Sweet Home’s boys turned a corner Saturday at the Bristow Rock n River cross-country meet at Elijah Bristow State Park outside Pleasant Hill, finishing third in a 10-team field.
Trey Reed ran his best race of the year, finishing fourth out of 68 runners in 18:06.
“Trey had an awesome race,” said Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen.
Behind Reed were Julian Hesberg, 21st in 19:36; Tanner Sayers, 24th in 19:52; Kobe Olson, 33rd in 20:24; Noah Dinsfriend, 34th in 20:29; Joe Rasmussen, 35th in 20:23 and Ricky Yunke, 39th in 20:41.
“The guys all moved up,” Allen said. “They all came in as a clump which is what we wanted. Julian made some great moves and Kobe moved up quite a bit. Joseph had a good race. Overall, the guys had a great race.”
The girls finished with 103 points, tied for fifth with Pleasant Hill, but finished sixth because the Billies’ sixth runner finished ahead of the shorthanded Huskies’ sixth girl. Sutherlin was second, behind winner Philomath (24) with 73 points, after placing two runners ahead of Sweet Home’s first finisher, Bethany Gingerich, who was 16th out of 45 runners in 24:18.9. That time was well behind the 22:01 she ran on the same course last year. Runners said they ended up running extra distance as they warmed up, which, they said, affected their performance in the actual race.
Behind Gingerich were Sierra Swanson in 20th (24:33), Kayleen Keeney in 21st (24:34), Dana Hiett in 35th (27:14), Maria Daniels in 39th (28:31) and Faith Black, 43rd in 32:42.
“Kayleen picked up the pace for the girls, helped Bethany and Sierra,” Allens aid. “When it really comes down to it at district, I think all three will run a good race.”
The Huskies still are not running fully fresh, after a “decent” workout on the Wednesday before the race.
“We have reduced the quality and demands, but we still have not let up completely, yet,” Allen said.
In the junior varsity boys race, Sweet Home finished second behind Willamette, 42-29, with Philomath third with 49 points.
Noah Taraski was second overall in 20:22, followed by Nick Rietz, seventh in 21:44; Cameron Taber, eighth in 21:47; Nelson Rodgers, 10th in 21:56; TJ Baham, 16th in 23:12; a hair ahead of Nick Tolman, 17th in 23:12; Jake Hindmarsh, 22nd in 25:00; Sean Wolthuis, 23rd in 25:13; and Christian Baham, 29th in 29:35.