Junior Jakob Hiett is rapidly establishing himself in the record books at Sweet Home High School, having won every cross-country race thus far that he’s been entered in this season.
Coach Billy Snow said he and his runner are enjoying the streak while it lasts.
“Cross-country is one of those things, like track, where you’re going to lose sooner or later,” he said. “But it’s fun while it’s happening.”
Hiett will get a significant challenge Saturday, Oct. 5, when the Huskies meet some of the state’s best 4A runners at Philomath’s Paul Mariman Invitational, held at Philomath High School.
Hiett won his fifth straight Thursday, Sept. 26, after winning No. 4 on his “home” course at Camp Tadmor on Tuesday, Sept. 24, finishing first at the Harrier’s Challenge at Dorena Lake in Cottage Grove.
That meet was significant for Sweet Home because it was the first time this season they’ve seen most of the other league teams – and it was convenient because they were all at the meet.
The good news is that the Huskies finished second – behind Sisters – among league teams on both the girls and the boys sides. The top two teams in the district meet will qualify for the 4A state championships a month from now.
Hiett ran 16:45 – a PR of nearly 90 seconds for that course – to beat Crater senior Austin Sanders (17:11). Brandon Pollard of Sisters, who is one of the more elite runners in the 4A and was running close behind Hiett, had to drop out with an injury. Outlaws sophomore Dyut Fetrow was the closest Sky-Em finisher to Hiett Thursday, running 11th in 17:50.
Hiett came through the first mile in 5:10, before he hit the climb up the dam, which is a significant elevation change and has many athletes virtually crawling. Hiett managed to stay on his feet and keep running, Snow said, and extended his lead over Pollard and Sanders.
Ian Wingo was second for Sweet Home, 20th overall (18:46), followed by Chace Hutchins (54th, 20:13), Stephen Bishop in (56th, 20:22) and Issac Justham (57th, 20:25).
“That pack of three guys – Chase, Issac and Stephen are all with each other,” Snow said, referring to the “pack” finish. They’re going to drop (times). They’re going to surprise themselves.”
Also running varsity were Joseph Rasmussen, who finished 79th (21:32) and Robert Gourley, right behind in 80th (21:36).
“On our guys side, we had five in before La Pine’s third, which is good,” Snow said, noting that the race was the Huskies’ third in less than a week. The Hawks beat Sweet Home at last year’s district meet for a trip to the state meet, leaving Hiett as the lone Husky qualifier.
“Even if (La Pine) had hard workouts, we’re still pretty even,” Snow said.
On the girls side, Nicole Rasmussen was eighth in 21:10, behind Sisters’ Zoe Falk, who finished sixth in 20:58 and Cottage Grove sophomore Breanna Wright, who was seventh (21:08).
“I’m convinced Nicole can run faster,” Snow said. “She was 20 seconds behind Brianna and Zoe at two miles, but only two seconds behind Breanna at the finish.”
Sierra Swanson was 39th in 24:28 – her second PR in a row, Snow noted, with freshman Dana Hiett the next runner back in 24:37. Kayleen Keeney was 54th in 25:51 and Maria Daniels was 71st in 30:54.
He noted that even though his team was running tired, those who had run the course before posted notable personal bests, several at about 90 seconds all the way up to Daniels’ nine-minute improvement over last year.
“We’re getting there. If we’d had Natasha Rasmussen, she’s usually right there with Dana and Sierra. If we had our full complement of runners, we would have done better.
“The kids are capable. We’ll see what they’ll do on a flatter course.”
The Philomath meet is the first “fast” course for the Huskies since the beginning of the season and Snow said they will appreciate it after four straight competitions with big hills.
“This was their third race in five days,” he said. “If we know you can be competitive when you’re tired, when we rest you you’ll be right there with the rest of them. This gets to be the fun time of the year, when we get off the hard courses and change our focus from hills to more speed-oriented workouts. It’ll be fun to see where we end up.”
In the junior varsity boys 5000-meter race, Aaron Blanchard ran 23:49, Nick Tolman 25:03 and Cody Hall 27:51. No Sweet Home girls ran in the JV competition.
Races at Philomath start at 2 p.m. Saturday with the girls JV race.
Sweet Home
Tadmor Invitational
Sweet Home runners finished high in all three races the team competed in at their own Tadmor Invitational Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Competing in pouring rain and temperatures in the high 40s, Jakob Hiett won the boys race in 17:21.10, a 43-second personal best for the course and nearly 45 seconds ahead of the second finisher, Brian Blythe of Philomath. But the Warriors ran away with the team title, finishing 2-3-4-6-14 — 29 to beat Newport (44) and Sweet Home (59).
Ian Wingo was second for Sweet Home in 19:04.50, ninth overall, followed by Issac Justham, 17th in 20:48.70, Chace Hutchins, 18th in 21:16.50, Stephen Bishop, 25th in 23:30.0 and Robert Gourley, 26th in 23:37.90. Team points were adjusted to eliminate placings by Creswell athletes, who didn’t have enough runners to score as a team.
On the girls side, Nicole Rasmussen was a fairly close second, in 21:28.60 to Creswell’s Rachel Powell, who ran 21:10.60.
They were followed by five straight Philomath runners, who won the team title with 20 points, since Creswell only had three of the five runners necessary to score as a team.
Sierra Swanson was second for Sweet Home, in 10th place (24:20.40 – an 85-second PR), followed by Dana Hiett (13th, 26:08.70), Kaylene Keeney (19th, 27:34.40) and Maria Daniels (27th, 35:33.20).
Sweet Home was second in the team standings, with 45 points, followed by Stayton with 55.
Joseph Rasmussen won the 3000-meter JV race in 12:49.60, followed by Aaron Blanchard, 12th in 14:32.90 and Nick Tolman, right behind in 14:34.90, and Cody Hall, 19th in 17:50.30.
Sweet Home had no runners in the girls JV race.