Sweet Home placed second in the boys varsity race and third in the girls as the Huskies opened their 2013 cross-country season Tuesday, Sept. 11, at their own Tadmor Invitational, held at Camp Tadmor.
Jakob Hiett and Daniel Danforth were second and third overall for the boys and Paige Sanders led the girls with a fourth-place finish.
“I thought the kids ran, overall, pretty well,” said Coach Billy Snow. “Most of kids ran as fast or faster than last year.”
Lebanon won both the boys and girls team titles, scoring 28 points in the boys race and 30 in the girls. Sweet Home’s boys finished with 46, followed by Cottage Grove (76), Stayton (77) and Elmira (115).
Stayton’s girls were second, with 58 points, followed by Sweet Home (88), Cottage Grove (90), Creswell (114), Junction City and Elmira (136), Junction City finishing ahead due to a better finish by its sixth runner. Creswell did not have the necessary five varsity boy runners to score as a team.
David Johnson powers out of the the mud pit.
Hiett ran 18:04 on the tough course, which features a long, steep hill and two mudpits, to better his freshman time from last year by nearly a minute and a half. Danforth ran 18:50. The boys race was won by Zach Bellew of Creswell, who finished just ahead of Hiett in 18:00 after both strayed briefly off the course and Bellew recovered first. Snow said Hiett lost about 30 seconds in the confusion and Bellew had a 50-meter lead that Hiett couldn’t overcome at the end of the race.
Third for the Huskies was Ian Wingo (20:50) in 15th place, a PR of more than two minutes, closely followed by David Johnson (20:55) in 16th, a 1:30 personal best. Fifth was Alex Seitz, in 22:07, in 21st place.
Snow said Seitz has been sick, which has put him behind the rest of the team in training.
“I think Alex is going to be a decent runner,” he said. “He taped up his shoes so they wouldn’t come off in the mudpit, but he said the tape was killing his feet. So he stopped and took the tape off, and massaged his feet, then retied his shoes.”
Sanders ran 23:05 to lead the girls in a PR of roughly a minute, finishing behind Lebanon junior Tess Wasson, who ran 22:03 to win.
“I think Paige was a little conservative, at first, but she ran a good second half of the race,” Snow said. Second for the girls was freshman Sierra Swanson (25:47) in 14th place overall, followed by Hailey Hummer (26:46) in 15th.
“Sierra, for her first race, that was a good run,” Snow said. “She had a good second half of the race. Haley said she hit the hill too hard. That’s the first hill race she’s ever run and it’s her second real race. Those rookies, if they don’t know the hill, they don’t know how to pace themselves on that.”
Candalynn Johnson in 29:29 for 27th and Tashana Mithen in 29:41, in 28th. Johnson, a senior, never ran under 30 minutes for a 5K course last year on much faster courses, though she did not run the Tadmor 5K course as a beginning runner last season.
Sweet Home’s Nick Mattson won the junior varsity 3000-meter race in 12:41, followed by Robert Gourley in third (12:50), Nick Dadey in 22nd (15:00), Kyle Moore-McKay in 23rd (15:00) and Trevor Melson in 27th (16:24).
“Nick Mattson and Robert Gourley came off the hill (at about 2000 meters) in seventh andeighth, or ninth and 10th,” Snow said. “They ran a great second half of the race. A lot of that was on the hill.”
In the girls junior varsity race, Sierrah Owen was fifth (19:58) and freshman Emilie Rice was sixth (20:10).
“We can see where the work’s got to be,” Snow said. “We’ve got to tighten some things up. The kids were spread out, not packed in tight. We’ve got our work cut out for us to pull the kids closer to whoever’s in front.”
Next up for the Huskies is the 3 Course Challenge at Camp Rilea, near Seaside, on Sept. 22.
Camp Tadmor Invitational
(Top 10 and Sky-Em Finishers)
Boys Varsity
(1) Zach Bellew (Creswell) 18:00; (2) Jakob Hiett (SH) 18:04; (3) Daniel Danforth (SH) 18:50; (4) Charlie Vandetta (Lebanon) 18:54; (5) Tim Maddox (L) 19:51; (6) Travis Gunn (Cres) 20:00; (7) Ryan Bates (Cres) 20:01; (8) Marcus Corbett (L) 20:02; (9) Edgar Mayen (L) 20:07; (10) Brody Howarth (Stayton) 20:09; (11) Gannon Jones (Elmira) 20:31; (12) Jeremy Williams (Cottage Grove) 20:33; (15) Ian Wingo (SH) 20:50; (16) David Johnson (SH) 20:55; (17) Conner Richardson (CG) 20:56; (19) Jarett Reade (CG) 21:34; (20) Carson Galbreath (CG) 21:39; (21) Alex Seitz (SH) 22:07; (23) Jordan Yoss (CG) 22:10; (26) Bryce Cothran (CG) 22:26; (27) Alex Eddy (JC) 22:34; (28) Bryan Zimmerman (E) 22:43; (30) Ian Cooper (E) 23:34; (31) Jasper Kamerer (E) 23:38; (34) Harley Gilpin (E) 26:15.
Girls Varsity
(1) Tess Wasson (Lebanon) 22:03; (2) Bedria Williams (Creswell) 22:17; (3) Raquel Albee (Stayton) 22:39; (4) Paige Sanders (SH) 23:05; (5) Roslyn Sipos (L) 23:44; (6) Breanna Wright (CG) 23:47; (7) Haley Morris (L) 23:49; (8) Megan Wasson (L) 23:49; (9) Whittney Grizzle (L) 24:01; (10) Kenzie McConnell (CG) 25:13; (14) Sierra Swanson (SH) 25:47; (15) Hailey Hummer (SH) 26:46; (16) Jessica Sand (E) 26:46; (17) Haley Cochell (CG) 26:55; (18) Danielle Jones (E) 27:17; (20) Ana Trujillo (CG) 27:55; (22) Alondra Torres (Junction City) 28:22; (24) Alisha Drews (JC) 28:38; (25) Courtney Spangler (JC) 28:40; (27) Candalynn Johnson (SH) 29:29; (28) Tashana Mithen (SH) 29:41; (31) Grieta King (E) 30:31; (32) Rachel Collins (JC) 30:43; (33) Hayleigh Osburn (JC) 30:44; (34) Alyssa Watters (JC) 31:12; (35) Emilee Russell (E) 31:22; (36) Sierra Shaw (E) 31:59; (37) Anna Cornelius (CG) 33:56.