Jakob Hiett’s cross-country win streak ended at five Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Paul Mariman Invitational in Philomath, where he finished third, but the Sweet Home junior had nothing to be ashamed of.
Hiett led the field for portions of the race, which he finished in 16:25.13 on a course still soft from the recent rains, before he was outpaced in the final mile by Siuslaw seniors Mack Marbas, who was first in 15:56.05, and Mitchell Butler, second in 16:21.97.
La Salle won the boys team title with 62 points, followed by Siuslaw (88) and Philomath (91). Sweet Home was eighth with 221 points.
Senior Nicole Rasmussen, who missed most of last year’s cross-country season while her family temporarily relocated to North Dakota, re-established herself as one of the top 4A girls in cross-country with a fourth-place finish in 19:34.08.
Molalla won the girls team title with 51 points, ahead of Siuslaw (90) and Philomath (99). Sweet Home was seventh with 214 points and the only other Sky-Em team in the race, Cottage Grove, finished 13th (316).
“Team-wise, we had a great day,” said Coach Billy Snow. “We were missing one of our guys on the boys side and every girl got a PR, up and down the line. They ran really well. None of kids really died. Some looked uncomfortable, but none ran out of gas.”
One of those was Hiett, for whom this was his fifth race since Sept. 21 and the first one that wasn’t over significantly hilly terrain or longer than 5K.
“He is just raced out,” Snow said. “He’ll run tired next week, then we’ll rest him until the Country Fair (Oct. 16),” he said. “He told me his legs felt dead below the knees. He was third on dead legs and he wasn’t that far out.”
Siuslaw freshman Celie Mans won the girls race in 18:56.81, with seniors Charlie Davidson of Scappoose (19:06.98) and Emily Bever of Mollala (19:11.49) ahead of Rasmussen, who went by Central freshman Abby McBeth (19:37.97) in the final 200 meters. Cottage Grove sophomore Breanna Wright, who was running side-by-side with Rasmussen a mile into the race, faded to 11th (20:41.13).
Davidson and Bever finished seven-eight at last year’s 4A state championship, behind three seniors.
It was not the fastest Rasmussen has ever run for a 5K course – she clocked 19:24 at the Country Fair Classic as a sophomore, but it was a 17-second best for the Philomath course, in a talented field.
“I knew she had a good race in her,” Snow said. “I thought it might come at district. She just needs to go out hard. When Nicole made that break and Breanna couldn’t go with her, that was exciting to see. She looked comfortable the whole way through.”
Sophomore Sierra Swanson was 43rd in 22:50.85 in the field of 95, a 10-second PR on any course and a 70-second improvement at Philomath.
“Nicole and Sierra went out hard – they were not afraid to go out hard,” Snow said. “Fortunately, they had something left in their legs from the previous two weeks and they could hang onto it. They were still running tired.”
Behind Swanson were three rookies to the Philomath course: freshman Dana Hiett, 54th in 23:20.07; freshman Natasha Rasmussen, 60th in 24:01.07; and sophomore Kayleen Keene, 64th in 24:08.99; as well as sophomore Maria Daniels, 89th in 29:23.18, a 90-second PR for her on any 5K course.
“The group with Dana, Kayleen and Natasha, they moved up through the field,” Snow said. “Going into the meet, it was a dead heat between us and Elmira and now they’ve really distanced themselves from Elmira. It is nice to see the gap between our first and fifth runner getting smaller. “
On the boys side, behind Hiett, Ian Wingo was 33rd in the field of 100, running 18:14.75; he was followed by Chace Hutchins in 44th place in 18:53.50, a personal best for any 5K course for the senior; freshman Issac Justham, 61st in 19:35.70; Robert Gourley in 84th (20:31.10) and Joseph Ramussen right behind in 85th (20:39.42), both PRs for that course.
Stephen Bishop, normally the Huskies’ fourth runner, right behind Hutchins, was missing and Snow said Wingo took the SAT test in the morning, then made an unfortunately timed stop at a fast-food restaurant en route to the meet.
“Three guys