Sweet Home started its 2023 track and field season with a low-key intrasquad meet Thursday, March 16.
Low-key, but not uneventful.
“We had a lot of PRs,” Coach Nathan Whitfield said. “Our first-timers got to see a lot of stuff and they got us excited. I think we’re looking pretty good right now.”
Junior Colin Nicholson, new to high school track, turned some heads by clearing 6-1 in the high jump. The last time a Husky cleared that height was 2014 when Ashton Stutzman posted a PR there.
Freshman Loralai Mark won the 100 (14.34) and 200 (31.43) and the long jump (13.9), with sophomore Beatrice Reeve a close second (13-7½) in the latter.
“Loralai looked really good – a lot of young kids in the 100 looked really good,” Whitfield said. “And Beatrice was right off her PR in the long jump – she placed at district with that PR last year. Loralai and Beatrice, for their first meet and not a lot of practice, that wasn’t too shabby.”
The same was true, he said, for Jess Martineau, who won the shot (25-8) and the discus (62-4), PR-ing in the shot and finishing just off her personal best in the latter.
“She’s right back where she was last year,” Whitfield said.
The Huskies will be on the road Wednesday, March 22, in a three-way meet with East Linn Christian and Central Linn in Halsey. First events start at 4 p.m.
Whitfield said he inserted that meet into the schedule since the team has an extra week before Spring Break, “which kind of threw a wrench into the way we do things.”