Emma Whitton became Sweet Home’s highest finisher since 2014 and the second-highest girl ever for the Huskies when she finished fourth in the 4A Division state cross-country championships Saturday, Nov. 9, at Lane Community College.
In the small-schools championship race, East Linn Christian’s Daisy LaLonde, a Sweet Home resident, won her second state title.
Whitton, a freshman, finished in 19:01.9, literally a step behind La Grande senior Cecilia Villagomez Edvalson (18:59.7), whose teammate, junior Brooke Perry, was the individual champion in 18:36.5, followed by Alaina Casady of The Dalles, who was second in 18:52.9.
“I was really pleased for Emma to finish so highly at the state meet,” said Coach Dave Martin. “To run the second-fastest time ever for Sweet Home, that was really fine for a race when the only person who ran for us started running cross-country in the eighth grade last year.”
Whitton was solidly in the lead pack Saturday morning by the time she got to a short, steep hill within the first quarter mile on the course and after that she traded places with and challenged the La Grande runners and Casady repeatedly during the race. She was in third place at about 1,000 meters and battled Perry and Casady for much of the remainder of the race.
“The thing I liked the best about watching her run was that she was so in charge,” Martin said. “She was running in front, people were challenging her and she was fighting back.
“She didn’t win one race last year as a junior high kid. She’s put in a lot of hard work, a lot of miles and it paid off. She ran with a lot of composure.”
Whitton said her strategy was “just going up the hills fast.” She ran with Philomath’s Adele Beckstead, the Oregon West district champion, for the first half of the race, before Beckstead fell back, eventually fading to 16th (20:09.0). Freshman Cassidy Smart was 10th for the Warriors, leading Philomath to its second straight state team championship with 76 points, outpointing Klamath Union (89), The Dalles (139) and Scappoose (174) for the top spots. Junction City was fifth (178), followed by Stayton (180), which was lacking its No. 2 runner.
Whitton said she didn’t realize that Beckstead, who had beaten her in their last two racers by literally steps each time, had faded.
“I didn’t know I lost her,” Whitton said. “I thought she was behind me the whole time.”
She said she “liked” getting fourth place. “I was just hoping for a place in the top 10.”
Whitton is the first state meet competitor on the girls side for Sweet Home since Nicole Rasmussen led the Husky girls to a team berth at state in 2013. Rasmussen was sixth in 2011 and 2013, and Olivia Johnson was seventh in 2009.
The only Sweet Home girl who has run faster is Jessie Schra, who won the 3A state title in 1993, running 18:41.6 in the first year that the girls’ race distance was extended form 3,000 to 5,000 meters at the Oregon state championships. Schra was sixth as a freshman, second both as a sophomore and junior, and then won it as a senior.
Out of the approximately 60 girls who have run at state since Sweet Home entered the upper-division classifications in 1982, they are the only ones who have finished in the top 10. Jessy Hart qualified for the girls in 2018, but did not run at state, though the time (19:57) she ran at district that year would have likely gotten her into or near the top 10 at state.
Sweet Home has had 76 boys run at state in the upper divisions, Martin said. Jakob Hiett won the boys state title for the Huskies in 2014 and Tanner Sayers was the last boy to compete for Sweet Home at state, in 2017 when he finished fifth as a junior.
In the 4A boys championship race Saturday, Carter Bengston of Cottage Grove won his second straight individual title, running 15:41.2 to beat Marist’s Conor Thompson (15:58.4) and Corbin Sge (16:16.3). Newport’s Connor Brown was fourth in 16:19.0, literally outleaning Philomath junior Leo Pausch (16:19.1). Brown ‘s finish helped Newport to its second straight team title with 85 points, ahead of The Dalles (93), Crook County (104) and Cottage Grove (139). Philomath was sixth with 173 points, behind Molalla (141).
In the girls 1A/2A/3A championship race, East Linn Christian’s LaLonde took the individual championship, running 18:07.8, to cap an undefeated senior season. LaLonde broke the 18-minute barrier three times during the season.
It was her second state cross-country title, after she finished second last year behind Valley Catholic’s Jaya Simmons after winning the race as a sophomore.
“It feels amazing. I can’t quite believe I did it yet,” Lalonde said. “It was definitely all the hard work paying off and definitely all the support,” she added, noting that the entire East Linn Christian team showed up to support her, along with her parents, her coaches “and even my track coach.” She is coached by Sydney (Nichol) Roth, also of Sweet Home, who also ran for ELCA.
“With this course, I’m pretty happy with the time I got, because (my time) beat all the other years I’ve run here,” LaLonde said.
Asked about her dip into the 17-minute range, which came first at the Northwest Classic, which took place on a similar course, also at LCC, on Sept. 21, said said, “I was really, really hoping to break 18 this season, somewhere around mid-season to late season, and then I broke it early season.”
Martin, who had perennial state qualifiers when he last coached cross-country for Sweet Home in the 1990s, said he is “really excited” by this very young team’s progress in what could be argued is the toughest league in the state, with two state champions and the other two teams finishing in the top 10.
“We are definitely heading in the right direction in terms of making progress, getting things to where I’d like them to be at,” he said. “We have a tough, tough league. Emma is the tip of the spear in getting us back to state-level toughness.”