A workout at Waterloo on Oct. 4 that ended with personal records nearly across the board for the Husky cross Country team made for a tired team at Philomath on Saturday.
“Overall, we had a lesser meet than what we had hoped for,” Coach Dave Martin said of Philomath. Two factors were key in the race. It was the second “quality” race in a week, and the team was tired. Also, the weather was warmer than usual and what is comfortable for running cross country.
Two runners had PRs at Philomath. Jake Dahlenburg ran 20:49 down from 20:59.
John Lovik, who ran well at Waterloo, “was even more impressive in this one,” Coach Martin said. He dropped from 17:41 to 17:37.
Most of the runners were about 15 seconds off of their PRs, Coach Martin said. A lot of the Huskies are young and don’t respond well to two 5,000-meter races in a week.
Justin Temple finished 16th at Philomath. Lovik finished 20th. Kyle Temple finished 50th. Robert Couch finished at about 58th. Jay Mariner finished 65th, and Andrew Allen finished right behind him in 66th. The team took eighth place overall edging out Central, which is among the teams contending for second place at the upcoming district meet. Justin Temple and Lovik both finished ahead of Central’s first runner.
Lovik finished closer to Justin Temple than before, Coach Martin said. “It was a John week. He’s getting the same workouts. I think the big difference is there’s a fire in his eyes.”
In practice, other varsity runners beat Lovik half the time, Coach Martin said.
Girls varsity finished ninth but ahead of two or three other teams.
Maria G. Andrade finished at 22:58; Jessica Brocard, 23:10; Megan Snow, 24:30; Andrea Martin, 25:10; Ana Andrade, 25:45; and Kalee Schaefer, 25:47.
Although running tired, Maria G. Andrade and Brocard ran “really good” races, Coach Martin said. The other, younger players, were about empty running two races.
On the junior varsity boys team, Richard Westvik and Jake Dahlenburg are scrapping over the number seven spot on varsity. Westvik finished faster than Dahlenburg at Waterloo, but in practice, Dahlenburg is finishing faster than Westvik.
Dahlenburg finished 20:48 and Westvik finished 20:49 at Philomath. At the next meet, Dallas, Dahlenburg will run varsity, but the competition for the spot continues.
There were no junior varsity girls racing at Philomath.
At Waterloo, all but one of the Huskies set a PR.
On girls varsity, Maria G. Andrade finished two minutes better than her personal lifetime record. Brocard was up by nearly two minutes. Snow and Ana Andrade were up by three minutes over the week before when they set lifetime PRs.
“That doesn’t happen very often,” Coach Martin said, and it’s not something the team likely will see again this year. “We’ve been running at this plane, and we went up to another level.”
The Huskies’ goal is to hold that level through the end of the season, perhaps pushing times up by 15 seconds at the district meet, Coach Martin said. This girls team is working out to tbe the best varsity team, as a team, in the last four to five years.
On the boys varsity, Justin Temple set a PR for the year. Lovik had a lifetime PR by a minute, and Kyle Temple was nearly a minute faster. Mariner was 1:20 faster. Couch set a PR by about 10 seconds, and Allen missed his by only two or three seconds. Dahlenburg moved his lifetime PR up by about a minute and a half.
On junior varsity, Westvik moved his time up by 1:55.
The team not only improved its times, it accomplished another of its goals by finishing closer together.
“We made changes in the way we warmed up,” Coach Martin said. “And I think it made a big difference.
“We’re hoping to continue the progress we’ve made here the last couple of weeks,” Coach Martin said, and with that, meet goals for the district meet, which comes up Oct. 29.