Sandy post., February 21, 1985, Page 6, Image 6

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h- SANDY (Oro ) POST Thun
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Fab 21 1985 Sac I)
The Shindy Post
Sports
and Recreation
Swimmers claim fourth place at state meet
by MARTY MORRISON
Sandy High s swim coach, Mark
Smith, is walking on cloud nine right
now after four of his boys swam to a
sixth place finish in the state meet
Saturday at the Mt Hood Community
College pool
“ This team achieved the highest
standing ever for a SUHS boys swim
team In 1974, we placed eighth and
in 1976, ninth,” said Smith
The Pioneer coach is "e csta tic”
with the performance and finish of
his four-man state squad of junior
Doug Crane, senior Matt Roth, senior
Steve Kinney and senior Richard
Rolph
“ This was a good way to end the
season Our goal was to be in the top
eight in the state, so we achieved it
with a sixth place I'm very happy it
w as done w ith
th o se fo u r
individuals."
Undoubtedly, the second place per­
formance of the Pioneer 400 free
relay team was the clim actic mo­
ment in the meet for the Sandy sw im ­
mers, and has their coach s till buzz­
ing
Coach Smith set the scene "O ur
400 free relay team was seeded third
going into the state meet, and placed
th ird in the prelim s with a 3.20.31
(dropping two seconds o ff their
district tim e of 3.22.37).
So it came down to the fact that
David Douglas was firs t going into
the finals with a 3.14 44 clocking
Sheldon was second with a 3.19.54,
and we were third with a 3.20.31.”
Smith strategy for the race was
simple to understand, however ex­
ecuting it against the state's best
swimmers was the test
"The way we saw it was — that if
the firs t three (Crane, Rolph. K in­
ney) could hold position — then Matt
(Roth) could hit the water dead even
with Sheldon and Matt would hold it
— and he did! And he held it in the
best tim e that he had ever done.”
Smith summarized the race as
“ magnificient, I wish we could have
gotten it on tape, it would be
something that I would watch until
the day I die — it was just that
tremendous "
While the Scots won the relay easi­
ly in a clocking of 3.12.93, Sandy and
Sheldon went head-to-head for se­
cond place, w ith the Pioneers
touching the wall a wink ahead of
Sheldon in a 3 18 16 Sheldon took
third with a 3.18.43 clocking
Roth anchored the relay team,
swimming to a personal record split
time of 48 2, just has Kinney and
Crane had done seconds earlier with
49 9 and 49 2 clockings respectively
Rolph completed his swim in 50.7,
eight-tenths off his personal record
Crane and Roth also qualified for
two other races in the state meet
For Crane, the meet was a new ex­
perience. and because this was his
firs t meet, Smith was sympathetic
about the juniors droppings in the
standings.
Crane took a sixth place in the 50
free, with a 22 29, while the winning
tim e was posted by Rana Punja of
Lake Oswego in 21.51. Going into this
event Crane was ranked third in the
state.
In the 100 free. Crane placed eigth
in the consolation round with a 49 53
Chuck Hanson of Cottage Grove set
the winning mark at 46 79
"D ug didn't hit personal bests in
the meet and that was disappointing
But I have a lot of confidence in
Doug, and his performance is p a rtia l­
ly due to his inexperience.”
For Roth the state meet was a
fa m ilia r sight, as the seasoned senior
has been to the toughest meet in the
state for the past three years.
Roth swam a 53.73 in the 100 fly to
capture fifth place and a new per­
sonal record Going into the state
meet Roth was ranked fifth As ex­
pected, Matt Sauter of Tillamook
grabbed the top spot with a 51 66
clocking
Staying true to form, Roth claimed
third place in the 100 back, m aintain­
ing his third place ranking and set­
ting a new personal record of 56 48 in
the process Punja of Lake Oswego
also bagged the winning tim e in that
event w ith a 53 56 tim ing
“ Matt did his best ever in his four
years at state competition, in break­
ing his times and anchoring the 400
free relay team "
Overall, Sandy claimed sixth place
racking up 62 points as the David
D ouglas Scots d isp la ye d th e ir
dominance in the pool reclaim ing the
state crown with 198 points.
Smith found some icing on the cake
as the state meet results showed that
three of the teams (David Douglas.
Lake Oswego, Centennial) that beat
the Pioneers in the dual meet season
were in the top seven in state. “ And
we place sixth, which just shows you
how magnificient our team is ."
With the season over. Smith now is
happily revising his record book,
entering four new school records into
the books
Crane broke school records in the
50 free with a 21 90, and shaved-off
more than a second from Roth's
record in the 100 free with a 49 15
Roth also established a new school
record, breaking his own mark in the
100 back with a 56 48
And the 400 free relay team shat­
tered the existing record of 3 30.34 set
in 1980 with their second place state
performance of 3 18 16
While Smith already eying next
season, is forcasting a rebuilding
year, you can bet Smith w ill savor
this season for a long time
Slippery slopes snap
ski teams win streak
Despite the sunny weather, the icy
slope of M irro r Mountain proved
treacherous for the Sandy ski teams,
as their season long gathering of
team first places ended Saturday in a
two run slalom.
Sandy coach Robert Karsten, was
more relieved with his team's perfor­
mances than perturbed
"Those guys needed to be shaken-
up I hope they understand that they
can be beaten It's very possible that
if they have a bad day, and Barlow
cooks it, then we could lose,” said
Karsten
The girls faired a little better than
the boys placing second behind
Parkrose, while the boys settled for
third as Gresham and Barlow got the
top spots
"The girls got to realize that there
w ill be some good teams coming up
against them from around the state
besides the teams in their own
league," said Karsten.
For the Pioneer boys, the day
started out to be one of their best per­
formances this year as Steve Sarich
and Jeff Day placed first and second
on their first trip down the course,
and Brian Silvey took fifth
Things continued to look good for
the boys on their second run as Day
and Sarich traded places, but the
Pioneers were unable to get a third
qualifying time
“ Silvey and Valian had technical
problems,” said Karsten, as both
skiers pre-released from their bin­
dings
The o rd e r came down from
Karsten to Dave Lambert to do a
"stand-up" run
“ I told Dave to just make it down
for a solid time, I even said he could
have a short fall — I never expected
him to take a 30 second fa ll," joked
the Pioneer coach
Karsten found some constelation
with Lamberts 30 second fall. “ By
taking third place, even after a 30 se­
cond fall, shows everybody just how
far ahead we actually were.”
Karsten admits that he was a little
surprised with the firs t place perfor­
mance of Sarich on his first run, as
the coach told Sarich just to "m ake it
down,” but the fast skiing Sarich
“ just cooked it.”
The girls found themselves in a 15
second hole after their firs t pass
down the slick slalom, after Jennifer
Day and Tahme Swanton took spills,
but the veteran Marcie Huff, held the
girls in third place behind Parkrose
and Hood River getting the second
fastest tim e on the first run
On the g irls second run, it was Day
who led the charge for the Pioneers,
as the gifted freshmen took first.
Huff, who had a good second run go­
ing slid-out of the course and had to
hike
Karsten, lost the steady skiing of
Holly Sarich to the Pacific Northwest
Ski Association Ju n io r O lym pic
q u a lify in g race held over the
weekend.
While both teams were out of the
top spot this weekend, the Pioneers
still hold firs t in the season team
standings Hood River. Gresham and
Barlow tra il the Sandy girls, while
Barlow, Gresham and Hood River
round out the top qualifying positions
for state.
Richie M ekelburg
Wrestlers turn in fine effort at district
by MARTY MORRISON
Experience
Despite the lack of it, the Sandy
Pioneers wrestling squad "put in a
fine e ffo rt" to capture a fourth place
finish at the Mt Hood Conference
d istrict Championships Saturday in
the Sam Barlow High School gym
"The kids wrestled real well, plac­
ing fourth in the district, which was
very good considering the experience
that we have,” said Pioneer Coach
Ron Calhoun
Led by state qualifiers Wayne
Reick at 136 pounds and Richie
M ekelberg at 130 pounds, the
Pioneers tallied 162 points behind the
Barlow Bruins 4:16 point district
championship performance Mean
while the Gresham Gophers took se­
cond place, racking up 285 points,
and the Eagles of Centennial claimed
third place with 190 points
Middleweight Reick had a good
tournament, but had to settle for the
runner-up spot (o district champ
Joey Herrera from Barlow Prior to
the championship match, Reick had
scored three victories on the Bruins
mat.
At 130 pounds, Mekelberg wrestled
his way into the semifinals match
where he lost to the eventual district
champ. Kerry P arr, from Gresham.
Mekelberg rebounded from the loss
to continue on through the consola­
tion bracket to take a third place
finish and a ticket to the state tourna­
ment .
A c c o rd in g to C alhoun, both
wrestlers are anticipating a tough
schedule this weekend in the Earl
Chiles Center located on the U niver­
sity of Portland campus
"Both kids have rough draws. If
Wayne wins his first match he'll have
to wrestle against the first-seed in his
second match And it Mekelberg wins
he'll have to wrestle John Barkely of
Milwaukie, who pinned him earlier in
the season "
While third place finishers at
district qualify for a berth in the state
tournament, two Pioneers just miss­
ed bids with their fourth place
finishes
Sophomore Yo Masui, took fourth
place wrestling in the 98 pound class
making it to the semifinal round
where he lost to Gresham's eventual
d istrict champion, Sean Allison, a
probable state champion.
Tony Barns, a senior wrestling in
the 118 pound category also lost a
match in the semifinals, capping his
wrestling career at Sandy with a
fourth place finish.
Four more Sandy grapplers com­
pleted the season with placings in the
district meet
F ifth place rankings were won by
junior Rod Smith, at 130 pounds, and
senior Kyle Gibson, at 181 pounds
Rounding out the point makers for
Sandy with sixth place finishes were
Ernie Roberts in the 106 pound
category, and Dan Emerson in the
130 pound class.
The fourth place finish for the
Pioneers avenged the tough loss to
David Douglas during the dual meet
season, explained Calhoun, as the
Scots took fifth place in distric4
The Pioneer grapplers completed
the season with a 3—5 record.
Wrestling fans can watch the state
tournament at the E arl Chiles Center
on the U niversity of Portland campus
beginning at 11 a m today.
Bowling scores
H and L Steel Corp
SANDY EARLY BIRDS
Feb. IS. 19S5
Toni's
Eagle Foundry
Jack's Fro Shop
M ini! Mart
Alpine Hut
W
15
13
12
11
11
9
11
12
13
13
10 14
High team series: Jack's — 2,018.
High team game: Toni's — 719
High individual series: Grace Lamb
— 532, High individual game: Grace
I^tm b — 189
Wrestling coach believes key to success starts with pins
Chuck Kearney, freshman w restl­
ing coach at Sandy high, likes to wait
until the end of the season to rate his
freshman wrestlers
In the Mt. Hood Conference, the
season ends with a district tourney
for the first-year wrestlers, giving
each coach an opportunity to see how
Some of the memberi of the successful freshman wrestling program. Pic-
lured n the front row: Jason Graham and Coach Chuck Kearney: second
much his charges improved over the
season The Pioneer wrestlers show
ed that they had learned something,
with eight of the 11 wrestlers com
peting able to place in the tourna­
ment
With only two losses during the
season. Kearney probably expected
row: Tony Mills. Rance Danielson and Art Skipper: third row: Steve
Christman. Donovan Buhl and Pat Archer: top: Dale < alnek
the wrestlers to fare well They lost
to Centennial in the first meet of the
season, when only eight wrestlers
had turned out for the squad The
team did a good job of recruiting
others to w restle, doubling in number
and losing only to a powerful Barlow
team in the remainder of the season.
Kearney believes in an aggressive
style of wrestling, and said he thinks
the team was successful in that area
“ We achieved 85-90 percent
takedown ra tio ,” he said, "we got
most of the takedowns scored in our
meets."
Kearney said it is important for
kids to win as freshmen
"T o make them champs as seniors,
we have to learn to take people down
and pin them ," he said.
" I feel that if I am a successful
freshmen coach. I w ill have added
something to the v a rs ity ," said
Kearney.
According to Kearney, a large part
of his job is keeping kids interested in
wrestling
"We try to build a team spirit
among the freshmen," he said
With only three wrestlers from last
year's squad not wrestling this year.
Kearney feels he has been successful
in that aspect
“ A couple may come back next
year even," he said
Kearney said his teaching goes
beyond the fundamentals of w restl­
ing.
•‘ The w r e s tlin g ro o m is a
classroom," he said, " I f I don't teach
them something about life, I am not
doing m y job ”
In doing his job. Kearney turned
out two frosh district champions.
Jason Cody at 115, and Steve
Christman at 123.
Cody was unbeaten through
d istrict, carrying an 8-0 record.
" I f he keeps the motivation an in ­
terest he has now. he could be a
superstar," said Kearney.
Christman garnered the top spot by
beating a fellow Sandy wrestler,
Donovan Buhl, in overtime
" I l was probably the best match of
the tournam ent," said Kearney.
Kearney said he could have put the
wrestlers in different weights, but
prefers to wrestle freshmen at their
natural weight
" I don't push weight-cutting, I
don't believe in it at freshman level."
he said
Kearney prefers to emphasize
weight training, what he calls a
"weight conditioning" program
“ I like them getting stronger," he
said, "w restling is like a six minute
sprint and they need it.”
Kearney said Buhl and Christman
have wrestled each other in practice
all year long, always competing
hard
"They have to get up for practices
like everyone else does for meets,"
said Kearney
"Steve is probably the most im ­
proved wrestler on the team, a very
intelligent w re stle r," said Kearney
A rt Skipper took second at 152,
something of a setback for the
sometimes-varsity wrestler who was
expected to clean up
“ A rt is going to be a real horse,”
said Kearney, "he is probably the
strongest freshman in the state."
At 125, John Skinner was seeded se­
cond, unbeaten heading into district
He was hurt in the tournament and
did not place
The coach said there was one thing
that impressed him more than any
other about this year’s team
“ I ’d say that 95 percent of the time,
we were going from the whistle, and I
like th a t," he said