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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1982)
rhwf» Sports The Sdnäy Post Jonwory 21. IW 2 (Sec I) SANDY (O r«.) POST— 7 and Recreation Girls first, boys fourth in ski season opener •What can you say about the girls team ,’ asks Robert Karsten, SUHS ski coach. With Anne Sartch finishing first. Sue Sarich second, Vila Pearson third, Charr Bridge fourth and Mar cy Huff seventh, the results pretty much tell the story. The Pioneers, last year's state champions, won a ski meet at Timberlme Saturday by 12 seconds Although the girls skied well. Karsten said that they know what they did wrong, and that there is room for improvement “ We w ill improve,” he said. The boys finished fourth, but were only one and one tenth of a second out of first That gives you an idea how close the competition is, Karsten said They wore their turtlenecks too tight and choked,” Karsten said about the boys It was a fair performance, he said, adding that they won’t make it to state making the kinds of errors they made Freshman Steve Sarich finished third “ He’s a very talented skier,” Karsten said “ I expect a lot out of him. " I t s nice to see him ski and know he s going to be on my team for a few more years ” Robert Spradling finished 10th Karsten said that he's a ‘ good, dependable finisher ” With a few corrections in technique he’ll be finishing in the top three, Karsten said. Karsten said that Brian Silveys Hth-place finish was “ a real nicesur prise.” Two varsity skiers fell, hurting the boys chances “ We have the ability to w in.” Karsten said. A couple of errors kept the re s u lts fro m being m ore favorable. The ski team w ill be back in action Saturday, skiing at M t. Hood Meadows lix iK K lu a l m u t t * Kor the g irl* Anne Sarich. l»t, 3S4S. Sue Sarich. 2nd. M i , uila Peareon. 3rd. 3» IS. Charr Bridge, 4th, «0 0. M arry Huff. 7th, 414; K n * VanSleeni*. 20th. 52 » For the boy* Steve Sanch. 3rd. 3g.g, Kober! Spradling 10th 3 M . Brian Sllvey. 14th 30 J; Erik M arter. 17th. 40 0. Pioneer boys downed by Sweet Home Photo by Scott Newton Sandy freshman Steve Sarich completes a turn in a ski meet at Timberline. Sarich finished third in the giant slalom Saturday Sweet Home knotted up the TVL race Tuesday night, handing the San dy boys a 63-53 loss. Sandy, Sweet Home, Oregon City and Canby all have 3-1 records in league play. That w ill change F ri day, when the Pioneers host Oregon City in what could be a key matchup. Coach Dan Brisbin said that the key to that game w ill be to deny the ball inside, while at the same time controling Paul Poetsch, Oregon Ci ty ’s outside shooter Sandy stayed in the game Tuesday with Sweet Home for three quarters, but went cold for a spell in the fourth quarter, going from one down to seven down. Steve Palmer was the leading scorer for Sandy with 14. Although Sandy never got its fast break going, Brisbin didn’t feel like they played poorly. They had three- and four-point leads in the fourth quarter, but could never pull away. Sweet Home always seemed able to get a bucket from Alan Vasey, a 6-1 senior guard. Vasey scored 27. Pressure: Chuck Kearney oblivious to it by SCOTT NEWTON Fans at the finals of the North Bend Invitational were gearing up for a big match between hometown standout Dave Harless and Sandy's Chuck Kearney The home crowd was disappointed, however, as it wasn’t even close. Kearney won 24-6. Coach Ron Calhoun started to say that Kearney turned him every which way but loose, but then realiz ed that wasn't appropriate Kearney turned him loose six times, only to take him down six times, a number of times putting Harless on his back on the way down. The SUHS junior, who was second in state last year at Parkrose, now has a 15-0 record. The 178 pounder was vo te d M ost O u ts ta n d in g Wrestler by visiting coaches at the Carey Larson Memorial, and receiv ed the same honor at the Cardinal Classic in Tacoma, again by a vote of the coaches From what I've seen, he appears to be heads and tails above the rest,” Calhoun said. “ Anybody that he’s met so far he’s just dominated.” About his wrestling, Kearney said recently, “ Iv e been around it all my life, but I didn’t start seriously till I was nine ” His father, Chuck Senior, was also a high school wrestler, and has been coaching since the mid-60s Kearney Junior was wrestling at Mark Spragg’s U S A Oregon when it was just three guys wrestling on a mat in the basement. At 11 he quit U.S.A. Oregon, where burnout can be a problem, and started working out with his father's high school teams. , He can remember Kid Wrestling tournaments that started at 9 a m and lasted into the early hours of the morning As a freshman Kearney finished second in district competition, and won three but lost two at state, the best one can do and still not place About his loss at state last year to Steve Brilowski (now at the Universi ty of Oregon), Kearney said, “ He was a better wrestler that night, but I shouldn’t have lost “ I got to the state meet and got tight. I got really nervous.” He lost by four or five points, but got his revenge two weeks later at the Oregon State Freestyle chamion- ships, winning 7-1 for the title Kearney was also second in the Oregon State Greco championships (In freestyle, wrestlers spend more time on their feet In Greco Roman, wrestlers also spend time on their feet, but may not use their legs, or at tack an opponent s legs). He also won the Western Regional Freestyle com petition. Having won the Oregon State Freestyle title, Kearney wrestled the winner of the Cultural Exchanges Challenger's Tournament, and won, which earned him a spot on the Oregon Coaches Association's ex change team So Kearney, along with Chris Jones, traveled across Canada last summer, wrestling in duals and tour naments. They ended up at Iowa Ci ty, at the U.S. Wrestling Federation- sponsored Junior Nationals, where Kearney finished second. Kearney, however, is not a one- sport athlete. He rushed for over 800 yards for the Pioneer football team, with Sandy qualifing for the state playoffs. An injury, suffered about m id season, slowed K earney down somewhat at the start of wrestling season, but the long break at ( hristmas seems to have given his separated shoulder time to heal. Although the accident that claimed the life of Carey Larson and has kept Chris Jones and Dean Fischer from p a r t ic ip a tin g th is y e a r has discouraged recent talk about a state championship, Kearney is still op tim istic. I think if a few key people develop the way they should that we could still be state champions.” Kearney, whose father started teaching at SUHS last year, tried to transfer, and at one time had the ap proval of the OSAA. But later, the OSAA wasn't so sure it would be all fig h t, so rather than take any chances K e a rn e y s ta y e d at Parkrose Had Kearney been at Sandy last year, the points he earned at the AAA state tournament would have made the Pioneers the state champions. There’s not much doubt that being at Sandy is good for him At Parkrose only his coach provid ed any real competition in practice. At Sandy, he has to contend with the likes of Cal McKinnis, Dan M artin and Scott Skipper. One has to wonder if the 17 year old, who’d like to wrestle for Dan Gable at The University of Iowa, isn’t affected by the pressure. He is, after all, always expected to win. “ I ’ve felt that pressure since my freshman year because, being a suc cessful Kid wrestler, everyone's anx ious to see how you do in high school. “ With dad being a coach, and knowing everyone. I ’ve felt it. “ If you live with it, you get used to it, and you couldn’t see it any other way.” Chuck Kearney Bad luck was the only luck the Pioneer wrestlers had “ If it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all ” Considering how things went for Ron Calhoun last week, it isn't sur prising he feels that way. First, the Pioneer wrestlers fell 26-25 in a dual at Canby. Then, perhaps with a little bad luck in the draw, only six of 13 wrestlers won first round at the North Bend In vitational Four of those six earned champion ships, but as a team they didn’t get enough wrestlers through to do any damage, and finished third Then, adding insult to injury .. Maybe that’s a bad way to put it. Anyway, Sandy may have lost junior U r r y Topliff, a 106 pounder with a 14-1 record Topliff. who hurt his knee at the North Bend Tournament, is a returning district champion, Oregon State Freestyle champion and a third place finisher at last year's Kearney en route to a 13-3 win over his opponent from Canbv. MMM 4 • :. d r • • • ' x - r * ' •' " ... •• AAA state tournament T o p liff beat two outstanding wrestlers to win the North Bend title, according to Calhoun Calhoun said that if damage was done only to the cartilage, Topliff could be back in a week or two as that is not as serious of an in ju ry anym ore If he has lig a m e n t damage, which x-rays seem to have ruled out, he would be out for con siderably longer The outlook has not been all dismal for the wrestling team Tim Systma, for example, has a 15-0 record. The Sandy heavyweight provided Pioneer fans with an outlet in the occasionally frustrating dual against Canby, He pinned his oppo nent 34 seconds into the match “ He's wrestling well, and moving w ell,” said Calhoun (Continued on Page 8) / Photo by Scott Newton lunlor Mike Lund lays up a shot during the Ptoneen win over Estacada r iiday.
