Sweet Home High School’s Forestry Club won its first competition of the year Saturday, Oct. 16, at Tillamook, outscoring four other teams.
Sweet Home won on participation as well, getting scoring from 18 of its members, which was more than the total number of participants on the other teams, from Knappa, Tillamook, Sabin and Neahkanie.
“We had 28 total kids go,” said Natural Resources Teacher Blake Manley. “Of the 28, only six had ever been to a CDE. I think those numbers will continue to go up in the spring and the outlook for the program looks really good.”
Sweet Home finished with 198 points, ahead of Knappa (137), Tillamook (59), Sabin (50) and Neahkanie (21).
Dacotah Pennington and Alex Miller were high scorers for Sweet Home, with 36 points each.
Pennington took first in Open Climbing and Choker Setting, while Miller was first in Prep Speech, but scored in five other events to drive up his points total.
Other first-place finishers for the boys were Tristan Lemmer in First Aid and Power Bucking, and Levi Devlin and Dom Freeman in Novice Cross-Cut.
Pennington and Miller also finished third in Cross-cut; Miller added a second in Tree ID and a third in Log Scaling; and Pennington was third in Open Arbor Climbing. Others in the top three were Laird Pettner, second in Job Interview; Max Klumph, second in Map Reading and Novice Choker Setting; Greg Farrell, second in Novice Choker Setting and third in Open Log Rolling; Isaiah Harlow, third in Novice Cross-Cut with Robbie Greer, who also took third in First Aid and Choker; Hunter Dailey, third in Axe Throw; Ryan Meacham, third in Job Interview; and Broc Tuller, second in Tool ID.
Winners for the girls were Haley Nunez in First Aid and Demo Speech, Haely Conner in Job Interview and Axe Throwing, and Madi Seavey in Compass and Pacing.
Conner was third in First Aid; and Nunez was second in Compass and Pacing.
“I was very happy to see each of the team members helping each other out,” Manley said. “We have a very young group this year and to see the older students helping the younger ones to succeed is what every program wants to see.
“Our top four point-getters are going to need help if we are going to win another title. Haley Nunes, Alex Miller, Tristan Lemmer, and Dacotah Pennington will each earn points all year for us. What we need are some of the younger and less experienced students coming through for us.
“Max Klumpf and Dominique Freeman were huge surprises for us. They placed in multiple events as first-timers.”
Monte Hamilton of Knappa was the high scorer for the competition, with 52 points, including three first-place finishes and three thirds.