Junior Mason Lopez and sophomore Ivy Dewitte were named Most Valuable Athletes at the track and field team’s awards dinner Wednesday, June 1.
Head Coach Nathan Whitfield introduced the two, noting that both competed in a wide variety of events.
“I think the only events (Dewitte) didn’t try were the jumps and the hurdles,” he said. “She started off as a distance runner and javelin thrower, then became a 400 runner, then a 100 runner somehow, then a 200 runner. Dewitte was the top 200, 400 and 800 runner on the team, and was second-fastest in the 100, behind senior Victoria Ferrioli. She also ran a leg on the 4×400 relay team that competed at districts for Sweet Home.
“She’s literally a jack of all trades, and it’s going to be fun to see what she does in the future,” Whitfield said.
He said he could probably put Lopez in “any event except the shot put and he would be successful.”
This season Lopez competed in every sprint event, including both relays, along with the 300 hurdles, but excelled in the javelin, in which he won the district title and placed fifth at state.
Reviewing the season, Whitfield said the Huskies who finished fourth in district on the boys side and seventh on the girls, were “really young” this season, though their numbers were “good-sized,” with about 60 participants.
“The weirdest thing this year is that most of that was all sophomores and freshmen,” he said, noting that Sweet Home had “about three juniors” and “close to 10 seniors.”
“We were really young and that made it a little bit challenging for us, especially when we’ve got the teams in our league that we do. It’s tough competition, but these guys did really well and surprised us multiple times.”
The main focus for Sweet Home this year, he said, was “a lot of learning, setting the foundation for the future.”
Whitfield thanked the upperclassmen for their leadership and told the younger athletes, “It’s going to be you in a couple of years. So take advantage of it while you can.”
Jumpers of the Year, introduced by Coach Dave Martin, were Victoria Ferrioli and Aiden Shamek.
Martin noted that Ferrioli tied the school pole vault record of 8-6 at the district meet.
“The school record is an impressive thing in our school,” he said.
Shamek, Martin said, has been one of the Huskies’ top jumpers over the past couple of seasons, and was the Huskies No. 1 performer in the long jump and triple jump this year, earning a trip to state in the latter event.
Throwers of the Year, announced by Whitfield, were Kami Hart and Mason Lopez.
Hart, the girls’ only senior thrower, missed a wild-card slot at state by about 1½ inches and, if she had been able to throw her PR of 31-8½ at state, would have placed in that competition. She was also the Huskies’ top performer in the discus.
Lopez, got “bit by the bug” in the javelin last season and qualified for state, placing sixth, then came back this year to do it again, upping his personal best by 14 feet with a PR at state of 167-3 to place fifth.
“That makes him seventh, all-time, for Sweet Home,” Whitfield said.
Distance Runners of the Year, announced by Martin, who returned to the high school this year after some 20 years as a college track coach at Oregon Tech, were senior Eddie Martinez and sophomore Riley Markel.
Martinez, a senior, was considering not doing track this season, but decided to give it a shot under Martin.
“He started a little late,” Martin said. “It took us a couple of weeks and then we got on the same page and he made a lot of good improvements.
“I think if I’d been here last year, some scary things might have happened this year. We’re just starting to figured each other out, what was going to work and so I’m really pleased that I was able to work with him.”
It took a while to figure out what events would be best for Markell to compete in, Martin said, but about halfway through the season, he decided to try her in the 3000. Previously, the longest race she’d run was the 1500.
“She was like, ‘I’m not quite sure this is a good idea, Coach,’ but we did it,” Martin said. “And she ran a very good race for her first race,” though “when she was finished, she goes, ‘That was hard.'”
Markell finished that first race in 13:23, then ran 12:44 two weeks later, then 11:54 at the district meet.
“I want you to understand, this is so rare,” Martin told the crowd regarding those drops in times. I don’t know that I’ve ever had any other athlete in my coaching (who has done that).
“She has a bright future. She’s just figuring out how to become a distance runner.”
Sprinters of the Year, introduced by Coach Ramiro Santana, were Ivy Dewitte and Kaylynn Mamac on the girls side, and the boys 4×100 relay team of freshman Conner Stevens, juniors Dakota Seiber and Von James and senior Charley Crawford.
Dewitte, he said, “never stops working” and, he predicted, will improve as she learns to relax while competing.
Mamac, a freshman, is “an amazing athlete” who made a big impact in a variety of events for the Huskies, and who has a big future, particularly in the hurdles, if she sticks with track, he said.
On the boys side, coaches had a hard time narrowing the selection down to one or two, so they opted for the relay team, which qualified for state – not so much on speed, but on effective teamwork in the short relay event.
Newcomer of the Year, also introduced by Santana and chosen by the athletes, were Stevens, who was the top sprinter for the boys, and Mamac, who was the team’s top hurdler.
Most Improved on the boys side went to freshmen Dylan Sharp, who was the third-best shot-putter on the team, and Jon Hart, who was third in the discus.
Coach Andrew Waldrop, who introduced the boys winners, said the two “put in a lot of work and improved a very large amount in comparison to what they started at. Sharp improved by nearly 8 feet to finish with a PR of 33-2 at the district meet and Hart went from 79-0 to 95-11 in the discus.
“When you add on 10 or 15 feet in both the shot and the discus, that’s a big improvement. I look forward to these guys coming back and keep going and get up there.”
On the girls side, senior Isabel Sayer and freshman Beatrice Reeve were the honorees, introduced by Martin, both “scoring in district in an event they had never done before this year.”
Both were jumpers, he noted, but “in totally different events,” Reeve trying a wide variety of events and getting off to a good start in the 100 hurdles, behind Mamac.
“She just kept trying things, which is awesome because that’s what we want our young people to do – try new things out until they find something long-term.
“The long jump was the last thing she tried, and she made finals at district and scored,” Martin said.
Sayer, he said, tried track as a senior after having never competed in the sport.
“And she decides to try the most difficult event there is, the pole vault.”
Sayer started slow, fighting to get to 7-0 by the end of April, but popped a 7-6 PR at the district meet to place seventh.
“That’s a 2-foot improvement from her first week to her last,” Martin said. “I don’t think you realize how good that was,” he added, to Sayer. “You are now No. 10 all-time in school history.”
Coaches Awards, which, Whitfield said, “are a very important award in my book” for “individuals that are just invaluable to the team in one way or the other, whether it’s being a team leader, helping to get stuff going or helping me set up and staying with me to the end to help tear stuff down.”
Basically, he said, winners are “especially great human beings.”
Winners were Riley Markell and freshman Peyton Markell, “who were there to the very end, at every morning lift – they’re at everything. And they’re always wanting to help out. They’re just great assets.”
The other girls winner, Lydia Wright, who is “kind of surprising, considering she’s only a sophomore,” was a leader on the team, he said, who “kind of led all of the runners, which, normally, a sophomore doesn’t do that.”
“She’s the one that stepped up and was leading off those warm-ups, making sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to, making them do all the right things. She was like another coach out there.”
Winners for the boys were sophomore Max Klumph and senior Charlie Crawford.
Klumph, Whitfield said, started working on morning lifting “in October or November. We were out there in the track shed doing them during that time.”
Crawford “has been nonstop,” “one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen,” Whitfield said.
Fourth-year letter winners were seniors Nathan Coleman, Eddie Martinez, Aiden Shamek and Tanner Waldrop.
Third-year letters went to seniors Mercedes Burks, Charlie Crawford and Colby Gazeley.
Second-year letter recipients were seniors Victoria Ferriolli and Kami Hart, and sophomores Ivy Dewitte, Zianna Duncan, Kallie Maas, Rylee Markell and Lydia Wright.
First-year letters went to Jon Hart, Ryker Hartsook, Von James, Evan Jensen, Kasey Kast, Max Klumph, Kaylynn Mamac, Peyton Markell, Jess Martineau, Jayce Miller, Beatrice Reeve, Stephanie Saultz, Isabel Sayer, Dakota Seiber, Dylan Sharp, Kyle Sieminski, Conner Stevens and Amelia Sullens.