The New Era
Sweet Home Junior High’s track and field squad had “a great season,” Coach Diane Rasmussen said. The Tigers broke several records and Ramussen said she was very impressed by sixth-graders “who are exceptional already.”
Athletes who did particularly well include eighth-grader Trey Reed, who ran 57.00 to break the school record for that distance, and who teamed with Jacob Erickson, Nick Rietz and Tucker Porter to set a school record of 49.25 in the 4×100 relay. The same quartet nearly broke the 4×400 record too, running 3:58.02. “They got really close, but not close enough,” Rasmussen said.
Sixth-grader Blake Keeney set sixth-grade records in the shot (27-8) and the discus (86-0), while Tanner Sayers ran a sixth-grade record of 2:53.01 in the 800 and Robbie Yunke posted a sixth-grade record of 5:32.30 in a single race at that distance.
Reed, Sayers, Eric Blanchard and Jacob Erickson all participated in the Middle School Statewide Championships on June 1, where Reed placed third in the 200 in 24.95 and Blanchard finished seventh in 26.97.
“Eric Blanchard is a seventh-grader who we’ll be excited to see what he will do next year,” Ramussen said. “He got close to several records set by kids who have now graduated from high school. Once he learns how to get out of those blocks, he’s going to smoke.”
On the girls side, sixth-grader Megan Miller set records in the 400 (72.14) and the 800 (2:49.90).
“They did pretty good,” Rasmussen said. “We had a good group of kids this year. They were cooperative, they listened and the majority did what they were supposed to do.”
“It was one of the nicest seasons, weather-wise, we’ve had in a long time. That contributed to kids running well.”