Scott Swanson
Eric Blanchard placed fourth in the 4A State Track and Field Championships Friday morning, May 19, at Hayward Field – Sweet Home’s top finish.
But that wasn’t it for the Huskies at state – not by a long shot.
As the championships wound down Saturday afternoon, May 20, freshman Megan Hager delivered a head-turner when she placed seventh in the discus, after coming into the event seeded 13th.
Blanchard, a junior who appeared in last year’s 2A championships, and senior Dana Hiett were the only Huskies with state meet experience.
“This is kind of like a rebuilding year,” Head Coach Dakotah Keys said. “We don’t have a lot of kids out. I think we had a total of 50 or something. We had two freshmen come out and compete. We had a sophomore compete in an individual event.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
Also competing, but not placing, were freshman Zoe James in the 400, sophomore Noah Dinsfriend in the 300 hurdles, and the 4×400 relay team of Wes Parker, Noah Taraski, Lance Hanson and Nathan Hager.
Under sunny skies and – for the first time in over a week, dry surfaces, Blanchard got off to an uneven start with a busted pole early on in the pole vault.
“I had to move up to a bigger pole, which I’ve never been on,” he said. “So it was exciting.”
He finished with a personal best of 13-6¼, which was his goal, he said.
“I really wanted to do it. It all came down to the PR. It was all a lot of effort, I think, just going back to my training and fundamentals and stuff.”
Hager opened her discus competition with a 10-foot PR from a standing position, throwing 108-3 to instantly take the lead in the first flight. She switched to a spinning delivery – for the first time this season – for four of her next five throws, but didn’t match that first distance. That was enough for seventh place, though.
“‘I surprised myself a lot, honestly,” said Hager, who earlier this year won the state 4A/3A/2A/1A 100 freestyle title in swimming. “I went in and I wasn’t expecting much. And I guess that’s a part of my doing so well is I was relaxed, had lower expectations, obviously. I didn’t think it was going to be a swimming state championship repeat or anything.”
She said she enjoyed the camaraderie amongst the competitors.
“It’s a good time, having all these people out here. Everyone’s really friendly and I’m very happy for all my competitors, also,” she said.
Throws coach Jake Johnson, who competed twice in the discus at state himself for Sweet Home, said he wasn’t surprised by Hager’s performance.
“I totally believed in her,” he said. “I didn’t really have a goal for her. I just wanted to see her not mentally panic, just go and enjoy state for her freshman year.”
James and Dinsfriend started their on the outside, in lane seven, which is considered one of the toughest to run in the 400 and 300 hurdles.
Both came within a second of making the final.
Dinsfriend knocked half a second off the PR he ran in the hurdles at the district meet the week before, finishing Friday in 11th place, in 41.75.
“I was just happy I made it and improved my time,” he said. “I didn’t really expect too much. There just was a lot of people. I was just trying to block all that out.”
He said his experience at state will help him in the future.
“This is definitely a wonderful facility, definitely a place for a PR,” Dinsfriend said. “I can’t wait to get back next year and win state.”
James placed 12th in the 400 in 1:03.95, just a one-tenth of a second off the PR she set the week before in the district final to make state.
“I was really nervous,” she said. “There were big crowds and I knew the competition was going to be even harder than districts. But I just went in there aiming to have fun and hoping to learn something from it.”
A three-week hiatus due to an injury that ended at the district meet may have affected her performance, she said.
“I could definitely feel that I was not as conditioned as I could have been, but it is what it is.
“I learned that it definitely pays off to go all out in the beginning, and even if you die at the end of your race, you gave it your best shot.”
Keys said both performed well and took away invaluable experience.
“Zoe James in the 400, pretty much tied her PR from lane seven, with no one on the outside of her, at Hayward Field. She hadn’t worked out for three weeks.You can’t ask for any more. That’s perfection.
“Noah Dinsfriend in the 300 hurdles. PR’d, also in lane seven. It’s a big track, it’s a big stadium.
“But those kids get in here now, next year when they come they’re going to know what it feels like, they’re going to know what’s going to come, they’re going to be leaders to the younger kids who come back through.”
Hiett, the only returnee from last year’s Huskies state team, was unable to replicate her seventh-place medal from 2016, finishing 11th with a jump of 32-8½.
“I didn’t embarrass myself,” she said. “I went out there and did my best.”
The boys 4×400 team of Parker, Taraski, Hanson and Nathan Hager finished 13th after being slowed slightly by some congestion on the last baton exchange. Their time of 3:37.92 was slightly off the 3:34.79 the same group ran at Meet of Champions and the 3:34.54 the Huskies ran at the district meet to qualify for state.
“The 4×400 ran a good solid time,” Keys said. “They were a little behind their PR, but this is a whole different ballgame when you get to this place. It’s huge. There’s a lot of people.”
Marshfield, whose coach Rich McIntosh has said this would be his last year, won the boys title with 62 points, ahead of Newport, which finished with 55. The Huskies finished in a five-way tie for 27th with Sutherlin, Stayton, McLoughlin and Corbett, with five points.
On the girls side, Astoria won with 57 points, ahead of Phoenix and Molalla, which both had 48, and North Valley, at 47. Sweet Home’s girls were 32nd, with two points.
Keys said his whole team competed, which is what he wanted to see.
“That’s what I’ve been telling the kids. You get to a big meet. That’s all you’ve got to do, get here. You never know what’s going to happen. Just compete and things are going to happen. You never know what you can do.
“The whole team this season has been great. It made for a pleasurable experience for this first year. I’m excited to get back and grow this program and show people what Sweet Home is all about.”
Sydney Nichol wins state 2A title
Sydney Nichol of Sweet Home, running for East Linn Christian Academy, won the state 2A title in the 800 Friday, in 2:19.17 – her first state championship in track after several top-three finishes. Nichol ran away from Culver’s Irma Retano, who finished in 2:22.53.
Nichol, a senior, also placed second in the 3000, in 10:35.36, to Bandon junior Sailor Hutton, who ran 10:24.26.
The East Linn girls won the 2A team title after getting first-place finishes in the 100, 200 and 400 from Mackenzie Wilson, from the 4×100 relay team, and a second-place finish from McKayla Horner of Sweet Home in the shot (38-9½) and a four-five finish from Cori Sanders (122-2) and Horner (113-9) in the discus, and second from Dahlia Rickman in the triple jump (34-2).
Also placing from Sweet Home was senior Wesley Anderson, who was sixth in the boys 800, in a personal-best 2:04.85.