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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.
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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.