It was a busy week for the Husky track team as they competed first at Pleasant Hill onThursday and then again on Saturday in an eight team invitational at Junction City on Saturday.
Coach Billy Snow had the team working through the Pleasant Hill meet in preparation for the more competitive action at Junction City. For Snow, the difference showed.
“I’m much happier than after Thursday,” said Snow. “I saw some kids competing hard. They were having fun, but they still competed when it was time.”
The warmer weather conditions were also a plus over the cooler temperatures on Thursday.
“It was a huge help,” stated Snow. “Kids can relax. They didn’t have to work as hard to warm up.”
Sweet Home finished in the middle of the pack in the Junction City meet, taking 4th place in the boys events and 5th place in the girls.
The boys were helped by the steadiness of multiple event participants Seth Graves and Wayne Martinez and outstanding efforts in other events. Mike Severns continued his streak of wins in the javelin with another toss in the 170’s, this time a 173-02 effort on his final throw.
“It’s just a sign of a mature competitor,” commented Snow on Severns, who threw a personal best 176-07 at Pleasant Hill.
Cliver continued his string of consecutive PR’s in the javelin as well with a 156-09 to take third and Graves finished 5th in the same event with a 146-02.
Besides winning the javelin, Severns also finished second in the long jump with a 20-9 mark, his first long jump competition of the year. Ricky Howe, in his first meet ever, uncorked a 41-4.75 in the triple jump for second place. That mark would have been good enough to take district last year.
John Lovik took a pair of fourths in the 1500 and 3000 meters, improving his 1500 meter time by six seconds to 4:24 over his Pleasant Hill time. Mike Barnes, though he tied for third in the pole vault, had a better day on Thursday when he set his personal best of 11-06 and also PR’d in the long jump at 18 feet.
In the girls meets, Lisa Brocard continued her strong performances in leading the Huskies.
After taking first in the long jump and intermediate hurdles at Pleasant Hill, she came right back on Saturday, taking first in the high hurdles and triple jump, second in the long jump and third in the intermediate hurdles. Perhaps her best performance came in the long jump where she PR’d with a 15-11.5 and barely scratched on her last attempt of 16’7″.
Rachel Gaskey had back to back wins in the discus with throws around 111 feet, though the ring was slippery at Junction City. Gaskey also set her personal best in the shot with 35-01 to take third place. Freshman Hannah McClaskey also showed her potential with 4th place personal best of 97-09 in the discus.
Other top performers included Ashley Smith, who had three PR’s, finishing 3rd in the triple jump with a leap of 31-06 and 4th in the high jump at 4-10, and then completing her effort with a 13-08 in the long jump. Megan Snow also set personal bests with her third place finish in the1500 and 4th place finish in the 3000. Despite suffering spike injury to her hand at the end of her first event, the high hurdles in which she took second place, she came back to pick up valuable points in the intermediate hurdles and anchored the 1600 meter relay team to a 5thplace finish.
Sweet Home has its first home meet of the year on Thursday as they host Molalla and Central.