Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Sweet Home’s girls cross-country team, led by Amanda Basham, and bolstered by a strong effort from the rest of the squad, won the Val-Co district championship Saturday, Oct. 27, at Philomath High School.
Basham won the district individual title as she led the Huskies to their first district title since 1993 and their first trip to state as a team since 1995. Three of the Huskies varsity runners weren’t walking the last time
The boys, who qualified for state last year, finished a disappointing third as Philomath turned in a dominating performance and Central managed enough higher placewinners to nudge the Huskies out of a trip to state. Two seniors, Ramiro Santana, who was Sweet Home’s top finisher, and Brinden Sanders qualified as individuals for Saturday’s state championships at Lane Community College.
Philomath finished with 31 points after stacking runners in second, fourth, fifth and seventh place. Central’s Martin Saldana held off fast-charging Louis Donadio of Philomath by just over a second to take home the district boys individual title (17:14.3). Central qualified for state with 52 points, followed by Sweet Home (63), Taft (73) and Newport (150). Taft’s Kian Flynn (third, 17:17.6) and Trevor Hoagland (ninth, 17:40.4) secured the other individual state berths.
It wasn’t a perfect day for the girls, but it was close. Sweet Home scored 33 points with Basham’s first-place finish in 20:57.5, well ahead of Yessenia Alverado of Philomath, who took second in 21:11.5. Philomath was second with 40 points, qualifying for its 29th straight year of making the state championship meet. Central was third (66), Newport fourth (98) and Taft fifth (122). Scores are calculated by adding up the finishes of the top five runners from each team, with the lowest score winning.
Basham and Alverado, both seniors, have been in a head-to-head battle all season and this time Basham came out ahead, closely followed by freshman Olivia Johnson in 21:14.9 for third in the field of 32 runners, cutting 34 seconds off the time she ran in the Paul Mariman Invitational over the same course three weeks ago and establishing a three-second personal best for the season.
“The person who had a big race was Olivia,” Coach Billy Snow said. “That was a big PR for her. She stuck right in there.
“Amanda did just what she needed – i.e., put the hammer down and run pace from the get-go. She went through the mile in 6:25 and averaged 6:32 for the race. She had to open up a good-sized gap on Yessy to weather her kick. I was hoping Yessy would expend some energy trying to keep the gap between her and Amanda close and take her kick away and I think we saw some of that also. Plus having Olivia breathing down her back had to wear on her also.
“What a shocker and pleasant surprise to see Olivia mixing it up with the big girls at the front of the pack.”
Carissa Swanson, also a freshman, was fourth in 21:47.2, Ashley Danielson 11th (23:04:4) and Justine Calhoon 14th (23:30.4) to round out the scoring for Sweet Home. The Huskies’ other varsity finishers were Jill Mahler, right behind Calhoon in 16th (23:40.2) and Jenna Kistner (28th, 25:47.5). Mahler and Kistner, Sweet Home’s sixth and seventh runners, finished ahead of Philomath’s fifth runner, which gave the Huskies the edge they needed to take home the trophy.
Snow said Danielson became ill in the race and had to stop momentarily, but that Swanson and Johnson were able to make up the difference to keep Sweet Home on top.
“Olivia and Carissa had huge races with Ashley having an off day,” he said. “Both girls showed they will be forces in league next year and, along with Jill and Jenna, provide a starting nucleus for a girls team.
It was good to see that even with one of our top girls having an off day, our other girls could pick up the slack. Justine and Jill being in front of Philomath’s five was huge for the team. Both of those girls also had course PR’s, which is just what the team needed.”
Basham, who started running cross-country this season after spending three years playing volleyball, said she wasn’t thinking about anything except finishing races when she started running distance races in early September.
“I started running on my own and really enjoyed it,” she said, noting that her hurdles coach on the track team, Aaron Cloud, encouraged her to try distance running. “I certainly didn’t expect to be district champ.”
She said that she expected a run to the wire with Alverado, who has a blistering kick at the end of races.
“I knew if I didn’t start fast, she would have caught me,” Basham said.
Santana finished 10th for the boys in 17:46.2, better than his last run on the course at the Paul Mariman Invitational but nearly 40 seconds off his season best 10 days before at the Elmira Invitational.
Sanders was 11th in the field of 35 (17:55.4), followed by Jayce Calhoon (12th, 18:06.4), Byron Sanders (14th, 18:12.3), Robert Callagan (16th, 18:35.0), Land Florek (23rd, 19:04.5) and Dustin Collman (27th, 19:28.9).
“Our varsity guys did not run bad, especially our top five,” Snow said. “Three of the five had a course personal record” and, he added, the two that did not would have had a PR if they had run the course previously.
“Philomath had their best meet of the season, hands down and hats off,” Snow said. “Central’s top three did what we expected but their fourth and fifth runners had big races. Add to that Taft running well and our sixth and seventh runners off a little bit and it all adds up to where we finished.
“Really, rather than us running poorly, it was some other kids and teams running well and we just flat out got beat.
“Nobody was going to beat Philomath today. They ran awesome.”
Santana agreed.
“Philomath just came out of nowhere,” he said of the Warriors, who qualified for state for the 37th time Saturday.
Santana said he went out a little too fast at the start of the race, which caught up with him at the end of the race, but “Philomath had four guys ahead of me.
“Central ran tough today, the top three, anyway.”
In the junior varsity boys race, Sweet Home took the team race with 36 points as Josh Rice was second (19:15.0), Nikki Smith fourth (19:27.6), Dallin Holden fifth (19:39.1), Michael Simmonds ninth (20:00.2), Chris Thompson 16th (21:17.3), David Rinehart 22nd (22:17.5), Alex Whitlow 23rd (22:17.9), Jon Lemar 28th (23:21.7), Dakota Nave 33rd (26:20.0) and Conner Cunha 34th (26:28.9). Philomath was second (39) and Central third (59).
“On the JV boys side we had a great day,” Snow said. “Four of our top five had course bests and we packed it in pretty good at the top. That is the first time our JV boys have beaten Philomath’s all season long. With most of those kids back, it is a good starting point for next year.
Among the JV girls, Taylor Rodgers was seventh (29:35.3), Natasha Perry eighth (29:36.6), Afton Rodgers 10th (32:42.1) and Louise Wilcox 11th (36:21.00).
“On the JV side, we were hoping for some course PR’s but there were just not enough bodies to have people to chase.” Snow said of the junior varsity race, which had 11 runners from five teams, only one, Philomath, with five runners. “Afton really had to run through illness and got sick three separate times during the race. Taylor ended up with a bloody nose halfway through the race, probably a result of allergies.”
Though it is difficult to project how teams will do at state since cross-country courses vary widely, Snow said he believes the Sweet Home girls could finish as high as sixth if all the Huskies run to their potential.
“Running with Marist, whom we have been close to all year, would be a good goal,” he said. “Cracking the top 10 would be good also.”
Santana said he’s just going to focus on his last high school cross-country race.
“We’ve got one more week,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll have a good race, a good outcome.”