Scott Swanson
Jakob Hiett won two medals for Sweet Home and Ben Terry added one more as the Husky boys placed 23rd in the OSAA 4A State Track and Field Championships Saturday.
The girls team did not score, as no Huskies finished in the medals.
Given their youth and inexperience, Coach Billy Snow said the Huskies had a “good weekend.”
“We told them to go down there, PR and see what happens,” he said.
Some of them did exactly that.
Hiett, a sophomore, placed fifth in a loaded 3000 field Friday, posting a 15-second personal best of 8:49.01 after coming in as the 10th seed.
That effort was five seconds short of the school record in the event, 8:44.7, set by Bruce Burns in 1976.
“I wanted to see if I could break the school record,” Hiett said. “I didn’t do as well there, but I think after that I did really well.”
He shot to the lead in the first of the 7½-lap race and stayed near the front for the entire race, which was won by Brett Willyard of Seaside in 8:39.67, followed by three Siuslaw runners, who helped propel the Vikings to the team title.
“Once we had a crowd moving, we just had a bit of a rotation,” Hiett said. “So many people took the lead each time, I just kind of hung on and just kind of stayed in there. Then occasionally I’d make a move and push up a little bit just so I wasn’t staying in the back.”
On the home stretch, he sprinted past the Cornish twins of North Valley, Jonathan and David, who came into the race seeded above him.
“I didn’t expect to beat the Cornish brothers,” he said. “I got them in the last 200 meters, so that was awesome.”
Hiett said he was “tired” on Saturday in the 1500, in which the rest of the field was all juniors and seniors, but still managed a seventh-place finish in a 2½-second PR 4:08.17.
“Jakob had a great weekend,” Snow said. “He had some big races in him. Unfortunately, that was such a tough field this year. His time last year would have placed him third.
“It was a tough race. Eighth place last year was 9:13. That didn’t even get you close this year.
“Then to come back in the 1500, as a true sophomore, that is pretty good.”
In the shot, Terry, a junior who was only able to compete in three meets prior to winning the district title on May 17, setting PRs in three of those, finished it off with a seventh-place medal after throwing his fourth personal best of the season, 47-00½ on his third attempt. Terry, who was seeded 10th, finished the season 6 feet 4 inches better as a senior than he did as a junior.
Snow said it was remarkable to see Terry compete against a field that was all significantly bigger than he was.
“He’s not small by any means, but he looked like a little kid out there,” the coach said. “Boy, he competed. That that was good.”
On the girls side, none of the Huskies finished with medals but they got a good taste of what the state competition is all about.
The girls 4×100 relay team of juniors Courtney and Haley Kent, sophomore India Porter and freshman Josie Knight, which was the fifth straight Sweet Home short relay squad to qualify for state, finished 11th but posted a season-best time of 51.51 after being seeded last coming into state.
Porter, who was at her first state competition, said their finish came down to execution.
“The handoffs – one was not what we wanted, but the rest were really good and then I think everybody just ran fast,” she said. “Josie (Knight) coming off (the lead-off leg) made up some ground for us. And then after the handoff we were still doing good. And then we got it to (anchor) Courtney (Kent) and she got it the rest of the way and we got a better place than we expected.”
Knight said the Huskies achieved their goal of moving up in the final placings.
“Our goal was basically to move ourselves up in the ranking and PR and that’s what we did. We’re excited. We’re all going to be a lot faster next year, so we’ll probably be able to make it to finals next year. That’ll be fun.”
Snow noted that the relay team dropped nearly a second from their time prior to the district meet.
“That’s pretty phenomenal,” he said. “Part of what they did was they got their handoffs better.”
Also notable, he said, is that “all four of them are back.”
Porter, who qualified for state in the triple jump in her second competition ever in the event, had trouble getting in synch in the Hayward Field atmosphere at the University of Oregon, with some 11,000 people in the stands.
She finished well short of the 33-8 personal best she posted at the district championships, finishing with a best of 28-11¼, which left her in 14th place. Her third attempt, which Snow estimated was in the high 32s, would have been enough to get her a medal, but she fouled by stepping several inches past the board.
“India struggled with not being aggressive,” Snow said. “You can’t be tentative in field events. You just can’t be tentative. She went after it on that last one, but scratched it by three or four inches.
“If she had equalled what she did in districts, she would have been fifth overall.
“When you’re not used to that kind of stuff, even when you go to the Meet of Champions, you’re on the other side of the track (from the grandstand) where nobody’s at. It seems like an everyday meet.”
In the discus, junior Kaitlyn Watts also had difficulty getting her timing down and opted to open the competition with a standing throw of 85-11. She followed that with a spin, but fouled, and then managed a 90-11, which wasn’t enough to get her into the finals.
“That was a great experience for her to get down there,” Snow said. “Hopefully it makes her hungry for next year.”
Nicole Rasmussen was never really a factor in the girls 3000 competition, finishing 10th in 11:18.75.
Snow said the junior has been struggling with health problems for much of the year and it showed in her lack of aggression on the track.
“Nicole never quite got into the race,” he said. “She’s just running races this year. She’s not racing.”
The fact that the entire Sweet Home team that went to state this year is underclassmen may be a sign of good things to come, he said. The last time the Huskies had a nearly all-underclassman team of qualifiers was in 2009 after their first boys state championship.
“It’s nice to have that coming back,” he said. “Hopefully we will have similar results (next year) in terms of placing.
Hiett, for one is looking ahead.
“I missed the school record (in the 3000) by five seconds,” he said. “I’m going to see if I can break it. If I go to some summer open meets, I can break it before Aug. 30. So I’m going to see if I can do that this summer.”
4A State Championships
Events including
Sweet Home competitors
Boys Results
Personal Best*
Team Scores: (1) Siuslaw 60; (2) North Valley 56; (3) Cascade 55; (4) La Pine 52; (5) Newport 39; (6) Scappoose 37; (7) Ontario 35; (8) North Bend 30.5; (9) Hidden Valley 30; (10) Seaside 28; (11) La Grande 26; (12-tie) Baker, Tillamook 19; (14) Molalla 16; (15) Estacada 15; (16) La Salle Prep 14; (17) Banks (11) 5; (18) Cottage Grove 11; (19-tie) Klamath Union, Sisters, Elmira 10; (22) Junction City 9; (23-tie) Sweet Home, Gladstone, Stayton, South Umpqua, Crook County 8; (28) Philomath 7; (29-tie) Douglas, Ridgeview 5; (31-tie) Astoria, Central 4; (33) Madras 3; (34) Brookings-Harbor 1.
1500 – (1) Mack Marbas, Siuslaw, 4:03.24; (2) Matthew Campbell, Siuslaw, 4:04.61; (3) Brandon Pollard, Sisters, 4:04.90; (4) Jonathan Cornish, North Valley, 4:07.23; (5) Deklyn Wood, Newport, 4:07.29; (6) Grayson Munn, Crook County, 4:07.57; (7) Jakob Hiett, Sweet Home, 4:08.17*;(8) Pake Benthin, Molalla, 4:08.21; (9) Aaron Josi, Tillamook, 4:08.73; (10) Hector Rojo, Tillamook, 4:13.21; (11) Logan Veasy, La Salle Prep, 4:16.06; (12) John Roth, Cascade, 4:18.37; (13) Noel March, La Grande, 4:21.34; (14) Dakotah Webb, Hidden Valley, 4:23.57.
3000 – (1) Brett Willyard, Seaside, 8:39.67; (2) Mack Marbas, Siuslaw, 8:45.67; (3) Mitchell Butler, Siuslaw, 8:46.65; (4) Matthew Campbell, Siuslaw, 8:47.62; (5) Jakob Hiett, Sweet Home, 8:49.01; (6) Jonathan Cornish, North Valley, 8:51.25; (7) David Cornish, North Valley, 8:52.69; (8) Aaron Josi, Tillamook, 8:54.68; (9) Pake Benthin, Molalla, 9:02.45; (10) Grayson Munn, Crook County, 9:04.42; (11) Will Thompson, La Salle Prep, 9:18.98; (12) John Roth, Cascade, 9:24.97; (13) Elliott Jonasson, La Grande, 9:29.25; (14) Austin Smith, La Pine, 9:38.34; 15. Deklyn Wood, Newport, 9:47.47.
Shot Put – (1) Zachery Farner, Molalla, 51-07.25; (2) Trevor Duffy, South Umpqua, 49-10.50; (3) Cody Toller, North Valley, 49-01.75; (4) Justin Rich, Estacada, 47-08.25; (5) Levi Iverson, Astoria, 47-03.25; (6) Chance Sutfin, Crook County, 47-03; (7) Ben Terry, Sweet Home, 47-00.25; (8) Hamilton Mateski, North Bend, 46-02.25; (9) Tyson Walton, Baker, 46-00.75; (10) Thomas Blatner, Banks, 45-07; (11) Bo Highburger, Elmira, 43-07; (12) Caylan Stark, Cascade, 42-06.75; (13) Anthony Jarvis, Hidden Valley, 42-00.25; (14) Justin Kruse, Cascade, 40-05.75.
Girls Results
Team Scores: (1) Gladstone 65; (2) Newport 61; (3-tie) Cottage Grove, Molalla 56; (5) North Valley 55; (6) Estacada 34; (7) Hidden Valley 26.75; (8) Ridgeview 25; (9) Banks 24; (10) Siuslaw 23; (11) Henley 22.75; (12) Sisters 20; (13) Crook County 19.5; (14) Seaside 19; (15) Douglas 17.75; (16) Philomath 17; (17-tie) Elmira, Yamhill-Carlton 15; (19) Scappoose 14; (20) Sutherlin 12; (21) Phoenix 9; (22) North Bend (7) 75; (23-tie) Mazama, South Umpqua , Stayton 7; (26) Junction City 6; (27) La Grande 4; (28-tie) Astoria, North Marion, McLoughlin 3; (31-tie) Ontario, La Salle Prep 2; (33-tie) Klamath Union, Central, Cascade 1; (36) La Pine .5.
3000 – (1) Sierra Brown, Hidden Valley, 10:07.89; (2) Katy Potter, Siuslaw, 10:09.22; (3) Nevina Deluca, Phoenix, 10:22.76; (4) Breanna Wright, Cottage Grove, 10:25.48; (5) Charlotte Blakesley, Seaside, 10:45.89; (6) Kaisa Johnson, Astoria, 10:50.85; (7) Holly Bertram, Ontario, 11:01.33; (8) Brianna Loughridge, Molalla, 11:03.87; (9) Amanda Welch, La Grande, 11:10.55; (10) Nicole Rasmussen, Sweet Home, 11:18.75; (11) Gabby Hobson, North Bend, 11:27.89; (12) Mandi Desmarteau, Central, 11:28.48; (13) Kristen LaChapelle, Cascade, 12:01.59.
4×100 Meter Relay – (1) Estacada (49.10; (2) Cottage Grove 49.61; (3) Gladstone 50.14; (4) Newport 50.18; (5) Crook County 50.23; (6) Philomath 50.60; (7) Hidden Valley 50.80; (8) Seaside 51.12; (9) 51.15; (10) Yamhill-Carlton 51.16; (11) Sweet Home (Josie Knight, Haley Kent, India Porter, Courtney Kent) 51.51; (12) North Bend 51.70; (13) La Grande 51.71; (14) Mazama 55.54; –. La Salle Prep
DQ.
Triple Jump – (1) Madison Cronin, Gladstone, 35-10.75, w:2.6; (2) Anna Rietmann, Douglas, 34-09.25, w:1.6; (3) Kendall Schumaker, Gladstone, 34-03.25, w:+0.0; (4) Brenna Marshall, Philomath, 33-09.50, w:1.6; (5) Alisha Haken, Sisters, 33-07.25, w:-1.5; (6) Caitlin Kepple, Henley, 33-04.25, w:+0.0; (7) Mackenzie Folkerts, Newport, 32-10.50, w:1.7; (8) Elizabeth Levesque, Mazama, 32-08, w:2.7; (9) Liz Weulk, Baker, 32-03.50, w:1.5; (10) Jasmine Smith, La Grande, 32-02, w:1.6; (11) Carly DiPietro, Scappoose, 31-10.75, w:-0.2; (12) Cheyenne O’Loughlin, Yamhill-Carlton, 31-05.50, w:1.0; (13) Katherine Miller, Douglas, 31-03.50, w:0.4; (14) India Porter, Sweet Home, 28-11.25, w:+0.0.
Discus – (1) D’Onna Robinson, Gladstone, 132-07; (2) Cherilyn Bunker, Newport, 125-02; (3) Annie Victor, Banks, 123-02; (4) Tricia Ingraham, Cottage Grove, 114-11; (5) Olivia Gulliford, South Umpqua, 114-03; (6) Molly Viles, Crook County, 110-05; (7) McKenzie Hidalgo, Ridgeview, 109-02; (8) Erika Lund, Cascade, 109-02; (9) Emma Hickman, Phoenix, 107-09; (10) Christina MacDonald, Sutherlin, 98-06; (11) Danielle Fitts, Seaside, 96-09; (12) Christine Brown, Henley, 93-01; (13) Kaitlyn Watts, Sweet Home, 90-11; –. Angela Sprecher, North Marion, FOUL.