Sweet Home and East Linn Christian kicked off their track and field seasons Tuesday, March 17, with a low-key matchup at Husky Field.
“Usually, our first meet is just us versus us,” said Sweet Home Head Coach Nathan Whitfield. “We added a little bit by having East Linn come, so they had a little more competition.”
Sweet Home swept the sprints on the boys side, with junior Landon Murry winning the 100 (11.77, a personal best), senior Dillan Daivs the 200 (24.02), and freshman Brayden Driver the 400 (55.32) in his first high school race.
ELCA sophomore Jonah Magness took first in the 800 (2:16.89, four-second PR) while Sweet Home freshman Elijah Rodriguez outleaned teammate Louis Kistner in the 1500 to win by four-hundredths of a second in 4:54.11.
Sophomore Evan Knight won the 3000 for Sweet Home in 10:26.15, outpacing Huskies senior McKenzie Miller, who was the girls winner in 10:57.41, 11 seconds off the personal best she ran last year at state.
Senior Loralai Mark won the 100 in 13.55, then Eagles senior Lexy Kauffman took over, winning the 200 (27.62) and the 400 (1:01.84, a personal best).
Junior Noelle Helrich was first in the 800 for Sweet Home (2:50.83), and sophomore Emma Whitton won the 1500 in a personal best 5:27.19.
In the hurdles, junior Nick Larson won both the 110 (18:02) and the 300 (46.38) for the Sweet Home boys, while senior Delanie Pratt won the girls 100 (18.84). Junior June Cowan was first for ELCA in the 300, in 54.28, which tied her PR.
No 4×100 relay was contested, but Sweet Home’s team of Driver, junior Hunter Clark, junior Landon Murry and Davis won the boys 4×400 in 3:50.95, about two seconds ahead of East Linn’s all-sophmore foursome of Magness, Gabe Talleur, Karter Nofziger and Ryder Howard (3:53.19).
In the girls relay, sophomore Cassie Spencer, junior Miu Simmons, Whitton and freshman Pyper Hall combined for a win in 4:55.62.
East Linn’s girls swept the throws, sophomore Maci Modderman winning the shot (32-1½) and the discus (90-10), and senior Svetlana Manner leading a top-three sweep of the javelin with a throw of 85-6.
Sweet Home did the same on the boys side, junior Gavin Tyler winning the shot (46-6), senior Cannon Klumph the discus (117-4, a personal best) and sophomore Ean Tackett the javelin (124-7).
Howard won all three jumps for East Linn, clearing 6-0 in the high jump, edging Murry by two inches with 18-8¾ in the long jump, and taking the triple in 36-9.
best of 4-8½ and a win in the high jump.
Sophomore Sam Barringer posted a 3½-in PR in the high jump to take second for the Huskies, clearing 5-10.
On the girls side, junior Tessa Salvage cleared a personal-best 4-8½ to win the high jump, Mark won the long jump with 15-8, three inches short of the PR she set at last year’s districts, and Amara Gonzales won the triple jump for Sweet Home, going 27-9.
The pole vault was not contested due to an equipment issue.
“A lot of those kids hitting those same marks in Week Three is a pretty tall task,” Whitfield said. “It’s a little bit hard because we did so well at the end of last year. But we had a bunch of kids that were right there, close to their previous PRs, not quite hitting them yet, but they’re right where we want them for this point of the season.”
Sweet Home will host Woodburn Thursday, April 2, while East Linn and Lebanon will compete at teh Regis Invitational that day, though some Eagles are scheduled to compete this week in the Mondo Track Club Decathlon-Heptathlon March 27-28 at Summit.
