After a string of big meets in some faraway places, Sweet Home’s cross-country teams got to host a meet of their own at Community Chapel Saturday, Sept. 27, with a much smaller field.
Against La Pine and Culver the Huskies defended their home turf well, Coach Dave Martin said.
Both the boys and girls won the team titles over La Pine, as Culver didn’t have enough runners to field full teams at the varsity level.
The girls finished with 17 points, as only one Bobcat finished in the top six. Emma Whitton was first in 20:22.53, followed closely by McKenzie Miller (20:33.38).
Cassie Spencer was third in 22:43.28, Noelle Helfrich was fifth in a personal-best 25:02.16, and Marian Helfrich was sixth in 26:22.47, just two seconds off her 5K PR on a course that included two creek crossings and two steep hill climbs.
“This is the third week in a row that Noelle has gotten faster, Martin noted.
“I was really pleased with our top runners, for sure,” he said. “Both our boys and girls, had four or five people in the top seven in both races. I thought, based on the times coming in from other schools, that they might be a little more competitive.”
For the boys, Ryker Burr was first in 18:11.33, with Acen Webber third (18:45.50), Elijah Rodriguez fourth (18:54.38), Louis Kistner seventh (20:32.99) and Evan Knight eighth (20:40.31).
Helfrich cross Ames Creek during the Huskies’ home meet Saturday at
Community Chapel. Photo by Scott Swanson
Martin said he thought Webber ran the best he has all year on the Chapel course.
Rounding out the girls varsity finishers were Pyper Hall, who was seventh in 26:24.26, and Madison Ciullo, eighth in 27:00.49,
For the boys, Conner Spencer was ninth in 21:23.75 and Hudson Ogden finished 11th in 21:41.76.
Wes Goff led the junior varsity boys race wire to wire, finishing first in 21:38.03, followed by Ryder Farris in third (22:19.18), Bentley Uhlry fourth in a personal-best 22:20.51, Noah Strawn fifth (22:20.53) and Sam Strawn seventh (26:55.44).
“The best race of the day was Wes Goff,” Martin said. “He ran less than 10 seconds slower than his PR. He was in the lead in that race and pushed himself.”
In the girls JV race, Delanie Pratt finished in 31:10.23, followed by McKenzie Ohlheiser (31:15.34) and Lexi Lee (33:45.27).
“Overall, I was really pleased with how the kids competed,” Martin said. “The efforts in Eugene (Northwest Classic, the week before) were there, but they didn’t get the reward of times. This time their effort was rewarded with times.
“I think now we’re ready to roll.
“I think the kids enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t a big meet,” he added. “It wasn’t high-pressure. That’s what we wanted. We’ve worked hard, gone to some big meets, and it was time to do something lighter and we did.”
The middle school competitions had more runners, with LaCreole, North Albany and Memorial participating, swelling the girls field to 30 runners and the boys to 36.
North Albany scored a perfect 15 points, as Sweet Home finished with 48, led by Wiley Farris who was eighth in 13:49.00.
Walker Farris was 15th (14:23.15), Langston Lane 17th in his first-ever cross-country race (14:40.24), Brady Goff 19th in 15:19.06 and Zander Davis 31st in 21:52.33.
For the girls, Emma Davis was 13th in 16:12.93 and sixth-grader Violet Steinborn chopped 3:06 off her personal best to run 17:13.85.
Up next for Sweet Home is another big meet: the Harrier Classic at Bryant Park in Albany.
The event is different than others in that it pairs underclassmen and upperclassmen in separate races, rather than junior varsity competitions, while top runners compete in girls and boys varsity events. Middle-schoolers run 3200 meters.
The field will include schools ranging from 1A to 6A, including some of the state’s top teams.
Races start at 9 a.m. with middle school competition. The varsity girls will be the last competitors, running at 2:10 p.m.