In its final tune-up for the district cross-country competition, Sweet Home found itself on a brand new course Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Creekside Golf Course in Keizer.
Traditionally, the Huskies have run the Country Fair Classic in the week before districts, but since that meet was moved two years ago from the Country Fair grounds in Elmira to Richardson Park on Fern Ridge Reservoir, and other Oregon West teams Sisters, Philomath and Stayton opted to try the brand new Creekside Cross Classic, Sweet Home Coach Kambria Schumacher said.
It wasn’t a great day for the Huskies as a whole, she said, though “a few kids had really good races.”
One emphasis was to “race smarter,” she said, because too many Sweet Home runners have gone out too fast this season, then paid the price in the end.
“They raced smart, though not as fast as I wanted,” she said. “We’ll leave that for district, and hope they have a really good race.”
The boys were sixth out of 22 teams with 226 points, behind first-place Philomath (55), which placed four runners in the top 10, and Sisters, which was second with 63, led by individual winner John Peckham, who ran 16:01 and second-place Will Thorsett, right behind in 16:04.
No Sweet Home runners broke the 17-minute mark.
Sophomore Eddy Martinez-Maya led the varsity, placing 38th out of 158 runners, in 17:38.40, followed by Gavin Walberg, 40th in 17:44.30; Treyson Smith, 42nd in 17:45.00; Rian Howard, 57th in 18:29.60; Tristan Calkins, 59th in 18:34.20; Jorel Leyba, 67th in 18.47.30; and Nate Coleman, 70th in 18:51,00.
Shumacher said Martinez-Maya, Calkins and Howard all ran particularly well for the varsity.
The girls did not have enough runners to score as a team, but Jessy Hart was 23rd in a field of 117 runners, finishing in 20:40.60.
Sicily Neuschwander was 55t,h in 22:43.80; Meeja Bitter 84th in 24:34.30; and Summer Hicks 88th in 25:10.90.
In the junior varsity boys race, the Huskies were seventh out of 13 teams, with 199 points, behind Philomath, which was second with 44 points.
Tristan Saultz led the way for Sweet Home to place fourth individually, out of 203 runners, in 17:27.60.
Eric Roddy was 61st in 19:48.30, followed by Adrian Kast, 65th in 19:53.60; Zach Zanona, 72nd in 20:16.50; Aiden Shamek, 84th in 20:40.10; Bryce Porter, 86th in 20:41.80; Brian Frick, 96th in 20:55.70;
Paul Amrein, 167th in 23:37.60; Dakota Seiber, 196th in 28:35.10; and Christopher Kurtz, 197th in 30:25.30.
Schumacher said her team told her they felt tired, and she said the question now is how well the Huskies can run Saturday at the Oregon West district competition, which will be held starting at 11:30 a.m. at Stayton Middle School Nature Trails, 1021 Shaff Road SE, Stayton.
The Husky boys haven’t been able to catch Sisters and Philomath thus far, but “anything can happen at districts,” Schumacher said. “It just depends which team has their heads together, who races better that day. That’s what it comes down to.
“All of the kids are in really good shape right now. Tristan, Gavin and Eddy are all in 16’s shape, though they haven’t run that fast.”
The top two teams and any individual runners finishing in the top five, who are not already on those teams, will qualify for state.
For the girls, Hart qualified last year and although she hasn’t run under 20 minutes, as she did at last year’s district race, Schumacher said she is capable of that.
“As long as she feels fine, she should be able to pull out a good race,” she said of Hart.