It wasn’t an ideal start for the young and inexperienced Sweet Home track and field athletes Friday, but it was a start.
After sitting out two days, thanks to the snowfall that canceled all other sports last week – golf, baseball and softball teams did not compete – the track team opened its season at the Darrel Deedon Icebreaker at Cascade High School on a brisk and sunny afternoon against the Cougars, Philomath, Stayton and Scappoose, and 2A Nestucca.
The inexperience and rust showed in the opening events, the girls and boys 4×100 relays, in which both teams had problems with their handoffs, the girls failing to finish and the boys running fourth in 45.57.
Coach Billy Snow was impressed even by that time.
“If our guys run mid-45s in their first race without clean handoffs, that’s a screaming time in the short relay,” he said. “I’ve never had that, where we went to a meet without practicing for two days. That’s why we don’t have Monday track meets.
“The kids weren’t focused. It was hard for me to focus out there.”
The weather was dry and breezy, with sun, but there was snow remaining along the track in spots and the shot put competitors were throwing into a large mud puddle, so conditions presented some challenges.
Snow said he was happy with the performances he saw from some veterans and several freshmen.
The Huskies got wins on the boys side from seniors Nick Hall in the 200 (24.34) and Chris Carpenter in the long jump (18-10) and from Annie Whitfield in the javelin (124-9). Snow said he was also happy to see Carpenter (11.78) and sophomore Spencer Knight (11.95) go under 12 seconds in the 100 as they finished third and sixth respectively.
Senior Laura Mauer picked up not far from where she left off at last year’s district meet in the discus, throwing 91-2, just three feet off her lifetime best.
Snow noted several underclassman performances that were encouraging, he said.
Sophomore Jade Corliss finished second in the shot in her first high school meet, throwing 30-4, and freshman India Porter was second in the 400, in 1:07.94.
Snow said he was impressed by the legs Porter and fellow freshman Jordan Miller ran in the 4×400 relay.
On the boys side, sophomore Ashton Stutzman went 5-6 in the high jump, good for fourth, and sophomore Kyle Rose was third in the javelin, throwing 127-8 – a personal best by nearly 19 feet. Freshman Jakob Hiett was third in the 1500, in 4:37.37, despite going out a little too fast, Snow said.
“I thought our new kids and vets did well,” he said.
After a week of spring-break practice, Sweet Home will host its annual decathlon/heptathlon competition this Friday and Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. both days, which is expected to draw some of the top athletes from around the state. As of Monday, schools signed up to bring athletes included: 1A-division Condon/Wheeler and New Hope Christian; 2A division Crow, East Linn Christian and Reedsport; 3A-division Blanchet Catholic and Westside Christian; 4A-division Molalla, Newport, North Marion and Philomath; Lebanon from 5A and Barlow and Canby from the 6A division.
The entire Sweet Home team will be back in action Wednesday, April 4, at Philomath in a three-way meet with Cottage Grove, and then will travel to the Junction City Invitational on April 7.
Darrel Deedon Icebreaker
Cascade High School
Sweet Home finishers
Non-scoring meet.
Boys
100 – (3) Chris Carpenter (SH) 11.78; (6) Spencer Knight (SH) 11.95; (34) Alex Seitz (SH) 13.26; (42) Anthony Vincent (SH))13.76.
200 – (1) Nick Hall (SH) 24.34; (10) Spencer Knight (SH) 25.30a; (24) Eric Flierl (SH) 27.92.
400 – (14) Joe Hefty (SH) 1:08.11; (15) Maxx Nguyen (SH) 1:15.98.
800 – No Sweet Home entries.
1500 – (3) Jakob Hiett (SH) 4:37.37; (12) Justin Webb (SH) 5:04.17.
3000 – (5) Ian Wingo (SH) 10:43.40.
110 Hurdles – No Sweet Home entries.
300 Hurdles – (6) Chace Hutchins (SH) 48.75; (7) Ashton Stutzman (SH) 50.63.
4×100 Relay – (1) Philomath 44.81; (2) Scappoose 44.97; (3) Cascade 44.99; (4) Sweet Home (Eric Flierl, Kyler Gaskey, Alex Seitz, Chace Hutchins) 45.57; (5) Stayton 46.88; (6) Philomath “B” 47.49.
4×400 Relay – (1) Philomath 3:42.10; (2) Scappoose 3:43.70; (3) Cascade 3:46.79; (4) Sweet Home (Chase Hutchins, Ashton Stuzman, Alex Seitz, Nick Hall) 4:00.39.
Shot Put – (3) Zane Jackson (SH) 39-5 1/2; (5) Ben Terry (SH) 36-06; (9) David Skeen (SH) 35-8; (14) Kyle Wodtli (SH) 33-9 1/2; (22) Alex Seitz (SH) 32-3; (26) Jake Johnson (SH) 30-4; (33) Troy Hazelton (SH) 26-2; (35) Zach Pratt (SH) 25-5.
Discus – (2) Jake Johnson (SH) 118-8; (9) Zach Pratt (SH) 94-0; (17) Quin Wise (SH) 80-0; (23) Troy Hazelton (SH) 60-4.
Javelin – (3) Kyle Rose (SH) 127-8; (6) Kyle Wodtli (SH) 120-7; (7) David Skeen (SH) 119-0; (8) Brycen Mitten (SH) 118-8; (10) Ben Terry (SH) 114-5; (18) Zane Jackson (SH) 85-8; (30) Troy Hazelton (SH) 66-1.
High Jump – (4) Ashton Stutzman (SH) 5-6; (6) Jakob Hiett (SH) 5-2; (7) Anthony Vincent (SH) 5-0.
Pole Vault – (3) Zach Leonard (P)10-6; (11) Scottie Stockman (SH) 8-0.
Long Jump – (1) Chris Carpenter (SH) 18-10; (6) Ashton Stutzman (SH) 17-5; (18) Joe Hefty (SH) 15-2; (23) Eric Flierl (SH) 14-4 1/2.
Triple Jump – (9) Joe Hefty (SH) 30-8.
Girls
100 – (2) Devyn Makin (SH) 13.57; (6) Karson Rodgers (SH) 14.73; (14) Phoebe Olsen (SH) 16.10.
200 – (3) India Porter (SH) 29.89; (11) Jasmin Yoder (SH) 31.92.
400 – (2) India Porter (SH) 1:07.94; (6) Shiho Harada (SH) 1:29.21; (7) Anna Chang (SH) 1:35.23.
800 – (6) Jordan Miller (SH) 2:51.80; (13) Christina Ulmer (SH) 3:18.40; (14) Sierrah Owen (SH) 3:27.63.
1500 – (13) Kimber Swanson (SH) 6:20.41; (15) Christina Ulmer(SH) 6:42.43; (17) Sierrah Owen (SH) 7:16.70.
3000 – (2) Nicole Rasmussen (SH) 11:48.60; (10) Anastasiya Domashenko (SH) 13:57.80.
100 Hurdles – No Sweet Home entries.
300 Hurdles – (6) Sabrina Davis (SH) 59.59.
4×100 Relay – (1) Philomath 51.40; (2) Cascade 53.68; (3) Scappoose 55.52; Sweet Home DNF.
4×400 Relay – (1) Philomath 4:26.85; (2) Scappoose 4:41.46; (3) Cascade 4:41.46; (4) Sweet Home “A” (Courtney Kent, Sabrina Davis, Jazmin Yoder, Devyn Makin) 4:44.48; (5) Sweet Home “B” (India Porter, Jordan Miller, McKenzie Curtis, Kimber Swanson) 5:00.57; (6) Cascade “B” 5:06.22.
Shot Put – (2) Jade Corliss (SH) 30-4.
Discus – (4) Laura Mauer (SH) 91-2; (11) Jade Corliss (SH) 71-6; (13) Kaitlyn Watts (SH) 70-1; (34) McKenzie Curtis (SH) 40-3.
Javelin – (1) Annie Whitfield (SH) 124-9; (14) Kaitlyn Watts (SH) 62-3; (16) Kelsie Zartman (SH) 59-0; (23) Jade Corliss (SH) 51-9.
High Jump – (5-tie) Sonya Corliss (SH) , Kaitlyn Watts (SH) 4-0.
Pole Vault – No Sweet Home entries.
Long Jump – (2) Devyn Makin (SH) 14-7 1/4; (10) Alena Davis (SH) 11-7 3/4; (13) Samantha Ashlock (SH) 10-7 1/2; (14) Phoebe Olsen (SH) 9-11 1/2.
Triple Jump – No Sweet Home entries.