12
Wednesday,June16,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
SPORTS
Lingel leaves imprint
on Horizon’s boys
basketball program
Routson, Troutt
earn first-
team all-state
Hood River Valley out-
fielder Molly Routson and
The Dalles catcher Maddie
Troutt were named to the
Oregon Class 5A all-state
softball team by a vote of
coaches.
HRV frosh Sienna Davis
was an honorable mention
pick as an infielder.
Petshow
■ By For Joe
Columbia Gorge News
Long-time Horizon
Christian boys basketball
coach Darrin Lingel is ending
a coaching run that brought
the Class 1A Hood River
school six district champion-
ships and one state crown.
Lingel coached his final
game Friday at home against
Sherman County.
“This decision was made
years ago,” Lingel said. “I said,
‘I’m going to coach until (son)
Caleb graduates’.”
With a caveat: “I will always
leave the door open. For right
now I need to get away from
the game a bit.”
Lingel, 54, said he will miss
the competition and player
development the most. That,
"and the strategizing.”
“I’m going to miss the
competition, the competitive
spirit and the development
of players. (But) some of the
best times I had in basketball
were when the coaching staff
got together and strategized
games at the district and state
levels. The icing on the cake
was when it actually worked.”
And when it didn’t?
“One of the disappoint-
ments was when, in 2013, we
had a chance to win the state
title against City Christian.
That was disappointing not
just for the coaches but the
kids. We had played City in
the summer and had had suc-
cess against them. Then we
saw them in the title game,
and we couldn’t hit the broad
side of the basket.
“I felt bad for the kids. They
had a great year, but they
ended up losing the champi-
onship game.”
On the flip side, the pre-
vious year, Horizon was the
underdog against unbeaten
McKenzie in the champion-
ship game and came from
behind in the second half to
win the title. Lingel recalled
what has become known as
“the play” — at least among
Horizon followers.
“At the end of the game,
we call a timeout and call a
play,” he recalls. “We didn’t
run anything close to what we
drew up. We throw the ball
around, almost throw it out
of bounds, and Max (Totaro)
ends up hitting a deep three
and we went on to win the
game. It was crazy.”
Horizon’s five consecutive
district tournament titles —
from 2011 to 2015 — has not
been matched in boys Big
Sky basketball. The Lingel-
coached Hawks won a sixth
crown in 2019.
“In our league, we have
good coaches and there are
always good players,” Lingel
Academic
honors go to
Gorge schools
Hood River Valley had
three academic all-star
first-place teams and
Horizon Christian two in
the Oregon School Activities
Association-sponsored
awards for the 2020-21
school year.
HRV’s boys tennis, boys
swimming and girls cross
country teams, and Horizon
Christian’s girls basketball
and boys golf teams each
earned top honors in their
enrollment classifications.
Of the 26 OSAA-sponsored
activities, Hood River Valley
had either a boys or girls top
10 academic team in 20 of
them.
The HRV boys swim
team earned a cumulative
grade-point average of 3.87
to finish first among Class
5A schools; The Dalles was
10th with a 3.14 GPA among
5A schools. Hood River’s
boys tennis team was first
in 5A with a 3.94 GPA, and
the Eagle girls cross country
team also was ranked first
Long-time Horizon Christian boys basketball coach Darrin Lingel is pictured rallying his team in
2019, when his team took its last district championship. Lingel is retiring at the end of the season.
Photo courtesy Amanda Holste
said. “(The success) says a lot
about our program and the
kids in the program.”
Lingel and wife, Debbie,
moved from La Grande to the
Gorge in 1996 to raise their
family. He was a respiratory
therapist for 10 years, includ-
ing four years as director of
Mid-Columbia Health Care
Equipment in The Dalles. The
Lingels purchased the Papa
Murphy’s pizza franchise in
The Dalles in 2000 and the
sister franchise in Hood River
in 2002. Off the basketball
court, Lingel is known as the
“pizza guy,” hawking take-
and-bake pizzas on Gorge
radio. Those in the business
and faith communities know
him as someone who is gen-
erous with his time, and know
his willingness to support
numerous charitable causes.
He started coaching boys
basketball at Horizon as an
assistant for then-coach and
now athletic director Ron
Haynes. Three years later, in
the 2008-09 season, Lingel
was hired as the head coach;
his Christian faith and the
faith-based school proved to
be a great basketball fit.
The Haynes-coached
Hawks — with Lingel as an
assistant — won back-to-back
district titles in 2007 and
2008. Horizon won six district
championships and one
Class 1A state championship
during Lingel’s 11 years as
head coach. His high school
coaching run was interrupted
during the 2015-16 season
when he spent the winter
coaching son Caleb’s sev-
enth-grade team.
At Horizon, Lingel was able
to coach his sons — Aaron
(Class of 2010) and Caleb
(2021) — and watch his
daughter, Hannah (2015),
play at Horizon. Always near-
by was Debbie, who helped
with logistics, kept statistics
or the scorebook.
“Deb has been instrumen-
tal in all these years behind
the scenes,” Lingel said.
“We’ve always been a team.
She’s a great listener.
“But she also knew there
were those times when she
would have to say, ‘Go talk to
Mike or go talk to Joe. Don’t
talk to me about that. Talk to
your coaches’.”
Coaches like Mike Totaro,
who Lingel refers to as his co-
coach throughout the district
title streak. “And (current
assistant) Brian Robertson,
Rick Aldrich, Wade Root,
Jared Nagreen,” Lingel said.
“All of them. I’ve had some
great coaching staffs.”
One of Lingel’s fondest
memories was beating rival
Sherman for the 2012 district
championship after Horizon
had twice lost to the Huskies
during the regular season.
“I remember talking to the
boys after the second loss,” he
said. “I asked them, 'If God
allowed us one victory, would
you want it now or in the
district championship game?’
They all said the district title
game. Of course, I didn’t even
know we would get there. I
was kind of throwing fluff. So,
I said, “Let's not focus on this
loss, let's focus on that then.'
And we end up getting there
and we beat them. It was
priceless.”
A similar scenario played
out in 2019, the latest of
Horizon’s district basket-
ball titles under Lingel. The
Hawks had lost twice to
Sherman during the reg-
ular season, but then beat
the top-ranked Huskies at
district. Son Caleb was a
ball boy for the 2012 team
and a sophomore starter
in 2019.
There have been a num-
ber of players who were
coached by Lingel as kids
during summer camps and
then would work their way
up to the varsity during
their high school years.
“That’s what I feel best
about — developing the
program,” he said. “Seeing
players maximizing their
full potential. That’s prob-
ably what I like the most.
The wins and losses all
come with that. But it’s the
program for the kids that
you remember as a coach.”
Lingel coached all-
state players who played
basketball year-round, as
well as players who came
out for the sport to help
fill the roster or just to be
a part of a team. Players
like William Decker, Lingel
said. “He wasn’t the best
player or the most athletic,”
Lingel said. “But he just
kept working at it. He really
shined toward his senior
year. And at the sub state
his senior year, we were
playing at Joseph, and he
took over the game. Here
was a player who came
off the bench, but he was
a hard worker and finally
had so much success.
“He just graduated last
month from the Air Force
Academy. He realized his
potential and still does.
And there are many others.
Those stories are really
satisfying to me.”
54. Aldrich was a coach and
mentor to many Horizon
students.
“One aspect of coaching
and mentoring in particular
in which Rick excelled was
helping students realize the
importance of hard work
and how that hard work
would help them realize their
potential,” Athletic Director
Ron Haynes said. “For
whatever they wanted in life,
whatever goals they wanted
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Thursday, June 17:
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The Dalles, 414 Washington St.
541-296-3310
Boys basketball
Tuesday, June 15:
Pendleton at The Dalles;
Hood River at Redmond;
Trinity Lutheran at Dufur
Thursday, June 17:
Ridgeview at The Dalles;
Hood River at Crook County
Friday, June 18: Pendleton
at Hood River
Saturday, June 19:
Crosshill Christian at Dufur
Monday, June 21: IMC
plans to attend Oregon State
University. Decker complet-
ed her junior year at Horizon
and also is a letter winner in
soccer, basketball, and track
and field.
district playoffs: No. 6 seed at
No. 3 seed; No. 5 seed at No.
4 seed
Girls basketball
Tuesday, June 15: The
Dalles at Pendleton;
Redmond at Hood River;
Trinity Lutheran at Dufur
Thursday, June 17: Crook
County at Hood River; The
Dalles at Ridgeview
Friday, June 18: Hood
River at Pendleton
Monday, June 21: IMC
district playoffs: No. 6 seed
Hood River at No. 3 seed
Crook County; No. 5 seed at
No. 4 seed
Swimming
Saturday, June 19: IMC
District meet, Hood River
Aquatics Center, noon
Boys Wrestling
Saturday, June 19: IMC
District tournament,
Prineville
Girls wrestling
Friday, Saturday, June 18-
19: Regionals, TBD
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to accomplish, through hard
work and faith anything is
possible.”
Robertson is a 2021
Horizon graduate and a letter
winner in soccer, basketball,
track and field and golf; he
with a 3.98 GPA.
The Horizon girls basket-
ball team was first among
Class 1A schools with a
cumulative GPA of 3.91. In
“spring” sports which ended
last month, Horizon’s boys
golfers earned a team GPA
of 3.8 to rank first among 3A,
2A and 1A schools. The Hawk
girls track and field team was
ranked third in 1A with a
3.85 GPA, and the boys track
and field team was ranked
seventh at 3.43.
The Hood River girls swim
team was ninth in 5A with
a 3.55 GPA; the HRV boys
wrestling team also was
ninth (3.1 GPA); the HRV
cheer squad was seventh
(3.76 GPA).
The Dalles boys golf team
was ranked fourth in 5A with
a 3.76 GPA. The Riverhawk
softball team was seventh
best among 5A GPAs with a
3.61 team total.
All sport and classification
rankings can be found at
www.osaa.org/awards.
Gorge Sports
Schedule
Robertson, Decker earn
Horizon award
Senior Kai Robertson and
junior Gus Decker, each a
multi-sport athlete and hon-
or roll student, were awarded
the 2021 Rick Aldrich award
at Horizon Christian School.
They received the awards
between Horizon’s girls
and boys basketball games
Friday.
Rick Aldrich was a key
part of the Horizon commu-
nity before his unexpected
passing in 2012 at the age of
Routson and senior
teammate I’sis Kaluah
Solorzano-Arnhold played
Sunday in the annual Class
5A Senior Softball All-Star
Game, which was played at
Wilsonville High School, as
members of the North team.
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