The Meet of Champions came early this year, but it showed Sweet Home coaches some things they liked to see – such as 22 personal bests in 32 events (counting relay splits).
“We were really happy,” said Coach Billy Snow of the Saturday meet at Willamette University in Salem that brings together some of the best performers in the state from the 4A through 1A divisions. “Some of those times were kind of an eye-opener.”
The records included a 2½-second personal record for junior Nicole Rasmussen on the way to victory in the 3000 – after she’d been sick all day.
Justin Webb, a last-minute addition to the field in the boys 3000, posted a 14-second personal best (10:10.72), while teammate Ian Wingo bettered his previous best by eight seconds in 10:14.09.
In the 1500, sophomore Jakob Hiett posted a three-second PR in 4:13.45 to finish third.
In the sprint, Haley Kent had personal bests in the 100 (13.66) and the 200 (27.89) and helped teammates Courtney Kent, Sabrina Davis and India Porter, last-minute entries in the girls 4×400 to sixth place in a field of 10 teams in 4:27.99.
“We can run faster than that,” Snow said. “At the end of the season I could see 65s across the board as doable for them.
“Haley’s just on fire.”
Another nice PR was from sophomore Eric Flierl in the 300 hurdles, running a PR of more than a second to finish in 44.17.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, the Huskies traveled to Cottage Grove for a meet with the host Lions, Junction City and Drain. Snow said most of the athletes who were headed for the Meet of Champions did alternative events and so the Huskies’ results reflected that.
The big performance of the day was rookie pole vaulter Abram Legg’s 2-foot PR to clear 10-6 and win that event