner (Thurston) 35-8¼; (14) Eric Flierl (SH) 29-10½; (15) Spencer Knight (SH) 29-7½; (16) TJ Baham (SH) 28-11½; (19) Matt Davis (SH) 26-9¼; (21) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 19-8.
Discus – (1) Wyatt Thompson-Siporen (Ashland) 127-8; (2) Zach Short (Lebanon) 125-10; (3) Kaelan Recca (Crow) 102-9; (7) Spencer Knight (SH) 88-8; (16) Eric Flierl (SH) 74-11; (17) TJ Baham (SH) 65-7; (19) Matt Davis (SH) 51-09; (20) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 51-3.
Javelin – (1) Zach Short (Lebanon) 154-1; (2) Wyatt Thompson-Siporen (Ashland) 140-0; (3) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 136-2; (5) Eric Flierl (SH) 126-6; (15) Spencer Knight (SH) 90-03; (16) TJ Baham (SH) 87-7; (18) Matt Davis (SH) 74-01; (19) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 67-3.
High Jump – (1) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 6-2; (2-tie) Kobe Metzger (Central), Wyatt Thompson-Siporen (Ashland) 5-5¼; (3) Joe Dotson (Siuslaw) 5-3¼; (4-one of five-way tie) Matt Davis 4-11½; (9) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 4-0.
Pole Vault – (1) Austin McNichols (Lowell) 11-10½; (2-tie) Jackson Stallard (Powers), Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 11-4; (3-tie) TJ Baham (SH), Joe Dotson (Siuslaw) 9-5; (8-one of four-way tie) Matt Davis (SH) 7-5¼; (10-tie) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH), Kyle Cornett (Summit) 6-0.
Long Jump – (1) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 20-6; (2) Cody Warner (Thurston) 20-5¼; (3) David Evans (Lebanon) 19-10¾; (12) Eric Flierl (SH) 17-1¼; (13) TJ Baham (SH) 16-11½; (15) Matt Davis (SH) 16-6½; (20) Noah Dinsfriend (SHJH) 12-2½.
Heptathlon Results
(1) Miranda Brown (Summit) 3819; (2) Michaela Miller (Sisters) 3594; (3) Megan Cornett (Summit) 3464; (4) Darian Wilson (Coquille) 3462; (5) Mikaela Siegel (Siuslaw) 3374; (6) Erica Stuckart (Regis) 3037; (7) Clea Poklemba (Corvallis) 2985; (8) Amber Von Essen (Crow) 2720; (9) Josie Knight (Sweet Home) 2472; (10) Madison French (Mapleton) 2106; (11) Haley Allen (Thurston) 2080; (12) Sierra Swanson (SH) 2033; (13) Regan Grube (Crow) 1668; (14) Shaylee Yeates (Crow) 1167; (15) Aimee Green (Crow) 817; (16) Courtney Kent (Sweet Home) 337 – Completed one event.
200 Meters – (1) Miranda Brown (Summit) 27.77; (2) Amber Von Essen (Crow) 28.26; (3) Michaela Miller (Sisters) 28.52; (9) Josie Knight (SH) 29.61; (13) Sierra Swanson (SH) 32.81.
800 Meters – (1) Miranda Brown (Summit) 2:33.41; (2) Megan Cornett (Summit) 2:33.83; (3) Mikaela Siegel (Siuslaw) 2:37.72; (7) 2:48.07; (9) Josie Knight (SH) 3:09.27.
100 Meter Hurdles – (1) Mikaela Siegel (Siuslaw) 16.79; (2) Michaela Miller (Sisters) 17.43; (3) Miranda Brown (Summit) 17.46; (7) Courtney Kent (SH) 19.59; (12) Josie Knight (SH) 20.41; (13) Sierra Swanson (SH) 21.78.
Shot Put – (1) Josie Knight (SH) 31-9; (2) Darian Wilson (Coquille) 31-1½; (3) Megan Cornett (Summit) 30-3¾; (15) Sierra Swanson (SH) 16-3.
Javelin – (1) Darian Wilson (Coquille) 108-6; (2) Michaela Miller (Sisters) 97-5; (3) Megan Cornett (Summit) 96-8; (9) Josie Knight (SH) 67-10; (13) Sierra Swanson (SH) 48-3.
High Jump – (1) Miranda Brown (Summit) 16-1½; (2-tie) Michaela Miller (Sisters), Mikaela Siegel (Siuslaw) 4-8; (3-one of a four-way tie) Sierra Swanson (SH) 4-4; (7) Josie Knight (SH) 3-10.
Long Jump – (1) Miranda Brown (Summit) 16-1½; (2) Mikaela Siegel (Siuslaw) 15-1; (3-tie) Michaela Miller (Sisters), Clea Poklemba (Corvallis) 15-0¾; (9) Josie Knight (SH) 13-2; (11) Sierra Swanson (SH) 12-3.