Sophomore wins Tadmor X-C meet for Husky girls

Five Sweet Home High School runners medaled Saturday at the massive 3 Course Challenge cross-country meet at Camp Rilea, north of Seaside.

The event, which includes three races – a 4500-meter “easy” course, a 5000-meter “moderate” course and a 5300-meter “hard” course, included 88 teams from Oregon and Washington and one from Cerritos, Calif. – totaling nearly 1,000 boys and more than 700 girls. All three courses included mud pits, in which runners had to churn through water up to their knees or higher.

Nick Hall placed third in his school classification, which is determined by student body size, and ninth out of 375 runners in the “moderate” boys race, in 19:33. Daniel Danforth was the other boys medalist, taking 48th out of a field of 366 runners in the “hard” race to place 10th in his school classification, running 22:08.

For the girls, sophomore Nicole Rasmussen, who won the Tadmor Invitational earlier in the week (see below) was 12th overall out of 227 runners in the “hard” race, clocking 24:44 and placing fourth in her school classification. Paige Sanders was 64th overall and 10th in her classification in the “hard” race, in 27:51.

Coach Billy Snow, who ran the “hard” course himself in an informal open race after the high school races were over, said he appreciated Rasmussen’s performance.

“She’s running well right now,” he said. “Having run that hard course, that’s a pretty good time. I think that was faster than I ran. I was tired.”

Sarah Wyatt, running only her high school high school cross-country race, placed 10th in her classification in the “moderate” race, running 27:56 for 80th overall out of a field of 238 – fighting through an asthma attack to finish.

“Sarah ran a gutsy race to do what she did, hang on like that,” Snow said. “It was pretty incredible. It would have been easy to slow down but she’s so competitive.”

Other finishers for the boys were Ryan Blackwell, 260th in 24:42 for the “easy” course, which was comparable to a typical cross-country course with hills, and Trevor Melson, 286th in 28:30, out of a field of 294 boys.

Ian Wingo was 245th in 25:40 for the “moderate” course and Saul Jones was 280th, in 26:26.

Jakob Hiett was 80th, in 22:53 for the “hard” course, followed by Nick Mattson, 230th in 25:52 and David Johnson, 270th in 26:40.

“Nick Mattson ran a good race,” Snow said. “He beat David and he normally doesn’t do that.”

The boys placed 12th as a team in their category; scores are calculated by combining the times from all three races.

For the girls, Trysta Lewelling was 110th overall out of 264 runners on the “easy” course, in 24:42, followed by Candalynn Johnson, 220th in 29:50, and Elise Holden, 230th in 31:07.

Laura Hoy was 195th in 32:54 for the “moderate” course and Tashana Mithen was 217th, in 35:04.

Kimber Swanson was 131st, in 31:11 for the “hard” course as the girls placed sixth as a team in their category.

Thursday, Sept. 29, the Huskies will run the last of their tough, hilly courses at Cottage Grove in the Harrier’s Challenge, more commonly known as the “Dam Run,” in which the racers must climb the face of the dam at Dorena Lake.

Snow said it will be a good chance to see everyone in the league except Sisters, which was at the 3-Course Challenge, but in a different school category.

“We’ll see how we stack up against the rest of the league,” he said.

Camp Tadmor Invitational

Nicole Rasmussen won her first high school cross-country race, holding off Creswell’s Olivia Powell to win the Camp Tadmor Invitational Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Rasmussen, a sophomore, ran 21:22 over the challenging course, which includes a steep hill and two mud bogs.

Nick Hall was the first finisher for the boys, taking fourth in 18:19 – just under a minute under his previous best time for the course.

Rasmussen ran a minute faster than her freshman time (22:23). She was followed by Paige Sanders in seventh (24:02, a 28-second PR), Kimber Swanson (29th in 27:05), Tashana Mithen (44th in 29:22), Trysta Lewelling (45th in 29:41), Laura Hoy (52nd in 31:40) and AnneMarie Miller (57th in 37:27).

It was the first time any of the runners other than Rasmussen and Sanders had run the 5000-meter course.

The same was generally true for the boys. Daniel Danforth was 11th (18:54, a 25-second PR), and after him came rookies Jakob Hiett (15th in 19:27), David Johnson (42nd in 21:25), Nick Mattson (59th in 23:08), Ian Wingo (60th in 23:11) and Saul Jones, running his first varsity race, finishing 63rd in 23:21. Boone McCoy-Crisp of Philomath was the boys winner, in 17:57.

Sarah Wyatt, a senior basketball and softball player who decided to run cross-country this year, finished second in the 3000-meter junior varsity race, her first cross-country race, in 16:10. Sierrah Owen was 14th (19:54), followed closely by Candalynn Johnson (15th, 20:03) and Elise Holden (19th, 21:36).

For the boys, Ryan Blackwell was 42nd (16:55) and Trevor Melson was 49th (19:11).

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