Sweet Home’s girls finished a close second to North Eugene Thursday at the Harrier’s Challenge cross-country meet in Cottage Grove, which included runners from 18 schools.
Though the boys were missing two key runners in Kyle Hummer and Casey Keys, they still managed to finish fourth, with 129 points, behind Pleasant Hill (78), Cottage Grove (85) and Marshfield (104).
The Husky girls, behind Olivia Johnson’s fifth-place finish in 21:52 over the 5,000-meter course that included a steep climb up the face of the dam at Dorena Lake, finished with 90 points to North Eugene’s 86. Oakridge was third with 134.
“The kids ran well,” Coach Billy Snow said, noting that all of his varsity boys finished in the top 50 percent of the 112 runners, while all but one girl were in the top half of the 71 varsity runners.
Nick Hall was the top finisher for the Husky boys, placing sixth in 18:06. Byron Sanders, who Snow said had trouble on the dam, finished 12th in 18:31, with a tight group of Avery Shamek (36th, 19:34), Lorenzo Virgen (37th, 19:39) and Chris Thompson (38th, 19:41) rounding out the scoring for the varsity boys. Jake Comstock ran 40th in 19:46 in his first varsity race of the season after coming back from a broken ankle, and freshman Daniel Danforth was 51st in 20:12 in his first varsity race.
Snow said that Thompson “had a good race,” moving farther up among the finishers than he had in previous outings this season.
Corbin Helt of Creswell was the boys varsity winner, running 16:55.
For the varsity girls, Carissa Swanson was 14th, in 22:31 after falling over a cone on a corner but still a PR on the course by 14 seconds, and Caroline Amendola was right behind her in 16th in 23:08, her fastest 5,000-meter time ever despite the dam climb and a massive PR of 2:33 for the course. Jessica Snow was fourth for the Huskies (26th, 24:42) and Paige Sanders rounded out the scoring (31st, 25:02), with Natasha Perry finishing 48th in 26:20.
“Caroline had a great race and having Jessie helped a lot,” Billy Snow said.
Katie Peterson of North Eugene was the girls winner in 21:03, followed by Patricia Guterrez of Cottage Grove in 21:08.
Snow said both the boys and girls competed “better” than they did at their own invitational at Camp Tadmor the week before.
“What I liked about both groups was their packing was better,” Snow said, adding that he would like to see the third through fifth boys move up a bit.
Keys, who ran the boys JV race as he recovers from injuries, was first in 19:46.
Liz Egbert, running alone for Sweet Home in the girls JV race, was sixth in 27:40.
The Huskies are scheduled to run Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Paul Mariman Invitational, which will be run on the same course, at Philomath High School, as the Val-Co District meet. Races start at 1:30 p.m.
5,000 Meters Boys Varsity Top 5 and Sweet Home
Finishers
(1) Corbin Helt (Creswell) 16:55; (2) Brady Beagley (North Valley) 17:21; (3) Nicholas Cooper (Pleasant Hill) 17:29;(4) Seth Schneider(Sisters) 17:47; (5) Zeke James (Douglas) 17:54; (6) Nick Hall (SH) 18:06; (12) Byron Sanders (SH) 18:31; (36) Avery Shamek (SH) 19:34; (37) Lorenzo Virgen (SH) 19:39; (38) Chris Thompson (SH) 19:41; (40) Jake Comstock (SH) 19:46; (51) Daniel Danforth (SH) 20:12.
5,000 Meters Varsity Girls Top 5 and Sweet Home
Finishers
(1) Katie Peterson (N Eugene) 21:03; (2) Patricia Guterrez Cottage Grove) 21:08; (3) Emi Conrads (Sisters) 21:30; (4) K.D. Solomon (Junction City) 21:43; (5-tie) Olivia Johnson (SH), Tori Scott (Marshfield) 21:52; (14) Carissa Swanson (SH) 22:31; (16) Caroline Amendola (SH) 23:08; (26) Jessica Snow (SH) 24:42; (31) Paige Sanders (SH) 25:02; 48) Natasha Perry (SH) 26:20.
5,000 Meters JV Combined and Open Sweet Home
Finishers
(1) Casey Keys (SH) 19:46; (6) Andrew Jiles (SH) 21:00 ; (8) Jacob Miner (SH) 21:15; (12) Nene Mauer (SH) 21:18; (14) Brett King (SH) 21:22; (3) Jason Rice (SH) 22:16; (33) David Rinehart (SH) 22:32; (36) Anson Davis (SH) 22:47; (78) Conner Cunha (SH) 32:32; (81) Mitchell Garcia (SH) 36:13.