Thursday the Husky tracksters tangled with the Sisters Outlaws, Molalla Indians and North Marion Huskies at North Marion High School.
On the boys side, Sweet Home finished number two to Molalla and on the girls side the Huskies trailed Molalla and Sisters.
“On the boys side, Molalla has to be the odds-on favorite for the league title,” Coach Billy Snow said. “They have a large core of runners from their state champion cross country team and have individuals in most of the other events who will score high at districts. On the girls side, Sisters is loaded with speed and jumpers which translates into a lot of points, especially in the bigger meets. Molalla’s girls aren’t quite as loaded but have a lot of depth.”
Coach Snow said this was the second time for the Huskies on North Marion’s track which is an advantage. “The district meet will be held there so out kids should know the facility well,” Coach Snow said. “Their track was resurfaced this past summer and is in good shape and the field areas are in good shape also.”
Girls Results
On the day, the girls had 15 PRs in 39 attempts. “Part of that was due to some cold and windy weather the second half of the meet and part was due to hard workouts during the week, from which the kids are still recovering.”
Maria Andrade and Megan Snow led the assault on PRs on the track where the Huskies recorded five PRs in nine tries. Andrade had a PR in the 1500M (6:03.5) and came back to run a 30 second PR in the 3000M (13:10.6) to place fourth. Snow recorded a PR in the 1500M going 5:56.2 to crack the six minute barrier for the first time and came back to take third in the 3000M at 13:08.9.
The short relay team of Ashley Smith, Lisa Brocard, Liz Aman and Stephanie Kragness ran a great race and second PR 55.7 to take second behind a very good Sisters team, Coach Snow said.
Other scores for the girls on the track were Liz Aman in the 400M (72.9), Mayumi Tanaka in the 800M (2:54.4) and Stephanie Kragness in the 100M (14.4).
On the field, Nicole Burnside led a good showing in the throws where the girls recorded eight PRs in 24 attempts. Burnside won the shot put in a PR 32-07 1/2 and then repeated the win in the discus at 91-06.
“It was good to see Nicole do well in the discus,” Coach Snow said. “She has been altering her technique and has been struggling in this event. I hope this is a sign of her gaining some confidence.”
In the javelin, Burnside finished a close second at 91-10.
Adding to the point totals from the throws was Rachel Gaskey who continues to learn and improve, Coach Snow said. Gaskey went a near PR 30-07 in the shot put to place second and came back in the discus to PR at 79-07 and place third overall. Sweet Home’s other placer in the throwing events was a fifth place finish by Christine Smith in the shot at 26-04.
Other throwers recording PRs for the day were Shaina Burnett (shot and javelin), We Wicheaunat, Amber Larsen and Hannah Ross (shot and discus).
In the jumps, the Huskies recorded two PRs in six tries. Ashley Smith went 14-05 to PR in the long jump and placed third overall. Lisa Brocard went 30-01 in the triple jump to place fourth in the same event. Smith finished ahead of Brocard in the triple jump, going 30-10 1/2 for second place and Brocard was also just behind Smith in the long jump, going 13-10 1/2 for fifth.
In the high jump, Brocard went 4-04 for third with Smith tied for fourth at 4-02. Anne Helfrich cleared 6-00 in the pole vault to take fifth in her first attempt at that event. She is the first freshmen girl to vault in Sweet Home history and is No. 7 on the school’s all-time list.
Boys Results
On the boys side, the Huskies recorded 23 PRs in 57 attempts for the day. On the track, the Huskies had 11 PRs in 22 tries.
The short relay team tried a switch in order of runners and it seemed to pay off as they ran a season best 45.7 to place second behind North Marion. In the sprints, Matt Kragness won two events, the 100M in 11.6 and the 200M in 23.1. Jared Allen was the leading placer, going 43.4 in the intermediate hurdles for second place overall.
Other PRs in the sprints came from Mauro Angulo (12.3) and David Burford (12.6) and Seb Strickler in the 100M and Mike Severns in the 200M. Severns’ time of 24.9 puts him No. 4 on the school’s frosh list.
In the longer events, Justin Temple was the highest Husky finisher, running 2:09.1 in the 800M for second place. He was trailed by Nick Graves who ran 2:16.1 for fourth place overall. In the 3000M John Lovik ran a second PR of 10:31.3 to place fourth overall. Earlier, Lovik had run a PR 4:51.4 in the 1500M. Lovik is back from a long term injury recovery and as his fitness level increases, his times will drop Coach Snow said.
Also setting PRs on the track were Robert Couch in the 3000M (11:02.8) and Richard Westvik (11:13.3) in the same event.
In the final track event, the 1500M relay, the foursome of Nick Graves, Mauro Angulo, Justin Temple and Matt Kragness ran a season best 3:36.2 for second place behind Molalla. Graves and Angulo ran solid legs and Temple (52.5) and Kragness (51.7) had season PRs on their splits to run a time that would have won the conference relays the previous week.
In the throwing events, the Huskies had nine PRs in 29 attempts, led by Aron van Dijk and rapidly improving freshman Matt Slauson. van Dijk had a PR in the shot put (39-09.5) to place third overall and came back to PR in the discus (113-11) to place second. Slauson had a big PR in the shot, putting 39-02 for fifth place.
“Matt’s put places him No. 3 on the school frosh list,” Coach Snow said. “In the discus, Matt followed up with a 108-06 PR that would have placed fourth. The discus mark is No. 7 on our frosh list.”
Noah Gray had a season PR in the discus (1-7-01) to place fourth in that event. Casey Aiello had the only PR in the javelin, going 143-11 for fourth.
Other PRs in the throws came from Chris Bate and Chris Reed in the shot put.
In the jumps, the Huskies were led by Jake Dahlenburg’s 12-00 in the pole vault for first place. His mark makes him the No. 9 vaulter in school history. Keegan Burnett followed him up with his own PR tie of 10-06 for fourth.
In the high jump, Jared Allen tied his season best of 5-06 to place third overall. The Huskies’ only other score came from Mike Severns who had a best of 18-02.5 for second place.
Calendar: The Huskies travel to West Albany Friday for a 6 p.m. meeting. May 1 the Huskies travel to Molalla to compete against Molalla and Cascade at 4 p.m.