Sweet Home’s boys made history Saturday, ending a 16-year dearth by winning the Oregon West Conference track and field district championship at Stayton High School.
It was Sweet Home’s first district title since 2010, and this one was remarkably similar to that: A collective effort by the Huskies, with some out-of-the-box performances to cement the win.
The boys scored 165 points, ahead of Philomath (147), Cascade (142), Newport (91), Stayton (84) and North Marion (21).
The girls were fifth with 106.5 points, ahead of North Marion (4) and behind Philomath, the defending state champion, which won the district for the ninth straight year, with 161 points, ahead of Cascade (140.5), Stayton (118) and Newport (117).
“It felt good after, what, 16 years since our last district title,” said Head Coach Nathan Whitifield, who was in his first year as an assistant coach in 2010. “First time since 2010 felt pretty awesome, to be able to do that and get back, as a team, to just doing well.”
Sweet Home’s boys are sending 10 qualifiers to state in eight events, while the girls’ lone qualifier was senior Selah Wright, who was second in the javelin with a personal best of 115-09.
This will be her first trip to state.
District champions on the track for the boys, all state qualifiers, were senior Dillan Davis in the 400 (50.67), junior Ryker Burr in the 800 (2:02.77), both the boys 4×100 relay team of junior Landon Murry, sophomore Sam Barringer, Davis and freshman Brayden Driver (43.46, a school and meet record), and the 4×400 team of Driver, Burr, Murray and Davis (3:31.22).
Davis was named the boys track Athlete of the Meet.
In the field, junior Gavin Tyler won the district title in the shot with a personal best of 51-8¼.
Other state qualifiers for the boys were: Murry, second in the 100 (11.16 after running a personal-best 11.12 in prelims); Davis, second in the 200 (22.46, a PR); Driver, second in the 400 behind Davis (51.66, a PR) and second in the 300 hurdles (42.71, a PR); and Barringer, second in the high jump with a PR of 5-10½.
Driver was roughly sixth rounding the curve into home stretch, when he shifted into another gear and ran by the field, setting a personal best of nearly two seconds with that finish.
The boys’ scoring came largely from the sprints, with finishes by Tyler in the shot and Barringer’s high jump adding to the total.
In the distances, their youth showed as they produced some scorers, but no top finishers.
Additional scoring came in the 100 from Barringer (fourth, 11.35, a PR) and sophomore Mason Tyler (11.77).
Murray was third in the 200 behind Davis in a PR of 22.83, with senior Manual Rivera fifth (24.24). Rivera also finished fifth in the 400 (54.49).
Sophomore Acen Webber was eighth in the 800, behind Burr, in 2:14.59 after running a PR of 2:11.57 the previous day in prelims.
Freshman Elijah Rodriguez was eighth in the 3000 (10:08.11).
Junior Kaeson Walker was third in the 110 hurdles in a personal best of 16.15, ahead of Larsen, who got a bad start and finished seventh (17.05). Larson was third in the 300 hurdles, behind Driver, in a PR of 42.83.
In the discus, senior Cannon Klumph was sixth (117-0), and in the javelin, Tyler was fourth with a PR of 148-6, ahead of sophomore Ean Tackett in fifth (141-9).
In the long jump, Mason Tyler was fourth with a personal best of 20-5¼, and in the triple jump, Barringer finished third (39-8), with Walker fifth (39-1¼) and junior David Adderson eighth (34-5½).
In the pole vault, senior Elisha Scofield cleared a personal-best 10-8¼, with Larson fifth (10-2½) and Rodriguez eighth (9-8½).
Like the boys, the girls had a noticeable presence in the event finals, even fi they didn’t place high enough to qualify for state and score the points needed to compete with the leaders.
Senior Loralai Mark was fourth in the 100 (13.11, a personal best), and junior Brooke Elder was fifth in both the 100 (13.36) and the 200 (27.95, a personal best).
In the 800, sophomore Emma Whitton was third (2:35.88), followed by junior Noelle Helfrich in fourth (2:37.82) and freshman Cassie Spencer fifth (2:39.98, a PR).
Senior McKenzie Miller was one spot away from qualifying for state in the 1500 (third in 5:07.06) and the 3000 (third in 11:31.57), with Whitton fourth in the 1500 (5:16.23).
Senior Delainie Pratt was seventh in the 100 hurdles (18.27) after posting a PR of 17.15 the previous day in prelims.
In the 300 hurdles, junior Amara Gonzales was sixth in a PR of 52.91.
In the 4×100 relay, the team of Elder, Pratt, junior Jayla Moore and Mark were third in 52.68.
The 4×400 team of Spencer, Helfrich, Elder and Miller finished fifth (4:27.81).
Wright was fifth in the shot (32-3¾), with sophomore Sydney Dominy eighth (29-1¼).
Dominy was fifth in the discus (93-0), with Wright sixth (91-9) and junior Mailey Brewer seventh (90-3).
Dominy was seventh in the javelin, behind Wright, with a personal best of 80-10, with freshman Persephone Brookfield eighth (80-7, also a PR).
Gonzales and freshman Elizabeth Hankins tied for sixth in the high jump at 4-5, a personal best for Hankins, who was also seventh in the long jump (14-10½), behind Mark, who was fourth (4-5).
Gonzales finished sixth in the triple jump (29-9½), with sophomore Grace Gardner seventh (29-2½ ) and junior Miu Simmons eighth (29-1).
In the girls pole vault, the only Husky who cleared a height was freshman Kali Vogel, who cleared 6-6.
With the state meet starting Friday with some field events and track prelims for the 4A Division at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Whitfield recalled the 2010 team, which went on to win the state title. Track and some field event finals are on Saturday.
“That team was pretty special,” he said. “But this team, with this tough league and how tough state is this year, we’ll see what happens.
“The guys, especially at districts, I think we scored in every event except for one and in a lot of those we were scoring two. So we did pretty well. We had a lot of people on the podium. It was a pretty fun weekend.
