Sweet Home’s track and field squad got its competitive season rolling Thursday, March 21, with second-place finishes by the boys and girls at the Stayton Relays.
“A lot of promising stuff,” Head Coach Nathan Whitfield said. “I feel really great about it.”
The Stayton meet was conducted differently than typical high school track meets, with no individual running events. Instead, those were incorporated into relay events in 100, 200, 400, 800, and 4,000-meter distances and a 100 hurdles relay event for the girls.
“It wasn’t a normal meet with (all the track events) being relays, but the times they recorded – we were getting hand times on their splits. I was really excited about what I saw,” Whitfield said.
“We were able to put a lot of kids in a lot of different scenarios that they don’t normally see. We can get a good look, a good idea of what they’re actually capable of, get some great looks at what they can do.”
Sweet Home’s boys lost the baton in the 4×100 relay, but roared back to take the 4×200, freshman Ryker Burr, sophomore Dillan Davis, junior Chase Cameron and senior Kyle Sieminski combining to win that race in 1:38.34, and Burr, freshman Landon Murry, Davis and Sieminski winning the 4×400 in 3:44.54.
“The 4×4’s looked really good, especially the guys,” Whitfield said. “They were flying. We had a couple of kids running not quite at 100 percent but they still had great times.
“The girls were pretty tired – it was their last race of the day, but they still did great.”
The Husky boys also won the 4×800, freshmen Kason Koenig-Walters and Hunter Clark, sophomore Keagan Vogel and junior Kasey Kast combining to run 9:46.90, 28 seconds ahead of second-place Stayton. Those four also won the 4,000-meter distance medley relay in 12:32.88.
Cascade’s girls swept all three short relays, while Sweet Home’s girls B team of junior Jenaya Mcelhinny and freshmen Emry Vannice, Khloe Wood and Aivaih Duran won the 800-meter sprint medley relay in 2:06.27. Sweet Home’s girls team of sophomore Mckenzie Miller, junior Natiyah Koenig-Walters and seniors Lydia Wright and Rylee Markell won the 4,000-meter distance medley relay in 14:31.34.
“Our distance crew, both sides, just absolutely tore up the track,” Whitfield said. “They won all their races. There were great improvements from both upper classmen and lower classmen.”
The sole individual winner for the Sweet Home girls was sophomore Delainie Pratt in the pole vault, clearing 6-6.
Freshman Gavin Tyler won the shot for the boys, with a personal-best 40-1 – with teammate Dylan Sharp finishing second, literally one inch behind Tyler. Senior Colin Nicholson picked up not far from where he left off in an injury-shortened season last year, clearing 6-0 to win the high jump.
“Colin had a good high jump,” Whitfield said. “We went 1-2 in the shot – you can’t complain about that, an inch apart. We’re getting close to PRs with some of our veterans on girls side in the javelin. We even had a surprise in the girls discus with Mailey Brewer.”
Brewer, a freshman, finished fifth in that event with a throw of 70-10, a 6½-foot PR in her second high school meet.
“Jess Martineau had a good shot put,” Whitfield added, “and we’ve got Conner (Pace, who posted his second straight personal best with a second-place throw of 119-0) coming on strong in the discus.”
Following Spring Break this week, the Huskies will be back in action at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at home against Newport, and then will compete Saturday, April 6, at the 16-team Sandy Invitational, with some athletes competing that day in the Cobra Memorial Meet.
Boys Results
Team Scores – (1) Cascade 64; (2) Sweet Home 57; (3) Kennedy 30½; (4) Stayton 29½.
Top Three and Sweet Home Results
* Personal Best Time/Mark
4×100 Relay – (1) Cascade A 46.44; (2) Stayton A 47.98; (3) Sweet Home B (Conner Stevens, Nick Larson, Elisha Scofield, Dillan Davis) 49.61; (Sweet Home A dropped baton).
4×200 Relay – (1) Sweet Home A (Ryker Burr, Dillan Davis, Kyle Sieminski, Chase Cameron) 1:38.34; (2) Kennedy 1:43.25; (3) Sweet Home B (Conner Stevens, Nick Larson, Kaeson Walker, Landon Murry) 1:45.14.
4×400 Relay – (1) Sweet Home A (Ryker Burr, Landon Murry, Dillan Davis, Kyle Sieminski) 3:44.54; (2) Cascade 3:51.03; (3) Stayton 3:52.47.
4×800 Relay – (1) Sweet Home A (Kasey Kast, Kason Koenig-Walters, Hunter Clark, Keagan Vogel) 9:46.90; (2) Stayton 10:14.79l; (3) Cascade 10:23.95; (5) Sweet Home B (Izack Slayer, Jim Nunn (Morgan), Kyle Porter, Boden Sayer) 11:22.39.
800 Sprint-Medley Relay – (1) Stayton 1:46.12; (2) Cascade 1:46.15; (3 Sweet Home A (Landon Murry, Chase Cameron, Dillan Davis, Kyle Sieminski 1:49.69.
4000 Distance Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home A (Kason Koenig-Walters, Kasey Kast, Hunter Clark, Keagan Vogel) 12:32.88; (2) Stayton 12:47.13; (3) Cascade 12:51.45; (5) Sweet Home B (Jim Nunn, Christian Justham, Kyle Porter, Izack Slayter) 14:03.91.
Shot Put – (1) Gavin Tyler (SH) 40-1*; (2) Dylan Sharp (SH) 40-0*; (3) Bryce May (C) 37-8; (9) Jackson Barringer (SH) 33-2*; (11) Conner Pace (SH) 32-11*; (17) Jon Hart (SH) 31-1; (24) Liam Martin (SH) 26-7*; (29) Payton Messmer (SH) 24-10; (32) Taren Greunke (SH) 22-0; (33) Marley Ortiz (SH) 20-11*.
Discus – (1) Bryce May (C) 124-2; (2) Conner Pace (SH) 119-0*; (3) Jacob Gehley (C) 115-1; (11) Dylan Sharp (SH) 91-8; (12) Jon Hart (SH) 88-9; (16) Gavin Tyler (SH) 82-8*; (17) Kason Koenig-Walters (SH) 82-7*; (25) Joab Zeek (SH) 65-9*; (27) Gunnar Summers (SH) 65-0*; (28) Liam Martin (SH) 64-11½*; (29-tie) Jackson Barringer (SH), Payton Messmer (SH) 63-3 (PR for Messmer); (33) Taren Greunke (SH) 62-3*; (36) Henry Jones (SH) 56-1*; (38) Memphis Gay (SH) 49-8½; (40) Marley Ortiz (SH) 38-0*.
Javelin – (1) Brooks Rasmussen (C) 160-8½; (2) Elijah Traeger (K) 156-2; (3) Charles McFerron (C) 136-3; (6) Laird Pettner (SH) 124-8*; (7) Rickey Erickson (SH) 118-2; (9) Gavin Tyler (SH) 109-11; (12) Kaeson Walker (SH) 99-10½*; (14) Boden Sayer (SH) 93-5*; (16) Joab Zeek (SH) 90-1*; (18) Memphis Gay (SH) 85-7* (19) Blake Arthur (SH) 85-4; (20) Lukas Thompson (SH) 80-8*; (23) Gunnar Summers (SH) 77-0*; (24) Payton Messmer (*SH) 75-8.
High Jump – (1) Colin Nicholson (SH) 6-0; (2) Kaden Holm (S) 5-2; (3) Stephen Handran (K) 4-10; (8) Elisha Scofield (SH) 4-2.
Pole Vault – (1) Sam Duda (K) 10-0; (2-tie) Roman Shreves (SH), Andrew Moore (C), Harrison Sumpter (C) 6-6.
Long Jump – (1) Josiah Hawkins (C) 19-11; (2) Sam Duda (K) 18-0; (3) Brycen Schaan (S) 17-8; (8) Nick Larson (SH) 15-10*; (10) Elisha Scofield (SH) 14-10*; (11) Christian Justham (SH) 14-9*; (12) Logan Estep (SH) 14-4*; (16) Domynic Daniel (SH) 13-1*.
Triple Jump – (1) Stephen Handran (K) 35-0; (2) Laird Pettner (SH) 33-5*; (3) Wyatt Bird (C) 27-1.
Girls Results
Team Scores – (1) Cascade 67; (2) Sweet Home 44; (3-tie) Kennedy, Stayton 33.
Top Three and Sweet Home Results
4×100 Relay – (1) Cascade 51.13; (2) Stayton 55.23; (3) Sweet Home A (Delainie Pratt, Amara Gonzales, Hannah Nicholson, Brooke Elder) 56.30; (6) Sweet Home B (Jenaya Mcelhinny, Emry Vannice, Abygail Foss, Emily Ramussen) 1:00.67; (7) Sweet Home C (Beatrice Reeve, Sophia Stock, Samantha Pinea Villa, Aivaih Duran) 1:01.32; (10) Mckenzie Olheiser, Madison Olheiser, Ally Downs, Amelia Berg) 1:06.83.
4×200 Relay – (1) Cascade 1:49.49; (2) Kennedy 2:00.42; (3) Jenaya Mcelhinny, Hannah Nicholson, Amara Gonzales, Brooke Elder) 2:02.22; (5) Sweet Home B (Amelia Berg, Emry Vannice, Aivaih Duran, Beatrice Reeve) 2:15.16); (6) Sweet Home C (Madison Olheiser, Sophia Stock, Mckenzie Olheiser, Samantha Pineda Villa) 2:19.12.
4×400 Relay – (1) Cascade 4:16.32; (2) Stayton 4:33.52; (3) Sweet Home A (Lydia Wright, Hannah Nicholson, Natiyah Koenig-Walters, Brooke Elder) 4:45.38.
4×800 Relay – (1) Stayton 11:45.87; (2) Sweet Home (Mckenzie Miller, Rylee Markell, Miu Simmons, Michelle Slayton) 12:17.25; (3) Cascade 12:42.11.
800 Sprint-Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home B (Jenaya Mcelhinny, Emry Vannice, Khloe Wood, Aivaih Duran (SH) 2:06.27; (2) Cascade 2:11.34; (3) Kennedy 2:16.73; (4) Sweet Home A (Delainie Pratt, Hannah Nicholson, Amara Gonzales, Brooke Elder) 2:21.95.
4000 Distance Medley Relay – (1) Sweet Home A (Mckenzie Miller, Natiyah Koenig-Walters, Lydia Wright, Rylee Markell) 14:31.34; (2) Stayton 14:37.50; (3) Kennedy 14:44.39; (4) Cascade 16:10.00.
4×100 Shuttle Hurdles – (1) Kennedy 1:12.63; (2) Cascade 1:17.99; (3) Sweet Home (names not available) 1:26.19.
Shot Put – (1) Kalina Saechao (C) 35-10½; (2) Molli Emmert (S) 31-4; (3) Brayley Ford (C) 29-4; (5) Jess Martineau (SH) 27-11; (6) Emma Durrett (SH) 27-3*; (11)Mailey Brewer (SH) 23-0½; (13) Alyssa Peterson (SH) 20-11*; (17) Mahala Gourley Webster (SH) 15-11; (18) Timber Nobles (SH) 15-1*.
Discus – (1) Tia Allen (K) 117-1; (2) Kalina Saechao (C) 100-10; (3) Alexie Nussbaumer (S) 93-7; (5) Mailey Brewer (SH) 70-10*; (9) Emma Durrett (SH) 63-9*; (12) Alyssa Peterson (SH) 56-3*; (15) Jess Martineau (SH) 52-8; (16) Mahala Gourley Webster (SH) 53-11*; (17) Timber Nobles (SH) 33-8*.
Javelin – (1) Brayley Ford (C) 110-3½; (2) Olivia Frizelle (C) 108-3; (3) Peyton Markell (SH) 98-4; (6) Abygail Foss (SH) 79-2; (7) Rylee Markell (SH) 70-6½; (8) Emily Ramussen (SH) 70-2.
High Jump – No Sweet Home athletes recorded a height.
Pole Vault – (1) Delainie Pratt (SH) 6-6; (2) Riley Paden (C) 6-0; (3) Natiyah Koenig-Walters (SH) 5-6.
Long Jump – (1) Charlee Traeger (K) 14-0½; (2) Peyton Freeborn (C) 13-5; (3) Amara Gonzales (SH) 13-3; (4) Beatrice Reebe (SH) 12-11; (5) Khloe Wood (SH) 12-5; (6) Sophia Stock (SH) 12-3*; (8) Emry Vannice (SH) 10-3.
Triple Jump – No Sweet Home entrants.