Sweet Home, along with other high schools in Linn County gathered under some wet skies for the second annual Linn County Track Meet Friday at West Albany High School.
“This meet is designed to bring all the track squads from Linn County together,” explained Husky Coach Billy Snow. “Normally, we do not compete against most of these teams and it is an opportunity to see some different competition. Also, since we have no home meets, for the kids that do compete, the proximity allows many parents to actually have an opportunity to see a meet.”
Both the boys and girls squads were fifth out of the teams that competed. Scores were unavailable but West Albany won both the boys and girls meet with the South Albany boys second and the Lebanon girls second.
Boys Results
On the track we had five season PRs in 13 attempts. Jeremy Fisher led the way with two PRs in both of his races.
In the high hurdles, Fisher ran a consistent race and hit 18.0 for sixth place He came back in the 300M hurdles to run 46.8 for his second PR and seventh place.
“Jeremy’s intermediate hurdle time puts him No. 7 on the frosh list for Sweet Home,” Coach Snow said. “Jeremy has done an awesome job this year of competing against older kids and has continually lowered his times over the course of the season.”
In the distance races most of the kids were running their second race in as many days.
“We were trying to simulate what those kids will face at districts by having to race on back- to-back days,” Coach Snow said. “Ryan Garrett had a great race in the 800M, lowering his PR from the day before by almost two seconds. His PR of 2.08.1 was good for sixth place and puts him #4 on the frosh list for Sweet Home.”
Chris Burford and Aaron Lovik were both just off their season best in the 1500M with Chris placing eighth in 4.45.6.
In the 3000M, John Lovik got caught up in a very unevenly paced race that took its toll on all of the runners at the front. The race became a three person race for the last five laps and Lovik was out kicked on the last 600M. Lovik came through just off his season best at 9.48.0 which was good for third place.
“We only entered a short relay and our one bad handoff cost us,” Coach Snow said. “We finished third but passed out of the zone and had to settle for a DQ. It was the first race for this foursome and we’ll get this fixed before our next meet.”
In the sprints, Mauro Angulo was a double placer. Angulo took fourth in the 400M in 55.2 after going out a little to strong and tying up some down the homestretch. Casey Baarson was eighth in the same race at 56.7 Angulo came back to take third in the 200M at 24.5 later in the meet. Baarson doubled back in the 300M hurdles to run a season PR of 47.3 which was good for eighth place there also.
Ricky Stock and Mike Severns both placed in the 100M. Ricky has been consistent all season and ran a near PR 11.9 which was good for third place overall. Severns ran a season best 12.0 for sixth place. Severns’ time puts him #6 on the sophomore list.
In the field, the weather really hampered the athletes. Several downpours made it hard to handle implements and difficult to be consistent with their marks.
Stock and Severns both had a difficult time in the horizontal jumps with thier marks. Ricky was able to get two legal jumps in with his best of 18-01.5 good enough for fifth place. Severns had a season PR of 36-06 in the triple jump on his only legal jump which placed him eighth.
Robert McGarry and Keegan Burnett had to wait out the downpours before the vault could go on and then they still had to deal with sprinkles. Both were off their season bests and battled each other for the top two spots. McGarry won at 12-00 for first and Burnett was just behind at 11-06 for second place.
In the throws, Matt Slauson won two third places despite the weather conditions with marks that were near his season PRs.
In the shot put, Slauson had a best of 45-02.5 and in the discus his best toss of the day was 134-03. Rob Martin was a non placer in the shot put with a season PR 39-07.5.
In the javelin, Martin and Severns were both just short of their PRs. Severns took fifth at 134-04 and Martin was just short of placing at 123-03.
Both competed well despite the rain which made gripping the javelin difficult.