Benny Westcott
The Sweet Home boys and girls cross country squads should be improved this season over last year’s showing, according to Head Coach Dave Martin.
The girls finished fourth at districts last year, while the boys finished fifth.
Martin thinks the girls team will be better since they will be more experienced, after last season was the first year of cross country for all of the team’s members.
For the fellas, he said “Knowing what I’ve got coming in, we’re going to be a better team for sure on the boys side by a significant margin.”
There are 11 boys and eight girls on the roster this season. Those numbers are up from 12 total kids in the program last year, and just four the year before. “We’re definitely on the rise,” Martin said.
For the boys the sole returner is sophomore Jim Morgan, who was the team’s number two finisher at district last season. But Martin said the squad has picked up a number of high school kids who weren’t out last year, including three “really strong freshmen.”
“Even though Jim is the number one returner, we’ve got like five or six guys that could end up being the number one guy,” he said.
He noted that “With all of the kids on the boys’ side who are new to cross country, even though they’ve got the talent and the running ability, we’ll have to see how well they can adapt and how well the boys run together. That’ll be a big factor for them.”
The girls return a lot of last season’s runners.
“Most of them are back, so they’re just going to be able to start from a much stronger place because they’re so much more knowledgeable now,” Martin said.
Sophomore McKenzie Miller was 10th at the district meet last year. “She was in her first year of cross country and did really well,” Martin said. “So I could see her being maybe top five this year.”
Senior Rylee Markell was 17th at district. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get her inside the top 14 or 12 this year,” Martin said.
To get better, the Huskies, both boys and girls, had a summer running program three days a week starting in mid June. Martin said that a number of the kids who committed themselves to that are doing very well so far.
“Getting that bigger background behind us is going to help us have a good shot at accomplishing our goals,” he said.
Speaking of goals, he said the idea for both teams is seeing how close they can get to finishing second at district and getting to state, under the assumption that powerhouse Philomath will come out tops in the conference.
“We have a really strong league,” Martin said. “Philomath is by far the best team in our league, and they’ve been one of the top teams in the state for the last five or six years. So we’re kind of setting them aside and we’re trying to catch everybody else. Cascade, Newport and Stayton have all been very good teams, but we’re an up and coming program and I think we’ve got a shot.”
In addition to returner Morgan, the boys roster includes juniors Boden Sayer, Kasey Kast and Shayne Schuster, sophomores Cannon Klumph and Keagan Vogel, and freshmen Conner Spencer, Hunter Clark, Kason Koenig-Walters, Ryker Burr, and Trent Harvey.
In addition to the aforementioned athletes, the girls roster is rounded out by juniors Amelia Sullens, Natiyah Koenig-Walters and Peyton Markell, and sophomores Anabelle Morris, Delainie Pratt and Rylie Hollingsworth.
Scott Swanson will be joining the coaching staff as an assistant. “That’s been a nice addition,” Martin said. “Having Scott and his knowledge join us will be very helpful.” The team is also coached by assistant Andrew McIntyre.