Sweet Home’s young track and field athletes continued their maturation process Thursday, April 12, in a three-way meet with Sky-Em opponents Junction City and host Elmira.
The boys won with 78 points, to Elmira’s 65.5 and Junction City’s 36.5. The girls were second in a tight points race that was won by Elmira with 65 points, with the Huskies six points behind and Junction City three farther back with 56.
Though the Huskies were coming off a hard workout the day before for the sprinters and distance crew, Coach Billy Snow said they did well, particularly considering that Sweet Home was resting its top girls.
“We were really pleased,” he said, noting that Annie Whitfield did not throw the javelin and Devyn Makin did not long jump – both of which would have scored enough points to win the meet for the girls. Whitfield, in particular, would have thrown in three meets in eight days, and coaches decided to rest her. “That’s a swing of eight points.”
Makin won the 100 (13.50) and the Huskies got double wins from sophomores Courtney Kent in the 300 hurdles (53.10 – a PR) and the long jump (13-2) and Nicole Rasmussen in the 800 (2:34.58) and the 1500 (5:25.91), in which she paced teammate Paige Sanders to second (5:32.86) in a three-second PR. The Huskies also got a big win from thrower Jade Cor-liss in the shot put (32-11), a PR of over a foot.
“Jade had a great day,” Snow said. “She was three for three in PRs in her events” – the discus (80-7, a 3-foot personal best) and the javelin (62-2, a 4-foot improvement).
On the boys side, Zane Jackson led a Sweet Home sweep of the top five places in the shot put with a 40-9 to win that event, a 1-foot PR. The boys swept the distance events as Nick Hall won the 800 (2:04.49, run in sprinter’s spikes), Daniel Danforth the 1500 (4:24.44) and Ian Wingo the 3000 (10:24.97). Jake Johnson won the discus with a toss of 135-6 and Scottie Stockman went 10-6 to win the pole vault.
Freshman Shawn Worthen went three for three in his throwing events, including a third-place finish in the discus (94-9) with a 2 1/2-foot PR.
Snow said expectations are going up for his athletes, which he predicted will lead to improved performances in coming weeks.
“David Skeen was disappointed with 132 in the javelin after throwing 143 on Saturday,” he said. “But he’d never thrown over 120 before that. His expectations are much higher and that’s a good thing. They’re setting the bar a lot higher.”
Other notable performances were Ashton Stutzman’s second place in the high jump (5-6), Nick Mattson’s PR of 9-6 in the vault – “it wasn’t pretty, but he made it over,” Snow said – and freshman Faith Swaney’s 6-6 vault, which tied teammate McKenzie Curtis, but showed “drastic” improvement in her form, he said.
“We’ve got a lot of kids in the technical events, like the javelin and the pole vault, who are figuring it out,” Snow said. “They’re getting the technique down.”
Not only did the boys short relay run a season’s best to win, but all three of the other relay teams also hit season PRs – all without at least one of their best runners.
Snow said the girls are showing some speed.
“We’ve got a little stable of girls sprinters,” he said. “(Assistant Coach) Jim (Kistner) and I are very impressed. We had a hard workout the day before and they came back and ran great times.”
Sweet Home will be back in action at home Thursday, April 19, at 4 p.m. in a three-way meet with Elmira and Cottage Grove. The Huskies will then hit the road a week later, on April 25, for a competition with Elmira and host La Pine before their top performers compete April 28 at the Meet of Champions at Willamette University in Salem.
Sweet Home and Junction City at Elmira
Top 3 plus Sweet Home Results
Boys
Team Scores: (1) Sweet Home 78; (2) Elmira 65.5; (3) Junction City 36.5.
100 – (1) Garrett Lewellen (E) 11.44; (2) Conner Gibson (JC) 11.68; (3) Chris Carpenter (SH) 11.78; (4) Spencer Knight (SH) 11.99; (12) Kyler Gaskey (SH) 12.76; (15) Nick Mattson (SH) 13.12; (18) Eric Flierl (SH) 13.21; (23) Robert Gourley (SH) 16.15.
200 – (1) Conner Gibson (JC) 24.16; (2) Apollo Lizzi (JC) 25.27; (3) Zach Modee (E) 25.33; No Sweet Home entrants.
400 – (1) Mason Erager (JC) 57.36; (2) Alex Seitz (SH) 58.82; (3) Jeremy Soto (JC) 59.15; (4) Trever Olson (SH) 59.19.
800 – (1) Nick Hall (SH) 2:04.49; (2) Daniel Danforth (SH) 2:10.89; (3) Darin French (E) 2:16.51; (10) Maxx Nguyen (SH) 2:56.13.
1500 – (1) Daniel Danforth (SH) 4:24.44; (2) Jakob Hiett (SH) 4:24.60; (3) Bezi Lizzi (JC) 5:17.13.
3000 – (1) Ian Wingo (SH) 10:24.97; (2) Darin French (E) 10:33.17; (3) Justin Webb (SH) 11:14.15; (4) David Johnson (SH) 11:14.76.
110 Hurdles – (1) Garrett Lewellen (E) 16.28; (2) Alex Crisp (E) 18:38; (3) Nathan Chantland (JC) 24.69; No Sweet Home entries.
300 Hurdles – (1) Garrett Lewellen (E) 43.72; (2) Justin Wintch (JC) 43.75; (3) Chace Hutchins (SH) 46.20; (6) Eric Flierl (SH) 51.32.
4×100 Relay – (1) Sweet Home (Kyler Gaskey, Chris Carpenter, Nick Hall, Spencer Knight) 45.55; (2) Elmira 46.54; (3) Junction City 48.92.
4×400 Relay – (1) Junction City 3:40.67; (2) Sweet Home (Jakob Hiett, Scottie Stockman, Daniel Danforth, Nick Hall) 3:40.77; (3) Sweet Home “B” (Chace Hutchins, Eric Flierl, Alex Seitz, Trever Olson) 4:03.18; (4) Elmira 4:08.16.
Shot Put – (1) Zane Jackson (SH) 40-9; (2) Zach Pratt (SH) 37-3 ½; (3) Ben Terry (SH) 37-0; (4) David Skeen (SH) 36-0; (5) Shawn Worthen (SH) 35-11; (9) Kyle Wodtli 33-1; (17) Troy Hazelton (SH) 25-6.
Discus – (1) Jake Johnson (SH) 135-6; (2) Zane Wardwell (E) 99-3; (3) Shawn Worthen (SH) 94-9; (7) Zane Jackson (SH) 89-4; (9) Quin Wise (SH) 82-8; (11) Zach Pratt (SH) 79-11; (13) Troy Hazelton (SH) 72-4.
Javelin – (1) Nolan Messman (E) 152-7; (2) Elijah Newton (E) 136-6; (3) Mason Beebe (E) 134-3; (5) David Skeen (SH) 132-3; (7) Kyle Rose (SH) 128-9; (9) Jake Johnson (SH) 123-0; (10) Ben Terry (SH) 117-1; (11) Brycen Mithen (SH) 111-10; (12) Kyle Wodtli (SH) 109-2; (14) Shawn Worthen (SH) 95-10; (15) Troy Hazelton (SH) 78-10.
High Jump – (1) Nolan Messman (E) 5-8; (2) Ashton Stutzman (SH) 5-6; (3) Jakob Hiett (SH) 5-4; (5) Anthony Vincent (SH) 5-0.
Pole Vault – (1) Scottie Stockman (SH) 10-6; (2); (3) Nick Mattson (SH) 9-6.
Long Jump – (1) Denzel Deleon (E) 20-5; (2) Chris Carpenter (SH) 19-7; (3) Nick Hall (SH) 18-10; (8) Ashton Stutzman (SH) 17-7; (14) Anthony Vincent (SH) 15-1; (17) Joe Hefty (SH) 13-10; (18) Alex Seitz (SH) 13-9; (19) Robert Gourley (SH) 7-8.
Triple Jump – (1) Taylor Kesling (E) 38-4; (2) Justin Wintch (JC) 38-2; (3) Brycen Mitten (SH) 35-7; (5) Joe Hefty (SH) 33-5.
Girls
Team Scores: (1) Elmira 65; (2) Sweet Home 59; (3) Junction City 56.
100 – (1) Devyn Makin 13.50; (2) Jana Hutchinson (JC) 13.92; (3) Annie Whitfield (SH) 14.03; (7-tie) Jasmin Yoder (SH), Haley Kent (SH) 14.82; (9) Karson Rodgers (SH) 14.98; (14) Phoebe Olson (SH) 16.16; (15) Samantha Ashlock (SH) 16.17.
200 – (1) Jamilla Gambee (JC) 28.58; (2) Jana Hutchinson (JC) 29.81; (3) Laura Hayes (E) 30.63; (11) Yoshiko Tomono (SH) 35.36.
400 – (1) Meghan Locke-Zimmerman (JC) 1:07.26; (2) Kendra Ericson (JC) 1:12.82; (3) Christina Ward (JC) 1:14.54; (5) Shiho Harada (SH) 1:26.51; (6) Anna Chang (SH) 1:30.17.
800 – (1) Nicole Rasmussen (SH) 2:34.58; (2) Hannah Bolton (JC) 2:36.00; (3) Jordan Miller (SH) 2:38.82; (6) Kimber Swanson (SH) 2:49.75; (8) Christina Ulmer (SH) 3:10.54.
1500 – (1) Nicole Rasmussen (SH) 5:25.91; (2) Paige Sanders (SH) 5:32.86; (3) Daniella Jones (E) 5:56.09; (5) Anastasiya Domashenko (SH) 6:15.57.
3000 – (1) Morgan Craig (E) 12:44.79; (2) Kimber Swanson (SH) 12:50.07; (3) Valita Volkman (JC) 14:57.60.
100 Hurdles – (1) Kirstyn Groshong (E) 18.47; (2) Bailey Mills (E) 18.69; (3) Savannah Harsh (E) 20.59; No Sweet Home entries.
300 Hurdles – (1) Courtney Kent (SH) 53.10; (2) Bailey Mills (E) 55.31; (3) Kirstyn Groshong (E) 57.33.
4×100 Relay – (1) Junction City 53.12; (2) Sweet Home (Jasmin Yoder, Sabrina Davis, Devyn Makin, Annie Whitfield) 54.13; (3) Elmira 56.46; (4) Junction City 1:02.65.
4×400 Relay – (1) Junction City 4:27.10; (2) Sweet Home (Courtney Kent, Paige Sanders, Jordan Miller, Nicole Rasmussen) 4:37.56; (3) Elmira 4:46.70; (4) Junction City 5:08.37; (5) Sweet Home “B” (Jasmin Yoder, Haley Kent, Anastasiya Domashenko, Christina Ulmer) 5:12.68.
Shot Put – (1) Jade Corliss (SH) 32-11; (2) Kelsey Shaw 30-00; (3) Noemi Gomez 25-5; (8) Macy Cockrell (SH) 23-8; (11) Sadie Gordon (SH) 21-3.
Discus – (1) Kaylee Pratt (JC) 83-00; (2) Laura Mauer (SH) 82-09; (3) Jade Corliss (SH) 80-07; (7) Kaitlyn Watts (SH) 75-4; (8) Macy Cockrell (SH) 70-2; (9) Sadie Gordon (SH) 70-1; (17) Kelsie Zartman (SH) 53-1.
Javelin – (1) Kelsey Shaw (E) 124-6; (2) Jacie Palmer (E) 105-11; (3) Jenna Loheed (E) 91-8; (9) Kelsie Zartman (SH) 75-0; (10) Laura Mauer (SH) 73-11; (15) Jade Corliss (SH) 62-2; (16) Kaitlyn Watts (SH) 57-7; (17) McKenzie Curtis (SH) 54-10.
High Jump – (1) Kelsey Shaw (E) 4-7; (2) Jacie Palmer (E) 4-6; (3) Jenna Loheed (E) 4-6; No Sweet Home athletes cleared a height.
Pole Vault – (1) Paris Piva (E) 8-0; (2) Jessica Sand (E) 7-0; (3-tie) McKenzie Curtis (SH), Faith Swaney (SH), Jacie Palmer (E) 6-6; (6) Sonya Corliss (SH) 6-0.
Long Jump – (1) Courtney Kent (SH) 13-2; (2) Sabrina Davis (SH) 13-1½; (3) Meghan Locke-Zimmerman (JC) 13-0; (4) Haley Kent (SH) 12-11½; (8) Alena Davis (SH) 11-11¼; (10) Faith Swaney (SH) 11-5¼; (11) Phoebe Olsen (SH) 11-5; (13) Samantha Ashlock (SH) 11-1¼; (18) Karson Rodgers (SH) 8-10½.
Triple Jump – (1) Alexandra Opitz (E) 26-1 ½; (2) Brandy Foust (JC) 25-4 ¼; (3) Sonya Corliss (SH) 25-1.