Bethany Gingerich and Trey Reed were Sweet Home’s top finishers Saturday morning at the Rock N River 5K at Elijah Bristow State Park outside Pleasant Hill.
On a course that was flat, but with uneven ground and some twists and turns, Gingerich ran 22:01.4, a significant personal best time for her.
Sweet Home was missing its top boys runner, Jakob Hiett, who was taking an SAT test Saturday morning. Trey Reed stepped in to take the lead for the Huskies, finishing ninth in 18:06.8.
Marshfield placed three runners in the top 10 to win with 36 points, ahead of Philomath (36) and Junction City (89), leaving Sweet Home fourth (95).
“Without Jakob, they still competed really well,” said Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen. “Trey stepped up, had a great race. He was frustrated he didn’t get sub-18, but overall it was not a bad race.”
It was the first time Gingerich has run under 24 minutes for a 5K course in high school, and Allen said she was “upset” that she did not break 22.
“That was definitely an ‘A’ race for her,” Allen said. “We cannot complain about that performance.”
Right behind Gingerich was Kayleen Keeney in 14th, who ran 22:15.7, over a minute faster than her time over the same course last year.
“Kayleen ran a great race too,” Allen said.
The girls did not have five runners to score as a team, because some members are nursing injuries, he said.
It was also Reed’s first time on the course, but the time he ran was his fastest of the year, three seconds under what he ran at Ash Creek, a much faster course, early this season.
Second for the Huskies was fellow sophomore Issac Justham, 19th in 19:06.3, slightly slower than the time he ran last year as a freshman.
“That course was not a PR course, so anybody who ran a PR ran a heck of a race,” Allen said. “All three of our JV runners had massive PR’s.”
In the middle school race, Sweet Home’s Tanner Vannice, an eighth-grader, was the overall winner in 11:41.4 over the 3000-meter course – after getting stung by a bee immediately before the race and after finishing second (11:53) in a field of 200 at the Northwest Middle School XC Showdown at Avery Park in Corvallis.
Wednesday, the Huskies will be at the Country Fair Classic on the Oregon Country Fair grounds in Veneta.
The course is flat and fast, and usually produces PRs for Sweet Home runners, who are tapering in preparation for the district race, on Oct. 23. The girls junior varsity will start at 3:30 p.m., followed by the boys JV at 4:10, the girls varsity at 4:45 and the boys varsity at 5:20.
Rock N River 5K
Boys Results
Team Scores – (1) Marshfield 36; (2) Philomath 45; (3) Junction City 89; (4) Sweet Home 95; (5) Pleasant Hill 97; (6) Oakland 110.
Top 3 and Sky-Em Finishers – (1) Colby Gillett (Marshfield) 16:47.7; (2) Mitchell Thomas (Philomath) 15:56.4; (3) Sawyer Heckard (Marshfield) 17:10.4; (7) Morgan McAdamas (JC) 17:48.3; (8) Ridge Lemieux (JC) 18:02.9; (9) Trey Reed (SH) 18:06.8; (17) Pete Frazee (Junction City) 18:59.3; (19) Issac Justham (SH) 19:06.3; (24) Haeden Rauh (Sutherlin) 19:53.3; (25) Julian Hesberg (SH) 19:54.7; (27) Joseph Rasmussen (SH) 20:16.4; (33) Noah Taraski (SH) 20:38.5; (35) Ryan Parker (JC) 21:03.8; (40) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 21:24.7; (41) Zach Bodi (JC) 21:32.3; (43) Wyatt Keady (Sutherlin) 21:36.8; (50) Nick Rietz (SH) 23:29.3.
Junior Varsity Finishers – (11) Adam Barber (SH) 23:54.2; (13) Jake Hindmarsh (SH) 25:07.1; (14) Jun Kaneyama (SH) 25:26.8; (15) Cameron Tabor (SH) 25:30.6.
Girls Results
Team Scores – (1) Philomath 24; (2) Junction City 73; (3) Sutherlin 73; (4) Pleasant Hill 74; (5) Marshfield 99.
Top 3 and Sky-Em Finishers – (1) Meaghan Alba (Philomath) 20:22.0; (2) Tegan Weaver (Philomath) 21:01.9; (3) Aysia Killingbeck (Oakridge) 21:19.5; (6) Camerin Feagins (Sutherlin) 21:28.9; (8 Evelyn Tedrick (JC) 22:00.4; (9) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 22:01.4; (10) Sydney Thielman (JC) 22:02.1; (13) Brittany Hanson (Sutherlin) 22:14.5; (14) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 22:15.7; (20) Shayla Solomon (JC) 23:05.6; (30) Sierra Swanson (SH) 23:54.9; (31) Emma Matteo (Sutherlin) 24:04.9; (32) Katelyn Godon (Sutherlin) 24:05.5; (36) Brandy Foust (JC) 24:39.3; (38) Vanessa Crite (Sutherlin) 25:09.8; (41) Rose Lay (JC) 26:11.5; (48) Kayla Tellez (JC) 27:40.6; (49) Lacey McFadden (JC) 27:54.9.