Husky XC teams place at Philomath Mariman meet

Girls varsity runners, from left, McKenzie Miller, Cassie Spencer, Emma Whitton, Madison Ciullo and Pyper Hall hold their trophy tree. Photos by Scott Swanson

Sweet Home’s young cross-country teams continued to progress Saturday, Oct. 11, both the boys and girls placing in the top four at the Mariman Invitational hosted by Philomath.

Sam Strawn, left, and Eli Adams run to personal and season bests in the
boys junior varsity race.

“I was really pleased with our efforts,” Coach Dave Martin said. “We didn’t have lot of PRs like the week before at Albany. But the races were close and competitive. When we didn’t have PRs we were close.”

The girls team finished third in the seven-team field, the Huskies scoring 71 points, behind Philomath, which placed four runners in the top 10 to finish with 37,  and Cottage Grove (69).

Philomath sophomore Cassidy Smart won the girls varsity race in a personal best of 18:49.90, well ahead of Sweet Home’s Emma Whitton, who was second in 19:28.60 and McKenzie Miller, fourth in 20:06.30.

Cassie Spencer was 11th overall in 21:41.40, followed by Noelle Helfrich (24:16.40), Madison Ciullo (24:30.60), Marian Helfrich (25:07.00) and Pyper Hall (25:36.80).

“On the girls side, I thought Madi had the best race of the girls. She just missed her PR, but she was ahead of other girls who normally would have beaten her,” Martin said.

The boys’ fourth-place finish was the first time in at least 20 years that the Huskies trophied at the meet, in which top teams and runners get potted conifer trees.

The last Sweet Home girls team to win a tree was the 2009 Huskies, who went on to win the Sky-Em District title and take home a fourth-place state trophy, the first state team trophy ever for Sweet Home’s girls.

Huskies, from left, Miu Simmons, McKenzie Ohlheiser, Delainie Pratt
and Lexi Lee start their race.

The girls are currently ranked eighth in the 4A Division and Martin said they delivered on that.

“We supported that ranking very nicely,” he said. “We ran like a team that is ranked in the top 10.”

Philomath is ranked third, behind La Grande and Klamath Union, and Stayton is 10th.

“Us and Stayton are in a dogfight,” Martin noted.  “We’re getting the program back to where we’re getting noticed by other schools.”

On the boys side Saturday, Ryker Burr was fifth out of 61 runners in a two-second PR of 17:22.30, followed by Acen Webber in 16th place (18:22.90), Louis Kistner in 22nd (19:04.00, a one-second personal best), Evan Knight, 28th in 19:35.90; Conner Spencer, 40th in 20:13.00, and Hudson Ogden, 55th in 21:12.30.

Sweet Home was fourth out of eight teams with 101 points, as Cottage Grove placed all five of its scoring runners in the top 11 to win with 42 points, followed by Cascade Christian (54) and Philomath (70).

“Ryker ran the best tactical race he has ever run,” Martin said of the junior. “It’s as good a race as I’ve seen him run in high school. We had a race strategy and he carried it out perfectly.”

In the boys junior varsity competition, Wes Goff was 12th out of  67 runners, finishing in 20:43.90, followed immediately by Noah Strawn in 20:48.70. Eli Adams (23:21.50, a big season’s best) and Sam Strawn (23:44.90, a 30-second PR), running side-by-side for most of the race.

For the girls, Miu Simmons, who was running her second race of the season while doubling with soccer, finished eighth out of 29 runners in 25:56.20, PR by some 50 seconds, with Delanie Pratt clocking 26:38.70, a personal best of nearly two minutes, McKenzie Ohlheiser 27:08.90 and Lexi Lee (30:58.1), a PR of nearly a minute for her.

“Miu and Delaniey both had great races,” Martin said. “Those were big-time PRs.”

The Huskies, who have had Saturday competitions for six straight weeks, get a 10-day break and their only non-Saturday meet at the Happy Hustle in Corvallis on Oct. 22.

The Oregon West Conference Championships will be Nov. 1 at Philomath, followed by the state championships on Nov. 8.

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