Sweet Home turned some heads last year when the Husky boys finished second at the district track and field championships and the girls finished with more points than they were projected to score.
The Huskies were young – and numerous, with 93 athletes registering performances in at least one event in 2024. The good news is that they are not as young this year and the better news is they are even more numerous – 99 athletes had signed up by the start of last week.
Last year’s roster included only 13 seniors and this year’s lists 19 seniors, 15 juniors, 35 sophomores from last year’s bumper crop of freshmen, and 30 freshmen.
“We have a lot of kids returning, so we should be pretty good this year,” said Head Coach Nathan Whitfield. “We didn’t graduate a ton.”
Whitfield compared this year’s numbers to the teams in the 2008-10 years, in which the boys won three straight state championships behind multiple individual championships by Dakotah Keys and the girls took third (2010) and fourth (2009).
“We’re really young, with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but we should do pretty well. We’re pretty big right now.”
While the boys have lost state qualifiers Colin Nicholson and Kyle Sieminski to graduation, this year’s returnees include seniors Kasey Kast and Dylan Sharp, both of whom also qualified for last year’s state meet, Kast for the second year in a row in the 800. Sharp was Sweet Home’s sole individual district champion last season, winning the shot put.
“Hopefully, if all goes as planned, we can get Kasey and Dylan back to state,” Whitfield said.
Also back are all but Sieminski in the boys 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Conner Stevens and Chase Cameron, now both seniors, and Dillan Davis, now a junior, teamed with Sieminski last year to win the district title and place 10th at state.
Kast, Cameron and Davis are back from last year’s 4×400 team that placed second at district and seventh at state.
Stevens has been to state three times with Sweet Home 4×100 relay teams and Cameron has experienced the state meet twice.
“We lost a little bit with Kyle Sieminski graduating, but we’ve got some other kids stepping up that are looking good and we’ll see if they can fill those shoes,” Whitfield said. “Our relays should be good again, but it’s also early in the year, so it’s always hard to tell exactly who’s going to be where and all that. So we’ll see how, as the season goes, how that develops, both on the guys and girls side.”
Another promising returnee is Nick Larson, who was third at districts in the 110 high hurdles as a freshman (17.71), behind two seniors.
The Husky girls’ only returning state qualifier is junior Delainie Pratt, who competed at state last year in the pole vault.
Sweet Home had finalists in both of the long sprints and junior McKenzie Miller returns after placing third in both the 1500 and the 3000. Freshman Emma Whitton may contribute in those events after placing fourth in the state cross-country championships last fall and becoming the second-fastest 5K performer in school history with a 19.01 finish at the state meet.
Sweet Home already demonstrated a focus on winning, with an accompanying work ethic, last year, but Whitfield said he’s seeing more of the same from this year’s freshmen.
“I get to see that freshman class quite a bit,” he said, noting that he also coaches football and wrestling, so has had plenty of opportunity to observe their progress. “One thing I’ve noticed is that class just likes to work; there’s not a lot of fiddling around in them, and they just show up and put some work in and get stuff done. And that, with the upper classmen, who are kind of that same mentality – I’m excited for this year.”
In the throws, Peyton Markell was fourth in the javelin but her PR of 109-2, set earlier in the season, would have qualified her for state.
Rounding out the roster for the boys are seniors Jackson Barringer, Jon Hart, Jayden Mancilla, Conner Pace, Boden Sayer, Jack Simmons and Kolton Wilmarth; juniors Cannon Klumph, Kyle Porter, Elisha Scofield, Roman Shreves and Keagan Vogel.
Other sophomores are David Adderson, Logan Anderson, Brennen Anderson, Ryker Burr, Hunter Clark, Thomas Culbertson, Domynic Daniel, Bradly Dewitte, Logan Estep, Caden Foley, Zander Haggard, Rafe Hayes, Henry Jones, Kolton Kanui-Pollock, Kason Koenig-Walters, Landon Murry, Isaiah Scofield, Conner Spencer, Gunnar Summers, Gavin Tyler, Noah Valdez, Kaeson Walker, and Joab Zeek.
Incoming freshmen boys are Eli Adams, Lukas Banker, Sam Barringer, Brandon Coldiron, Chance Corey, Bentley Delibertis, Braden Eggers, Louis Kistner, Evan Knight, Felix Lopez, Evan Malabago, Kaianu Ragudo, Russell Schroeder, Kace Stevens, Ean Tackett, Mason Tyhler, Malakai Walls and Acen Webber.
For the girls, the roster also includes seniors Abygail Foss, Natiyah Koenig-Walters, Jess Martineau, Jenaya Mcelhinny, Beatrice Reeve, Sophia Stock and Gracie Vaughan; juniors Amelia Berg, Ella Forum, Loralai Mark, Madalyn Murray, Madison Olheiser, Keira Reese and Selah Wright.
Rounding out the roster are sophomores Mailey Brewer, Emmersin Coelho, Brooke Elder, Amara Gonzalez, Emma Hand, Noelle Helfrich, Jayla Moore, Hannah Nicholson, McKenzie Olheiser, Miu Simmons and Khloe Wood; and freshmen Alexus Bernardi, Madison Ciullo, Ellie Dominy, Sydney Dominy, Grace Gardner, Cedella Hiner, Emma Lehr, Yadira Martinez, Adriana Morse, Bailey Newens and Dinah Watkins.
Whitfield is assisted by Andy Waldrop and Randy Whitfield in throwing events, Tristan Calkins, Spencer Hart and Angela Stevens in the jumps, Dave Martin in the distance events and hurdles, and Josie Macklin and Ramiro Santana in the relays and short sprints.
Coach Tristan Calkins, Coach Randy Whitfield, Head Coach Nathan Whitfield, Coach Dave Martin, Coach Spencer Hart, Coach Ramiro Santana, Coach Josie Macklin,
Whitfield said it will be a “work in progress” to figure out who goes where in the lineup, “just figuring out the puzzle where each kid fits and where they’re best going to help themselves and the team.”
“We know whom we have returning and, roughly, who’s coming out, but you don’t know how they grew, how much they’ve developed, whether they did stuff in the off-season.”
Whitfield said the Oregon West Conference is so strong that if a team wins the league title, they stand a very good chance of placing at state. The current OWC teams have included 12 state champions or runner-ups on either the boys or girls side 12 of the last 15 years.
“It’s very competitive,” he said.
The Huskies hold an intersquad competition March 20, and then will resume their competitive schedule on Wednesday, April 2, at Woodburn after returning from Spring Break. They host home meets on April 9 and April 22, and will host the Meet of Champions on April 26. Districts will be at Philomath May 23-24, with the state championships May 30-31 at Hayward Field in Eugene.
Photo by Scott Swanson
Track and field team members include, in front from left, Gracie Vaughn, Emmersin Coelho, Acen Webber, Khloe Wood, Noelle Helfrich, Cedella Hiner, Emma Lehr, Roman Shreves, Brooke Elder, McKenzie Miller and Bailey Newens. In the second row, from left, are Yadira Martinez, Alexus Bernardi, Natiyah Koenig-Walters, Selah Wright, Ryker Burr, Mailey Brewer, Emma Hand, Miu Simmons, Landon Murry, Emma Whitton, McKenzie Olheiser, Hannah Nicholson, Delainie Pratt, Madison Olheiser, Elly Dominy and Madison Ciullo. In the third row, from left, are Jenaya Mcelhinny, Dinah Watkins, Adriana Morse, Coach Andy Waldrop, Coach Tristan Calkins, Coach Randy Whitfield, Head Coach Nathan Whitfield, Coach Dave Martin, Coach Spencer Hart, Coach Ramiro Santana, Coach Josie Macklin, Conner Spencer, Zander Haggard, Sydney Dominy and Abygail Foss. In the fourth row, from left, are Loralai Mark, Thomas Culbertson, Beatrice Reeve, Logan Estep, Ean Tackett, Kyle Porter, Domynic Daniel, David Anderson, Kase Stevens, Noah Larson, Brennan Eldridge, Peyton Markell, Logan Anderson, Conner Stevens and Evan Knight. In the fifth row, from left, are Jayla Moore, Amara Gonzales, Keira Reese, Eli Adams, Bradly Dewitte, Braden Eggers, Dillan Davis, Mason Tyler, Felix Lopez, Joab Zeek, Boden Sayer. Chance Corey, Sophia Stock and Grace Gardner. In the sixth row, from left, are Russell Schroeder, Elisha Scofield, Kolton Kanui-Pollock, Gavin Tyler, Jess Martineau, Louis Kistner, Kasey Kast, Kason Koenig-Walters, Bode Hart, Jack Simmons, Caden Foley, Bentley Delibertis and Noah Valdez. In the rear, from left, are Isaiah Scofield, Gunnar Summers, Rafe Hayes, Dylan Sharp, Cannon Klumph, Conner Pace, Henry Jones, Jaden Mancilla, Jackson Barringer, Sam Barringer, Kaeson Walker and Malakai Walls.