Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
13
SPORTS
THE DALLES BASKETBALL
Hodges
takes over
Riverhawk
girls program
report
■ Staff
Columbia Gorge News
An artist rendering shows what the new track, with surrounding facility improvements, might look like.
Contributed graphic
Big plans, little town
Joe Petshow
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Track and field may be a
future link between Maupin
and world class athletes; the
sport definitely is what linked
Michael Bergmann and the
small town on Highway 197
near the Deschutes River.
South Wasco High wanted
a new running track and
Bergmann’s background in
the sport — including his
ability to lead efforts to redo
school facilities in Portland
— connected him to the
community. Two years later,
construction on the Maupin
Deschutes River Athletic
Complex, which includes
that track, is underway.
But that might not be the
end of the story.
Bergmann talks in broad
strokes when envisioning
opportunities for the state
of Oregon during the next
360 days. His vision is based
around track and field and
the sport’s 2022 World
Athletic Championships, but
it also incorporates cycling
and whitewater rafting and
numerous other outdoor
recreation activities the state
— and specifically this region
— has to offer. Maupin is one
of a number of communities
which Bergmann thinks
could benefit from next year’s
track and field champion-
ships to be held at University
of Oregon’s recently reno-
vated (at an estimated $270
million) Hayward Field.
At an estimated $1.6 mil-
lion, the DRAC is a bit more
modest of a project, to say
the least, but here’s one of
Bergmann’s ideas: Hundreds
of the world’s best track and
field athletes will be descend-
ing on Oregon less than year
from now. The competition
will bring numerous support
staffers and families of those
athletes, not to mention
thousands of spectators bent
on witnessing the first world
championship held in the
United States.
The athletes will need plac-
es to train leading up to the
event. Bergmann reasoned
that Maupin, two hours
away from Eugene, is void of
the distractions of crowded
metropolitan areas. A small
town with a good training fa-
cility might be an appealing,
quieter option for athletes,
who need to focus on getting
race ready.
“Create an opportunity,
that’s always been kind of
the vision with Maupin,”
Bergmann said. “Build this
world-class track and event
venue that is absolutely
stunning overlooking the
(Deschutes) river. A goal
would be bringing a small
team out there to train
and experience Oregon.
Not Oregon — Eugene or
Portland — but rural Oregon.
It’s beautiful out here.
“If I was going to paint a
scenario? Actually, I’m the
right person to be talking
about that. Ideally, we have
these quality facilities around
the state. You have 214
countries coming into the
state of Oregon. I don’t feel
the world should see Oregon
through the eyes of Hayward
Field only. We could have
communities adopt a team,
for example.
“Those are big, grandiose
ideas. Fundamentally, we
want a track for the kids in
the community to use.”
But then in the next breath:
“If we create a multi-use
venue with food carts, a
potential camping area for
Cycle Oregon, we could have
events there outside of the
track world.”
Or inside that world.
The past year, with COVID
shutting down or at least dis-
rupting most athletic events,
Bergmann was instrumental
in starting “pop-up”, dis-
tance-running based track
meets in the Portland area.
There was no advanced
notice to the general public.
Bergmann, through his
connections — including 30
years working at Nike — and
as president of Portland
Track, helped schedule those
impromptu races between
world-class athletes.
The athletes just wanted
to compete, and Bergmann
helped them scratch that
itch. Athletes would be
invited, a time schedule set,
a facility secured, and under
the cover of darkness —
and, sometimes, lights — a
handful of races would be
held. The races, including
ones held at Portland’s Jesuit
High and Newberg High
School — were live-streamed
to the world. There was a
bit of intrigue surrounding
the races — subtle things to
pique interest — including
the wearing of headlamps,
for example.
“We could do that here,”
Bergmann said about South
Wasco High, sans the need
for headlamps. “We’ll have
a track built to international
standards. The town’s high-
speed internet allows for top
quality live streaming.”
Bergmann said hundreds
of athletes, who didn’t qualify
for the world championships,
will still want to compete.
Those training for the cham-
pionships will need to run
competitively leading up to
the big event.
“How cool would it be to
have a world class 10K race
— maybe it’s not even the
people who are competing in
the worlds,” Bergmann said.
“We could, in theory, have
the world’s best track and
field runners competing in
Maupin.”
The world meet is sched-
uled July 15-24, 2022, and
is promoted regionally as
WCH Oregon 22. It was
supposed to be held in 2021,
but COVID postponed it
a year. WCH Oregon 22 is
essentially a track and field
meet, governed by World
Athletics, that invites the best
in the world. World Athletics
is the international governing
body for track and field, cross
country, road racing, race-
walking, mountain running
and ultra-running.
Corbin University in Salem
this summer is building
a track and field complex
which Bergmann also thinks
could be used by athletes
training to compete in the
world meet.
Bergmann said Maupin,
with the Deschutes River
recreation opportunities and
attractive cycling routes, is an
appealing option for future
events — in addition to track
and field. Bergmann has
plans to incorporate a cycling
race based in Maupin this
fall, with fundraising ties to
DRAC. He said Cycle Oregon,
the annual fundraising bike
ride through central and
eastern Oregon, has been
pitched on the idea of using
DRAC as a stopover for its
next ride.
“Runners don’t have any
money,” he quipped. “Now
cyclists, they spend $20,000
on bikes.”
Bergmann earlier this
month invited a dozen of his
cycling friends to ride the
Oregon Scenic Byway skirting
the Deschutes River.
“A lot of people don’t
even know that Maupin is
gorgeous,” he said. “I took
12 of my buddies out and
they were absolutely blown
away. There are no cars; the
roads are great. They couldn’t
believe it. Two or three of
them have been back already
to ride it again.”
By this fall, Bergmann
said the footprint of the new
track will be in place and the
cycling race will be a way to
showcase it — and the subse-
quent phases of DRAC — to
visitors.
“People will get to see it
and get to donate” to the
track project, he said. “Let’s
activate this beautiful area;
let’s figure out how to get
people out there in October
and November. Then let’s
bring them back next year for
some track meets.”
Former all-state and col-
lege player Darcey Hodges
was hired late last month
as the head girls basketball
coach at The Dalles High
School.
Hodges, a 1999 TDHS
graduate, replaces Keith
Howe.
The Riverhawk girls have
been attending open gyms
the past few weeks, allowing
Hodges to better get to know
her players. For the most
part, the introductions have
been re-introductions, as
Hodges has been a coach in
town since moving back in
2007 to raise her family.
“We’ve had open gym
three days a week and had a
few scrimmages,” she said.
Hodges first moved to The
Dalles from Evanston, Wyo.,
in the late 1990s as a high
school sophomore. She was
a first-team, all-state player
her senior season, when The
Dalles finished third at the
Oregon Class 3A (then sec-
ond-to-largest classification)
state tournament.
Hodges describes her
coaching self as someone
who will, “encourage my
players, while instructing
them in things that need to
be corrected. I love defense
and will challenge and push
my players to be better ath-
letes, students and people.”
She has coached at
various levels, including
middle school boys and
girls basketball at The
Dalles Middle School and
St. Mary’s, freshman girls
basketball at TDHS, and
junior varsity girls basketball
at Yamhill-Carlton. She also
has coached JV soccer in
Newberg and The Dalles.
Among her goals: “I hope
to build the program back
to having three full teams.
They only had one team this
past season. I hope to make
more of a connection with
the youth in The Dalles and
find ways to get the elemen-
tary and middle school kids
more active, involved, and
connected to the program.”
Hodges played soccer,
basketball, and golf in high
school. Her senior year
she participated in soccer,
basketball and both golf and
track — and played softball
during the summer. She
played one year of basketball
and one year
of soccer at
George Fox
University,
played
a year of
basketball at
Utah Valley
Darcey
State College
Hodges
(now Utah
Valley
University), and two years
of basketball at Western
Oregon University.
She earned her associate
degree from Utah Valley
State, a bachelor’s degree
from Western Oregon, and
a master’s degree from
Eastern Oregon University.
She and husband, Jeff,
have a son, Trey, who will
be a freshman at TDHS,
daughter Kestley, who will
be in seventh grade at St.
Mary’s, and daughter Tenley,
who will be in fourth grade
at St. Mary’s.
Hodges teaches middle
school social studies, sixth
grade math, physical edu-
cation and health, and elec-
tives at St. Mary’s. She taught
health and PE in Newberg
and coached girls JV soccer
and Yamhill-Carlton JV
basketball. She has been a
substitute teacher for North
Wasco for 10 years while
coaching JV girls soccer, girls
middle school basketball,
and eventually frosh girls
basketball. She also taught
two years of health and PE
at The Dalles Middle School.
The has taught three years at
St. Mary’s and coached boys
basketball there.
The Dalles was 2-8 this
past COVID-shortened
season, which placed the
Riverhawks fifth in the
six-team Intermountain
Conference regular-season
standings. Program num-
bers were at an all-time low,
primarily because of the
timing of the season, which
didn’t get started until late
spring.
The Dalles had winning
records in two of Coach
Brian Stevens’ three seasons
from 2017 to 2020. The pro-
gram was consistently above
.500 during Coach Dan
Telles’ long tenure during
the early 2000s, including
five straight from 2011 to
2016. The 2015 Riverhawk
team was the last one to win
an OSAA postseason game –
56-40 over Liberty High in a
state play-in contest.
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