By the time the varsity races took place in the Sweet Home Invitational run at Camp Tadmor, it resembled the mud flats more than a cross country meet.
Both JV races preceded the varsity races and contributed to the wet, sloppy course. The first mile around the lake wasn’t too bad, but in the second mile, a sheet of mud developed, causing runners to slide and fall. Under normal conditions, with the hills, the course is tough.
Under this extreme situation, it added on close to two minutes to the times of the runners.
Of the eight boys teams, Sweet Home finished fourth. Coach Billy Snow thinks meet champion Philomath is in the top three in the state and may be number one. Central and Creswell ran second and third. Philomath also won the girls race with the defending state champion, narrowly defeating Cascade who was without their number one runner. Only Megan Snow ran the varsity race for Sweet Home.
Husky senior John Lovik led after the first mile of the race, perhaps going out too fast and a bit winded going up the hill, according to Snow. In the bad area of the race, he took a tumble and came out of that section in fifth place, which he maintained for the whole race. Thirty-five runners competed in the varsity competition.
Likewise, Megan Snow kept a steady position throughout the race, ending up seventh of thirty-four runners. Julia Henthorne ran a solid race on the 3K JV course, ending up sixth of the nineteen competitors. She could have placed a few spots higher if she had not received a penalty for taking a wrong turn on the course.
“It was a fun meet for them,” said Snow about his teams in general. “There was a big challenge and they ran well compared to the rest of the group.”
Their next meet is at Elmira, which Snow set as the goal to field a full girls varsity team.
(Check the internet at http://www.sweethomenews.com for the individual times of all runners.)