Under warm, sunny skies, more typical of an end-of-the-season meet, the Huskies met the Woodburn Bulldogs and Central Panthers at Independence on Thursday.
The Husky boys were third with 47 points. Central won it with 69 and Woodburn was second with 56. Woodburn won the girls title with 70 points. Central was second with 53 and the Huskies were third with 41 points.
“After five weeks of practice, it was great to get our feet wet in competition,” said Coach Billy Snow. “Our goal was to see what each person could do in their events and go from there. Only five of our girls competing had ever been in a high school meet before. On the boys side, we had 11 first time competitors. For a young squad, we had a good day, the kids competed hard and we had fun.”
The boys sprint squad was led by Matt Kragness, Jared Allen and Mike Severns. Kragness returns as the top 3A sprinter in the state and had a busy day.
He won the 100M in 11.2 and the 200M in 23.1. Both times were just off his lifetime bests. He also ran a 4 X 100 relay leg with Severns, David Burford and Allen. Despite a botched hand-off on the last leg, the foursome took second, just behind Central.
Mauro Angulo will figure into the sprints with a time of 12.3 in the 100M and 25.7 in the 200M.
Severns had a great first day with a fourth place 12.1 in the 100M and an 18-6 1/2 effort in the long jump for the win.
Both results were good enough to make SHHS all-time lists for freshmen.
Jared Allen ran a 42.5 in the intermediate hurdles, good enough to have ranked him No. 17 in the state last year. That time would put Allen right in the thick of things come districts. He also took a pair of fourth place finishes in the field–the high jump at 5-4 and the long jump at 17-6.
Elsewhere on the track, Justin Temple ran a great race in the 800M, according to Coach Snow. He set the pace for virtually the entire race. Nipped at the wire, Temple’s second place time of 2:07.3 was a lifetime best. Nick Graves had a “simply awesome day” according to Coach Snow. In both the 1500M and 800M, Nick had a tremendous home stretch kick to take a pair of third place finishes.
“Nick has been working his tail off and it’s great to see that work blossom for him,” Coach Snow said. “Chris Burford had a pair of PRs in the 1500M and 3000M with the latter placing him fourth in the meet. Keegan Burnett is kicking up the 300M hurdles this season and took fourth in his first race.”
In the pole vault, Jake Dahlenburg tied his lifetime best of 11-6 to win that event. Robert McGary, in his first meet, went 10-0 before missing and ended up third.
“In the throwing events, we are young but we have a hard working group that is young and will only get better,” Coach Snow said. “Sam Rodgers had a PR in the shot put at 36-2 1/2 to take third. Casey Aiello, in his first meet, set a PR in the javelin at 126-8 for second. Also recording PRs in the field events were Chris Bate, Matt Slauson, Bob Martin, Robert Rice, Chris Reed and David Burford.”
Girls results
The girls squad is young and inexperienced, Coach Snow said.
“This group works hard, though,” Coach Snow said. “No where is that work ethic more evident than in the throwing events.”
Ten girls threw for the Huskies, only was of whom was with the team a year ago. Nicole Burnside won all three throws with season best marks. Her shot put of 31-9 1/2 was a lifetime PR and her discus 93-1 and javelin 88-7 were just off her season bests from last year.
Rachel Gaskey was two for three in PRs and placed fourth in the shot put at 26-5 and second in the javelin 79-5.
“This was a great start for both girls and they’ll both improve,” Coach Snow said. “Other girls throwing who had PRs were Megan Schaefer (three), Christine Smith (two), Shaina Burnett (2), Hannah Ross (1) and Wauwija Wicheaunat (1).
Elsewhere in the field, Lisa Brocard won the long jump at 13-3 and was second in the high jump at 4-8.
On the track, the distance runners were quite aggressive, taking seven of 12 available scoring slots.
Megan Snow and Maria Andrade went 2-3 in the 1500M (6:07.2 and 6:09.9 respectively) and then repeated the feat about an hour later in the 3000M (13:37.6 and 13:42.3) Riva Kauagawa, an exchange student, took fourth in the 1500M at 6:11.1. In the 800M, Maymi Tanaka (2:51.4) and Michele Andersen (2:56.5) went 3-4, both in season PR times.
Stephanie Kragness ran two season PRs in her race going 14.6 in the 100M and 30.5 in the 200M.
The next regular meet for the Huskies will be April 5 at Pleasant Hill.
On Saturday, March 31, the Huskies will host the second annual valley throwers meet.
“We have invited all state competitors from last year and sent fliers to all area schools,” Coach Snow said. “With our track condemned, this is our only home meet of the season. We want to put on a good meet. If anyone is interested in helping, contact me at 367-6512.”