A raft of personal-bests, some new faces and some great weather all combined to give Sweet Home’s boys a win over 11 other teams Friday at the North Marion Twilight meet in Aurora.
“The kids did really good,” Coach Nathan Whitfield said. “We finally got some good weather, so that was a part of it. They were actually able to get warm and stay warm and compete.”
Behind three PRs from Mason Lopez, including one in his specialty, the javelin, the Huskies scored 110 points to second-place Woodburn’s 86. 1A Division St. Paul was third with 67, ahead of Taft (52).
On the girls side, Sweet Home was missing some key contributors in some of their usual events, and the Huskies finished seventh in the field of 12, their only win coming from junior Rylee Markell in the 3000, who finished in a personal-best 13:15.77.
Freshman Mckenzie Miller was sixth in the 800 with a seven-second PR of 2:41.67, which moved her into the top 10 in the Oregon West Conference standings for that distance.
For the boys, Lopez won the 110 hurdles, his fourth race ever in that event, in 17.38, then followed that up with a win in the 300 hurdles (44.98), both PRs. Freshman Cannon Clumph was fourth in the 300, in a personal-best 50.40.
Lopez also posted a two-foot personal-best in the javelin, going 169-3, which put him third in the state 4A standings.
“He’s figuring stuff out,” Whitfield said of the senior. “There’s certainly a little bit more technique and he’s still got a ways to go, but he’s getting up there pretty quickly.”
Sophomore Kasey Kast was a winner as well, taking the 800 in a personal-best 2:08.16, ahead of new teammate Jacob Sieminski, a senior who has run cross-country in high school but never track. Sieminski was fourth in 2:13.44. Kast moved into third in the OWC standings, while Sieminski’s run put him at sixth in the conference.
“Jake Sieminski did awesome,” Whitfield said. “He transformed our 4×4 a little bit and Kasey Kast had one of the best races of his life.”
Also making steady progress is junior Colin Nicholson, who is also new to high school track and was third in the high jump (5-6), and fifth in the triple jump, his second effort in that event, with a PR of 37-8½, good for third in the OWC.
Coming up Saturday, April 22, for Sweet Home’s top performers is the Meet of Champions, which the Huskies will host on their field, in conjunction with Cascade. First, though, they were hosting the Cougars Tuesday, April 18, along with Alsea, Crosshill Christian, Harrisburg, McKenzie, Mohawk and Triangle Lake. Field events start at 11:30 a.m., with track competition beginning at 1p.m.
Athletes have to qualify for Meet of Champions, and although the boys are looking good, the girls have been fighting some injuries and there will be some question marks on who is going to get in, Whitfield said. He said Tuesday’s meet simply presents athletes with one more chance to make the Meet of Champs.
“Hopefully they can get some times and get in there,” Whitfield said. “We’ll see.”
At press time some 40 teams had athletes lined up to participate from Divisions 1 through 4. The meet gives top athletes from smaller schools a “big meet” experience in which they face others with similar capabilities.
“Forty teams makes it tough,” Whitfield said.