Saturday May 10 saw a new event in Sweet Home.
For the first time, Sweet Home played host to the Boys Meet of Champions.
“We picked up this meet when Stayton no longer wanted it,” Coach Billy Snow said. “With our new facility, they asked if we would take it on. It was a huge undertaking but the help we had at the meet was outstanding. To have a successful track meet, you have to have the right people in the right areas and we had that. All the coaches were extremely happy with how the meet ran. That is a direct reflection of the helpers we had at the meet and each and everyone of them should be proud of the work they did.”
This meet is an invitational only meet. It is open to all 3A, 2A, and 1A athletes and they have to meet qualifying standards to get in.
“We try to take the top 16-24 times or marks for each event to put together the field. In the end, 41 schools were represented with well over 200 athletes and a total of 397 entries,” Coach Snow said.
The results were impressive with some great marks and times in many of the events. Six meet records were established along the way.
On the track, Yamhill-Carlton set a new meet record in the 4 x 100M relay with a winning time of 43.94.
Sweet Home’s team of Seth Graves, Robert McGarry, Randy Nicholson and Paris Ramsey ran a season PR of 44.41 to finish third.
“That time is outstanding for us and should give those guys some motivation going into Districts,” Coach Snow said.
In the 100M dash, Paris Ramsey continued his great season, running away from a strong field to win in a new meet record time of 10.89. With conversions figured in for auto timing, Ramsey’s time equals the school record set by Matt Kragness in 2001.
In the 200M, Ramsey again wooed the crowd and proved that he is one of the faster kids in the state at all levels, destroying a good field with a meet record time of 21.98a.
“His time is the fourth best ever at the 3A level which is just amazing,” Coach Snow said. “Based on his performances, Paris was selected as the Track Athlete of the meet.”
Randy Nicholson also competed in the sprints, running the 100M in a near PR time of 11.72 for 12th place overall. Ryan Garrett and Chris Burford both qualified in the 800M. Garrett ran a season PR 2.06.24 for 10th place and Burford was just off his season best a 2.08.28 for 12th place.
In the 1600M relay, the team of Ian Lynn, Mike Lummus, Ryan Garrett, and Chris Burford had an incredible run for that foursome. Each of them ran season PR splits or better and finished with a time of 3.41.69 for ninth overall.
“That was probably the gutsiest performance by our guys on the entire day,” Coach Snow said.
The other meet record on the track came from Collin Cram of Siuslaw in the 100M high hurdles. His final time was 14.96 and would have ranked him #1 last year in the state at the 3A level last year.
In the field, the competition was just as impressive and Sweet Home athletes again had a great day.
Matt Slauson had some outstanding throws in the finals of the shot put after barely getting in to the finals. Matt had two puts over the old school record of 52-09.5 set by Mark Frachiseur in 1972. Matt’s final throw was his best at 53-05 which was good for second on the day, Cole Linehan of Banks won the shot in a new meet record of 55-09.
Matt also competed in the discus, having a best throw on the day of 137-11 which was good for seventh overall.
Randy Nicholson competed in both the horizontal jumps. In the triple jump, Nicholson had a season PR jump of 40-07.5 which ended up placing him 5th on the day. In the long jump, he was a half inch short of his season best, going 20-09 for 5th place there also.
Seth Graves also jumped in the long jump, going 18-11.75 for 15th place. The triple jump was won by Dominique Easterling of Madras in 47-02.5, a new meet record. Dom is the #4 triple jumper in the entire nation and was named the Field Athlete of the meet based on his wins in the triple jump, high jump, and 2nd place finish in the long jump.
In the pole vault, Robert McGarry had a lifetime PR of 13-08 in a really tough competition. Robert was 5th overall. The vault was won by Collin Cram of Siuslaw in a meet record 14-08.
Mike Severns (javelin) and Jon Lovik (3000M) both qualified for the meet but due to illness and injury did not compete.
Again kudos go out to all the staff, students, and community members who helped put this meet on.
“Ken Roberts deserves a huge thank you for all the footwork he did,” Coach Snow said. “This was an opportunity for Sweet Home to shine and that we did. All the coaches had a lot of praise on how the meet was run and the quality of the help and the facilities. Any complaints were minor and had to do with possible changes in the meet for next year.”