Jakob Hiett and Nicole Rasmussen went one-two, in the boys and girls races, at the Rock n River 5K cross-country race Saturday at Elijah Bristow State Park near Pleasant Hill.
Hiett was the top finisher in the boys varsity race by some 45 seconds, covering the 5K course, which is completely on trails, in 16:16 ahead of a field of 79.
Ian Wingo was second for the Husky boys, finishing ninth overall in 18:05.
The next three runners all ran personal bests for the 5K distance, Chace Hutchins finishing 18th in 18:53, followed by Issac Justham two spots back in 18:56 and Stephen Bishop in 31st place, in 19:37. Sophomores Julian Hesberg and Joseph Rasmussen, who moved up from the junior varsity, finished 51st and 52nd, in 20:45 and 20:49 respectively.
On the girls side, Rasmussen passed Creswell freshman Delaney Pietsch in the final mile to take second in a field of 68 in 20:17, behind North Bend’s Gabby Hobson (20:10).
Sierra Swanson was second for the Huskies (23:01) in 21st place, followed by Dana Hiett, 24th in 23:16; Kayleen Keeney, 26th in 23:20; Natasha Rasmussen, 34th in 24:13; Maria Daniels, 53rd in 28:12 and Mami Sakamoto, 57th in 28:45.
“Kayleen just keeps getting better,” said Coach Billy Snow of the sophomore who is in her rookie season of distance running and is steadily closing the gap between herself and her faster teammates. “She doesn’t seem to have any quit in her. Just off she goes. She ran a great, great race.
“With her and Dana and Sierra, we have a good young nucleus.”
Those finishes were good enough to give both the boys (74 points) and girls (92) third place behind Philomath and North Bend on both sides. For the boys, Philomath runners finished second through fourth as they scored 29 points, and North Bend had 61. La Pine, which Snow said was missing one of its runners, was fourth with 94.
Behind Philomath’s 35, after the Warrior girls lined up three runners in places four through six, North Bend squeaked past the Huskies by two points with 90. Sutherlin, which is slated to join the Sky-Em League next year, was fourth with 108 points.
“It was a good, competitive day,” Snow said. “Our goal was to match up with La Pine’s boys and they did that just fine. Jakob looked really good and the one who came through and really ran a good race was Issac.”
In the junior varsity race, Sweet Home’s top boy was Nick Tolman, who finished in 24:26 directly ahead of teammate Aaron Blanchard (24:30). Sierra Owen, the lone girl in the JV race for Sweet Home, finished in 34:13 in her second race back after an injury that has kept her out all season.
Sweet Home Junior High also competed in the 5K middle school race won by eighth-grader Hunter Murphy of Pleasant Hill in 17:48. Tiger eighth-grader Noah Taraski was sixth in 21:54, followed by seventh-grader Tanner Vannice, seventh in 22:21; Noah Dinsfriend, 15th in 23:37; and Eric Seitz, 18th in 23:55.
Up next for the Huskies is the Country Fair Classic at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, which normally is held at the Country Fair grounds outside Veneta, but at last word has been moved to Orchard Point State Park due to concerns about buses’ ability to get in and out of the parking area at the Country Fair grounds. Both courses are considered very fast, Snow said.
He said the meet will give the Huskies a final opportunity to evaluate where they are in relation to the rest of the league prior to the district meet at Lane Community College on Oct. 24.