PAGE 16, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 2, 2015
KEIZERTIMES.COM
The best in sports 2014
Keizer 15-year-old sets state,
national powerlifting records
Boys soccer ‘miracle’ season
In 2014, there was no bigger story in Keizer
team sports than the McNary High School
boys varsity soccer team.
Out of the gate in September, the Celts be-
gan upsetting or tying top opponents and it led
to them being ranked fourth in state rankings
by the end of the fi rst two weeks. During the
next two months, the Celtics would go from
dominating lesser opponents to rallying against
tougher ones and coming out with wins or
ties.
McNary didn’t lose a game until the fi rst
week of October, but managed to bounce
right back. The season reached its apex with
a 5-4 win over the South Salem High School
Saxons later that month. McNary trailed for
much of the fi rst half and was down 4-0 before
junior Paulo Reyes sparked a rally.
With 1:45 left in the game, a Saxon player
grabbed a handful jersey as Celt Mario Gari-
cia-Garibay near the Saxon goal. McNary was
awarded a penalty kick that sophomore Gus-
tavo Villalvazo netted.
The Celts went on to win the Greater Valley
Conference, the fi rst league title for the team
in a decade.
Netters
make
Elite 8
When it came to individual
efforts in 2014, there was no
doubt who our top pick for
the year would be: Leilang
Salang.
In early December, Salang,
15, captured state and national
records in powerlifting at the
U.S. Powerlifting Association’s
Western Regional Champi-
onship. Salang began breaking
records at Blanchet Catholic
School earlier this year and
decided to attempt competi-
tive lifting mere weeks before
the competition.
Whereas many of the lift-
ers at the competition will
choose only one event, Salang
went for the full boat hefting
143.3 kilos in the bench press,
252.52 kilos in the squat and
303.14 kilos in the deadlift.
Her total of 688.95 kilos
sets her about 95 kilos ahead
of the previous record for her
age group.
Boys basketball team
tops 6A in classroom
Not all the top news of the
year was made in the gym and
on the fi eld.
The McNary boys varsity
basketball team was excelling
in the classroom while their
After two seasons of strug-
gles, the McNary High School
varsity volleyball team made a
stellar run through the GVC
to land in second place. From
there, the girls stormed into
the state tournament with a
3-1 win over Newberg High
School in the third round of
the playoffs.
The Lady Celts were sty-
mied in the tournament, but
the successes of 2014, which
extended all the way through
the junior varsity and fresh-
men teams, bodes well for the
future.
10U team wins state title
fortunes were turning on the
hardwood. The boys ranked
fi rst among boys basketball
6A schools with an average
team grade point average of
3.63.
All around the school,
Celtics were emphasizing the
student in student-athlete,
2014 marked the fi rst time
ever that every winter sport
team averaged at least a 3.0.
Bowlers roll to
2 district titles
Frosh boys
basketball
goes 23-1
McNary bowlers, boys and
girls claimed district titles
in 2014. Both teams were
buoyed with a large, enthusi-
astic crowd at Salem’s North-
gate Lanes.
“We would go up to bowl
and the crowd would roar and
the other teams would go up
and it was silent,” said Lady
Celt Sierra Mo.
The girls were in second
place headed into the fi nal
match, but beat Dallas High
School to take the title.
The boys were in the re-
verse position. They cruised
into the fi nal match, but
struggled in their fi rst game.
It all came down to a 10th
frame bowled by then-junior
Scott Bridger. He needed
two strikes to get the win and
nailed both of them.
“It was amazing, they were
perfect fl ush balls with 10-in-
the-pit and there was no ques-
tion it was a clean win,” said
Dan Kaplan, McNary head
coach.
The boys won with an
overall score of 394-390.
The McNary boys fresh-
men basketball team lost only
one game, to West Salem High
School, in its 2013-14 season.
Even the loss was a close
one. The Titans edged the Celts
51-48 in their fi rst meeting, but
McNary eked out a 45-42 win
in the second clash of the two
teams. The West games were the
exception to a blowout season.
The young Celts beat most
teams by 10, 20, 30 and even 40
points en route to winning the
unoffi cial Central Valley Con-
ference freshman title with a
23-1 record
‘Hammer’
repeats at
regionals
The Keizer 10U Celtics capped a 35-0
league season with a state championship in July.
Coach Kyle Hughes said the team bonded
early in the season after some losses in an open
tournament in Redmond in May, but came
together in a big way by June at a Reedsville
tournament.
“We were tied 4-4 in the bottom of the last
inning with two outs and two runners on when
8-year-old Gage Smedema hit a double to win
the game and the tournament. After that mo-
ment, the entire team believed we could win
any game no matter what was up against us,”
Hughes said.
McNary’s Zach Hammer-
schmith repeated as a regional
champ in his senior year with
the Celtics.
Brandishing a pair of black
eyes in the wake of the tour-
nament, Hammerschmith said
the win only made him want
to strive even harder at the
state tournament.
To win the regional title,
Hammerschmith beat Tuala-
tin’s Luke Gossens 6-3 in the
fi nals. He made it all the way
to the fi nals at the state tour-
nament before succumbing
to Roseburg’s Max Hane in a
12-6 decision.
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