Boys 2nd in district track as Huskies make state in 11 events

Scott Swanson

Sweet Home’s boys track team finished second, to Cottage Grove, Saturday, May 12, at the end of the Sky-Em District track championships as the Huskies qualified five individuals – three boys and two girls – and all four relays in a total of 11 events for state.

Sophomore Megan Hager won district titles and qualified for state in both the shot and discus and senior Bethany Gingerich bounced back from an upset loss in the 100 hurdles to set a new meet record in winning the 300 hurdles.

The Huskies will also be represented individually by juniors Austin Stevens in the long jump, by Lance Hanson in the triple jump and Noah Dinsfriend in the 300 hurdles, and by Gingerich in both hurdles events.

There were several near-misses as well, as Dinsfriend was upset in the 110 high hurdles to place third, just missing a trip to state in that event, along with third-place finishes by sophomore Casey Tow in the 800, senior Eric Blanchard in the pole vault, junior Kate Hawken in the 200, freshman Jessy Hart in the 400, and freshman Shelbey Nichol in the shot.

Team-wise, the boys placed second with 120 points to the Lions (209) and one point ahead of Sisters (119).

The girls were fifth, but only five points separated second-place Junction City (110) and the Huskies (105).

“All expectations were exceeded,” Coach Dakotah Keys said. “Pretty much everybody PR’d (at the championships).

“Like I told the kids, anything can happen but it’s the same thing for every other person competing,” he added, referencing the upset losses in the hurdles and Tow’s gutsy third-place finish in the 800.

“You can’t ask any more of the kids. They did so good. For the guys to come up and take second and the women fifth. We haven’t been competitive as a team for the women in a long time. Last year we had 12 women on the entire team.”

This year the Huskies had 17 girls at the district meet, who came away with 22 scoring finishes.

Leading the way for the girls were Hager, with her two league titles, which resulted in her being named the girls Field Athlete of the Meet.

She posted a personal best of over two feet to win the shot.

“I was super happy with the shot,” Hager said. “I’ve been really consistent in the 32(-foot range). I knew I had the PR in me. I got it out there, 35.”

She battled a bit in the discus with Junction City’s Ysabelle Morales, who took an early lead at 102 feet after the first round as Hager threw 99 from a standing position.But Hager switched to a spin, which she has been working on this year, and delivered throws of 102 and then 103 feet, which made her “more relaxed,” and then responded to Morales’ throw of 107 feet by upping that to 109.

Gingerich was favored to win both relays, but hit the second to last hurdle with her trail leg in the 100 and was passed on the final hurdle, as she recovered, by Junction City freshman Jillian Liebersbach.

“If I hadn’t (hit the hurdle), I would have been in the 15s, which would have been a huge PR,” Gingerich said. “But I still made it to state. I was so close behind her, but I was able to pick myself back up and finish strong. On Thursday (in the prelims) I was .2 (of a second) off my PR but I was so relaxed. This time I went out a little harder, a little more competitive, wanting to PR more, drop some more time. Then I ended up doing that. It felt good. It felt easy.”

In the 300, Gingerich left the field in the dust, winning by 3½ seconds over Liebersbach in 45.22, a PR of a second and a half.

“We all prayed before the race,” she said of the competitors in the 300. “It was just a cool moment to have with other athletes who would be competing against each other. It was so exciting to hear that I broke the meet record. Super awesome.”

With her time from Saturday the fastest this year in the 4A, she said she is now aiming at the school record of 46.74, set in 1986 by Renelle Jeppsen.

“I know I can drop even more time and I’m going to go for the school record at state. I’ll do my best. I’d love to have my name on the board.”

Gingerich, also anchored the 4×400 team to victory as well as running a leg in the short relay and qualifying in both hurdles events.

The Huskies’ handoffs didn’t look perfect in the 4×100 relay and Gingerich, the senior member of the team, said they can get better.

“We dropped some more time and I know we can drop more,” she said.

In the 4×400, the Sweet Home team of Hart, Zoe James, Hawken and Gingerich basically led wire to wire to break a streak in an event in which the Huskies have not been competitive for years.

“It was just crazy,” Gingerich said. “I’ve never been part of a 4×4 team that has huge potential. We have it all right here with some pretty amazing runners. Super awesome girls.”

The Huskies go into state ranked second in the state in that event, behind Philomath, after just running it twice this season. They are ranked sixth in the 4×100.

Things got really competitive in the boys long jump as all nine finalists PR’d, including Stevens, who qualified for state with second place in 21-4, two inches behind leader Jacob Woods of Cottage Grove, who was named the boys Track Athlete of the Meet after winning three events and anchoring the Lions 4×100 relay team to the league title.

Tristan Calkins, the only Sweet Home freshman in the finals, was sixth for Sweet Home with a jump of 19-9¼.

Stevens, who sat out for three weeks prior to districts with a hamstring injury, said he came into the event, after spending that period “resting, icing and stretching a lot” determined to go all out.

“I thought I would just give it my hardest, give it my best and see what happened,” he said. His first leap was the big one, a PR by eight inches, and it was good enough to get him to state, where he is ranked sixth, six inches behind the state leader.

In the short relay, Stevens led off for teammates Hanson, Rawlins Lupoli and Hayden Nichol for the first time this year.

“I felt pretty good coming out of blocks, I worked the corner really hard, and pushed as hard as I could, then I handed it off and our handoff was pretty good,” he said. “Coach said I’m the fastest guy on the team and I should try to push out, and eventually stay in the lead. That’s what we did.”

In the 4×400 relay, the Huskies’ team of Dinsfriend, Noah Taraski, Hanson and Tow trailed Sisters, whose anchor, senior Jordan Pollard, also won the 800 and 1500, but Tow held off Junction City’s Brandon Koller in the last 200 meters of the anchor leg to clinch a trip to state for Sweet Home in 3:32.59.

Tow, who had finished third in the 800 an hour previously, credited Koller with being “pretty gutsy” with a very fast first 200.

“I was just able to stick with him and catch him,” Tow said. “I knew that guy was going to run out of gas. I knew we weren’t going to take first, but I was pretty confident that we would take second. Sisters ran a great race. That was a big PR for them.”

Dinsfriend, who had just won the 300 hurdles half an hour previously, said his “legs were jello” in the lead-off leg of the race, and “I thought I was running way slower than I was, because everybody else was ahead of me. Then, coming off the backstretch, I caught back up and ended up running the fastest 400 I’ve ever run. It was a PR for all of us.”

Hanson, who ran the third leg for the Huskies, said he thinks the Huskies, who are ranked seventh going in, can perform better at state this year after being eliminated early last season.

“Last year we ended up running a little bit slower than we usually do. This year we’ll be more prepared, more ready for it. We’ve stepped it up so we’re even faster than last year.”

Hanson was the No. 7 qualifier out of the prelims in the triple jump, but popped a 2-foot PR of 40-3½ to finish 7 inches behind Cottage Grove’s Mitchell Krokus.

“I finally did what Coach told me, was able to get my foot under me and finally able to pop out that 40 that I’ve been working on all season,” he said.

Dinsfriend, ranked top in the league in the 110 and 300 hurdles, got caught in a slow start in the 110s, he said, and wound up third, which left him visibly upset. He noted he’d false-started in the district final last year in that event.

“The 110 was a learning experience,” he said. “I was really disappointed, but I think it helped getting all that emotion out.”

He made up for it in the 300, running away from the field to finish in 40.30, a PR by more than a second.

“I was just trying to make up some time in the long hurdles,” he said. “I know I can run that time.”

He said he’s learning how to compete in big meets.

“Most of the races where I’ve been ranked first, I haven’t done that good. So just need to have something to push for, just run my own race.”

He will get a chance at state, where he enters the 300 with the second-fastest time this season.

Tow didn’t make it to state in the 800, but he turned heads for the second year in a row with a gutsy 2:01.14 finish that sliced four seconds off his PR. Sisters junior Keaton Green paced off of Pollard wire to wire and finished in 1:59.99, and Tow simply couldn’t catch Green on the home stretch as Green fell back from Pollard, who won in 1:57.24, the fastest time in the 4A this year.

“My plan was just to go in, stay right behind him,” he said. “I had pretty good plan going in. It was kind of a bummer because the top two were both Sisters guys and the No. 1 guy just paced the second guy the whole race. I still ran a good race. PR’d by four seconds. That was a fun one.”

The state meet will be held Friday and Saturday at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.

Friday’s events run from 9 a.m. to approximately 3 p.m. Saturday’s events for Sweet Home will start at 12:30 p.m.

“We just want them to go and compete,” Keys said of his team, noting that Hayward Field is where some of my favorite experiences ever took place in track.”

He said he’s expecting his athletes to be ready.

“Our relay teams are going to be fresher. Some of the girls won’t be running other events in addition to the relay. Same thing for the guys. Casey won’t be running the 800, though I’d like to see him at state, competing.

“Really, this is a chance for everyone to do good things there, to place, have fun, compete. Find something else new about themselves. That’s what it’s all about.”

Sky-Em District Championships

Boys Results

* Personal Best

Team Scores – (1) Cottage Grove 209; (2) Sweet Home 120; (3) Sisters 119; (4) Junction City 90.5; (5) Elmira 84.5; (6) Sutherlin 31.

State Meet Qualifiers and Sweet Home Finishers. State Meet Qualifiers in Bold.

Note: Finishes below eighth place are preliminaries results.

100 – (1) Jacob Woods (CG) 11.08; (2) Brady Nagel (E) 11.40; (4) Austin Stevens (SH) 11.87; (7) Rawlins Lupoli (SH) 12.10; (8) Hayden Nichol (SH) 12.26.

200 – (1) Jacob Woods (CG) 22.49; (2) Brady Nagel (E) 23.18; (5) Rawlins Lupoli (SH) 24.11*; (8) Hayden Nichol (SH) 24.56.

400 – (1) Hayden Sharp (Sis) 52.10; (2) Brandon Koller (JC) 52.12; (8) Jake Swanson (SH) 55.59; (11) Noah Taraski (SH) 56.65; (13) Tristan Calkins (SH) 59.69.

800 – (1) Jordan Pollard (Sis) 1:57.24; (2) Keaton Green (Sis) 1:59.99; (3) Casey Tow (SH) 2:01.14; (7) Tristan Saultz (SH) 2:12.53.

1500 – (1) Jordan Pollard (Sis) 4:15.06; (2) James Talley (CG) 4:19.09; (11) Tristan Saultz (SH) 4:49.83; (16) Gavin Walberg (SH) 4:58.04*; (17) Ricky Yunke (SH) 4:58.43.

3000 – (1) James Talley (CG) 9:40.66; (2) Paesen Timm (CG) 9:43.58; (8) Ricky Yunke (SH) 10:47.91; (12) Cameron Taber (SH) 11:06.12.

110 Hurdles – (1) Tanner Barth (JC) 15.40; (2) Joshua Claflin (CG) 15.59; (3) Noah Dinsfriend (SH) 15.84*; (11) Robbie Yunke (SH) 19.38.

300 Hurdles – (1) Noah Dinsfriend (SH) 40.30*; (2) Hayden Glenn (CG) 41.42; (3) Skyler Larson (Sis) 43.75; (6) Lance Hanson (SH) 44.09*; (11) Robbie Yunke (SH) 48.21.

4×100 Relay – (1) Cottage Grove 44.25; (2) Sweet Home (Austin Stevens, Rawlins Lupoli, Hayden Nichol. Lance Hanson) 45.08; (3) Sisters 45.31; (4) Junction City 46.07; (5) Elmira 46.81.

4×400 Relay – (1) Sisters 3:28.10; (2) Sweet Home (Noah Dinsfriend, Noah Taraski, Lance Hanson, Casey Tow) 3:32.59; (3) Junction City 3:33.11; (4) Cottage Grove 3:40.32; (5) Elmira 3:41.58; (6) Sutherlin 3:46.78.

Shot Put – (1) Hunter Hall (CG) 44-11¾; (2) Joshua Claflin (CG) 44-6½; (5) Noah Moore (SH) 40-0¾; (6) Hayden Nichol (SH) 40-0½*; (9) Austin Griffin (SH) 36-11.

Discus – (1) Finn Mitchell (JC) 142-6; (2) Cobyn Herbert (E) 130-3; (10) Jake Swanson (SH) 104-0; (14) Austin Griffin (SH) 89-5.

Javelin – (1) Bryce Olsen (Suth) 164-3; (2) Hunter Hall (CG) 159-3; (3) Jake Swanson (SH) 157-5; (4) Casey Tow (SH) 154-4*; (5) Noah Moore (SH) 154-3.

High Jump – (1) Erick Vellejo Giffen (CG) 5-11; (2) Gavin Eastwood (Suth) 5-11; (6) Connor Russell (SH) 5-7*.

Pole Vault – (1) Garrett Kersavage (S) 12-4; (2) Takoda Brooks (CG) 12-0; (3) Eric Blanchard (SH) 12-0; (6) Brad Wolthuis (SH) 10-0.

Long Jump – (1) Jacob Woods (CG) 12-6; (2) Austin Stevens (SH) 21-4*; (4) Connor Russell (SH) 20-3¼*; (6) Tristan Calkins (SH) 19-9¼*.

Triple Jump – (1) Mitchell Krokus (CG) 40-10½; (2) Lance Hanson (SH) 40-3½*; (5) Casey Tow (SH) 5-9¼; (10) Jake Swanson (SH) 36-10*.

Girls Results

Team Scores – (1) Sisters 186; (2) Junction City 110; (3-tie) Cottage Grove, Junction City 109; (5) Sweet Home 105; (6) Sutherlin 34.

100 – (1) Mandi Calavan (Sis) 12.48; (2) Erynn Ricker (Sis) 12.68; (9) Madison Merrill (SH) 14.00; (10) Jessi Thomas (SH) 14.42.

200 – (1) Nakiya Mayhugh (JC) 26.52; (2) Mandi Calavan (Sis) 25.81; (3) Erynn Ricker (Sis) 26.64; (4) Kate Hawken (SH) 26.64*; (6) Jessy Hart (SH) 27.40*; (11) Madison Merrill (SH) 29.91.

400 – (1) Nakiya Mayhugh (JC) 59.49l (2) Ella Cole (Sis) 1:02.21; (3) Jessy Hart (SH) 1:02.85; (4) Zoe James (SH) 1:03.35; (6) Kate Hawken (SH) 1:03.95.

800 – (1) Anna Bartlett (Sis) 2:28.84; (2) Rhea Florez (CG) 2:31.72.

1500 – (1) Kate Bowen (Sis) 4:55.05; (2) Anna Bartlett (Sis) 4:56.93; (6) Brenna Boyd (SH) 5:24.08*; (13) Sicily Neuschwander (SH) 6:31.92.

3000 – (1) Kate Bowen (Sis) 11:03.71; (2) Anika Thompson (JC) 11:09.21.

100 Hurdles – (1) Jillian Liebersbach (JC) 16.30; (2) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 16.32; (7) Madelyn Neuschwander (SH) 19.85.

300 Hurdles – (1) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 45.22*; (2) Jillian Liebersbach (JC) 48.89; (8) Madelyn Neuschwander (SH) 55.13.

4×100 Relay – (1) Sisters 50.06; (2) Sweet Home (Bethany Gingerich, Jessy Hart, Zoe James ,Kate Hawken) 50.70; (3) Cottage Grove 50.91; (4) Junction City 51.39; (5) Sutherlin 53.40; (6) Elmira 55.31.

4×400 Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Bethany Gingerich, Jessy Hart, Zoe James, Kate Hawken) 4:10.27; (2) Junction City 4:12.25; (3) Sisters 4:19.94; (4) Cottage Grove 4:35.11; (5) Elmira 4:45.02.

Shot Put – (1) Megan Hager (SH) 35-2½*; (2) Kiersten Porter (Suth) 33-11½; (3) Shelbey Nichol (SH) 31-2; (9) Kirsten Watkins (SH) 26-10¾.

Discus – (1) Megan Hager (SH) 109-8; (2) Ysabelle Morales (JC) 107-8; (13) Kirsten Watkins (SH) 65-0; (16) Shelby Goodwin (SH) 55-6.

Javelin – (1) Kiersten Porter (Suth) 113-1; (2) Sydney Boxberger (CG) 112-2; (4) Katen Edwards (SH) 105-6; (6) Hannah Powell (SH) 101-8; (7) Natalie Rodgers (SH) 98-4.

High Jump – (1) Matelynn Ladd (CG) 5-3; (2) Ryliereece Morgan (S) 5-1; (9) Zoe James (SH) 4-6; (12) Katen Edwards (SH) 4-6.

Pole Vault – (1) Erynn Ricker (Sis) 9-0; (2) Shelby Larson (SH) 8-6.

Long Jump – (1) Ryliereece Morgan (Sis) 16-8; (2) Samantha Silva (Sis) 16-5½; (7) Jessi Thomas (SH) 14-3¾; (8) Shelbey Nichol (SH) 14-3¼.; (13) Hannah Powell (SH) 13-8¼.

Triple Jump – (1) Kennady Laing (E) 34-6¼; (2) Ryliereece Morgan (Sis) 34-5; (6) Shelby Nichol (SH) 31-8*; (12) Hannah Powell (SH) 27-3¾.

Total
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