Scott Swanson
Sweet Home sophomore Jakob Hiett had never beaten Sisters junior Brandon Pollard prior to Thursday’s Sky-Em district cross-country meet at Lane Community College, but he picked a great time to change that.
Hiett left Pollard behind with less than a mile to go in the 5-kilometer race and pulled away to win the district title in what was nearly a personal-record time for him, 16:37, on a course that was significantly slower than others the two have competed on.
On the girls side, the Huskies clinched their fourth straight berth in the state championships with a second-place finish behind lead runner Nicole Rasmussen, whose lack of training from a move to and then back from North Dakota was evident as she was unable to keep up with Sisters’ Zoe Falk (19:59), whom she beat last year for the district title. Rasmussen settled for second in 20:28, with senior Paige Sanders close behind in fifth (21:12).
“It feels good to be back, running 5Ks again,” said Rasmussen, who said competitions in North Dakota were 4000 meters. “It was fun running with Zoe. Competition is fun. It stinks that I didn’t do as well. If I had been working out all season, I would have done better. But I was glad I could come back and help the team.”
Coach Billy Snow said the Huskies “ran well, especially the girls. We kind of set out some strategy. The big thing was not having them go out as hard has they have been going out. They were fading in the late stages. (The new strategy) worked well for them.”
Senior Daniel Danforth surged past three opponents in the final quarter mile to clinch an individual state berth, placing fifth.
“Jakob was real close to a PR,” Snow said. “That was just short of what he ran at the Country Fair last week (16:27) on a faster course.”
He said Hiett held back at the beginning of the race, which helped him avoid running out of gas.
“He went out at reasonable pace and didn’t worry about where we were at in the first mile,” Snow said. “I don’t know if running alongside Brandon played with Brandon’s head at all. Brandon’s a real good runner. But when it came to push and shove, Jakob made it look easy. He looked very comfortable with what he was doing. He doesn’t have that real good leg turnover rate, but he looked pretty awesome.”
Hiett said he “dropped like a rock” on the second downhill of the course and “just hung on.
“Just before the end of the second mile, when we were running downhill, I thought he sounded more tired than I was,” he said. “I stuck to the coaches’ plan to stay with Brandon for the first part. Even if he’s faster, he would come back to me. Our pace was about the same, so I stuck with him.”
Snow said he wasn’t certain going into the race that Danforth would be able to qualify for state, but “given his year and everything, that’s pretty good for him to be able to do that.”
Danforth said that when he hit the LCC track for the final 300 meters with a pair of La Pine runners, “I didn’t want to disappoint the team. I had to try my hardest. It was a less physical race, a lot more mental. ‘Do I want to do whatever it takes, or do I not, to get one more point for the team?’”
Jakob Hiett crosses the finish line well out in first place to win the district title. Hiett is congratulated by Nick Hall, left, a SHHS alum who was the boys winner last year and now runs for Lane Community College, where the district meet was held.
La Pine’s boys bunched all five of their scorers among the top 16 placers for 50 points, behind Sisters, which finished with 30 after putting all its scorers in the top 10. Sweet Home was third with 80 points.
The Hawks looked like they wanted it – after a dearth of team appearances at state – and they ran straight to the front of the pack and held on.
“We might have been able to do better, but when La Pine took off like they did that was it,” Snow said. “There was no way we were going to catch them. Their strategy looked like they were just going to get out and see what happened. We didn’t have enough miles behind us to run that kind of race.”
Ian Wingo was third for the boys, placing 21st (19:32) and David Johnson, running with an injured hip, still managed a 13-second PR to place 25th in 19:44. Nick Mattson finished 28th as Sweet Home’s fifth scorer, in 20:04.
In the girls side, Sisters ran away with the team title with 27 points, followed by the Huskies (62) and Cottage Grove just seven points back at 69.
“Having someone like Nicole back certainly makes a difference,” Snow said. Without Ramussen, who moved back from North Dakota a few weeks ago, the Huskies’ lone girls state qualifier would likely have been Sanders.
“It’s inspiring,” Sanders said. “Having everyone be able to come is great. Going as a team makes state so much better. Everyone really worked this year. We have runners who haven’t run before.
“I’m really, really glad Nicole came back. I didn’t think we had a chance before she came back. At first, I thought boy, she’s going to take my spot (as top runner), but then I was glad. She’s helped me.”
But even with Rasmussen’s second-place finish, the Huskies, who were seeded third going into the race, needed some serious efforts to qualify and they got them.
Senior Candalynn Johnson finished with a 43-second PR to place 26th in 27:06. Johnson, who is in her second year of cross-country, had struggled with asthma and a doctor prescribed an inhaler.
“Maybe that inhaler helped a little bit,” Snow said. “If we could drop her down another minute, that would be awesome.”
The girls were seeded third, but he said they did what they needed to.
“Nicole ran what I thought she could run and Paige had a great day. She said it felt a whole lot better than the Country Fair, where she went out too fast. It’s about knowing what you’re capable of.
“Paige was picking people off left and right. If she’d had a couple more hundred meters, she probably would have gotten two or three more.
Placing third and fourth were freshman Sierra Swanson and senior Haley Hummer, a rookie to cross-country.
Both just missed breaking the PR’s they set last week at the Country Fair run in placing 14th and 16th respectively.
“Haley and Sierra had great races,” Snow said. “They were right where they needed to be.
“We ran what we were capable of, what we needed to do. That’s what we shot for – the district meet. If you don’t get district, you don’t get anything else.
“Partly, that’s why I keep them on hard courses earlier in the season. We don’t look for fast times. The bottom line for me is to get ready for that one big meet and see what you can do.”
In the JV races, sophomore Trevor Melson turned in another big PR, this one 25 seconds, to finish in 24:17, and freshman Joseph Rasmussen ran a 19-second PR to finish in 20:23, good for sixth place as the JV boys placed third with 70 points behind Sisters (20) and La Pine (45).
On the girls side, Kayla Daniels continued to improve, running 28:03 for a four-second career best.
Snow said he can’t predict what to expect at state Saturday, Nov. 3. Although the meet is held at LCC, the course will be different. 4A Division girls will run at 11:15 a.m. and the boys at 11:50. Tickets will be on sale at 8 a.m. and are $8 for adults and $5 for students with ID.
Though Rasmussen placed sixth in the state last year, the move to North Dakota has limited her training, she said.
“We’ll go down there, give it a shot and try,” Snow said. “Nicole had a good race. We will probably be one of the weaker overall teams. But it’s good for the girls to go down and get that experience. It would be nice to PR from this week.”
Sky-Em District Championships Results
Varsity Boys
Team Scores: (1) Sisters 30; (2) La Pine 50; (3) Sweet Home 80; (4) Elmira 98; (5) Cottage Grove 108.
Top 10 and Sweet Home results
Jakob Hiett (SH) 16:37; (2) Brandon Pollard (Sisters) 17:01; (3) Devon Calvin (Sisters) 17:29; (4) Austin Smith (La Pine) 17:44; (5) Daniel Danforth (SH) 17:56; (6) Izaak Kanzig (Sisters) 17:57; (7) Tyress TurnsPlenty (LaPine) 18:08; (8) Nick Clark (La Pine) 18:01; (9) Dyut Fetrow (Sisters) 18:18; (10) Ian Baldessari (Sisters) 18:20; (21) Ian Wingo (SH) 19:32; (25) David Johnson (SH) 19:44; (28) Nick Mattson (SH) 20:04; (33) Robert Gourley (SH) 20:44; (34) Stephen Bishop (SH) 20:52.
Varsity Girls
Team Scores: (1) Sisters 27; (2) Sweet Home 62; (3) Cottage Grove 69; (4) Elmira 76; (5) Junction City 140.
Top 10 and Sweet Home results
(1) Zoe Falk (Sisters) 19:59; (2) Nicole Rasmussen (SH) 20:28; (3) Breanna Wright (CG) 21:05; (4) Aria Blum (Sisters) 21:09; (5) Paige Sanders (SH) 21:11; (6) Macadia Calvan (Sisters) 21:36; (7) Madison Boettner (Sisters) 21:56; (8) Morgan Craig (Elmira) 22;17; (9) Natalie Marshall (Sisters) 22:21; (10) Kenzie McConnell (CG) 21:36; (14) Sierra Swanson (SH) 23:03; (16) Hailey Hummer (SH) 23:05; (26) Candalynn Johnson (SH) 27:04; (29) Kayla Daniels (SH) 28:03; (33) Tashana Mithen (SH) 29:42.
JV Boys
Team Scores: (1) Sisters 20; (2) La Pine 45; (3) Sweet Home 70.
Boys JV Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
(1) Caleb Johnson (Sisters) 19:32; (2) Kyle Van Krieken (Sisters) 19:43; (3) Adam Ramirez (La Pine) 19:48; (6) Joseph Rasmussen (SH) 20:23; (14) Kyle Moore-McKay (SH) 21:20; (28) Nick Dadey (SH) 23:46; (30) Trevor Melson (SH) 24:17; (33) Mark Taraski (SH) 24:25.
JV Girls
Sisters was the only full team that was eligible to score. (15 points)
Girls JV Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
(1) Betsy Ausman (Sisters) 23:41; (2) Laure Cirenik (Sisters) 24:20; (3) Megan Calarco (Sisters) 24:30; (11) Sierrah Owen (SH) 30:27; (12) Maria Daniels (SH) 32:16.