Five Sweet Home varsity runners posted personal-best times Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Nike Portland XC meet at Portland Meadows Race Track.
“Most of the guys did really well,” said Coach Kambria Schumacher. “Some didn’t go quite as fast as they wanted to.”
Sweet Home’s varsity boys were 18th out of 35 teams in their 5K race. Stayton was eighth, as the Eagles’ Matthew Frazeur and Ben Kerby were the top two finishers, Frazeur running 16:20.40.
For the Huskies, Eddy Martinez-Maya was the top finisher, 59th of 238 runners in 18:07.80. The really good news was who finished right behind him.
Gavin Walberg was 65th in 18:10.00, a PR, followed by Tristan Saultz, 74th in 18:16.00, also a PR.
“Gavin basically gained on Eddy through the race,” Schumacher said. “He ran really well. He still surprises me, how much he’s improved from last year to this year.”
Also getting personal bests were Austin Sills, 138th in 19:18.50; Treyson Smith, 143rd in 19:21.90; and freshman Nate Coleman, 148th in 19:24.00.
“Nate’s done really well,” said Schumacher, adding that she didn’t really expect to have Coleman running varsity this year. “It’s awesome to see.
Rounding out Sweet Home’s runners was Noah Dinsfriend, 156th in 19:35.30.
Longtime Sweet Home runner Tanner Sayers, now a senior at South Medford after moving to Southern Oregon with his family last year, was 10th in the elite Danner Championships race, in 15:39.20.
For the Husky girls, Jessy Hart was 39th out of 190 runners, in 21:30.30.
Schumacher noted that both Madelyn and Sicily Neuschwander are nursing injuries, but Madelyn Neuschwander ran 23:36.70 to finish 114th. Sicily was 185th, in 27:09.50.
“Madelyn ran really well,” Schumacher said. “She’s really competitive. That’s really huge.”
Sweet Home’s schedule has changed a bit, as Schumacher said she’s decided to take the Huskies back to the Paul Mariman Invitational Saturday, Oct. 6 at Philomath. She said the field is a little smaller than some other recent races the Huskies have run and there will be a lot of league and other local 4A teams there.
“It will be good for them to not have such a huge race,” she said.
The boy JV will run at 1:30 p.m., with varsity races following on a flat, fairly fast course at Philomath High School.