Sweet Home’s season gets serious later this week with the start of the Sky-Em District Championships, which will be held Thursday, May 14 and Saturday, May 16, at Junction City.
On the boys side, the Huskies – and the rest of the league – are likely looking up at Elmira, one of the top teams in the state last year, which is returning nearly its entire roster. The Falcons have dominated nearly every meet they’ve been in this year, at least in terms of the final score.
Elmira has the top performer, going into districts, in every field event and has at least one runner in the top two in most of the track events. In several they have the second-best time or mark as well.
“I think on the guys side Elmira is going to run away with the boys,” Coach Billy Snow said. “They have virtually everybody back. Elmira’s going to have to fall apart for anybody else to have a shot.”
Still, Sweet Home has potential. The Huskies’ young team has shown some muscle in the jumps, the hurdles and the throws this season, and those are likely going to be strengths at the district meet.
Senior Jakob Hiett has the league’s fastest times in the 800, 1500 and 3000, and has run a leg on the boys 4×400 relay, which has the second-fastest time going into districts, with senior Eric Flierl, junior Egan Shamek and sophomore Trey Reed. Depending on what happens this weekend around the state, Hiett looks to be a favorite going into all three distances, depending on which ones he decides to run.
Shamek has the leading long jump in both district and state, and second-leading triple jump mark in the district going into the championships, Flierl has the leading 300 hurdles time and is third in the 110s, and Reed is a close fourth, behind three upperclassmen, in the 400.
TJ Baham and Dillon Stutzman are second and third in the league behind Elmira’s Jeff Linn in the poel vault, and sophomore Jacob Erickson could be a dark horse in the high jump after improving his personal record by four inches to 5-6 last Wednesday, May 6, and missing at 5-8 by literally a hair. The top mark in the league so far this year is 5-10.
In the boys throws, seniors Brycen Mitten and Shawn Worthen, and junior Andre Holmes have been a force in the shot, and Mitten and Stutzman are fourth and fifth in the javelin.
Though none of the league teams has been dominating on the girls side this year, Sisters has enough strength in the sprints and some of the field events to be the favorite, Snow said.
“Sisters, even though they have small team, are out ahead. They have good sprinters and they have a few sprinkled in here and there. There’s not much depth, so if something goes wrong, it’s going to hit them hard. But they’re the ones everybodoy else is looking at.”
The Huskies are a little thinner in the league standings on the girls side than the boys, but the cupboard is not bare going into the district meet.
Freshman Bethany Gingerich is second in the 100 and 400 and third in the 200. She and juniors Sarah Dunkley and Josie Knight, and senior India Porter, have steadily improved their 4×100 relay times this year and sit third, half a second behind Sutherlin and about two seconds behind Sisters.
Knight is second in the shot and senior Jordan Miller has the fourth-best javelin throw in the district this year.
The Huskies are lacking in the girls distance events this season, thanks to injuries and other sports that cut into training time during the winter, and don’t look to be a factor there.
In the jumps, though, freshman Caylie Trewin and junior Sierra Swanson are among six girls who have cleared 4-8 in the high jump, and with the top mark at 4-10 going into district, it could be a scramble for state berths.
Sophomore Natasha Rasmussen has the third-best mark in the long jump and she and fellow sophomore Dana Hiett are tied for fifth in the pole vault. A big PR could mean big points in the jumps.
The Huskies hosted their Last Chance meet Wednesday, May 6, facing off against Falls City, North Clackamas Christian, Oregon School for the Deaf; Triangle Lake, Willamette Valley Christian, Perrydale, Oakland and Cascade in a non-scoring tune-up for districts.
The meet was designed to give Sweet Home seniors one last chance to perform before the home crowd, Snow said, hence the name. It also provides an opportunity for the Huskies to see different faces on the other side after a Sky-Em-heavy schedule.
“We didn’t load up,” Snow said. “We didn’t run any of the top relay teams. We kind of mixed things up.”
Among the highlights were freshman Cameron Taber’s 32-second PR in 3000 (12:00.32), Worthen’s 16-foot PR in discus to win (109-8) and Erickson’s equalling his 4-inch PR (5-6) in the high jump he’d set five days before, then coming ultra-close at 5-10, the bar falling after he’d already landed on the mat. Also, in the girls high jump, both Trewin and Swanson posted PR’s at 4-8, which had been tantalizingly close for several meets.
“The weather wasn’t great, but we had some good marks here and there,” Snow said.
Ten of Sweet Home’s top boys and girls competed Friday at the Wally Ciochetti Invitational at Cottage Grove, one of the largest meets of the season, which brought together 16 4A Division teams from Central and Southern Oregon for one last competition before districts.
“We only let them do one event,” Snow said. “Most of them never get to do that. We just wanted to see them in one more competition – kind of solidify our district lineup. ”
The Huskies didn’t disappoint.
Sweet Home’s two winners of the day were Jakob Hiett in a personal-best time in the 800 (1:57.14) and Egan Shamek who took the long jump in 21-1 over a talented field.
“That was kind of surprising,” Snow said of the long jump results. “They had the wind at their backs and other coaches and I were surprised that the kids weren’t jumping out of their minds. Nobody was.
“Egan had two or three of the top jumpers in the state and he outjumped them all. It was close, but it was a good compeitition for him.
“He never gets to do just one event, so it was good to let him focus on his main one.”
Trey Reed was fourth in the boys 400 (52.02) and Josie Knight was fourth in the girls shot with a 2-foot PR of 35-4, while Bethany Gingerich placed fifth in the girls 400 (1:02.24).
“It was good to see Josie go out there and get a lifetime PR,” Snow said of Knight’s effort.
India Porter placed fifth in the girls triple jump (32-0), TJ Baham was ninth in the boys pole vault (11-0), Eric Flierl was 11th in the 110 hurdles (16.77) and Matt Davis was 20th in the 300 hurdles (44.53).
The district meet starts at 1 p.m. Thursday at Junction City High School, 1135 W 6th Ave., with track events at 3:25 p.m. Saturday’s action begins at noon, with track events at 2 p.m. Admission will be charged, but details on that were not available at press time.
Junction City has no stands, so bringing a chair and necessary gear to accommodate varying weather patterns would be advisable.
Sweet Home vs. Falls City, North Clackamas Christian, Oregon School for the Deaf; Triangle Lake, Willamette Valley Christian, Perrydale, Oakland and Cascade
Boys Results
Top Three and Sweet Home Finishers
*Personal Best time or mark
No Team Scores
100 – (1) Austin Martin (C) 11.71; (2) Michael Kroker (C) 11.78; (3) Egan Shamek (SH) 11.84*; (8) Justin Carpenter (SH) 12.19*; (9) Nick Rietz (SH) 12.26; (12) Wes Parker (SH) 12.37*; (13) Jacob Erickson (SH) 12.38; (15) Chase Blanco (SH) 12.64; (20) George Raborn (SH) 13.02; (28) Gabe Glynn (SH) 13.67*; (33) Christian Baham (SH) 15.16; (36) Shawn Worthen (SH) 18.41.
200 – (1) Austin Martin (C) 23.61; (2) Brandon Martin (C) 23.71; (3) Ethan Kassebaum (NCC) 23.76 ; (5) Trey Reed (SH) 24.23; (9) Nick Rietz (SH) 25.36; (9) Jacob Erickson (SH) 25.48*; (10) Jakob Hiett (SH) 25.77*; (12) Chase Blanco (SH) 26.01*; (20) Quinn Dinsfriend (SH) 27.37*.
400 – (1) Stepan Zavydovskyy (C) 53.81; (2) Jakob Hiett (SH) 54.46; (3) Parker Wynn (TL) 55.01(5) Nathan Hager (SH) 57.93; (10) Garrett Fox (SH) 1:04.09*.
800 – (1) AJ Nichols (O) 2:11.22; (2) Nate Lack (C) 2:14.99; (3) Lucas Bjorkland (C) 2:17.76; (5) Noah Taraski (SH) 2:19.86*; (9) Jason Miller (SH) 2:23.92*; (12) Ricky Yunke (SH) 2:33.01*; (15) Adam Barber (SH) 2:40.77*; (16) Nick Tolman (SH) 2:40.95*; (18) Noah Webb (SH) 2:46.59*.
1500 – (1) Connor Metzger (TL) 4:49.73; (2) Garrett Fox (SH) 4:52.01*; (3) Nathanial Oberman (O) 4:56.06; (7) Ricky Yunke (SH) 5:09.07*; (14) Cameron Taber (SH) 5:48.21.
3000 – (1) Connor Metzger (TL) 9:58.44; (2) Logan Humphrey (C) 10:52.30; (3) Logan Shamblin (P) 11:04.49; (5) Cameron Taber (SH) 12:00.32*.
110 Hurdles – (1) John Schirmer (C) 16.62; (2) TJ Baham (SH) 17.97*; (3) Sam Arts (O) 18.89.
300 Hurdles – (1) Danny Sigl (O) 45.05; (2) Nathan Hager (SH) 46.30*; (3) TJ Baham (SH) 47.18; (5) Garrett Fox (SH) 50.12.
4×100 Relay – (1) Cascade 44.63; (2) Sweet Home (Egan Shamek, Matt Davis, Eric Flierl, Trey Reed) 45.36; (3) Cascade “B” 47.00; (4) Triangle Lake 47.86; (5) Oakland 47.86; (6) Perrydale 51.46; (7) Cascade “C” 52.57.
4×400 Relay – (1) Triangle Lake 3:49.30; (2) Sweet Home (Noah Taraski, Nathan Hager, Wes Parker, Nick Reitz) 3:54.04; (3) Oakland 3:55.97; (4) Cascade “A” 3:59.51; (5) Cascade “B” 4:06.85; (6) North Clackamas Christian 4:30.98; (7) Oregon School for the Deaf 4:44.29; North Clackamas Christian “B” 5:00.61.
Shot Put – (1) Brycen Mitten (SH) 43-6½; (2) Hayden Snow (O) 43-4½; (3) Tristan Yeager (FC) 41-5½; (4) Shawn Worthen (SH) 40-8½; (5) Andre Holmes (SH) 40-3; (24) Eric Whitlow (SH) 28-11; (28) Josh Rice (SH) 27-3; (32) Justin Miller (SH) 25-1; (34) Kyle Laster (SH) 22-10½; (35) Oscar Hernandez (SH) 22-10; (36) Raymond Moore (SH) 18-3.
Discus – (1) Morgan Harris (NCC) 139-0; (2) Malachi Gonzalez (C) 124-7; (3) Hayden Snow (O) 122-11; (4) Shawn Worthen (SH) 109-8*; (9) Andre Holmes (SH) 99-0; (19) Trevor Miner (SH) 84-6; (24) Josh Rice (SH) 77-3*; (33) Justin Miller (SH) 63-3; (34) Raymond Moore (SH) 59-8*; (37) Kyle Laster (SH) 49-1*.
Javelin – (1) Dillon Stutzman (SH) 143-5; (2) Justin White (C) 137-0; (3) Bo Beauchamp (FC) 132-9; (6) Brycen Mitten (SH) 126-9; (8) Charlie Guerrero (SH) 124-0*; (12) Nathan Hager (SH) 117-11; (15) Quinn Dinsfriend (SH) 112-1*; (19) Garrett Fox (SH) 106-6*; (24) Ricky Yunke (SH) 95-5*; (30) Josh Rice (SH) 81-0; (32) Oscar Hernandez (SH) 80-2*; (42) Eric Whitlow (SH) 68-8*.
High Jump – (1) Clay Drago (TL) 6-0; (2) Stepan Zavydovskyy (C) 5-10; (3) Jacob Erickson (SH) 5-6*.
Pole Vault – (1-tie) TJ Baham, Dillon Stutzman (SH) 11-6; (3) James Morhain (O) 11-0.
Long Jump – (1) Hayden Wilkinson (TL) 20-0½; (2) Layne Bush (C) 19-2¾; (3) John Schirmer (C) 18-7¾; (8) Justin Carpenter (SH) 17-7½; (14) Charlie Guerrero (SH) 16-4; (16) George Raborn (SH) 15-8; (21) Chase Blanco (SH) 15-0¼; (24) Christian Baham (SH) 13-3¼; (25) Gabe Glynn (SH) 11-8½.
Triple Jump – (1) John Schirmer (C) 40-9; (2-tie) Egan Shamek (SH)*, Sam Arts (O) 40-1; (5) Wes Parker (SH) 37-4; (8) Matt Davis (SH) 36-2½; (16) Christian Baham (SH) 28-7¼.
Girls Results
100 – (1) Elisa Kanoff (C) 12.90; (2) Carissa Bottensek (TL) 13.22; (3) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 13.32*; (5) Sarah Dunkley (SH) 13.74*; (7) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 13.93*; (15) Cora McKee (SH) 15.09*; (17) Ashley Wickline (SH) 15.44; (19) Milah Weld (SH) 15.96; (22) Akie Endo (SH) 17.01; (23) Tori Jackson (SH) 17.18*.
200 – (1) Elisa Kanoff (C) 27.22; (2) Carissa Bottensek (TL) 27.82; (3) Cora Gallop (O) 28.44; (7) Sarah Dunkley (SH) 29.34*; (10) Ashley Wickline (SH) 31.77; (11) Milah Weld (SH) 33.52*.
400 – (1) Cora Gallop (O) 1:02.40; (2) Danielle Haddix (C) 1:07.10; (3) Bailey VanCleave (TL) 1:08.64; (4) Kendyl Stutzman (SH) 1:10.94.
800 – (1) Atyate Steele (NCC) 2:40.35; (2) AJ Spangler (C) 2:40.89; (3) Lizzie Mack (C) 2:43.09; (5) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 2:48.13; (6) Sierra Swanson (SH) 2:49.29; (7) Jessica Stockman (SH) 2:49.31; (13) Jade Smith (SH) 3:14.11.
1500 – (1) Atyate Steele (NCC) 5:34.78; (2) Taylor Steinhauer (TL) 5:49.01; (3) Mary Teubner (C) 5:57.72; (4) Kanon Nakamura (SH) 6:39.41*; (5) Allison Wickline (SH) 6:45.30; (6) Maria Daniels (SH) 6:58.73.
3000 – No Sweet Home competitors.
100 Hurdles – (1) Mary Teubner (C) 16.90; (2) Christy Seaton (C) 17.03; (3) Alysia Vergin (P) 17.67; (7) Dana Hiett (SH) 18.95*; (11) Isabelle Seitz (SH) 20.95.
300 Hurdles – (1) Celina Ciampi-Hicks (C) 52.73; (2) India Porter (SH) 53.60; (3) Taylor Price (P) 53.95; (6) Dana Hiett (SH) 57.81; (7) Sierra Swanson (SH) 58.11; (10) Maria Daniels (SH) 1:05.39; (11) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 1:07.51.
4×100 Relay – (1) Cascade 52.17; (2) Sweet Home (Josie Knight, Sarah Dunkley, India Porter, Bethany Gingerich) 52.52; (3) Triangle Lake 54.54; (4) Oakland 58.96.
4×400 Relay – No Sweet Home competitors.
Shot Put – (1) Josie Knight (SH) 31-4½; (2) Michaella Black (O) 29-7½; (3) Sarah Clark (P) 26-9; (6) Elea Hewitt (SH) 24-7½; (11) Emily Ramsey (SH) 22-6; (14) Liz Chelstad (SH) 21-8; (17) Shelby Dinsfriend (SH) 10-9½; (22) Ellie Davis (SH) 18-1½.
Discus – (1) Makenna Pennel (TL) 79-4; (2) Sarah Clark (P) 75-2; (3) Tina Schmidt (WVC) 72-3; (4) Elea Hewitt (SH) 71-8; (6) Natasha Benson (SH) 63-5; (10) Emily Ramsey (SH) 61-9; (11) Liz Chelstad (SH) 60-1; (13) Minami Takeshita (SH) 56-2; (15) Kendyl Stutzman (SH) 55-0; (19) Ellie Davis (SH) 49-3; (22) Alisa Navolochnaya (SH) 45-5.
Javelin – (1) Michaella Black (O) 105-8; (2) Taylor Price (P) 104-1; (3) Kaelyn Worst (C) 100-0; (5) Jordan Miller (SH) 90-1; (9) Shania Baxter (SH) 79-3; (12) Franziska Wollny (SH) 72-2*; (13) Kendyl Stutzman (SH) 72-0; (15) Barbara Raphaelli (SH) 71-4; (16) Isabelle Seitz (SH) 65-5*; (17) Milah Weld (SH) 64-6; (21) Liz Chelstad (SH) 55-8; (23) Erin Bauer (SH) 52-9*; (27) Ellie Davis (SH) 44-3.
High Jump – (1) Kalulu NGaida (C) 5-3; (2) Christy Powell (WVC) 5-0; (3) Christy Seaton (C) 4-10; (4-tie) Caylie Trewin (SH)*, Sierra Swanson (SH) 4-8*.
Pole Vault – (1) Amanda Wiegenga (C) 8-0; (2) Dana Heitt (SH) 7-0; (3) Brooklyn Petterson (C) 6-6; (4) Gracie Olson (SH) 6-0.
Long Jump – (1)Kalulu NGaida (C) 15-5½; (2) Bailee Davis (TL) 14-11; (3) Maria Sigl (O) 14-10¼; (5) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 14-4½; (8) Barbara Raphaelli (SH) 12-5½; (9) Franziska Wollny (SH) 10-10½.
Triple Jump – (1) Cora Gallop (O) 36-4½; (2) Kalulu NGaida (C) 33-0; (3) Emily Rose (C) 32-1; (4) Natasha Rasmussen (SH) 29-9½*; (6) Caylie Trewin (SH) 28-11½; (8) Gracie Olson (SH) 26-3; (10) Kanon Nakamura (SH) 23-11*.