Although the Meet of Champions was so early this year that some athletes just missed qualifying for the competition at Willamette University Saturday, the Husky boys had a good day, finishing third.
Technically, Coach Billy Snow said, the Meet of Champions is non-scoring, but team scores were calculated for comparisons.
The boys were third out of 29 teams, with 59 points behind behind Elmira, 87.5, and Philomath 67. Newport, which is loaded with talented veterans this year in the sprints and throws, won the girls competition with 89 points. Sweet Home was 15th out of 33 teams with 14 points.
The meet is limited to athletes who have posted qualifying times or marks and is intended to give athletes a chance at higher-level competition, similar to what they will experience at district and state.
Winners for Sweet Home were Jakob Hiett in the 1500 and 3000, and Eric Flierl in the 110 Hurdles.
The Husky girls had no winners. Newport’s Rachel Vinjamuri, who has the fastest times in the state in all divisions in the 200 and 400, won all three sprints.
“In a big meet like that, it always helps to have some pretty big guns,” Snow said.
Hiett has the fastest times in the 4A division in both the 800 (1:59.98) and the 1500 (4:05.90), the latter his winning time at the Meet of Champions.
Freshman Bethany Gingerich has knocked two-plus seconds off her 400 time the last two out of the three races she’s run, and finished in 62.40, good for fourth.
“Bethany is smoking,” Snow said. “That time is an eye-opener. She splits that race nice and evenly. When the other kids are tiring, it looks like she’s speeding up, but she’s just maintaining.”
On Thursday at Elmira, the Huskies went easy on the Meet of Champion qualifiers, but there were some head-turning performances from others.
Sarah Dunkley won the 100 in 14.17, the first win of her high school career, Snow noted.
“She was barely on the edge of the varsity last year,” he said. “She’s doing a great job on that short relay for us.”
Both the boys and girls short relays are going well, he said.
“Hand-offs are looking pretty decent. The relays are competitive. We don’t have the top-of-the-line times we had back in the state meet days, but we keep knocking time off.”
Dillon Stutzman, who has been bothered by an injury and only took two throws in the javelin at the Meet of Champions, popped an 11-6 in the pole vault on Thursday, his best jump by a foot this season.
“It was good to see Dillon have a good vault,” Snow said. “He really stepped it up.”
The Huskies placed second in both the girls and boys sides at Elmira, behind the hosts. Snow said Cottage Grove was missing “about 20 kids” and Elmira was backing off on its Meet of Champions qualifiers on Thursday, but the boys are looking consistently like the team to beat in district.
“They have a lot of speed, quality guys,” he said. “They’ll be a team to be reckoned with in the big meets.”
Sweet Home will travel to Junction City, site of this year’s district meet, on Thursday. Competition starts at 4 p.m.
Meet of Champions
Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers in events the Huskies competed in
Boys Results
Team Scores – (1) Elmira 87.5; (2) Philomath 67; (3) Sweet Home 59; (4) Newport 48; (5) Seaside 44; (6) Banks 41.83; (7-tie) Colton, Nestucca 35; (9) Creswell 29.5; (10) Junction City 25; (11) Cascade 23; (12) Regis 20; (13) Taft 16; (14-tie) East Linn Christian, Kennedy 15; (16-tie) Blanchet Catholic, North Marion 10; (18) St. Paul 9; (19) Monroe 8; (20) Chemawa 6; (21) Sheridan 5; (22-tie) Sisters, Willamina 3; (24) Warrenton 2.5; (25) Crosshill Christian 2.33; (26) Amity 2; (27-tie) Horizon Christian, Gervais 1; (29) Jefferson .33.
200 – (1) Trevor Sartnurak (Philomath) 23.19; (2) Zach Beltz (Elmira) 23.26; (3) Austin Martin (Cascade) 23.68; (10) Trey Reed (SH) 24.35; (20) Wes Parker (SH) 25.81.
400 – (1) Charlie Gilpin (Colton) 51.54; (2) Juneau Meyer (Seaside) 51.89; (3) Trey Reed (SH) 52.85.
1500 – (1) Jakob Hiett (SH) 4:05.90; (2) Gannon Jones (Elmira) 4:23.07; (3) Gustavo Salcido (Chemawa) 4:26.35.
3000 – (1) Jakob Hiett (SH) 9:06.98; (2) Rafi Sibony (Seaside) 9:24.18; (3) Bradley Rzewnicki (Seaside) 9:25.66.
110 Hurdles – (1) Eric Flierl (SH) 16.17; (2) Nicholas Boykin (Elmira) 16.50; (3) Sean Kounovsky (Creswell) 16.63; (7) Matt Davis (SH) 17.07.
300 Hurdles – (1) Sean Kounovsky (Creswell) 40.70; (2) Eric Flierl (SH) 40.86; (3) William Garvin (Seaside) 42.26.
4×100 Relay – (1) Philomath 44.07; (2) Cascade 44.59; (3) Junction City 44.71; (4) Elmira 45.10; (5) Colton 45.65; (6) Sweet Home (Eric Flierl, Matt Davis, Egan Shamek, Trey Reed) 45.79; (7) Regis 45.96; (8) North Marion 46.26; (9) Taft 46.41; (10) Scio 46.67; (11) Blanchet Catholic 47.28; (12) Monroe 48.63; (13) Warrenton 50.17;
Shot Put – (1) Drace Moeller (Nestucca) 51-5½; (2) Jovani Garcia (Monroe) 48-5; (3) Brett Elder (Nestucca) 48-5; (7) Andre Holmes (SH) 43-6; (14) Brycen Mitten (SH) 40-3¼.
Javelin – (1) Brendan Thurber-Blaser (Newport) 181-9; (2) Will Beaudry (Newport) 166-9; (3) Drace Moeller (Nestucca) 164-6; (15) Dillon Stutzman (SH) 139-7; (16) Brycen Mitten (SH) 139-0.
Pole Vault – (1) Isaac Manning (Philomath) 14-2; (2) Spencer Hart (Philomath) 13-6; (3) Jeff Linn (Elmira) 12-6; (6) TJ Baham (SH) 11-0.
Long Jump – (1) Malik Knott (Colton) 20-11; (2) Bishop Mitchell (Kennedy) 20-2¾; (3) Josh Chesnut (Seaside) 20-2¾; (4) Egan Shamek (SH) 19-10¾.
Triple Jump – (1) Zach Beltz (Elmira) 42-5½; (2) Sam Nieslanik (Regis) 40-4; (3) Brian Westman (North Marion) 39-10; (10) Egan Shamek (SH) 38-0¼.
Girls Results
Team Scores – (1) Newport 89; (2) Seaside 63; (3) Cascade 52; (4) Philomath 50; (5-tie) Sisters, East Linn Christian 36; (7) Scio 34; (8) Kennedy 33; (9) Junction City 25; (10-tie) Regis, Banks 23; (12) Dufur 20; (13-tie) Dayton, Grant Union 19; (15) Nestucca 18; (16) Amity 15; (17) Sweet Home 14; (18-tie) Salem Academy, Jefferson 13; (20-tie) Blanchet Catholic, Yamhill-Carlton 9; (22) North Marion 8; (23-tie) Creswell, Taft, Oakridge, Santiam Christian 6; (27) Willamina 5; (28) Warrenton 4; (29) St. Paul 3; (30-tie) Sheridan, Monroe 2; (32-tie) Alsea, Elmira 1.
100 – (1) Rachel Vinjamuri (Newport) 12.52; (2) Dyani Lopez (Newport) 12.78; (3) Natalie Legras (Scio) 13.13; (12) Josie Knight (SH) 13.51.
200 – (1) Rachel Vinjamuri (Newport) 25.89; (2) Dyani Lopez (Newport) 26.68; (3) Natalie Legras (Scio) 27.28; (7) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 27.84.
400 – (1) Rachel Vinjamuir (Newport) 58.53; (2) Dyani Lopez (Newport) 1:00.80; (3) Loghan Sprauer (Kennedy) 1:00.80; (4) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 1:02.40.
4×100 Relay – (1) Cascade 51.13; (2) Seaside 51.76; (3) East Linn Christian 52.49; (4) Sweet Home (Josie Knight, Sarah Dunkley, India Porter, Bethany Gingerich) 53.09; (5) Philomath 53.12; (6) Regis 53.15; (7) Banks 53.24; (8) Sisters 53.31; (9) Nestucca 53.44; (10) Santiam Christian 53.87; (11) Monroe 53.95; (12) Kennedy 54.23; (13) Junction City 54.99; (14) Toledo 55.17; (15) Newport 55.33; (16) Jefferson 56.84; (17) Salem Academy 57.59.
Shot Put – (1) Katrina Linenko (Newport) 39-9½; (2) Brianna Thompson (Newport) 38-6½; (3) Taylor Darden (Dufur) 37-7½; (9) Josie Knight (SH) 33-5½.
Javelin – (1) Kindel Bailey (Banks) 134-10; (2) Olisha Schrock (Jefferson) 118-5; (3) Carolina Allen (Creswell) 118-2; (10) Jordan Miller (SH) 100-9.
Long Jump – (1) Maddie Shirley (Dayton) 16-8¾; (2) Taylor Brown (Kennedy) 16-3¼; (3) Michaela Miller (Sisters) 16-2¼; (7) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 15-5.
Triple Jump – (1) Amy Kraemer (Amity) 32-3; (2) Marisa Jones (North Marion) 32-1¾; (3) Kenzie Wilson (Grant Union) 31-7¾; (17) India Porter (SH) 29-0.
Sweet Home at Elmira
Boys Results
Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
Team Scores – (1) Elmira 155; (2) Sweet Home 98; (3) Harrisburg 77; (4) Pleasant Hill 68.5; (5) Creswell 52; (6) Cottage Grove 35.5.
100 – (1) Zach Beltz (Elmira) 11.38; (2) Jordan Stoppel (Elmira) 11.48; (3) Jacob Woods (CG) 12.18; (10) Nick Rietz (SH) 12.41; (11) Jacob Erickson (SH) 12.42; (15) Wes Parker (SH) 12.64; (18) George Raborn (SH) 12.89; (24) June Kaneyama (SH) 13.13; (26) Noah Taraski (SH) 13.23; (34) Gabe Glynn (SH) 14.32; (35) Adam Barber (SH) 14.72; (38) Christian Baham (SH) 15.17.
200 – (1) Hunter Jelden (Harrisburg) 24.11; (2) Trey Reed (SH) 24.62; (3) Egan Shamek (SH) 24.80; (8) Jacob Erickson (SH) 26.13; (16) Chase Blanco (SH) 26.74; (18) Dillon Stutzman (SH) 26.82; (21) Allen Cuilla (SH) 28.16; (23) Julian Hesberg (SH) 30.04; (24) Gabe Glynn (SH) 30.13; (26) Noah Webb (SH) 31.15.
400 – (1) Hunter Knox (Harrisburg) 53.54; (2) Jakob Hiett (SH) 54.00; (3) Julian Hesberg (SH) 56.60; (8) Chase Blanco (SH) 1:02.37.
800 – (1) Shane Orme (Elmira) 2:12.28; (2) Michael Langner (Elmira) 2:14.07; (3) Connor Hammond (Pleasant Hill) 2:19.13; (5) Noah Taraski (SH) 2:20.30; (7) Jason Miller (SH) 2:25.21; (19) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 2:44.64; (22) Nick Tolman (SH) 2:52.15; (23) Cameron Taber (SH) 2:55.59.
1500 – (1) Gannon Jones (SH) 4:27.04; (2) Ben Douthit (Elmira) 4:29.64; (3) Hunter Murphy (Pleasant Hill) 4:31.16; (6) Issac Justham (SH) 4:53.17; (8) Jason Miller (SH) 4:57.02; (10) Garrett Fox (SH) 5:03.46; (19) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 5:24.67; (23) Cameron Taber (SH) 5:45.45; (25) Noah Webb (SH) 5:59.20.
3000 – (1) Gannon Jones (Elmira) 9:56.87; (2) Ben Douthit (Elmira) 10:25.98; (3) Riley Craig (Elmira) 10:33.85; (4) Issac Justham (SH) 10:43.41; (9) Adam Barber (SH) 12:33.34.
110 Hurdles – (1) Eric Flierl (SH) 16.05; (2) Sean Kounovsky (Creswell) 16.14; (3) Nicholas Boykin (Elmira) 16.34.
300 Hurdles – (1) Sean Kounovsky (Creswell) 42.14; (2) Matt Davis (SH) 44.32; (3) Jakob Hiett (SH) 44.60; (5) TJ Baham (SH) 47.32; (6) Nathan Hager (SH) 47.48; (7) Garrett Fox (SH) 49.15; (8) Nick Rietz (SH) 50.73.
4×100 Relay – (1) Elmira 45.21; (2) Sweet Home “A” (Eric Flierl, Matt Davis, Egan Shamek, Trey Reed) 45.49; (3) Harrisburg 45.95; (4) Pleasant Hill 46.70; (5) Creswell 47.14; (6) Cottage Grove 48.20; (7) Sweet Home “B” (TJ Baham, Jun Kaneyama, Wes Parker, Nick Rietz) 48.39; (8) Sweet Home “C” (Chase Blanco, Jacob Erickson, Quinn Dinsfriend, George Raborn) 49.26.
4×400 Relay – (1) Harrisburg 3:46.43; (2) Elmira 3:56.81; (3) Cottage Grove 4:06.31; (4) Creswell 4:07.73; (5) Cottage Grove 4:10.47; (6) Pleasant Hill 4:11.37; (7) Sweet Home (Jakob Hiett, Nathan Hager, Noah Taraski, Trey Reed) 4:18.31; (8) Cottage Grove 4:20.44.
Shot Put – (1) Zane Wardwell (Elmira) 44-9; (2) Brycen Mitten (SH) 43-2; (3) Andre Holmes (SH) 42-11; (4) Shawn Worthen (SH) 41-10; (22) Josh Rice (SH) 32-2; (24) Justin Miller (SH) 31-0; (42) Kyle Laster (SH) 21-0; (43) Raymond Moore (SH) 16-2.
Discus – (1) Zane Wardwell (Elmira) 143-0; (2) Jacob Baker (Pleasant Hill) 130-11; (3) Noah Stevens (Pleasant Hill) 127-5; (11) Andre Holmes (SH) 92-3; (15) Shawn Worthen (SH) 85-2; (17) Trevor Miner (SH) 82-8; (27) Justin Miller (SH) 67-2; (30) Josh Rice (SH) 64-0; (39) Kyle Laster (SH) 45-1; (40) Raymond Moore (SH) 44-7.
Javelin – (1) Austin Klecka (Pleasant Hill) 171-8; (2) Avery McMillan (Harrisburg) 158-10; (3) Gary Younce (Elmira) 157-9; (5) Brycen Mitten (SH) 145-1; (7) Eric Flierl (SH) 137-4; (8) Dillon Stutzman (SH) 134-8; (13) Nathan Hager (SH) 112-4; (14) Charlie Guerrero (SH) 111-5; (20) Quinn Dinsfriend (SH) 102-3; (34) Josh Rice (SH) 78-9; (38) Oscar Hernandez (SH) 70-7; (39) Eric Whitlow (SH) 63-3.
High Jump – (1) Hunter Jelden (Harrisburg) 5-6; (2) Patrick Braunger (Elmira) 5-2; (3) Joshua Claflin (Cottage Grove) 5-2; (7) Jacob Erickson (SH) 5-0.
Pole Vault – (1) Jeff Linn (Elmira) 12-6; (2) Dillon Stutzman (SH) 11-6; (3) Travis Waggener (Harrisburg) 11-0; (4) TJ Baham (SH) 10-0.
Long Jump – (1) Trevin Hoyt (Pleasant Hill) 18-6; (2-tie) Josiah Whaley (Pleasant Hill), Hayden Glenn (Cottage Grove) 17-9; ((12) Chase Blanco 15-10; (14) George Raborn (SH) 15-6; (23) Charlie Guerrero (SH) 14-6½; (26) Christian Baham (SH) 13-5; (28) Gabe Glenn (SH) 12-9.
Triple Jump – (1) Gary Younce (Elmira) 38-2; (2) Avery McMillan (Harrisburg) 37-7½; (3) Jordan Stoppel (Elmira) 36-11; (6) Wes Parker (SH) 36-6; (12) Christian Baham (SH) 26-7.
Girls Results
Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
Team Scores – (1) Elmira 119; (2-tie) Sweet Home, Pleasant Hill 111; (4) Creswell 63; (5) Harrisburg 35; (6) Cottage Grove 24.
100 – (1) Sarah Dunkley (SH) 14.17; (2) Isabella Diffin-Ramirez (Elmira) 14.49; (3) Kate Owens (Creswell) 14.52; (10) Jessica Stockman (SH) 15.21; (12) Hayden Soland (SH) 15.23; (13) Cora McKee (SH) 15.26; (15) Ashley Wickline (SH) 15.44; (19) Lilly Parker (SH) 15.68; (22) Makenna Ashton (SH) 16.42; (23) Maria Daniels (SH) 16.43; (27) Natasha Benson (SH) 18:04; (28) Tori Jackson (SH) 18.12.
200 – (1) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 28.27; (2) Madison Fisher (Pleasant Hill) 29.08; (3) Rachel Chambers (Pleasant Hill) 29.23; (4) India Porter (SH) 29.85; (6) Sarah Dunkley (SH) 30.29; (10) Ashley Wickline (SH) 32.12; (19) Tori Jackson (SH) 38.24.
400 – (1) Megan Miller (Pleasant Hill) 1:05.00; (2) Kendra Hawken (Creswell) 1:06.95; (3) Jadenn Blunt (Elmira) 1:07.98; (4) Jessica Stockman (SH) 1:10.38.
800 – (1) Morgan Craig (Elmira) 3:37.12; (2) Myckenzi Moore (Elmira) 2:42.27; (3) Daelyn Wilde (Pleasant Hill) 2:53.38; (5) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 2:56.55; (7) Maria Daniels (SH) 3:13.02; (8) Kanon Nakamura (SH) 3:17.20; (9) Allison Wickline (SH) 3:19.57; (11) Sierrah Owen (SH) 3:46.68.
1500 – (1) Morgan Craig (Elmira) 5:23.88; (2) Daelyn Wilde (Pleasant Hill) 5:51.99; (3) Delaney Pietsch (Creswell) 5:52.57; (5) Sierra Swanson (SH) 6:01.47; (6) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 6:10.71; (11) Kanon Nakamura (SH) 7:01.17; (13) Sierrah Owen (SH) 7:16.22.
3000 – No Sweet Home entrants.
100 Hurdles – (1) Emillia Carpenter (Elmira) 19.07; (2) Sierra Briggs (Harrisburg) 19.11; (3) Carolina Allen (Creswell) 19.78; (5) Isabelle Seitz (SH) 20.74; (10) Hayden Soland (SH) 25.62.
300 Hurdles – (1) Sierra Briggs (Harrisburg) 52.58; (2) Emillia Carpenter (Elmira) 53.54; (3) Cora McKee (SH) 56.34.
4×100 Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Josie Knight, Sarah Dunkley, India Porter, Bethany Gingerich) 53.12; (2) Pleasant Hill 53.16; (3) Creswell 56.08; (4) Elmira 56.82; (5) Sweet Home “B” (Cora McKee, Isabelle Seitz, Hayden Soland, Kendyl Stutzman) 57.21; (6) Sweet Home “C” (Milah Weld, Allison Wickline, Ashley Wickline, Gracie Olson) 59.42; (7) Cottage Grove 59.46.
4×400 Relay – (1) Elmira 4:40.55; (2) Cottage Grove 5:01.32; (3) Sweet Home (Kendyl Stutzman, Jessica Stockman, Allison Wickline, Ashley Wickline) 5:02.37; (4) Cottage Grove “B” 5:04.43.
Shot Put – (1) Allison Smith (Pleasant Hill) 32-5; (2) Rileigh Nielsen (Pleasant Hill) 31-0; (3) Madison Nickell (Elmira) 28-3; (4) Emily Ramsey (SH) 24-8; (6) Elea Hewitt (SH) 23-9; (16) Shelby Dinsfriend (SH) 19-5.
Discus – (1) Allison Smith (Pleasant Hill) 83-10; (2) Rebecca Peasley (Pleasant Hill) 80-8; (3) Rileigh Nielsoen (Pleasant Hill) 74-11; (6) Elea Hewitt (SH) 73-3; (9) Kendyl Stutzman (SH) 71-3; (12) Emily Ramsey (SH) 61-6; (15) Shelby Dinsfriend (SH) 60-2; (16) Liz Chelstad (SH) 58-8; (18) Lexi Burks (SH) 56-6; (23) Natasha Benson (SH) 51-4; (26) Ellie Davis (SH) 48-9; (30) Minami Takeshita (SH) 41-8; (33) Alisa Navolochnaya (SH) 34-3.
Javelin – (1) Dana Brooks (Pleasant Hill) 116-1; (2) Carolina Allen (Creswell) 106-10; (3) Jordan Miller 94-7; (7) Shania Baxter (SH) 78-9; (8) Lexi Burks (SH) 71-1; (9) Barbara Raphaelli (SH) 70-3; (12) Franziska Wollny (SH) 60-4; (13) Kendyl Stutzman (SH) 59-9; (14) Liz Chelstad (SH) 59-0; (15) Isabelle Seitz (SH) 56-9; (18) Milah Weld (SH) 53-3; (21) Erin Bauer (SH) 49-7; (26) Ellie Davis (SH) 44-10.
High Jump – (1) Briannon Barrett (Pleasant Hill) 4-8; (2) Baylee Kushel (Harrisburg) 4-6; (3) Caylie Trewin (SH) 4-6; (6) Sierra Swanson (SH) 4-4; (9) Dana Hiett (SH) 4-4.
Pole Vault – (1) Annalisa Linn (Elmira) 7-0; (2) Dana Hiett (SH) 6-6; (3) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 6-0.
Long Jump – (1) Madison Fisher (Pleasant Hill) 14-9½; (2) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 14-2; (3) Carolina Allen (Creswell) 13-11; (6) Caylie Trewin (SH) 13-3¼; (7) Josie Knight (SH) 13-3; (11) Makenna Ashton (SH) 12-6¼; (18) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 12-0.
Triple Jump – (1) India Porter (SH) 31-2½; (2) Alyssa Dufault (Creswell) 29-5; (3) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 28-11½; (6) Caylie Trewin (SH) 26-7; (12) Gracie Olson (SH) 24-11; (15) Kano Nakamura (SH) 21-6.