Rasmussen sixth at state cross-country meet

Scott Swanson

Nicole Rasmussen placed sixth in the state 4A cross-country championships Saturday, Nov. 5 as the Husky girls placed 12th overall.

Daniel Danforth was 27th for the boys with teammate Jakob Hiett 28th.

Scappoose won the girls team title with 82 points, one more than Klamath Union, which finished with 83, led by individual winner Alisha Luna, a junior who has won two straight state titles and has placed first in every race she has run since Klamath Union switched to the 4A division in 2010. Sisters was third with 88 points. Sweet Home scored 269.

Missing from the state championships, for the first time in a state-record 31 years – were the Philomath girls team, which was missing its No. 2 runner at the Oregon West district championships and lost what would have been its 32nd-straight state appearance by 10 points. The Warrior boys were there, in their 28th appearance, placing

“It feels weird not to have a girls team here,” Philomath Coach Joe Fulton said.

Rounding out the girls teams were: (5) Phoenix 161; (6) Siuslaw 171; (7) Cascade 205; (8) Stayton 226; (9) Crook County 227; (10) Molalla 230; (11) North Bend 242; (12) Sweet Home 269; (13) Banks 312; and (14) McLoughlin 346.

Rasmussen ran in a pack with Central senior Alyn Moncsko, junior Tia Carnahan of Scappoose and freshman Nevina Deluca of Phoenix for most of the race after the front three – Luna (18:32), Sierra Brown of Hidden Valley (18:57) and Katy Potter of Siuslaw (19:23), all juniors, broke away from the field in a string after the first half mile.

“I kind of wanted to place a little better,” said Rasmussen, who placed the highest of any Husky since Jessie Schra won in 1993. Olivia Johnson was seventh in 2009.

“Last year I didn’t place so this year my goal was to place.”

Paige Sanders was second for the Huskies, in 39th place (21:35), her second-fastest time of the year and nine seconds faster than she ran on a slightly easier course with less hills at the district race Oct. 27, also at Lane Community College.

“I thought it was better than districts,” she said of her performance. “I felt better.”

Coach Billy Snow said the girls ran “pretty well, overall.”

“If you go up and down the line, some were not too happy with what they did, but none of them walked away saying, ‘Gosh, I could have gone faster.’ They did the best they could that day.”

He said both Sanders and Rasmussen ran about what he expected.

“Nicole made first team all-state,” Snow said. “We’ve had some good runners, but I can’t think of too many who were first team all-state. And she’s only a sophomore.”

Rasmussen’s finish qualifies her for the Nike-sponsored Border Clash meet that pits elite runners from Oregon against those from Washington. The race will be held on the Nike corporate campus in Beaverton at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 20.

“Now she gets to run in that Border Clash,” Snow said. “That will let her see what the really, really good ones are doing.”

Third for the Huskies was Sarah Wyatt, who overtook several runners in the last 300 meters on the track to finish 82nd in 23:52 – 28 seconds faster than her district time over a faster course. Kimber Swanson was right behind, 88th in 24:07 – 10 seconds faster than her district race time, and junior Tashana Mithen set a PR of 24:53 – the only PR of the day, finishing 93rd as Sweet Home’s final scorer. Rounding out the Sweet Home runners were Trysta Lewelling, 103rd in 27:48 and Annemarie Miller, 104th in 27:52.

Danforth was the top finisher for the three Husky boys who qualified for the championships as individuals – but barely. He went out fast, running the first mile in 5:05, and developed a severe sideache that stayed with him for the duration of the race. Hiett went out close to his normal pace, clocking a 5:20 first mile, Snow said, adding that the race was more physical than cross-country competitions normally are.

“If it gets narrow, sometimes you have to fight your way through,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff going on out there that the rest of us couldn’t see.”

Danforth, a junior, came down the home stretch on the LCC track, fighting to stay ahead of Hiett, a freshman, who finished one second behind him, in 17:22. Senior Nick Hall, who won the district title on Oct. 27, running 17:11, finished 63rd in 18:27.

“Nick never got into a comfort zone until he hit the track and realized ‘I’m on the track,’ when he took off like a racecar,” Snow said. “He could never relax, get into the rhythm of it.”

He said Danforth did well, coming in only a few seconds behind his district time – with the sideache.

Danforth said he was surprised to find his freshman teammate pulling up beside him midway through the race.

“I did not expect Jakob to be there,” said Danforth, who finished 36th last year.

“It was a better finish for me than last year. I’m older and more trained now. “

He said the state meet provides plenty of people to run push him.

“There’s always someone in front of you whom you can draft off of and you can always pass.”

Hiett, who cut over a minute off his 5K time during his rookie season, said he felt “really good – I’m so tired,” after the race. “I tried to keep up with Daniel. I wanted to go faster and get a better time than I ran at districts.”

He nearly did that, missing by a second on a course that had an extra hill and that was far mushier than the district race course was, thanks to a steady drizzle all morning.

Hiett said he enjoyed running in his first state competition “against people whom I’ve only heard about and never had an opportunity to race against. It’s a lot bigger (than other races. There are a lot more people.

He nearly achieved his goal of being the first freshman finisher – losing out only to Siuslaw’s Seth Campbell, who ran 17:06.

Siuslaw won the team race with 36 points, thanks to a one-two finish by Matthew Campbell and Mitchell Butler, and all five scorers placing in the top 15. Paul Adams of Mazama was the boys winner (15:48) but he ran as an independent, so his finish did not count in the team scoring. North Valley was second (87), followed by Henley (134), La Salle (148), Newport (165) and Sisters (181).

Snow said he expects some good competition between Hiett and Campbell in coming years.

“That one that beat him is the younger brother of one of those good Siuslaw runners,” he said. “I can’t remember the last guy we had who was ranked in state as a freshman.”

Snow said the girls this year ran as well as he could have expected from a team that had four returnees from last year.

“I was surprised we beat Banks,” he said. “Unfortunately, so many of our new girls are seniors. We’ll lose four from this state meet team, and our backup-alternative (Laura Hoy).

“I had no clue what to expect after all those seniors left (last year), but the relationship they build is what makes it work,” he said of this year’s team, which had three rookie runners on the state meet varsity. “ They really support each other and that’s really an awesome deal. That’s one of the things I love about it.

“But we’ve got a great nucleus coming back. The first year I worked cross-country as the head coach, I was trying to find five girls and I didn’t have five until the last two meets.”

Sanders said she has high hopes for herself and the girls team next year.

“I want to run 20 (minutes) flat and I want us all to go to state and place again,” she said, referring to Sweet Home’s first girls trophy, won by last year’s team. “We can do it if we get the right people.”

Danforth also is optimistic about the Huskies’ prospects for 2012.

“If Jakob keeps this up, he will win the individual title,” he predicted. “I’m positive we’ll make it back as a (boys) team next year, Brett will be back again,” referring to former Husky Brett King, who moved to Virginia, then moved back during this season but was unable to get eligible in time to help the Huskies at the district championships. King, a junior this year, ran close to Danforth as a freshman and sophomore.

“Our sophomores (Ian Wingo, Nick Mattson and David Johnson) are going to get better and we need to recruit more people. “

On the boys side, the Huskies are losing Hall, a two-time district champion, but Snow said the cupboard definitely is not bare.

“We lose one of our top three in Nick, but we’ve got three guys who are capable of being lead runners in the district meet. That part bodes well. Those younger guys only going to get better. We’ve got a good nucleus coming back. We just have to add bodies.

“We’re looking for runners. Experience is not a requirement.”

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