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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2016)
PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 20, 2016 KEIZERTIMES.COM Baseball season ends with 16-2 play-in loss File ABOVE: Austin Brown, Brendan Van Voorhis, Anthony Nguyen and Levi Timmons won the 4x100 district title last week. BELOW: Dani Duran won solo titles in the 400 meter and 300 hurdles. Duran, Van Voorhis, boys 4x100 win GVC titles at district meet By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes McNary High School senior Dani Duran added to her growing list of accomplishments at the Greater Valley Conference Champion- ships last week. Duran took the league titles in the 400 meter race and 300 meter hurdles at the meet held in McMinnville May 13 and 14. “It’s defi nitely a good feeling,” Duran said. “I was just out there trying to compete and reach some goals.” One of those goals was setting a new school record in the 300 hurdles, which she did with a time of 44.91 seconds. The old school record was 45.3 seconds. Duran ran the hurdles for the fi rst time ear- lier this season and immediately started posting times that put her in the top three in the entire state. “It was something I wanted to do, but I’d never even practiced it before. I was worried that it would turn out to be a bad experience, but now I want that state title,” Duran said. With her time at the GVC meet, Duran is now second in the state. Gresham High School’s Leah Russell leads with a time of 43.93. “She’s a whole second ahead me, but I’m still improving every meet,” Duran said. KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Celt Trevor Gilbert gets a hits a line drive in the game with McMinnville High School Wednesday, May 11. Duran fi nished the 400 meter with a time of 58.60 seconds to take the gold. The Celts’ only other solo title winner was the boys Brendan Van Voorhis, who took fi rst in the 400 meter with a time of 49.26. “I was struggling with a knot in my calf, but I got it done,” Van Voorhis said. Please see TRACK, Page A11 Lady Celts land playoff berth By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes A string of three consecu- tive losses last week left the McNary High School varsity baseball team fi ghting for its survival at a play-in game Tues- day, May 17. The Celtics traveled to meet Grants Pass High School for a chance at a playoff berth af- ter a heartbreaking fi nal week of Greater Valley Conference competition. McNary lost the contest 16-2. The Cavemen’s nine-run fi fth inning was the death knell for the Celtics. McNary’s season ends with the loss. Before the Keizer team’s fi - nal three games of the season, hopes were high for securing a playoff spot outright, but the Celtics never quite found their stride facing South Salem, Mc- Minnville and Sprague high schools. A slow start to the 9-8 loss to the Saxons Tuesday, May 10, had the Celtics trying to make the most of a late-game rally. “It seemed like nothing was going our way in the be- ginning. We’d get a hit and it would go right to someone and they’d hit one and it was in the perfect spot,” said Celt Tanner Gordon. South Salem was up 9-0 at the end of fi ve innings while McNary struggled to get a bead on the starting pitcher. “When they made a pitching change in the seventh inning that’s when we fi nally started making a run,” said Trevor Gil- bert, a McNary senior. In the sixth inning, Matt Aguilar scored on a walk; Bren- dan Frizelle scored on a sac- rifi ce fl y by Trent Van Cleave; and Matthew Ismay scored on a sacrifi ce fl y by Daniel Johnson. In the seventh, McNary sent fi ve runs across the plate for the 9-8 fi nal. Please see PLAY-IN, Page A11 File McNary sophomore Hannah Childress will be making her second consecutive appearance at the state tournament after taking third at the GVC championships. Childress to state tourney KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald McNary’s Kinsey McNaught lines up a hit in the game with South Salem High School Tuesday, May 10. By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The McNary High School varsity softball team fi nished in fourth place in the Greater Valley Conference to wrap up the regular season last week. The spot earned the team a berth in the state playoffs and the Celtics seemed headed for a contest at North Medford High School in the fi rst round Monday, May 23. The Celtics met the Black Tornadoes earlier this season – in McNary’s fi rst game of the season – and Medford took a 15-5 win. Celt Nadia Witt thought things would be dif- ferent on Monday. “We’ve had a lot more time to get better and I think we’ll be more prepared for them this time around,” Witt said. The end of the season proved more tumultuous then expected for the Celt- ics. The Keizer team was rid- ing a three-game win streak as it entered the week. McNary extended is streak to four with a 4-1 win over South Salem High School and then lost its fi nal two games to McMin- nville (5-3) and Sprague (7-4) high schools. “After we knew we made the playoffs, they let up,” said Please see CELTS, Page A11 By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes McNary High School sophomore Hannah Childress entered in the Greater Valley Confer- ence tennis championships seeded fourth. She came home as the third place fi nisher with a berth in the state tournament that began May 19 in Tualatin. “My goal this year was just to make it to state,” said Childress, who was one half of the fourth place doubles team last year with her older sister, Sandy. “It was a lot more nerve-wracking with- out Sandy there to support me, and a lot of pres- sure, but I made it.” Childress fi nished the regular season with a record of 10-3 to earn her seed. She said one of the most memorable matches at the district meet was taking a win over West Salem High School’s Anya Gerasimova in the contest to decide third place. Early in the season, Childress’s main goal was to improve her confi dence on the court, and she’s made strides in that department as well. “There’s always room for improvement, but I defi nitely believe I can do this now,” she said. Her fi rst test of the state tournament will be Clackamas High School’s Remi Lam. If she wins, she must then face down the top seed in the tournament, Jesuit High School’s Bess Waldram. “If I win my fi rst round, I’m in for a diffi cult match with Bess, but as long as I do my best that’s all I can ask of myself,” she said.
