One thing was clear for the Sweet Home boys after Saturday’s Paul Mariman Invitational at Philomath: They have a ways to go to catch Elmira.
The Huskies, running without freshman Noah Dinsfriend, who was nursing a soccer injury, finished 12th out of 20 varsity teams with 309 points. Sky-Em League opponent Elmira was third with 125 points behind Tillamook (54) and Newport (113). But the fact that the Huskies were six minutes behind the Falcons in total time and four Elmira runners crossed the finish line ahead of Sweet Home’s leader, Trey Reed, told Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen what he needed to know, with the district championship race less than three weeks away.
Sweet Home is going to have to dial it up big time to send anyone to the state meet.
“Elmira, currently, is on fire,” he said. “If we ran 30 seconds per person faster, we might be able to catch them.”
It wasn’t happening Saturday.
Reed finished 38th out of 126 runners in 18:34.3.
“Trey went out too fast and had issues later on,” Allen said. “He’s a great 400 meter runner, but converting him to distance is a challenge. He was fighting himself in the middle of the race.”
Freshman Tanner Sayers was second for the Huskies, 59th overall, in 19:15.4 – “a good race,” Allen said, followed immediately by Ricky Yunke, 61st in 19:15.6. Behind them were Joe Rasmussen, who moved up from the junior varsity to fill Dinsfriend’s spot, 64th in 19:20. 5; Julian Hesberg, 87th in 20:03.2; Kobe Olson, 100th in 20:42.1; and Allen Cuilla, 108th in 21:57.2.
Those times were best-ever over 5000 meters for Sayers, Yunke and Rasmussen.
Allen noted that several of the Huskies had given blood earlier in the week and it came back to bite some of them on Saturday.
Sweet Home’s girls finished 11th out of 12 teams, which Allen attributed to three of his runners performing below their normal capabilities due to donating blood and extra exercise.
They were led by Sierra Swanson, who was 50th out of 101 runners, in 23:18.9. Right behind her was Bethany Gingerich, 51st in 23:22.4; followed by Kayleen Keeney, 71st in 24:53.6; Maria Daniels, 91st in 27:26.7; Dana Hiett, 92nd in 27:55.4; and Faith Black, 101st in 31:21.5 in her first varsity race and second over the 5000-meter distance.
“Sierra took advantage of the situation and Bethany decided to stay with her,” Allen said, adding that all of the Huskies will need a good day at the district meet if they want to compete against Junction City and Sisters, which look to be the league leaders.
In the junior varsity race, Sweet Home last out of eight teams with 178 points. Noah Taraski led the Huskies in 24th place out of 95 runners, in 20:38.3. Nelson Rodgers was 39th in 21:20.8; Nick Rietz 43rd in 21:44.2; Nick Tolman 44th in 21:48.0; Cameron Taber 37th in 21:54.5; and Jake Hindmarsh 83rd in 24:47.1.
Those were best-ever times over 5000 meters for Tolman and Taber.
Sweet Home will compete Saturday at the Bristow Rock n River 5K at Elijah Bristow State Park east of Pleasant Hill. The event starts at 10 a.m. with the girls varsity and includes middle school and open races, the latter at 11:30 a.m.