Sweet Home’s runners faced another large field at the Harrier Classic Saturday, coming away with mixed results.
“It was kind of a mixed bag,” Coach Dave Martin said.
His top runners didn’t come away with personal bests, but the others all produced improved times.
For the girls, freshman Mckenzie Miller finished 78th in a field of 203 runners in the varsity race, which included a host of 6A and 5A schools, running 22:52, which was well off her best 5,000-meter time of 22:09, set the previous week at Lane Community College. Junior Rylee Markell was 109th, in 23:35, also about half a minute off her best.
But sophomores Amelia Sullens and Peyton Markell ran PRs of roughly 30 seconds, Sullens finishing 166th in 26:08 and Markell 176th in 26:38. Senior Meeja Bitter also a season’s best, finishing 190th in 28:14.
For the boys, junior Ethan Delibertis was 187th in the field of 238 runners in the varsity race, running 21:16, which was about 30 seconds off his time at LCC the week before.
Freshman Jim Morgan was second for Sweet Home, running a near-50-second PR to finish 208th in 22:05.
Junior Vegas Mauer bettered his 5000 time by more than 45 seconds, finishing 217th in 23:01.
Senior Adrian Kast was 232nd, in 24:05, also a personal best, and junior Will Jewell was 237th, running 25:48, nearly a 1:30 PR.
“Jim, Vegas and Will had great races,” Martin said, noting that the heat, in the mid-80s, may have affected some of the Huskies.
Teamwise, the girls finished 24th out of 27 schools, one slot ahead of East Linn Christian, which was sophomore Daisy Lalonde, who was third overall in 18:58. Sweet Home’s boys score was largest in the varsity team standings.
Freshman Lukas Thompson was the only Sweet Home runner to compete in the junior varsity race, running 32:57.
Martin said his team “competed hard, but our efforts weren’t all that I think we were capable of that day. However, he said, the Huskies have been working hard and “our workouts the last two weeks have been really good.
“I think we are heading in a good direction.”
Up next for Sweet Home is the Paul Mariman Invitational, hosted by Philomath, on Saturday. The field is limited to schools 4A Division size and under and the event is run on the high school campus and surrounding streets. Junior varsity races start at 1 p.m., with varsity girls at 2, followed by the boys at 2:30. The course is spectator-friendly.