Sports
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The perfect throw
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
A perfect throw from Catcher Anthony Becker allowed second baseman Zach Welch to tag out the Cascade player attempting to steal second. The Cougs dropped
two Friday, May 6 on the road in Medford.
Cougars improve but fall short to Challengers
On Saturday, May 7, the Illinois Valley High School baseball
team faced the Cascade Christian Challengers in Medford, falling
4-5 and 3-7 in a double-header.
But the Cougars improved from the last time they played
Cascade Christian April 19, where they lost 3-10.
The Challengers are now 18-1 overall and 8-1 in league
play as of Tuesday, May 10, the first-ranked team in the 3-A
Southern Cascade league.
Illinois Valley was scheduled to play St. Mary’s May 10
and a double-header against Rogue River Saturday, May 14 at
home.
Johnson throws to victory
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
Many Illinois Valley High
School athletes placed in the
top eight Monday, May 3, at the
Brookings-Harbor Twilight meet.
Senior Kayla Johnson led the
team with two first-place throws in
javelin and discus.
When not playing softball for
her school, Johnson participates
in throwing events, consistently at
or near the top of the rankings. On
Monday, Johnson threw 120 feet
in discus, beating the second-place
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News) athlete by eight feet.
But the most surprising win
Four-sport standout Kayla John-
might
have been javelin, where
son in a game May 6, after taking
Johnson
threw more than 107 feet
first in javelin and discus earlier in
compared to the second-place throw
the week.
of 79 feet, 9 inches.
“Kayla has won almost all
the meets she’s been to this year,”
said IV track coach Ray Yarbrough.
“She’s got to be one of the favorites
going into Regionals to place in
the top two for state. We’re very
confident she’s going to be able to
do that.”
Illinois Valley freshman have
also made strong improvements over
the course of the season. Samantha
Milner finished the 1500-meter race
in 5:48, more than 20 seconds before
the next runner.
Last week, freshman Amanda
Brooks won the 100-meter hurdle
event in 18:25, and on May 3
finished second with 18:40.
On the boys’ side, freshman
Joshua Allan also won the 1500-
meter event against three athletes
from Gold Beach High School.
Celilo Nordal and Jesse Bethke
earned fourth and fifth place,
respectively, in shot put among 12
competitors.
For track practice Wednesday,
May 4, the Illinois Valley High
School team mixed things up by
trying a U.S. Marine-style workout.
Not surprisingly, the fitness test
is no cakewalk, combining intense
strength training and running.
According to Yarbrough, athletes at
one point carried around 35-pound
ammo cans (in a safe manner) as
part of the workout.
“One thing I noticed…the
commitment to not give up was so
evident with our kids,” Yarbrough
said. “The Marine who came in told
me that almost every school he goes
to, people quit. Not one of our kids
quit. They all finished it.”
Yarbrough said many Cougar
track athletes viewed the Marine
fitness test as a challenge, trying to
get the numbers needed to pass the
test, beyond just getting through it.
“Seeing that in our kids, the
drive to compete and the drive to not
give up and get better all the time is
pretty awesome,” Yarbrough said.
The Cougars went to Rogue
River for the Chieftain Invitational
meet starting 10 a.m. for the
throwing events.
On Thursday, May 12, IVHS is
scheduled to go to the Sunset League
Special District meet. In just a few
weeks, 3-A State Championships
will be held Friday, May 20 and
Saturday, May 21.
Golfers barely miss mark for State
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
Illinois Valley golfers had their
best games of the season at the 3-
A/2-A/1-A District tournament
in Eagle Point May 5 and May 6,
but just missed the cut for State
competition.
According to athletic director
Casey Alderson, junior Fred Hults
fell short of a spot at State by just one
stroke, shooting a 75 on the second
day. Senior Roger Hults also barely
missed State contention, finishing
the tournament two strokes behind
his brother.
“Our conference is probably
one of the toughest in the State,”
Alderson said. “If you have two who
both shot under par and still didn’t
make it…it’s tough to grab other
spots.”
Boys’ golf coach Matt Knight
said Illinois Valley finished third as
a team in the two days. Both Roger
and Fred Hults made the top ten;
Fred with a total score of 158 on both
days and Roger totaling 160.
Jesse Bethke and Matt Coultas
also put up points for their team,
holding their own among the tough
competition on all sides with 187
and 225 respectively. Keaton
Bradley also finished with 250 for
the Cougars.
In the end, Rogue River’s Kevin
Murphy outshone his rivals to take
the top spot, followed by St. Mary’s
Dylan Wu.
“I’m proud of the way our
guys played this year and the way
we finished the season at Districts,”
Knight said. “I couldn’t ask for a
(Photo by Darcy Wallace, Illinois Valley News)
better group of guys to coach and we
Senior
Matt
Coultas
following
through on a tee shot
had a great season.”
during the District tournament Thursday, May 5.