The Dalles Chronicle
TheDallesChronicle.com
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
A9
SPORTS
Dodge’s impressive run puts him on brink of history
Junior
grappler goes
undefeated to
earn district
title and
runs season
record to 22-
0, 21 by pin
Rodriguez
■ Ray
The Dalles Chronicle
In his career, wrestling has
taken Dusty Dodge from The
Dalles to Goldendale and
now back to The Dalles.
Life has been a whirlwind,
but he takes so much more
away from his experiences
that will last him through the
test of time.
The two-time state placer
at Goldendale (third place in
2018, and second last season
at 160 pounds) won all three
of his 170-pound matches
by pin to take first place at
the OSAA 5A Special District
4 Championships Saturday
at Ridgeview High School in
Redmond.
Dodge is on the verge of
school history, as he ran his
overall record to 22-0, 21 by
pinfall.
“I think my whole journey
through wrestling has taught
me a lot about myself and
helped me become a better
practice partner, a better
teammate and it also made
me a better wrestler through
some ups and downs, losing
tournaments and not doing
too good throughout the
year. It has made my mindset
tougher and gave me the
motivation to get more out of
myself every day.”
Dodge had an open-
ing-round bye, then polished
off three straight opponents
in a combined six minutes
and 39 seconds.
The first win came at
21 seconds versus Jubal
Brumble (Crook County),
and the junior dropped
Carlos Corrales-Bazan
(Ridgeview) via third-round
pin (4:28) to vault into the
championship finale, where
he would meet up with team-
mate Taylor Morehouse.
Dodge earned the first-
round pin of Morehouse with
11 seconds to go in the first
round (1:49).
For Dodge, the district
victory was his fifth tourna-
ment title of the season, and
he added an Outstanding
Wrestler of the IMC District
Award as voted on by all the
head coaches.
“Dusty’s undefeated run
this year is not all about the
21 pins, but about his superb
technique,” The Dalles head
coach Paul Beasley said.
“Pinning is a product of su-
perior wrestling, not strength
alone. Assistant coaches
Ryan Manciu and Jake
Abrams devised a practice
plan to take advantage of his
skills and it has paid off with
a No. 1 seed at state.”
Joining Dodge at this week-
end’s 5A state tournament at
Veterans Memorial Coliseum
in Portland are Taylor
Morehouse (second place),
Steven Preston (third place),
Ian Preston (fourth place)
and Mauricio Carrera (fourth
place).
While there are five
state qualifiers, freshmen
Marquies Sagapolutele (160)
and Miguel Torres (220) each
placed fifth and have an
outside shot at earning state
invites as wild card.
Morehouse continued
his upward trend in the
5A Special District 4 land-
scape after a second-place
outcome, Steven Preston
showed resolve in picking
up third place, and both Ian
Preston and Carrera had to
fight through tough brackets
to solidify their fourth-place
outcomes.
Entering districts,
Morehouse had a losing
record, but had been on an
upwards swing over the last
three weeks and had several
facets to his craft dialed in.
Just like Dodge,
Morehouse (13-16 record)
had byes in the first three
rounds and jumped into the
semifinals to grapple against
Hood River Valley’s Maverick
Geller (23-16 record).
In that match, Geller and
Morehouse fought for six
minutes to a 3-all tie, so a
championship berth had to
be decided in overtime.
Morehouse pulled off the
two-point takedown at the
buzzer in the extra session
for a 5-3 sudden victory to
advance.
The Dalles wrestling team put up 116 points to get sixth place at the OSAA 5A Special District 4
Championships Saturday at Ridgeview High School in Redmond. In the photo are, from left to right,
starting in the back row, Ryan Manciu (assistant coach), Mauricio Carrera, Kevin Marx (assistant
coach), Taylor Morehouse and Paul Beasley (head coach). In the front row are, from left, Dusty Dodge,
Steven Preston and Ian Preston. Dodge ran his record to 22-0 on the year and claimed a 170-pound
district title, Morehouse placed second, Steven Preston was third and both Carrera and Ian Preston
clinched fourth place to secure state berths.
Contributed photo
Steven Preston (20-5
record), a two-time state
qualifier, hit the mats at 160
pounds and scored 20 team
points after posting a 3-1
record.
The Riverhawk senior
moved into the quarterfi-
nals, where he battled with
Redmond’s Logan Willett
(8-10 record), and Steven
Preston used just 33 seconds
to get a pin and advance to
the semifinals.
After a semifinal pinfall
loss (4:32) at the hands
of Gavin McLean (Crook
County), Preston rebounded
See DODGE, page A10
The Dalles’ Dusty Dodge takes down his Hood River Valley opponent
in a dual this season at Kurtz Gym in The Dalles. With his undefeated
record and district championship in tow, Dodge is the No. 1 seed go-
ing into this weekend’s state tournament.
Ray Rodriguez photo
Swimmers make final leap ahead at state championship meet
worn maroon and gold at
a state swim meet,” coach
Shortt said.
On the individual side,
Lydia DiGennaro qualified
in both the 50- and 100-yard
freestyle races, finishing her
50-yard freestyle in 26.04 sec-
onds, which placed her 10th
in the state. She tacked on a
time of 57.87 in the 100-yard
freestyle to lock down ninth
Looking back at the 2019- place.
At last weekend’s
2020 swim season, The Dalles
Intermountain Conference
head coach Derek Shortt
District Championships held
cannot be any prouder of
in Madras, Kendall Webber
everything his athletes gave
served out a 6:00.00 for her
him on a day-to-day basis.
district championship and
Friday at the Tualatin
went into the state prelim-
Hills Aquatic Center in
Beaverton, the Riverhawks
inary race with a personal
had 13 swimmers compete
record of 5:55.77, but blew
in five events for OSAA
those times out of the water
OnPoint Community Credit
by nine seconds with a
Union 5A Swimming State
new personal-record time
Championship action.
of 5:50.80, which gave her
“To have that many
eighth place in state.
swimmers at state, in and of
The girls 200-yard freestyle
itself, was a milestone for the relay quartet of DiGennaro,
program, as it hasn’t been
Kennedy Abbas, Kendall
since the winter of 2009-2010 Webber and Bree Webber
that so many swimmers have dropped one second from
DiGennaro and
Kendall Webber each
ring up personal
records in their
respective events
Rodriguez
■ Ray
The Dalles Chronicle
their district performance to
finish with a time of 1:49.16
to secure eighth place in the
field.
The boys 200-yard freestyle
relay, led by seniors Will
Evans and Bryce Harris along
with freshman Michael Cole
and sophomore Xander
Kirby, put in a valiant effort
for a finals position and a
Saturday qualification.
Unfortunately, an early
start off the blocks ended
the boys wild card quest, al-
though they did finish with a
time of 1:37.62, which would
have been another personal
record.
“We told the kids after the
meet that this is the point
in the season where they
need to focus on what they
achieved rather than what
they didn’t,” Shortt said. “At
the beginning of our last
practice on Wednesday, we
told the kids that in two days
they would be swimming
against the elite swimmers
in the state of Oregon. Then
we told them that this was
The Dalles swim team added some more personal records and respectable finishes to their records at
this past weekend’s OSAA OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A Swimming State Championship ac-
Pat Shortt/Contributed photo
tion.
because they were now elite
swimmers themselves. When
they heard that, they all
started clapping for them-
selves. That was pretty cool
to see them recognize where
they were and what they had
accomplished.”
The swim team had
plenty of highlights, team
wins and standout perfor-
mances during the regular
season, and will bring back
a good chunk of those state
qualifiers for another deep
run next year, so coach Shortt
is feeling like the best efforts
are coming sooner rather
than later.
See SWIM, page A10
Unicorn style vaults Dufur to SWC loses to Ione
■
first district title since 2005
offensive rebounded, but turned
the ball over.
SWC had 27.8 seconds to get
The Ione/Arlington Cardinals
a basket, down 71-68, and Hull
shot 66 percent for the game
called a timeout to set up a play.
on 31 of 47 from the floor and
Jace Troutman, however, stole
hit a torrid 16 of 20 second-half
the inbounds pass, was fouled
shots in Saturday’s 74-68 win
and sank both free throws, which
over the Redsides.
put the Cards in front, 73-68.
In the fourth quarter, Ione/
After another inbounds pass
Arlington led 60-54 with 4:19
turnover, Troutman made 1 of 2
left and 68-63 at the 1:34 mark.
free throws, and SWC missed its
Oscar Thomas drained two
final shot attempt.
free throws to inch the Redsides
Goad had 22 points, Eynetich
to within 68-65, and on the
added 17, Hunter Padberg
Cardinals next possession,
dropped 16 and Troutman
Wesley Goad hit 1 of 2 free
tacked on 13 points.
throws, but on his miss, Ione
SWC made 27 of 52 from the
got the offensive rebound.
field, 8 of 16 threes, and went 6
SWC got a steal and missed
of 15 from the line.
its shot attempt, and Carson
Thomas scored 24 points,
Eynetich hit a layup to give Ione
Garrett Olson notched 21 points
a 71-65 lead.
and went 3 of 10 from the line,
Ben Birman answered with
Tanner Davis and Remington
a 3-pointer at the 33-second
Sheer had seven points each.
mark, and after two missed
SWC hosts Elgin at 6 p.m.
Ione free throws, they got the
Wednesday.
Ray Rodriguez
The Dalles Chronicle
Defensive
philosophy
is catalyst in
frenzied style
of basketball
Rodriguez
■ Ray
The Dalles Chronicle
It has been 15 long
years since the Dufur girls
basketball program has
been relevant in the Big
Sky Conference’s upper
echelon.
After Saturday’s 50-44
victory over Echo in the
district championship game,
this young core could be on
the top of the heap for many
years to come.
The Rangers led 22-19 at
the half, and 33-31 entering
the final quarter.
Ahead 48-44 with less than
20 seconds left and Echo in
possession of the ball, Ranger
senior Katie Beal blocked a
shot, and was fouled for the
1-and-1, but missed the front
end, grabbed her own re-
bound ahead of four Cougar
players and got the putback
layup, which gave Dufur its
50-44 victory.
With the boundless energy,
the baseline-to-baseline
defensive tenacity and bal-
anced scoring brought in by
first-year head coach Nathan
Morris and his assistants,
The Dufur Rangers captured their first district championship since the 2005 season after beating
Echo by a 50-44 margin Saturday in Madras.
Ray Rodriguez photo
Tony White and Heather
Walters, there is a system in
place that every player loves
and the passion exudes on
the hardwood on a nightly
basis.
Following a 10-win season
and a district exit, the Lady
Rangers went 17-8, 9-3 in
league and allowed 82 points
fewer in two less games
played.
“We had a goal set at the
beginning of the year of going
to districts and I told them,
‘let’s see if we can amp it up
a little bit and get out of dis-
tricts, because I think we can
win districts,’” Morris said.
“I always knew we had the
potential, but I don’t think
that I have ever been a part of
team that has seen this much
growth from the beginning of
the year to where we are now.
Just the confidence, playing
poised and under control
and buying in to what we are
doing defensively are the big-
gest differences. It has been
really impressive and fun to
be a part of.”
On any given night Dufur’s
leading scorer changes, so
opposing teams have difficult
singling out one player to try
to stop.
Defensively, Morris swaps
his starters for his bench to
keep players fresh and ener-
gized enough to chase ball
handlers, force mistakes and
transition baskets in what is
dynamic defensive forma-
tion that forced 16 Echo
turnovers.
“We made a change about
five or six games in, where
we did the rotation thing,”
Morris said. “I think we
went about eight deep be-
fore that, and we started go-
ing five-in and five-out. The
change you see most with
the girls is that everybody
knows that they are part of
something, that they are in
this together. I think that is
the biggest thing.
“We were very intentional
about the philosophy we
wanted as far as the style of
play and what we wanted
to do.
“We kind of branded our-
selves in that style. We got
unicorns everywhere and
that’s who we are, and they
buy in to that.”
Dufur hosts a team to be
announced Friday at the
Ranger Dome.
Dr. Cullen’s
Student of the week
Shane Squires for the Perseverance
Award at the Learning Center:
Shane is a kind, hardworking and helpful
student. Shane is polite to those around
him and is always willing to work hard.
He will stick with a task until completion.
Congratulations
Shane Squires, TDHS
Columbia View Dental
1915 E. 19th Street | The Dalles
Victor Cullen, DDS
541-296-5677 | Se habla español