High temperatures continued to be a challenge for Sweet Home’s cross-country runners last week in two competitions, one among the toughest courses in the state and the other one of the fastest fields in the state.
The Huskies competed Wednesday, Sept. 10, in the Silver Falls Invitational, known to runners as “The Monster” for a steep, nearly mile-long climb midway through that few competitors can climb without walking.
Sweet Home’s boys, despite missing a couple of runners who are expected to contribute substantially to the team, finished behind fellow 4A teams Elmira, Cascade and Scappoose, The girls finished behind Philomath, Scappoose and Junction City.
“Silver Falls was definitely better than Marist,” Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen said. “They rose to the occasion on the hill.”
Jakob Hiett, recovering from a stress fracture, was third in the boys varsity race, in 20:52.2 over the 5,200-meter course, after winning it last year and newcomer Trey Reed was 38th, in the field of 210.
“Jakob looked more like himself,” Allen said. “He was 12th at the 2000-meter mark and he made up that ground. Trey was 14th and held that until the top of the Monster. I’m very pleased with Trey. He’s definitely a bright spot on the guys side.”
For the girls, freshman Bethany Gingerich led a pack of Huskies at the finish line, taking 43rd in a field of 121, followed closely by Dana Hiett and Sierra Swanson in 47th and 48th, and Kayleen Keeney in 53rd.
“Basically, we had a new first-place person,” Allen said. “Before it was Kayleen and Sierra. We have a pack of four who look like they are going to be rotating.”
The fact that Junction City finished ahead of Sweet Home was a “wake-up call,” he said. The Tigers have a number of soccer players who are doubling with cross-country, which are bolstering their ranks.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us, but it’s not unattainable,” Allen said. “The conference has definitely improved this year. It’s not just the top two teams. It is a conference and you have to work to defend your spot.”
At the Ash Creek Invitational on Saturday at Western Oregon University, the Huskies faced some of the fastest runners in the state, led by Summit of Bend, which usually has well over 100 runners out for cross-country each fall and won both the boys and girls races.
“The good about Ash Creek is it is great competition,” Allen said. “The bad is that it is a flat, boring course. We had to think of it as a time trial. We went from one extreme to another, from one of the top five toughest courses in the state to one of the fastest.
“Our kids like hard courses and we haven’t trained for speed yet. We need to work on speed.”
Hiett was18th to finish first among Sky-Em runners, but the Husky boys finished behind both Elmira and Sisters.
On the girls side, Keeney was the top finisher for the girls, in 55th place.
Allen said the heat, which caused the Huskies problems in their opening meet at Marist, came back to haunt them again.
“We apparently didn’t learn leassons from Marist,” he said. “We had parents and coaches telling kids to drink water. They didn’t stay in the shade. They didn’t learn their lesson and we paid the price.
“I will say this about our girls: They don’t give up.”
Allen said local triathlon champion and Sweet Home alum Kambria Schumacher has joined the coaching staff as an assistant as the Huskies get set for the Three Course Challenge this Saturday at Camp Rilea, north of Seaside.
Silver Falls Invitational
Boys Team Results – (1) Silverton 76; (2) Philomath 79; (3) Catlin Gabel 92; (4) Central 186; (5) Scappoose 197; (6) Elmira 219; (7) East Linn Christian 220; (8) Dallas 275; (9) Cascade 314; (10) Sweet Home 314; (11) Ridgeview 325; (12) Amity 336; (13) Junction City 337; (14) Crosshill Christian 366; (15) Santiam Christian 407; (16) Chemawa 441; (17) Cottage Grove 457; (18) Oakridge 462; (19) Nestucca 463; (20) Yamhill-Carlton 529; (21) Clatskanie 534; (22) Country Christian 566; (23) Jefferson 597; (24) Knappa 616; (25) Madras 625; (26) Salem Academy 646; (27) Willamina 658; (28) Regis 715.
Boys Top Five and Sky-Em Finishers – (1) Josh Miner (East Linn) 20:05.7; (2) Andrew Damitio (Philomath) 20:33.8; (3) Jakob Hiett (SH) 20:52.2; (4) Max Fogelstrom (Catlin Gabel) 20:56.1; (5) Mitchell Thomas (Philomath) 21:09.2; (14) Gannon Jones (Elmira) 21:49.6; (16) Ben Douthit (Elmira) 22:03.0; (23) Morgan McAdams (Junction City) 22:27.9; (31) Ridge Lemieux (Junction City) 22:55.0; (38) Trey Reed (SH) 23:13.7; (47) Issac Justham (SH) 24:00.7; (62) Austin Smith (Elmira) 24:48.2; (70) Levi Hanson (Elmira) 25:09.1; (71) Cody Wolkersdorfer (Elmira) 25:09.8; (77) Pete Frazee (Junction City) 25:25.2; (92) Jefte Reyes (Junction City) 25:51.6; (116) Julian Hesberg (SH) 26:38.2; (119) Jayden Tucker (Cottage Grove) 26:46.2; (124) Kendrick Murphy (Cottage Grove) 26:58.4; (129) Anthony Truhillo (Cottage Grove) 27:07.6; (138) Zach Bodi (Junction City) 27:29.3; (139) Ryan Parker (Junction City) 27:29.8; (140) Ben Swancutt (Junction City) 27:30.4; (142) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 27:36.5; (151) Nick Rietz (SH) 28:09.9; (154) Micahel Tharpe (Cottage Grove) 28:19.0.
Girls Team Results – (1) Silverton 63; (2) Philomath 72; (3) Central 89; (4) Scappoose 107; (5) Dallas 164; (6) Junction City 202; (7) Cascade 214; (8) East Linn Christian 223; (9) Sweet Home 226; (10) Cottage Grove 251; (11) Sutherlin 257; (12) Amity 287; (13) Salem Academy 308; (14) Ridgeview 316; (15) Elmira 325.
Girls Top Five and Sky-Em Finishers – (1) Maddie Fuhrman (Silverton) 23:58.6; (2) Abby McBeth (Central) 24:09.0; (3) Maria Vettrus (Cascade) 24:24.7; (4) Linnaea Kavulich (Scappoose) 24:31.2; (5) Breanna Wright (Cottage Grove) 25:14.6; (18) Evelyn Tedrick (Junction City) 27:33.5; (22) Camerin Feagins (Sutherlin) 27:57.1; (33) Shayla Solomon (Junction City) 29:05.0; (36) Sydney Thielman (Junction City) 20:15.7; (41) Abril Leal-Coronel (Cottage Grove) 29:24.3; (43) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 29:35.9; (46) Dana Hiett (SH) 29:47.6; (47) Sierra Swanson (SH) 29:48.4; (53) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 30:04.9; (66) Emma Matteo (Sutherlin) 30:34.1; (67) Kalea Galbreath (Cottage Grove) 30:35.5; (70) Olivia Gulliford (Sutherlin) 30:49.0; (71) Myckenzie Moore (Elmira) 30:50.5; (72) Miranda Harrison (Elmira) 30:51.7; (73) Vanessa Crite (Sutherlin) 30:55.6; (74) Morgan Craig (Elmira) 30:59.2; (77) Brandy Foust (Junction City) 31:03.6; (79) Annalisa Linn (Elmira) 31:16.1; (91) Brittany Hansen (Sutherlin) 32:57.4; (94) Katelyn Godon (Sutherlin) 33:20.8; (97) Lacie Brown (Junction City) 33:27.1; (98) Maria Daniels (SH) 33:43.1; (99) Allie Harris (Cottage Grove) 33:44.7; (100) Kanon Nakamura (SH) 33:46.6; (105) Kayla Tellez (Junction City) 35:10.7; (111) Brook Moser (Elmira) 36:49.3; (113) Jessica Stockman (SH); (114) 37:31.8; (114) Madeline Curtis (Elmira) 37:40.8; (115) Kate Johns (Cottage Grove) 39:46.7; (116) Maeve Dahlen (Cottage Grove) 40:00.3.
Ash Creek Invitational
(Western Oregon University)
Boys Team Scores – (1) Summit 31; (2) Marist 106; (3) Corvallis 111; (4) Mountain View 113; (5) Valley Catholic 114; (6) Edmonds-Woodway 135; (7) Woodland 237; (8) Silverton 255; (9) Sandy 278; (10) Elmira 318; (11) Newberg 348; (12) Redmond 361; (13) Glencoe 362; (14) Sisters 413; (15) Newport 427; (16) Stayton 430; (17) Sweet Home 437; (18) Montesano 469; (19) Churchill 486; (20) Yamhill-Carlton 544; (21) Creswell 568; (22) Putnam 595; (23) Sheridan 682.
Boys Top Five and Sky-Em Finishers– (1) Miler Haller (Edmonds-Woodway) 15:34.68; (2) Tyler Jones (Summit) 15:48.04; (3) Wilder Boyden (Valley Catholic) 15:54.56; (4) Eric Fykerud (Summit) 15:59.76; (5) Alex Martin (Summit) 16:00.24; (18) Jakob Hiett (SH) 16:39.29; (22) Gannon Jones (Elmira) 16:56.32; (31) Ben Douthit (Elmira) 27:09.27; (50) Shea Krevi (Sisters) 17:41.24; (58) Dyut Fetrow (Sisters) 17:56.48; (62) Jordan Pollard (Sisters) 18:00.99; (74) Trey Reed (SH) 18:09.63; (83) Austin Smith (Elmira) 18:45.22; (88) Shane Orme (Elmira) 19:00.69; (109) Issac Justham (SH) 19:32.94; (112) Cody Wolkersdorfer (Elmira) 19:45.93; (114) Julian Hesberg (SH) 19:54.68; (121) Levi Hanson (Elmira) 20:03.24; (122) Ethan Agnes (Elmira) 20:04.66); (138) Patrick Krevi (Sisters) 20:42.61; (137) William Wertz (Sisters) 20:45.37; (142) Chris Burdick (Sisters) 21:25.24; (145) Finn King (Elmira) 21:41.16; (154) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 22:46.80; (155) Joseph Rasmussen (SH) 22:57.13; (156) Jared Jeffries (Sisters) 23:04.86; (157) Halston Sellentin (Sisters) 23:05.35.
Girls Team Scores – (1) Summit 31; (2) Corvallis 102; (3) Mountain View 108; (4) Marist 109; (6) Silverton 188; (6) Sandy 214; (7) Sisters 223; (8) Montesano 236; (9) Redmond 240; (10) Woodland 263; (11) Newberg 287; (12) Valley Catholic 296; (13) Churchill 298; (14) Glencoe 337; 15) Sweet Home 343; (16) Putnam 379.
Girls Top Five and Sky-Em Finishers– (1) Olivia Powell (Marist) 18:32.90; (2) Kaely Gordon (Summit) 18:43.42; (3) Olivia Brooks (Summit) 18:46.16; (4) Justine Feist (Corvallis) 18:56.07; (5) Hannah Tobiason (Summit) 19:08.82; (33) Madison Boettner (Sisters) 21:48.24; (41) Macadia Calavan (Sisters) 22:04.92; (45) Sophie Borders (Sisters) 22:06.90; (55) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 22:43.20; (59) Sierra Swanson (SH) 22:52.49; (64) Serena Salisbury (Sisters) 23:06.87; (67) Mary Stewart (Sisters) 23:13.81; (78) Myckenzie Moore (Elmira) 24:04.09; (79) Natalie Marshall (Sisters) 24:06.05; (80) McKenzie Banks (Sisters) 24:06.29; (83) Dana Hiett (SH) 24:25.48; (86) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 24:32.48; (99) Elizabeth Ausman (Sisters) 25:25.83; (107) Morgan Craig (Elmira) 26:23.38; (109) Miranda Harrison (Elmira) 26:43.96; (110) Kanaon Nakamura (SH) 27:12.64; (112) Maria Daniels (SH) 27:19.17; (123) Alicia Braunger (Elmira) 36:33.57.