Last year the Sweet Home cross-country girls team missed a trip to state by one point, edged by Philomath in the Val-Co district meet at Pilomath.
At this year’s district championships on Saturday, Oct. 31, it came down to a one-point margin again, but this time it was Sweet Home squeaking by the Warriors to take the district title by a margin of 37 to 38. Central finished with 45 points, while Newport and Taft did not field full varsity squads.
But, in a shocker, Junior Olivia Johnson won her second straight individual title as she paced the girls to the win and sophomore Nick Hall won the boys individual district crown as he led the Husky boys team to a state berth, taking second behind a strong Philomath squad.
Philomath finished with 40 points, with the Husky boys six points back, followed by Central (69), Newport (95) and Taft (121).
It marked the first time in more than 10 years that both the girls and boys have made state in the same year and the first time since 1991-93, when Mike Payne and Jessie Schra were running, that Sweet Home has had two individual champions in the same year.
“It’s great; I’m happy for the kids. They’ve worked hard,” Coach Billy Snow said. “The kids had a great meet; it was probably one of the better district meets we’ve ever had.”
The last time the Sweet Home girls beat Philomath was the 2007 season and the boys last qualified for state in 2006.
The Warriors are regarded as the state’s most consistently successful cross-country program by many. Philomath has sent its teams to state more times than any other team in Oregon €“ 30 straight years for the girls and 26 for the boys.
Prior to the meet there was a question of whether Philomath’s top runner on the girl’s side, junior Annette Marinello, was competing at her normal level, which would have made a difference in the Huskies’ one-point advantage.
Marinello was undefeated this season in 4A competition going into the district race but had sat out the two previous races to “rest.” It became evident why on Saturday as she struggled through the course, managing a seventh-place finish that was critical to Philomath’s chances of continuing its state meet streak, but her time of 21:32.65 was approximately three minutes slower than what she would likely have run if she were healthy.
Central’s Jordan Huffman took the lead in the first mile and led the lead pack through the first half of the race before Johnson took over and ran away with the victory, finishing in 20:00.
Although it was a difficult race in some aspects, such as breathing, for Carissa Swanson, she finished close behind in third place, with a time of 20:40.
“I am nervous for the final scoring to see if we knocked Philomath out of their running,” said Swanson as the team waited to hear the results.
Caroline Amendola came in eighth place with 21:45, in front of Paige Sanders, who was 13th in 22:31.
Amendola said the first mile for her “felt good, but it got harder after that.”
Part of the district course required the runners to make sharp turns around trees, run up slopes and trudge through patches of mud.
As districts approached, it became evident that the district race would come down to a race to qualify for state between Central, Philomath and Sweet Home for both the girls and boys.
Hall stayed with Philomath’s Jeff Schreiner-McGraw through the entire race, as they separated from the rest of the field.
Schreiner-McGraw, the clear pre-race favorite, was visibly ill as the race progressed and Hall left him behind with a quarter mile to go, speeding down the home stretch and collapsing after he crossed the finish line in 17:10.
“It felt great. I was tight at the beginning of the race, but I kept in third place, letting them keep the pace till the second mile.” Hall said. “I passed a runner from Newport and was with a Philomath runner till the last 200 meters. Then I put it up two gears.”
Hall said he hit the pace Snow set for him and listened to his advice to not run to the front of the pack at the beginning of the race, a mistake Hall made last year as a freshman.
“I just did what coach told me and ran the race,” Hall said.
Second for the Huskies, in ninth place, was Byron Sanders, finishing in 18:24, who helped the scoring by coming ahead of a Philomath runner. Leading a pack of Sweet Home boys was Casey Keys, 11th in 18:32, following was Jake Comstock, 12th in 18:33, and in 13th place with 18:39 was Daniel Danforth to round out the scoring for Sweet Home. That pack helped helped the Huskies get their state berth.
Snow said he “felt for the Philomath kids who were injured and sick, but that’s sometimes how it goes.
He noted that Sweet Home has had its share of those experiences as well, most notably the loss of Kyle Hummer for the season.
“On the guys side, it wasn’t like we were depending on a set five or six guys,” he said. “Including some kids who were injured, we had eight to 10 guys who we could move in.
“We had little Daniel Danforth, who, about mid-season figured it out that he could run with the big kids. Casey Keys and Christ Thompson came on strong at the end.
On the JV girl’s side, Liz Egbert came in third place at 25:56. Emily Egbert finished in sixth place, 26:57. On the boys JV side, Avery Shamek finished in third place, with a time of 19:03, following closely was Joe Stroud in fourth place, 20:01.
The Philomath team won the girls JV race, as well as the boy’s JV race, with Sweet Home in second place and Central in third. However, the winning streak would run short for Philomath by one point.
Snow said the boys’ ability to pack together helped lead to their success during the race, while on the girls side, “Jessica Snow, Caroline Amendola, and Paige Sanders did a good job of breaking up Central.
“Paige held a couple off on the track (the final 300 meters) and Jessie passed a couple on the track. Each of those took a couple of points away from us and put them on them.
“Carissa finishing third €“ I wasn’t expecting that. That was where we needed her.”
He said everybody ran fast.
“If you throw out the Elmira course, which turned out to be a little short, and compare district meet times to their other meets, including the Paul Mariman which was run on the same course, their average PR was 33 seconds,” Snow said. “That was hauling.”
The OSAA State Championships will be held Saturday, Nov. 7, at Lane Community College. The girls 4A race begins at 11:25 a.m. with the boys race following.
2009 Val-Co District Championship
Boys Varsity Team Scores: (1) Philomath 40; (2) Sweet Home 46; (3) Central 69; (4) Newport 95; (5) Taft 121.
Individual Results: (1) Nick Hall (SH) 17:11.14; (2) Jeff Schreiner-McGraw (P) 17:28.28; (3) Quinn Lindley (C) 17:34.60; (4) Theo Puentes (N) 17:43.24; (5) Thomas Guerena (T) 17:46.30; (6) Boone McCoy-Crisp (P) 17:50.98; (7) Julio Alvarado (P) 18:01.01; (8) Brady Lloyd (C) 18:12.85; (9) Byron Sanders (SH) 18:24;40; (10) Tyler Joyner (P) 18:30.38; (11) Casey Keys (SH) 18:32.46; (12) Jake Comstock (SH) 18:33.49; (13) Daniel Danforth (SH) 18:39.54; (14) Dave Young (C) 18:43.57; (15) Zach Trask (P) 18:47.65; (16) Chris Thompson (SH) 18:48.73; (17) Lorenzo Virgen (SH) 19:09.93; (18) Brian Alaman (P) 19:11.82; (19) Deklyn Wood (N) 19:15.84; (20) Alex Munsee (P) 19:26.85; (21) Zack McClure (C) 19:44.07; (22) Wade Sproul (N) 19:45.18; (23) David Grandquist (C) 19:55.30; (24) Ryan Gascho (T) 20:17.37; (26) Stuart Bartoldus (N) 20:19.74; (27) Luis Rodriguez (C) 20:31.59; (28) Kevin Gile (T) 20:37.97; (29) Seth West (C) 20:45.16; (30) Trent Palmer (N) 21:21.82; (31) Logan O’Neil (T) 21:45.54; (32) Trevor Rousseau (T) 22:53.51; (33) Henry Blakeman (T) 25:34.79.
Girls Varsity Team Scores: (1) Sweet Home 37; (2) Philomath 38; (3) Central 45.
Individual Results: (1) Olivia Johnson (SH) 20:00.74; (2) Jordan Huffman (C) 20:37.28; (3) Carissa Swanson (SH) 20:40.09; (4) Alyn Moncsko (C) 21:02.52; (5) Audrey Hellesto (P) 21:30.37; (6) Kelsey Nadeau (T) 21:32.43; (7) Annette Marinello (P) 21:32.65; (8) Caroline Amendola (SH) 21:45.35; (9) Olivia Anderson-Gregg (P) 22:00.01; (10) Eva Long (T) 22:08.28; (11) Marisa Browning-Kamins (P) 22:10.65; (12) Emma Ervin (P) 22:31.30; (13) Paige Sanders (SH) 22:31.92; (14) Melissa Whitaker (C) 22:40.58; (15) Taylor Huffman (C) 22:44.02; (16) Wendy Deptula (C) 22:44.21; (17) Jessica Snow (SH) 22:54.06; (18) Toni Humphrey (C) 22:57.03; (19) Sherry Woods (P) 23:06.09; (20) Michaela Puentes (N) 23:22.79; (21) Chloe Waddell (C) 23:26.61; (22) Morgan Annable (N) 24:01.05; (23) Jenna Kistner (SH) 24:05.11; (24) A’Briana Cortes (N) 24:26.05; (25) Natasha Perry (SH) 24:34.14; (26) Ann Marie Sketch (T) 26:30.79; (27) Lita Noland (T) 27:15.45; (28) Alyssa Clayton (N) 28:38.99.
Junior Varsity Boys Top 5
And Sweet Home Finishers
(1) Otis Darden (P) 18:41.94; (2) Ross Preiwe (P) 18:48.28; (3) Avery Shamek (SH) 19:03.20; (4) Joe Stroud (SH) 20:01.46; (5) Jackson Rain (P) 20:03.33; (8) Brett King (SH) 20:17.77; (9) Nene Mauer (SH) 20:18.77; (10) Jacob Miner (SH) 20:19.04; (11) Anson Davis (SH) 20:19.31; (15) James Myers (SH) 21:48.48; (16) David Rinehart (SH) 20:49.20; (26) Conner Cunha (SH) 29:28.45; (27) Mitchell Garcia (SH) 33:54.08.
Junior Varisty Girls Top 5 and
Sweet Home Finishers
(1) Erin Larson (P) 25:12.54; (2) Haylee Eveland (P) 25:19.65; (3) Liz Egbert (SH) 25:56.91; (4) Hannah Hellberg (P) 26:09.36; (5) Carla Oberst (C) 26:55.66; (6) Emily Egbert (SH) 26:57.08; (9) Taylar Rodgers (SH) 31:15.00.