Sweet Home’s boys placed second in their own invitational cross-country meet, held Thursday, Sept. 12, at Community Chapel and GB’s Trees Christmas tree farm on Ames Creek Road.
Crescent Valley placed all five of its scoring runners in the top seven of the varsity boys race, to finish with 20 points and the team title, followed by Sweet Home (61), East Linn Christian (82), Lebanon (100), La Pine (129), Madras (147), Cascade (196), Jefferson (215) and Eddyville (248).
Junior Blake Byer of Crescent Valley was the top finisher, in 17:11, followed by junior Brandon Williams of East Linn Christian in 17:58.1 on a course that included a steep hill climb, some narrow trail running and a creek crossing, which slowed runners down.
“It’s more of a true cross-country course,” said Sweet Home Coach Kambria Schumacher. “It’s not like the fast ones that they put on now in the parks.”
Crescent Valley Coach loved course. True cross-country course.
The meet was the second hosted by Sweet Home, and although some larger high schools that competed last year opted for another event held on the same day, the turnout was large from middle schools – 16, to be exact. Thirteen high schools participated.
“It was a good middle school race,” Schumacher said.
Senior Tristan Saultz was first for Sweet Home, sixth overall in a field of 63 runners, in 18:38.8, followed by sophomore Eddy Martinez-Maya, ninth in 18:57.0, and junior Gavin Walberg, 10th in 19:04.2, junior Treyson Smith, 16th in 19:55.4, and sophomores Jorel Leyba, 20th in 20:24.2 and Nate Coleman, 21st in 20:30.3. Senior Eric Roddy was 41st overall, in 23:03.9.
Schumacher said her varsity boys didn’t run as well as she expected, as a whole, but she liked what she saw from Martinez-Maya, for whom this was his first cross-country race this season.
“It was great to see him racing. He did pretty well.”
In the girls varsity race, the Huskies didn’t have enough runners to score as a team, but junior Jessy Hart was fifth in a field of 31, behind four Crescent Valley runners, clocking 22:40.7. Junior Sicily Neuschwander was 15th, in 26:17.6, and junior Summer Hicks was 28th, in 28:26.4.
“Jessy had a great finish,” Schumacher said. “Most of the kids finished strongly.”
That included some JV runners.
In the girls JV race, freshman Meeja Bitter battled past senior teammate Lexi Schilling down the home stretch to finish 14th out of 26 runners, in 18:13.7, with Schilling right behind in 18:17.0.
“Meeja and Lexi had a really good finish,” Schumacher said. “This was their second race ever and they need experience. They need to know how to pace properly. We’ll be working on that.”
In the junior varsity boys 3000-meter race, Crescent Valley was first with 23 points, followed by La Pine (50), Sweet Home (64), Lebanon (112), Cascade (119) and Madras (127).
Freshman Adrian Kast led the junior varsity boys, finishing the 3000-meter course in 13:16.9, good for ninth place in a 58-runner field.
Following Kast were seniors Zach Zanona (11th, 13:21.3) and Bryce Porter (12th, 13:23.4), sophomore Aiden Shamek (16th, 14:02.1), sophomore Jesse Jamison (21st, 14:32.2), junior Jaren Adams (35th, 15:58.8), sophomore Paul Amrein (39th, 16:44.4) and freshmen Dakota Seiber (46th, 17:58.3) and Christopher Kurtz (50th, 19:13.8).
“This was Adrian’s first race and he did really well,” Schumacher said. “He was right up there with Zach and Bryce, who are veterans.”
The Huskies will compete in the Three Course Challenge at Camp Rilea, north of Seaside, on Saturday, Sept. 21, which will be another “classic” cross-country course.