Freshman Emma Whitton delivered the most exciting cross-country race in recent years for Sweet Home on Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Bramble Scramble meet hosted by Cottage Grove.
Whitton led a strong girls varsity field for the entire race, followed closely by Philomath senior Adele Beckstead, before Beckstead surged past her to win by a step in the final meters of the race.
“Emma’s race was awesome,” Head Coach Dave Martin said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve even had anyone competing in a race with those kinds of runners. Adele Beckstead is tremendous runner statewide.”
Beckstead, currently ranked fifth in the 4A division, has been a top-10 finisher at the state meet for three straight years, winning the Oregon West district title as a sophomore and finishing second last year to North Marion’s McCallan Cutsforth, who this year is running for Canby.
“Emma had as big a lead as they headed into that last 500, as she had the whole race,” Martin said. “Adele was pumping her arms as hard as she could go in that final 100 meters.”
Beckstead won in 20:17.40, with Whitton finishing in 20:18.10.
Sweet Home junior McKenzie Miller was fourth in 21:04.40, behind Philomath freshman Cassidy Smart, who ran 20:51.70.
Sweet Home’s other varsity runner, Noelle Helfrich, was 63rd in 29:08:70, after struggling on the course, which included some twisting trails and hills that slowed runners.
“I thought we had a good meet,” Martin said. “The times didn’t match up with the efforts again (similar to the previous week at Philomath), but we competed well. I liked what I saw.
“I thought McKenzie’s race was very good. She ran very tough. The only people who beat McKenzie were three girls from our district, and this is the first time she’s lost to Emma and the first time she’s lost to Cassidy Smart.
“It will be a tight race between those four runners at districts.”
On the boys side, sophomore Ryker Burr was first in for Sweet Home, placing 20th in a field of 111 runners, in 19:21.10. Cottage Grove senior Carter Bengston won the boys race in 16:06.00, leading the Lions to the team title as well. Sweet Home was eighth out of 14 teams, all but two of them (Elmira and Marist) from larger-division schools.
Freshman Evan Knight was 49th in 20:49.30; freshman Acen Webber was 50th in 20:50.10; sophomore Conner Spencer was 61st in 21:39.50; freshman Wes Goff was 76th in 22:39.40; junior Keagan Vogel was 76th in 22:39.40; and freshman Evan Malabago was 79th in 22:54.40.
“Riker and Evan Knight ran good races,” Martin said. “Louis and Wes ran really good races as well.
Conner had a really good day. I thought he battled, competed well.”
In the boys JV race, freshman Louis Kistner led the Huskies with a 28th-place finish in 22:26.30, followed by senior Kasey Kast, 34th in 22:36.40; freshman Noah Strawn, 36th in 22:49.10; freshman Eli Adams, 73rd in 26:50.90; and Boden Sayer, 86th in 31:02.90.
In the girls JV race, sophomore Madison Looney ran 38:17.20 in her second cross-country race, an 8½- minute PR over the time she ran three weeks previously in Sweet Home’s home meet at Community Chapel. That was the only personal best for the high school runners.
The Huskies’ regular season will end Saturday, Nov. 2, when they compete at the Oregon West Conference District Championships, hosted by Philomath.
Sweet Home’s junior high runners, who have competed all year in the same venues as the high-schoolers, ended their regular season Saturday at Cottage Grove with personal bests up and down the line.
Eighth-grader Cassie Spencer led the girls race wire-to-wire, winning in 12:21.2, her fastest 3000 time of the season, in which she has experience a nagging injury.
“Cassie ran a great race,” Martin said. “She was a little surprised to be there in front.”
Spencer led the Tigers to a fourth-place finish out of five teams with 87 points, but they were only one point behind Eugene Christian.
Marian Helfrich was 17th out of 58 runners in 14:42.40, a 1½-minute PR. Behind her were Pyper Hall in 34th place, in 16:43.30, a four-second PR; Lexie Lee, 49th in 19:36.40; and Zoie Allison, 84th in 21:02.10, a 1:22 PR for 3,000 meters.
“Our junior high girls team competed well,” Martin said. “Marian ran a great race and it was fun to see the girls’ team score up there again.”
This year is the first in at least the last two decades that the Tigers have had the five girls runners necessary to score as a team.
For the boys, Brayden Driver, an eighth-grader who has played football all season but decided to give cross-country a try, ran head-to-head with teammate Elijah Rodriguez to finish literally a step apart at the finish line, Driver fourth in 10:24.70 and Rodriguez fifth in 10:25.50 in the field of 94 runners.
Hudson Ogden was 27th in 12:20.40.
“All three of the boys, especially Brayden and Elijah, they just ran great races,” Martin said. “They ran phenomenal times against good competition.”