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This is the time of year when sports seasons rapidly end in succession. It is also a good time to take stock of the performances by local teams. Here is a quick run down:
Swimming Salem-Keizer has one public swimming pool-Olinger-to share between six schools. Not a promising scenario when it comes to trying to compete on the state level, so what the McNary girls team accomplished was nothing short of remarkable. The Celtic ladies, coached by Kim Phillips, placed fifth. Amber Boucher paced the McNary squad with a second and fifth place finish. McNary ended the meet with 79 points—far behind four-time champion Westview of Beaverton, which accumulated 202.5 points. The new swimming facility at the under-construction Kroc Center in North Salem is still months away from completion, but I am sure all the CVC coaches in the Salem-Keizer area are giddy with anticipation. Wrestling Roseburg took home the 6A wrestling title after bringing almost its entire varsity squad from the Southwest Conference tournament. But the toughest league competing at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum was the Central Valley Conference. All six of the CVC teams which qualified wrestlers for state finished in the top 20 in the standings, led by conference champion Redmond. A total of 27 CVC wrestlers won individual medals, including four first place finishes. Sprague’s RJ Pena nabbed his third straight title with a pair of pins and a 10-0 shutout in the championship match at 140 pounds. Opposing coaches get to deal with Pena for one more year before he undoubtedly will move on to NCAA Division-I competition. CVC coach of the year Kary Hadden of Sprague and Redmond coach Nathan Stanley agree that the Central Valley has some of the fiercest competition in all of Oregon. It showed at state, with CVC wrestlers facing each other for medals in four matches, including the championship bout at 152 pounds, where Redmond’s Justin Martin avenged his conference title loss with a win over McKay’s Tyler Thomas. Boys Basketball Notes The order isn’t exactly what coaches expected at the start of the season, but the tight race for the Central Valley Boys basketball crown is right on schedule. Five teams—McKay, McNary, Redmond, South Salem, and West Salem—are in the hunt for four playoff spots. The road to the 6A tournament finals at McArthur Court in Eugene looks to be an extremely difficult one for CVC teams dominated by underclassmen. The fourth, third, and second seeds will likely have to face a top ten team in the second round: Tualatin or Tigard for the fourth seed, Central Catholic or Barlow for CVC #3, and top-ranked Oregon City for the second seed. Decidedly not very good odds. Even the top seed gets no favors in the brackets. After a first round bye, the CVC #1 would likely face the Mt. Hood Conference’s second seed—either the afore- mentioned Central Catholic or Barlow. On paper, the Central Valley should be watching the championship rounds from the stands. It’s a good thing they actually get to play these games—anything can happen.
Mark Gilman can be contacted at mark@fullaccesssports.com
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