Speed was the name of the game Wednesday, Oct. 21, as Sweet Home’s cross-country teams finally got onto a fast course, at the Country Fair Classic in Elmira. The only question was whether those times were too fast.
After every Husky runner €“ varsity and JV €“ posted a big personal best, as did a majority of the runners in the meet, Coach Billy Snow and others were wondering exactly how long the course was.
But Snow was pleased with the placings of his runners, which is the most critical element in cross-country.
“Even if the course was off, just the fact that the kids ran well €“ they felt good about that,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter if it was long or short, comparatively speaking.”
In the boys race, Nick Hall was first for Sweet Home in 19th place out of 161 competitors, running 16:29 to beat his previous best of 17:40 handily. Byron Sanders was second, running 33rd in 16:58 (17:13), followed by Daniel Danforth, 59th in 17:39 (19:00); Casey Keys, 67th in 17:53 (18:50); Jake Comstock, 84th in 18:13 (18:47); Chris Thompson, 85th in 18:13 (19:03) and David Rinehart, running his first race on varsity in 20:38 (21:39).
Sweet Home was eighth overall out of 21 teams, with 243 points, behind Philomath in fifth with 198. Central was 11th with 269.
Roseburg and Sheldon, both 6A schools, were first and second, the Indians placing all five of its scorers in the top 11 for 35 points, with the Irish scoring 72.
Snow said the boys ran well, particularly since they were missing two key runners in Avery Shamek and Lorenzo Romar, and their finish ahead of Central bodes well for the district meet on Oct. 31.
“DJ (Danforth) had a really good race,” he said, noting that the freshman ran with a protective cast on his arm after injuring it at Philomath two weeks ago. “Nick could have beaten Philomath’s No. 1 (Josh Seekatz) if he’d made his move sooner. Byron ran with some kids he hadn’t been running with and almost beat Quinn, Central’s top runner.
Carissa Swanson was the top finisher for the girls, placing 19th in 19:59, nearly a minute faster than the 20:50 she ran in the first race of the season at Cascade. Olivia Johnson, who has been the leader in every other race this season for the Huskies, sat out with a sore leg.
Behind Swanson were Caroline Amendola, 40th in 20:57, exactly a minute slower than her previous best for the distance;
Paige Sanders, 48th in 21:43, (well under her previous PR of 23:12); Jenna Kistner, 85th in 23:12, (previous PR 24:39); Natasha Perry in 23:36, (24:58); and Liz Egbert, in her first varsity race, posting a 25:06 to beat her previous best of 26:54 by nearly two minutes.
Missing both Johnson and Jessie Snow, the girls finished 10th out of 17 teams with 243 points, and behind Central in seventh with 204 and Philomath in ninth with 215. The Warriors were also missing two key runners, including Annie Marinello, who would likely have placed in the top three in the race.
Sheldon, a 6A team, placed first with all five of its scoring runners in the top 20 for 47 points, followed closely by Marist, which also placed all five of its scorers in the top 20 for 49 points.
Snow said he was happy that the girls got close to Philomath, missing two runners who would make a difference.
“We were counting the scores of Jenna and Natasha, who are normally our sixth and seventh runners,” he said.
In the junior varsity boys race, Brett King was first for Sweet Home, finishing 25th in 19:28. Nene Mauer was 34th in 19:55, followed by Anson Davis, 41st in 20:17; Jason Rice, 70th in 21:31; Conner Cunha 107th in 28:34 and Mitchell Garcia, 108th in 30:17.
The girls sole JV runner was Taylar Rodgers, 63rd in 28:45.
Snow sees the district race as shaping up to be a three-way showdown on the girls side and a race between Sweet Home and Central on the boys.
“Central is going to be hard to beat,” he said of the girls race. “Their strength is packing and to break them up, Caroline has to beat the girl who beat he and Paige and Jessica (Snow, who did not run Wednesday,) have to be in front of the rest.
The Valco District Cross-Country Championships will be held on the Paul Mariman Course at Philomath High School at 11:25 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. The first race will be the varsity and JV girls 5K at 11:25 a.m., (which corresponds exactly with the starting time for the 4A girls at the state meet the following Saturday, Nov. 7, at Lane Community College). The varsity boys will compete at noon, followed by the JV boys at 12:30 p.m.