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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2015)
PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 20, 2015 The Athlete’s Best Friend …is their Chiropractor. Quality Chiropractic for the Whole Family CALL TODAY 503 -391- 9112 Meet Dr. Andrew Isaksen 1797 Lansing Ave NE, Salem • www.nwfamilychiro.net KEIZERTIMES.COM Celtics to top ranks in two weight classes at district meet By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes McNary High School’s varsity wrestling team will have two no. 1 seeds headed into the wrestling district meet Friday, Feb. 20. The event gets underway at 10 a.m. at Sprague High School in Salem. The two wrestlers enter- ing the tournament as top seeds are at opposite ends of the spectrum wrestling-wise. Senior Alvarro Venegas will go in as the top-ranked wrestler in the Greater Valley Confer- ence – and the state – at 195 pounds. Freshman Brayden Ebbs is the district’s top- ranked wrestler at 120 pounds. Venegas, who has dropped about 30 pounds since his freshman year and sculpted what remained, has been wait- ing for this moment for a long time. His record this season is 42-1. “I feel like everything I’ve done has paid off. If I keep following in the footsteps of the other wrestlers, I can win it and it’s something I really want,” Venegas said. “I also Champs in the making? McNary’s state-ranked wrestlers headed into the regional tournament: 195 pounds: Alvarro Venegas, senior, fi rst. 132 pounds, Michael Phelps, senior, seventh. 182 pounds: Taran Purkey, senior, seventh. 120 pounds: Brayden Ebbs, freshman, ninth. 160 pounds: Carlos Vincent, sophomore, ninth. 126 pounds: Sean Burrows, sophomore, 10th want as many other guys go- ing to state with me as we can manage. Brayden is going to be a district champ and Wyatt Kessler has a great shot.” Ebbs’s journey to this tour- nament started well before he became a member of the varsity ranks at McNary, as a longtime member of the Celt- ic Mat Club. “From the beginning of the year, my goal was to be the best. I’m pretty sure … I wanted .. I know I’m going to win this title,” Ebbs said. He’d like it to come down to a fi nals match between him and either Trent Martinez, of Sprague, or Christian Guerrra, of Forest Grove High School. “They’ve both beat me this season and I’ve beaten them. I don’t want to leave any tour- nament with the other guy having a better record than me,” Ebbs said. Celt Jonathon Phelps will enter the tournament as a sec- ond seed. His brother, Michael Phelps, is seeded third. Several other Celts round out the top fi ve spots headed into the dis- trict tourney. “We’ve got some good seedings and kids in position to exceed their seeds and do a good job,” said McNary Head Coach Jason Ebbs, father of Brayden. “Every one of them is going to have to win one or two tough matches. That’s what it will come down to. Please see SEEDS, Page A11 After open-heart surgery 11-year-old back in the game KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald McNary senior Tregg Peterson slams a ball home on an alley-oop. Exceeding Expectations Peterson takes star status in stride By ERIC A. HOWALD on soccer team through middle school, Peter- Of the Keizertimes son turned his focus to basketball his freshman With his thick red hair and 6-foot-3 frame, year. In some ways, it was the best and worst McNary High School senior Tregg Peterson time to join the program. The Celtics had been stands out on the basketball court for his physi- struggling for a couple of seasons already, but it cal appearance alone. After the tip off, he stands continued for the next two years under a new out even more. head coach, Ryan Kirch. Peterson has been a backbone of the Celtic “You could tell there was a lot of confusion boys basketball team all season long. He’s av- and a lot of player issues. There were egos and eraging 16 points, fi ve rebounds and three as- attitudes, and a lot of them,” Peterson said. “But sists per game. His most points in you still learn to love the people a single game this season is 34. you play with.” As soon as he gets close to the While the teams struggled, net, there is a collective intake Peterson turned to what what of breath on the Celtic side of he could contribute and began any gym. That’s because there’s a hitting the gym, focusing on better-than-average chance he’ll weights and building strength in slam one home. If he does, what his legs. follows is most like a roar. “Tregg puts a lot of time in “It’s really the best feeling you during the off season, specifi - can get. When you have everyone cally in the weight room,” Kirch there – friends and family – and said. “Between his sophomore they explode, it gets your adren- and junior season he went from — Tregg Peterson being an average looking player alin going and gets you excited,” said Peterson. to a physically dominant perim- Peterson’s path to becoming a eter player. His vertical leap im- star on the court likely began playing basketball proved by nearly 10 inches, and he became a with his father and sister, Teresa. very physical presence on the fl oor.” He laughs and smiles shyly at the mention Kirch said Peterson came into his own two of her name. years ago during a summer league team in a “She used to beat me pretty handily, but she tournament at University of Oregon. was my push factor. She was good when she “Johnathan (Doutt) missed a couple of played and, coming in, I wanted to be better games for a family event and we were in a posi- than she ever was. I’ve tried to surpass her and tion where we were looking for someone to my dad who played in high school and college,” step up. We began to run plays to isolate Tregg Peterson said. and he scored at will,” Kirch said. After playing on a three-time state champi- Please see PETERSON, Page A11 “I got a little light-headed and I was tired after, but it was life-altering.” Two district titles for Kuch The McNary High School girls varsity swimming team will be sending a small contingent on to the state swimming meet, after one freshman claimed two district tiles last weekend. Marissa Kuch will be the No. 6 seed going into the 100 yard freestyle. She’s took the district title with a time of 52.35. Kuch will also be the No. 7 seed headed into the girls 200 yard freestyle after winning the event at the district meet with a time of 1:55.23. Kuch will also head to the meet in the 200 free relay with teammates Sara Eckert, Jewel Boyd and Josie Ellis. The team turned in a time of 1:45.05 at the district meet. The same group will also compete in the 400 free relay after placing fourth at the district meet with a time of 3:52.52. Overall at the district meet, the Lady Celts placed sixth with 158 points, the boys placed seventh with 95 points. The McMinnville boys and girls teams won the district team titles. Submitted Gubser Elementary School fi fth grader Mehki China underwent open-heart surgery last summer and was cleared to return to the sports he loves last fall. By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Mehki China was practic- ing with his baseball team last spring when something start- ed going wrong. “I got panicked because it was hard to breathe and I started stumbling,” said Me- hki, who was 10 years old at the time. He had been diag- nosed with sports-induced asthma prior to this attack, but it didn’t take long for his mother, Brooke, to fi gure out something else was going on. She was playing with her younger son when one of Me- hki’s friends came to let her know something was wrong. “I went outside and he was slumped against a wall. I tried to stand him up and get him to breathe through it, as he tried to stand up his eyes turned black and rolled up, then he passed out,” Brooke said. Assuming it was an asthma attack, Brooke ran back inside and began yelling for some- one to get an inhaler. Mehki’s had been left in the car that day. She went back to check on Mehki and found him still unconscious on the ground, then back into the gym to fi nd Andrew Copeland, one of the team’s coaches and a Keizer police offi cer, running across the gym with an inhaler. “Mehki was still out and I thought, ‘How is this going to work if he’s not breathing?’” I went into terror all over again,” Brooke said. Copeland opened Mehki’s mouth and sprayed the inhaler into it. He was about to be- gin CPR when Mehki began moving about 30 seconds later. “The ambulance came and they checked him out. They offered to take him to the ER, but I wanted to take him to his doctor,” Brooke said. Mehki’s doctor’s performed an EKG and things looked fi ne, but the family opted to pursue further testing. The hardest part for Mehki – a three-sport athlete in baseball, football and basketball – was his unquenched thirst for the competition sports bring. “I’ve been playing since I was younger and I like ev- erything about it. I didn’t like not being able to play. It’s all I wanted,” Mehki said. A sonogram of Mehki’s heart revealed the problem. “The left coronary artery is supposed to come from the aorta. His was coming from the pulmonary gland and cutting off the oxygen to his heart,” Brooke said. The condition is a congen- ital heart defect that is usu- ally caught in the fi rst several months of a child’s life, but Mehki’s had gone undetected. It’s in the family of conditions that sometimes result in sud- den athlete death. Brooke said they could have left it untreated, but it would mean Mehki would likely never play sports com- petitively again. “It was a question of the risk of surgery versus a better quality of life,” Brooke said. Mehki went under the knife for open heart surgery in July 2014, but was back on the fi eld six weeks later as an assistant football coach to Bill Klem. He was cleared to play him- self in November and started basketball in December. “We’re not doing so great right now, but I really want to see our baseball team do good this summer,” Mehki said. The team took second in the state last year while Mehki was benched. “Now he’s free and clear to do whatever he wants. He had no complications and was out of the hospital in four days. He was laid up for a really long time, but he can live the life that he wants,” Brooke said.