Sweet Home’s cross-country runners came up short in their quest for berths in this Saturday’s state championships, as the boys finished fourth and the girls sixth at the Oregon West district meet Saturday, Nov. 2, at Stayton Middle School.
The meet featured four teams ranked in the top 10 of the OSAA 4A Division, and only two can qualify for state from each district. On Saturday, it was Sisters and Philomath who notched state berths.
Based on the fastest times run during this season on 5,000-meter courses, Sweet Home is actually ranked ninth in the state, out of the 34 4A Division schools. Sisters is ranked first, followed by Philomath, with Newport seventh. Stayton is ranked 14th.
The Outlaws won the boys competition with 39 points, led by juniors Joh n Peckham (16:10.24), the individual district champion, and Will Thorsett (16:19.80) in second.
Philomath, which placed runners in sixth through ninth place, was second with 43 points, followed by Newport (62), Sweet Home (110), Stayton (117), Woodburn (199) and Cascade (200).
Senior Tristan Saultz was Sweet Home’s top finisher, in 12th place in 17:10.91, a lifetime best for him, but short of the top-five finish that would have been required for him to qualify as an individual.
Saultz was running fifth for the first mile and was still solidly positioned at the second mile marker, but slipped back in the final mile.
“Tristan looked phenomenal through Mile 2,” Coach Kambria Schumacher said. “He was in great position, then just didn’t have it to finish, unfortunately.”
Sophomore Eddy Martinez-Maya was 21st, in 17:57.19, followed by junior Treyson Smith, 24th in in 18:06.80; junior Gavin Walberg, 25th in 18:10.94 after falling early in the race; sophomore Nate Coleman, 28th in 18:33.60; senior Rian Howard, 36th in 19:19.98; and Jorel Leyba, 38th in 19:27.21.
“Eddy had a really good race,” Schumacher said. “I don’t think this was actually that fast of a course, but Eddy did race well. Gavin, unfortunately, tripped and went down. That kind of threw him for a loop. He had a hard time.”
After running most of the season without the necessary five competitors to score as a team, the Sweet Home girls were able to do so Saturday, thanks to soccer players Torree Hawken and Maren Weld, who stepped in – literally.
The Huskies finished sixth, with 152 points, ahead of Woodburn (154), and behind Philomath (41), Stayton (48), Sisters (54), Newport (137) and Cascade (146).
Junior Jessy Hart, who qualified for state last year by placing in the top five, had an off day and finished 25th, in 22:24.86.
“Jessy raced decent,” Schumacher said. “It was not her race today. It happens to everybody and, unfortunately, it sometimes happens in races that really matter.”
Junior Sicily Neuschwander was two spots behind, finishing in 23:00.55. Weld was third for the Huskies, in 30th in 23:42.22; Hawken was 33rd in 24:23.05; and freshman Meeja Bitter was 37th, in 24:55.80.
“Sicily ran pretty well,” Schumacher said. “She’s been very dependable this season. She’s solid. She has dropped a tremendous amount of time from last year to this year. Huge. I’m glad she’ll be coming back next year.”
She noted that Neuschwander, who dropped nearly six minutes over the course of the season, did so without doing any summer training and playing soccer in addition to running cross-country.
She pointed out that Bitter came in as a freshman without ever having run competitively.
“I know she was disappointed with her race, but she, at least, stayed fairly consistent.
“It was great for Maren and Torree to volunteer,” Schumacher said. “At least we had a score for districts. They did pretty well for not training with us at all or for not ever doing a 5K.”
The JV boys finished fifth, with 129 points. Philomath runners finished in the top four spots, and in sixth, to score 16 points, followed by Newport (50), Sisters (88) and Stayton (91), Woodburn was sixth, with 171 points.
Senior Zach Zanona was the Huskies’ top finisher, 12th in a season-best 19:56.39, followed by sophomore Aiden Shamek, 16th in a photo finish with competitors, in 20:26.09, which was a personal best for him over 5,000 meters; senior Eric Roddy, 31st in 21:45.47; sophomore Paul Amrein, 48th in 24:10.59; junior Jaren Adams, 55th in 25:52.65; freshman Dakota Seiber, 58th in 27:39.30; and freshman Christopher Kurtz, 60th in 28:26.33, which was a nearly two-minute PR for him.
Schumacher said she and other league coaches are conferring about what could be done regarding the OSAA qualification process, which penalizes strong leagues.
“Four teams in our league are ranked in the top 10 for 4A,” she said. “This league is so stacked, it’s not really fair to the kids. Other districts have four teams, whatever, and their teams wouldn’t even get in here. We need to figure it out.”