Jakob Hiett finally achieved what had been for him a major goal: winning the state cross-country championship.
Hiett, a senior, crossed the finish line well ahead of his nearest competition Saturday, Nov. 1, at the OSAA 4A cross-country championships, and he let out a yell of exultation when he did it: “Yes!”
Hiett ran 16:04 on a wet, soggy course that is not known for fast times, in a field of 104 competitors. He was the only Sweet Home runner to compete Saturday, the first time in years that the Huskies have not had a team in the competition.
Hiett finished ahead of Wilder Boyden of Valley Catholic (16:14) and teammate Ben Davidson (16:18), who led the Valiants to the team title with 58 points. His nearest Sky-Em competitor was Sisters’ Tony Hooks, 13th in 16:55.
Sisters’ Aria Blumm, the Sky-Em girls champion, was third in 19:11 in the girls championship race, won by Henley junior Lexi Heally (18:58).
The East Linn Christian boys, who include two runners from Sweet Home, finished fifth overall in the 3A/2A/1A race, with 166 points. Catlin Gabel won with 51. Sophomore Wesley Anderson of Sweet Home was 69th overall in 19:03, and Austin Linville was 81st in 19:27.
The championship was the first for a Sweet Home boy. The Huskies have had three third-place finishers over the years – Joe Olsen in 1990, Manuel Robledo in 1995 and Jesse White in 1998 – but had never taken a boys individual or team title.
Jessie Schra won the girls title in 1993, setting a course record of 18:41 that stood for 10 years.
“I knew that no one has ever done it before, so that was pretty cool,” Hiett said. “It was an added bonus to be the first one to do that.”
He said his race strategy was to stay with the front pack through the first mile, then surge when they hit an incline at that point in the race.
It worked.
“He really led from the beginning,” Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen said. “He was calm and comfortable and confident.”
After that initial surge, which opened up a gap between him and the Valley Catholic runners, Hiett steadily increased his lead.
“I just kind of did what (retired Sweet Home cross-country coach Billy) Snow says – I ran scared,” he said, noting that he didn’t really know where the competition was until he made a sharp right-hand turn with 500 meters to go and had a chance to see what was happening off to his right.
“I don’t like looking back,” he said. “I played (the race) over and over in my head many times. I kind of knew how it would feel. I ran most of the race kind of by myself.”
Allen noted that Hiett’s splits between the first and second halves of the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) race were virtually identical – 8:03 and 8:02.
“He just chugged at exactly that same pace,” Allen said. “He ran a good race. He was just in better shape than anybody else. He just pulled away. There was no drama to it. By the time the Valley Catholic kids were 20 meters back, they were racing to stay in second and third. All Jakob had to do was add insurance.”
Allen noted that Hiett, since he was at Sweet Home Junior High, has had a number of coaches besides him and Snow, and several of them were there to witness the historic events: Lela Danforth and John Mithen who coached him in junior high, and former Husky runner-turned-triathlete Kambria Schumacher, who has been assisting with this year’s cross-country program.
Hiett missed most of the summer training he normally would do because of a stress fracture and got a late start, including a loss to the Valley Catholic runners early in the season. He said he knew he was on track when he finished a close third at the Country Fair Classic in Veneta, behind this year’s 6A state champion Reilley Bloomer of South Eugene (15:33) and Sheldon’s Jackson Mestler, who was fifth (15:49) Saturday in a tight finish for the 6A boys.
“That’s when I knew I was ready,” Hiett said. “I ran faster there than last year. I figured I’d be ready. This is a goal I’ve been aiming for for quite a while now. To get it and check it off is awesome.”