The highest Sweet Home finish in the annual decathlon/heptathlon competition last weekend was Alex Seitz’s sixth place in the boys event.
But the 37 athletes from around the state who gathered for the 10-event boys and seven-event girls competitions all were winners – with the weather, anyway, as sunny skies and temperatures pushing up into the low 70s Saturday afternoon made it a day to remember – particularly for veterans who are more used to competing in pounding rain, wind and occasional showers of sleet as they did last year when the girls high jump was held in a downpour.
“Having nice weather makes it a lot better event,” said Coach Billy Snow. “This year was way better than the year before. We do it because we enjoy doing it. Last year, that was a stretch.”
Seitz finished sixth in a field of 22 athletes who started the competition on Friday, scoring 4384 points. In both competitions, points are awarded, based on an established formula, for speed, distance or height in each event.
Grant Shurtliff, a sophomore from Thurston, was the boys winner with 4954 points, leading a sweep of the five top spots by underclassmen, ahead of Seitz.
Most of the field was simply youngsters who wanted to try something new, which, Snow said, is good for them.
“We’re trying to teach them how to hold the pole in the vault 15 or 20 minutes ahead of time,” he said. “It’s one of those things that keeps a kid a little bit fresh because they get to do things that are a little bit different. If that draws other kids to try stuff, it helps that much more.”
Sophomore Jakob Hiett of Sweet Home was 13th, with 3687 points and freshman Matt Davis was 19th, with 2954. Hiett and Seitz both won individual events for the Huskies, Seitz taking first in the discus with a throw of 118-0 in his first attempt ever at the event in high school – the third-longest throw in the league thus far this season.
“We found our new discus thrower.,” Snow said. “I’m thinking, ‘OK, that’s pretty good.’ That’s part of why we started that way back when – we had some kids who were multi-talented. Sometimes you find a gem out there.”
Hiett ended his decathlon with a decisive win in the 1500, running 4:32.51 – more than 20 seconds ahead of the next finisher.
Senior Sabrina Davis, placed ninth in the 15-girl heptathlon field with 2553 points in her first try at the heptathlon. Freshman Sierra Swanson was 12th, with 1962. East Linn Christian coaches found their diamond in the rough in junior Anna Burkey, who proclaimed before the 800, the final event of the heptathlon, that she generally is a distance specialist focusing on the 3000. But she took off at the gun and led the pack wire to wire in a 16-second PR to finish in 2:40.15 as her clearly amazed coaches dug out their phones to note that that time was fast enough to rank her midway in the top 10 in the 2A division.
Snow said the lack of the “studs” such as Dakotah Keys and Clair Thomas of Molalla, who have competed in recent years, made it more competitive for this year’s field.
“The kids were a lot closer overall, from top to bottom, than in past years,” he said. “That makde it kind of fun for the kids.”
Sweet Home will be back in action Thursday at home against Elmira and LaPine before heading to the Junction City Invitational on Saturday.
Sweet Home Decathlon
Overall winner, event winner and Sweet Home finishers
Final Points Standings (Finishers) – (1) Grant Shurtliff (Soph./Thurston) 4954; (2) Cody Warner (Jr./Thurston) 4833; (3) Dalen Hargett (Soph./Newport) 4805; (4) Brendon Thurber-Blaser (Fr./Newport) 4748; (5) Austin McNichols (Jr./Lowell) 4628; (6) Alex Seitz (Sr./Sweet Home) 4384; (7) Austin Linville (Fr./East Linn Christian) 4169; (8) Logan Drullinger (Sr./Crow) 4088; (9) Colin Lahti (Sr./Thurston) 3984; (10) Buddy Meyers (Sr. Crow) 3905; (11) Keegan Anneker (Soph./Crow) 3749; (12) Nyc Sanders (Sr./Lowell) 3694; (13) Jakob Hiett (Soph./Sweet Home) 3687; (14) Koby Metzger (Soph./Central) 3575; (15) Chris Mudder (Jr./Thurston) 3517; (16) Cole Fowler (Fr./Thurston) 3478; (17) David Robb (Fr./East Linn Christian) 3354; (18) Kyle Leliefeld (Fr./Barlow) 3137; (19) Matt Davis (Fr./Sweet Home) 2954; (20) Jason Towers (Soph./Crow) 2253.
100 – (1) Cody Warner (Thurston) 11.32/791 points; (3) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 12.35/584; (5) Alex Seitz (SH) 12.41/573; (13) Matt Davis 12.98/471;(16) Jakob Hiett (SH) 13.26/425.
Long Jump – (1) Brendon Thurber-Blaser (Newport) 19-2/552; (2) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 19-0; (10) Jakob Hiett (SH) 16-11 1/2; 415; (11) Alex Seitz (SH) 16-7 1/2/396; (14) Matt Davis (SH) 15-5 1/2.330.
Shot Put – (1) Dalen Hargett (Newport) 38-8 3/4/595; (7) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 32-0/471; (4) Alex Seitz (SH) 33-5/496; (19) Jakob Hiett (SH) 23-11/324; (21) Matt Davis (SH) 22-3 ½/296.
High Jump – (1) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 5-8 ¼/569; (5) Alex Seitz (SH) 5-4 ¼/488; (8 3-way tie) Jakob Hiett (SH) 5-1/426; (13 four-way tie) Matt Davis 4-11/389).
400 – (1) Cody Warner (Thurston) 54.33/626; ((3-tie) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston), Alex Seitz (SH) 56.08/556; (9) Jakob Hiett (SH) 57.24; (20) Matt Davis (SH) 22.74/316.
110 Hurdles – (1) Dalen Hargett (Newport) 17.11/612; (2) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 17.11/613; (13) Alex Seitz (SH) 20.91/281; (17) Jakob Hiett (SH) 21.77/223; (19-tie) Matt Davis (SH) 22.74/165.
Discus – (1) Alex Seitz (SH) 118-0/583; (5) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 92-0/426; (8) Matt Davis (SH) 88-8/406; (19) Jakob Hiett (SH) 50-0/184.
Pole Vault – (1) Austin McNichols (Lowell) 11-6/482; (2) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 10-2/381; (10 four-way tie) Alex Seitz (SH) 7-8 ½/210; (15 three-way tie) Jakob Hiett (SH), Matt Davis (SH) 7-2 ½/179,
Javelin – (1) Dalen Hargett (Newport) 150-9/529; (6) Alex Seitz (SH) 118-10/387; (13) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 93-1/276; (14) Jakob Hiett (SH) 91-9/271; (18) Matt Davis (SH) 72-10/191.
1500 – (1) Jakob Hiett (SH) 4:32.51/728; (5) Grant Shurtliff (Thurston) 5:03.39/537; (14) Alex Seitz (SH) 5:27.15; (19) Matt Davis (SH) 5:44.11/333.
Sweet Home Heptathlon
Overall winner, event winner and Sweet Home finishers
Final Points Standings (Finishers) – (1) Kacie Hargett (Sr./Newport) 3702; (2) Erika Treske (Sr./Lake Oswego) 3676; (3) Bethany Leliefeld (Jr./Barlow) 3211; (4) Kayla Brase (Jr./Westside Christian) 3191; (5) Megan Cornett (Fr./Summit) 3119; (6) Lisa Jauch (Soph./Westside Christian) 3028; (7) Cassandra Ingram (Soph./Barlow) 2948; (8) Allison Jenson (Sr./Philomath) 2802; (9) Sabrina Davis (Sr./Sweet Home) 2553; (10) Amber Von Essen (Soph./Crow) 2473; (11) Natalie Johnson (Sr./Westside Christian) 2411; (12) Sierra Swanson (Fr./Sweet Home) 1962; (13) Emily Thompson (Sr./Westside Christian) 1917; (14) Anna Burkey (Jr./East Linn Christian) 1761; (15) Regan Grube (Soph./Crow) 1514.
100 Hurdles – (1) Bethany Leliefeld (Barlow) 17.99/489; (2) Kacie Hargett (Newport) 18.02; (5-tie) Sabrina Davis (SH) 18.92/398; (12) Sierra Swanson (SH) 22.19.
High Jump – (1) Erika Treske (Lake Oswego) 5-1 ½/689; (6 three-way tie) Sierra Swanson (SH) 4-4/429; (10-tie) Sabrina Davis (SH), Kacie Hargett (Newport) 4-0/331.
Shot Put – (1) Kacie Hargett (Newport) 34-6/558; (9) Sabrina Davis (SH) 23-7/347; (15) Sierra Swanson (SH) 17-3/225.
200 – (1) Erika Treske (Lake Oswego) 27.72/653; (2) Kacie Hargett (Newport) 28.02/629; (11) Sabrina Davis (SH) 31.00/414; (13) Sierra Swanson (SH) 32.80/304.
Long Jump – (1) Kayla Brase (Westside Christian) 15-10 ½/516; (3) Kacie Hargett (Newport) 15-3 ½/472; (8) Sabrina Davis (SH) 13-9 ¾/357; (14) Sierra Swanson (SH) 10-10 ¾/165.
Javelin – (1) Kacie Hargett (Newport) 133-1/678; (6) Sabrina Davis (SH) 70-6; (12) Sierra Swanson (SH) 42-10/161.
800 – (1) Bethany Keliefeld (Barlow) 2:34.85/633; (7) Kacie Hargett (Newport) 2:42.17/548; (8) Sierra Swanson (SH) 2:43.63/532; (12) Sabrina Davis (SH) 2:57.43.