Jakob Hiett planned to spend this past summer racking up the mileage in anticipation of a run for the state Division 4A state cross-country championship.
Instead, after a nagging injury turned into a stress fracture, the senior was forced to stay off his feet for much of the summer and found himself looking at the backsides of runners he used to beat handily as this season progressed.
That changed Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4, when Hiett won the Paul Mariman Invitational meet at Philomath High School, which featured several of the top 4A teams in the state.
Hiett finished in 16:32.25 on a relatively windless, 86-degree afternoon that did little for record-setting despite the relatively fast, flat course.
Hiett spent most of the first mile on the shoulder of Hidden Valley’s Shane Crofoot, one of his main rivals in the 4A division, before taking the lead and running away with the victory.
“He returned to favor,” Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen joked following Hiett’s win. “That was an impressive race. He was prepared.”
Sweet Home’s boys finished seventh with 186 points, as Siuslaw finished first (55) followed by Philomath (81) and North Bend (88). Cottage Grove, the only other Sky-Em team in the race, was 11th (241 points).
Sophomore Trey Reed, in his first season of cross-country, was the third finisher from the Sky-Em conference, 29th oerall in 19:11.18 behind Cottage Grove’s Adam Najera. Julian Hesberg and Issac Justham came in 53rd (20:16.92) and 54th (20:16.92), with freshman Noah Taraski not far behind in 64th (21:36.95).
On the girls side, Sweet Home was ninth with 243 points. Molalla was first overall with 59, followed by Siuslaw (60) and Philomath (71).
It was not a red-letter day for the girls, Allen said, blaming the heat and a difficult hill workout the team had on Thursday.
“We didn’t do horrible, but we didn’t have any firepower. We’re dealing with heat issues. We are trying to figure out how to overcome those.”
In the JV boys race, Mark Taraski was 39th in 23:56.51; Allen Cuillo was 41st in 24:00; Jake Hindmarsh was 61st in 27:50.33; and Cameron Tabor was 63rd in 30:14.50.
Starting this week, the Huskies will begin their tapering process as they have two more pre-district meets on their schedule, starting with the Bristow Rock N River meet at Elijah Bristow State Park near Pleasant Hill.
Paul Mariman Invitational
Boys Team Results – (1) Siuslaw 55; (2) Philomath 81; (3) North Bend 88; (4) Tillamook 107; (5) Scappoose 108; (6) Newport 161; (7) Sweet Home 186; (8) Molalla 200; (9) South Umpqua 208; (10) Oakland 230; (11) Cottage Grove 241.
Top Three and Sky-Em Finishers
(1) Jakob Hiett (SH) 16:32.25; (2) Seth Campbell (Siuslaw) 16:44.44; (3) Shane Crofoot (Hidden Valley) 16:54.93; (26) Adam Najera (CG) 19:06.59; (29) Trey Reed (SH) 19:11.18; (46) Connor Howard (CG) 19:50.58; (53) Julian Hesberg (SH) 20:16.92; (54) Issac Justham (SH) 20:16.92; (56) Jarett Raade (CG) 20:31.80; (64) Noah Taraski (SH) 21:36.95; (65) Anthony Trujillo (CG) 21:43.14; (67) Daniel Agustin (CG) 21:43.14; (73) Michael Tharpe (CG) 22:36.19; (76) Joseph Rasmussen 23:31.23; (78) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 24:50.23.
Girls Team Results – (1) Molalla 59; (2) Siuslaw 60; (3) Philomath 71; (4) Hidden Valley 117; (5) Tillamook 136; (6) North Bend 136; (7) Scappoose 147; (8) South Umpqua 214; (9) Sweet Home 243; (10) Oakland 247; (11) Gladstone 264; (12) Cottage Grove 284.
Top Three and Sky-Em Finishers
Celie Mans (Siuslaw) 19:42.82; (2) Linnaea Kavulich (Scappoose) 20:08.64;(3) Gabby Hobson (20:38.51; (36) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 23:30.04; (43) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 24:41.93; (48) Abril Leal-Coronel (CGO 25:00.22; (50) Dana Hiett (SH) 25:13.01; (51) Kalea Galbreath (CG) 25:32.09; (52) Sierra Swanson (SH) 24:30.49; (53) Allie Harris (CG) 26:05.04; (66) Maria Daniels (SH) 28:28.77; (67) Kanon Nakamura (SH) 28:28.97; (68) Jessica Ray (CG) 28:38.23; (69) Kate Johns (CG) 29:19.71; (71) Celeste Pelham (CG) 29:33.74.