Sweet Home got a chance Saturday, Oct. 16, to get a preview of the Oregon West championship cross-country course, as well as teams that are expected to be the ones to beat in the district meet on Nov. 2.
The Huskies competed in the Paul Mariman Invitational, hosted by top-ranked Philomath, the defending state champions on the girls side, and featuring state defending champion Newport and the host Warriors, who are the top- and third-ranked 4A boys teams respectively in the latest coaches poll.
The preview was a close-up look at the competition for McKenzie Miller, who ran 20:43.00 to place fourth in the field of 105 varsity girls, behind Philomath senior Adele Beckstead, who was third in 20:09.60.
Freshman Emma Whitton was seventh, in 20:53.10, well off the PR of 19:23 she ran the week before in Albany, which was the third-fastest time in school history for a 5,000-meter race.
“McKenzie and Emma had really strong races againt really high-level competition,” said Head Coach Dave Martin, who added that most of Sweet Home’s runners did not get the results they were hoping for on what can be a very fast course at Philomath.
“Everybody did not get good times,” Martin said. “The course was slow for whatever reason. I don’t know if it was heat or sawdust or whatever. When we have kids working hard and only one kid gets a PR, that’s the course.”
Whitton was followed by Annabelle Morris, 54th in 25:04.50; Grace Gardner, 56th in 25:06.90, the only personal best of the day for the Huskies; and Noelle Helfrich, who was 100th in 30:21.70.
The Huskies finished sixth out of 12 teams, with 170 points. Philomath won with 37 points.
“Grace, obviously, had a tremendous race,” Martin said. “She’s the only one who PR’d. We had experienced, veteran runners who were working their buns off, and did not PR.”
On the varsity boys side, the Huskies finished 15th out of 18 teams with 359 points, three points behind Cascade, after losing Acen Webber, who was in second behind their front-runner, Ryker Burr, to an injury. He was unable to finish.
Burr finished 33rd in the field of 120 runners, in 19:15.80.
Behind him were Evan Knight, 58th in 20:15.10; Conner Spencer, 89th in 21:46.90; Keagan Vogel, 93rd in 21:55.20; and Evan Malabago, 100th in 22:42.30.
Jaxon Stovall of Marshfield was the boys winner, in 16:35.40, ahead of Leo Pausch (16:47.70) and Lucas Hernandez (17:21.60) of Philomath. The Warriors finished second with 84 points, behind The Dalles (67), in the team scoring.
In the boys JV race, the Huskies were sixth out of seven team finishers, led by Wes Goff, who was 28th out of 77 runners who finished. Goff ran 22:13.4, followed by Kasey Kast, 32nd in 22:51.70; Noah Strawn, 34th in 23:15.80; Louis Kistner, 38th in 23:28.80; and Eli Adams, 73rd in 32:34.50.
Sweet Home had no girls in the JV race.
In the middle school competition, which was a two-mile course, Elijah Rodriguez was fourth out of 103 competitors in 12:42.90, with Hudson Ogden 17th in 14:22.
For the girls, Cassie Spencer was fifth in 14:33.80 among 72 competitors from 12 schools and the Timberhill Harriers club.
Marian Helfrich was 25th in 17:36.70, followed by Pyper Hall, 45th in 19:31.10; Zoie Allison, 50th in 20:35.00; and Lexie Lee, 63rd in 23:52.70.
The girls were sixth out of seven teams.
Philomath, which has 26 girls on its middle school team, was first with 38 points. The Tiger girls had 131.
“I thought our two junior high runners ran super well to come out with medals,” Martin said.
“These were not bad races at all. I am a contented coach. It just wasn’t a PR day.”
Next up for the Huskies is their final pre-districts competition, the Bramble Scramble on Saturday, Oct. 19, at Cottage Grove High School.
Some 25 high school teams representing a wide span of divisions, and 16 middle school teams are expected to participate.
Races begin at 10:15 with a 3000-meter competition for the middle school boys, followed by the girls, followed by the JV and high school varsity races, each race scheduled at 45-minute intervals.