Sports
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore.
Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2011
IVHS on track for success
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
IVHS track team works out on the city streets Friday, April 8.
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
The track and field season is
in full swing for a young, but hard-
working, Illinois Valley High School
team.
The Cougars traveled to Suther-
lin High School Saturday, April 2 fol-
lowed by the Brookings-Harbor Ro-
tary Invitational on April 9.
Lady Cougars have only one
senior, Kayla Johnson, though she
competed in State last season and is
already among the top three so far in
3-A district throwing events.
“In discus, [Johnson] is third
best in the district right now and the
best in javelin in all of 3-A,” said
track coach Ray Yarbrough.
According to Yarbrough, soft-
ball is Johnson’s main sport so she
has only competed in two meets so
far as of April 8. But she has already
beaten her best javelin throw of last
year by seven feet, up to 117.7 feet.
Several Lady Cougars have
shown their potential in recent events,
including freshman Amanda Brooks,
who placed as high as sixth among 16
competitors in the 100-meter hurdles.
Fellow newcomer Theresa Freder-
ick runs hurdles, long jump and high
jump.
Another freshman, Samantha
Milner, came from a successful cross-
country season under coach Bill Yeo-
man, who is also coaching distance
runners in track.
“[Milner] did really well in
cross-country as a freshman,” Yeo-
man said. “I suspect she’ll do the
same thing in track if she can keep
that momentum going. She surprised
some people [in Districts].”
Yeoman said fewer students are
running distance this season, but he
believes the small group is still just as
dedicated despite inexperience. Sev-
eral distance runners also played soc-
cer or ran cross-country and are look-
ing to build on their progress from the
fall season.
“The main thing is that they all
improve and get their times down ev-
ery meet,” Yeoman said. “Hopefully
they’ll get the ‘bug’ and I can get
them to return [next season].”
On the boys’ side, senior Jesse
Bethke returns after winning most-
improved status last year. Celilo Nor-
dal also returns to IVHS track to put
more focus on sprinting events.
“[Nordal] is kind of Mr. Do
Anything on the team,” Yarbrough
said. “He does anything we ask him
to do to get a time and get us some
points.”
James Buck also did well in the
100- and 200-meter sprinting events,
and Yarbrough said he could make it
to State in 3-A competition.
Junior Brian Terry is another
Cougar showing potential on the
team, participating in the 200-me-
ters and placing tenth in long jump in
Sutherlin April 2.
Other Cougars hoping to build
on their progress in distance events
include Soloman Zook and Jordan
Rich.
“I’m really impressed with the
group of kids we have,” Yarbrough
said. “I think the future is pretty great
right now.”
Illinois Valley was scheduled to
compete Tuesday, April 12, in North
Valley and Saturday, April 16, at the
Crater Classic.
Cougar baseball falls to South Umpqua Lancers
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
Cougar Anthony Baker, #3 steps up to the plate during an April 5 game against South Umpqua at IVHS.
The Illinois Valley High
School baseball team lost to a
tough South Umpqua team on
Tuesday, April 5, at home.
South Umpqua, a 4-A
team with only one loss so
far this season, isn’t used to
giving up many runs. In the
first few innings, they ran up
six points against the Cougars
and seemed to have set the
tone for the game.
But according to Illinois
Valley coach Bob Johnson,
the Cougars came back after
the second inning, tightening
up their defense and gaining
12 hits as a team, but it wasn’t
enough to win.
“One more time we came
up just a little bit short, but we
played well again,” Johnson
said. “We played good defense
for the most part, but had a
couple of mental errors.”
Several players pitched
for the Cougars to gain
experience on the field.
One was newcomer James
Chastain, whom Johnson said
played four innings without
giving up a single run.
“[Chastain] gave up one
hit, one walk and had a strike-
out,” Johnson said. “No runs
at all. That was a real plus and
he’s a freshman.”
Five players had two hits
apiece: Anthony Becker, Curtis
Paulson, Andrew McLaughlin,
Zach Anderson and Lander
Nordal.
On the field, Johnson
said Nordal also played well
on first base, showing that
Cougar freshman have been
rising to the challenge.
“That was the first game
[Nordal] started I believe,”
Johnson said. “One reason
I’m so positive is because the
young guys are stepping up
and doing a good job.”
As of April 5, the Cougars
are 1-7 overall, but still have
14 regular-season games left
on their schedule.
For Illinois Valley, the
challenge now seems to be
getting strong pitching and
hitting to line up at the same
time. Johnson said most of
their opponents up until now
were 5-A and 6-A teams from
larger schools with more
students to draw from.
Cougars
showed
potential in both defense and
offense in their games so far;
now, Johnson says the team is
working to eliminate mistakes
and gain momentum going
into league play.
“I like the work we’re
doing right now,” Johnson
said. “I think once we start to
get a couple wins things will
really take off. I would’ve
liked to win more before the
start of league play just to get
that feeling of winning. But
we’re not quitting.”
Illinois
Valley
was
scheduled to travel to Hidden
Valley at 4:30 p.m. Thursday,
April 7 at the Grants Pass
Sports Park, and play Glide on
Tuesday, April 12