Daniel Danforth was fourth overall to lead the Sweet Home boys cross-country team at the 27th Annual Murv Fanning Invitational Beach Run at Agate Beach in Newport Saturday morning.
Sophomore Nicole Rasmussen was Sweet Home’s top finisher for the girls, taking sixth in 20:08 – a 2:36 personal best for the course for her.
Senior Nick Hall was second for the boys, seventh overall, in 17:53, while freshman Jakob Hiett was third for the Huskies and ninth overall, in 18:25. Danforth, a junior, ran 17:11, 1:02 faster than his previous personal best for the course and the fastest he’s ever run any 5000-meter cross-country course.
The Murv Fanning is run at low tide on hard sand on the beach, so if the wind is calm it can be a very fast course.
All three of the Sweet Home girls who had run the course before finished with big PR’s.
For the girls, junior Paige Sanders, who was 11th, ran 22:00, an exactly one minute PR, and senior Kimber Swanson, who was third for the Huskies and 19th overall, finished in 25:14, 2:04 faster than last year.
For many of the very inexperienced Huskies, this race was about getting a taste of competition, said Coach Billy Snow.
“We’ve got so many kids who hadn’t run a cross-country meet before that just getting them to line and not getting lost was an accomplishment,” he said.
“Those kids who ran there last year all had big-time PRs. You can’t argue about that. We might be competitive when we get to the league competition.”
The other varsity finishers for the Huskies were junior Tashana Mithen, 23rd in 26:30, and seniors Trysta Lewelling, 25th in 26:57, and Laura Hoy, 26th in 27:16. It was their first cross-country race for both.
Rounding out the varsity finishers for the boys were sophomores Ian Wingo, 16th in 20:30, and Nick Mattson, 19th in 20:51.
Paige Rice of St. Mary’s Academy, which brought 51 girls to the meet, won the girls varsity race in 18:30. Newport’s Theo Puentes was the boys winner, in 16:23.
The Husky boys were third with 55 points, behind Milawukee (34) and Newport (54), while the grils scored 84, behind St. Mary’s (24) and Milwaukee (47) and ahead of Newport (88).
Snow said Hiett was the most outstanding of the newcomers, running the second-fastest 4A time tfor the 5000-meter distance in the stte among freshmen after the first week of competition.
JV finishers for the Sweet Home boys were sophomore David Johnson, fourth in 11:52 on the 3000-meter course, Ryan Blackwell, eighth in 13:25, and Trevor Melson, 10th in 16:41.
For the girls, AnneMarie Miller was 31st, in 14:25; followed by Candalynn Johnson, 29th in 15:45; Sierrah Owen, 40h in 18:39; and Elise Holden, 41st in 18:40.