Scott Swanson
Successful cross-country requires consistent training, and with the COVID pandemic shutdowns, getting those miles in has been challenging for many of Sweet Home’s team members, according to Coach Kambria Schumacher.
But the good news is Schumacher has a team – both a boys team and, for the first time in several years, enough girls to score as a team.
“I’m happy with the crew we have out,” she said last week after the Huskies started their official workouts for the six-week season that starts Saturday, March 13, at Stayton. “We’ve had a good turnout this week, so far.”
The Huskies have experience coming back on both sides, which will be helpful, particularly without the normal 12-plus weeks of conditioning and fine tuning that normally goes into a high school cross-country season.
This year there will be no state meet, the OSAA has decreed, but leagues are free to hold their own culminating events and Sweet Home will host the Oregon West championships at Community Chapel on April 3.
Getting there will be a quick study for many of the athletes, who won’t have the normal time to get in shape for districts. But some have worked out on their own, Schumacher said.
“The ones who have been running look pretty good,” she said. “Some who didn’t do any (cross-country) workouts, mostly wrestling kids, look pretty good too. It’s going to be tough. Only a handful did some stuff, and we have a short season.”
Back for the boys are seniors Gavin Walberg, who was the second runner for the Huskies in 2019, with a best time of 17:16 over a 5K distance, and Treyson Smith, who ran 17:30, the third-fastest time for the Huskies that season.
Juniors Nate Coleman (18:09) and Jorel Leyba (18:47) are also returning, along with Aiden Shamek (20:26). Sophomore Adrian Kast also returns, after running 19:53 as a freshman, as well as Dakota Seiber, who ran 27:24.
Junior Eddie Martinez (17:38 in 2019), who would likely have been in competition for one of the top spots on the team, is skipping cross-country to concentrate on track, Schumacher said.
Also on the roster for the boys is junior Ethan Hurst, a transfer from East Linn Christian, whose best time in 2019 was 18:41. Also new to the team this year is sophomore Jake Sieminski, a wrestler, (along with Walburg and Smith), who is giving cross-country a shot.
For the girls, seniors Jessy Hart, Sicily Neuschwander and Summer Hicks return to lead the Huskies.
Hart placed seventh in the 400 in the 2019 state track championships as a sophomore (1:00.66) and ran 20:32 for five kilometers during her junior cross-country season.
Neuschwander, who doubled with soccer in 2019, turned in a best time of 22:22. She is doubling again this season.
Hart, Neuschwander and Hicks also wrestle.
Hicks ran 25:10 as a junior.
Senior Maren Weld has also decided to double with soccer. She stepped up with fellow soccer player Torree Hawken to run for the Huskies in the 2019 district championships so the girls would have enough competitors to score as a team, ran 23:42 in that race, on the same course where they will open this season, at Stayton Middle School.
Also back is sophomore Meeja Bitter, who ran 24:02 as a freshman new to the sport.
Rounding out the girls team is junior Victoria Ferrioli, a transfer from ELCA, who ran 25:01 as a sophomore.
“We’re just excited to have a girls team,” Schumacher said. “Most of these girls work really hard.”
Typically, cross-country runners who haven’t already been running during the summer are in training by mid-August, aiming for the district meet in late October. Clearly, with districts less than a month away from their first meet, the Huskies don’t have that kind of time, so Schumacher, a former college runner and an accomplished triathlete, is having to improvise. She is being assisted by her sister Cassandra, also a former college runner.
“We’re doing daily doubles twice a week,” she said. “We’ll probably do that most of the season.”
Rather than spending weeks building up mileage totals, she has put her team in workouts right away.
“I’m just getting them going,” she said, noting that on weekends that her team doesn’t run a meet, they will do a long run together.
“They’ve been handling it pretty well. Some of them had been doing informal workouts.”
As is the case with all sports this year, cross-country will be heavily affected by Oregon Health Authority mandates on mask-wearing and crowd size.
Because Linn County dropped into the Moderate Risk category last Friday, a cross-country meet can now include twice as many people as it could in the High Risk category – 150 instead of 75. Up to 12 teams will be allowed in the Moderate category, versus six in High.
Schumacher said she plans to start races in waves, with chip timing, which should eliminate congestion. Runners will be masked at the start and finish.
She’s hoping it’s a good experience for the Huskies.
“I’m hoping that the returnees will get lifetime PR’s, but if they at least get close to the times they got last year, that would be nice.”