PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 18, 2016
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary seniors lead All-GVC teams
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary seniors Kolby
Barker and Brendan Van Voo-
rhis hardly left the fi eld this
football season and Greater
Valley Conference coaches
noticed.
Barker was unanimously
voted fi rst team all-league on
the defensive line and second
team offensive tackle, a posi-
tion he hadn’t played much of
since he was a freshman.
“I would have liked defen-
sive player of the year but you
play as hard as you can and
you get what they vote on,”
Barker said.
McNary head coach Jeff
Auvinen agreed.
“Kolby should have been
defensive player of the year,
I thought,” he said. “He’d
draw double teams constantly,
sometimes three guys would
come after him so that would
free up other guys and really
did a good job of working
with our young defense and
leading them by example and
stepping up. He was huge for
us both sides of the ball but
most importantly as a leader
for us and having this group
gel and come together.”
Barker said his senior sea-
son was his favorite with the
Celtics.
“The team atmosphere
was something I’d never had
at McNary. It was something
really special. We were just a
tight knit group and we all
bonded. It was everybody. We
were all in for the whole sea-
son.”
File
McNary seniors Brendan Van Voorhis, left, and Kolby Barker were voted to the All-Greater Valley Conference First Team.
And no game was more en-
joyable then West Salem.
“Every part of that was just
fantastic,” Barker said. “The ri-
valry, we hadn’t beaten them
in 11 years, it was their senior
night, we ruined their unde-
feated (league) season and all
that but also we always talk
about how you’ve got to
come out strong and we did,
we put 13 points up before
they could answer. It was a
battle. It would have felt weird
if we had just crushed them.
They played hard. They’re a
great team.”
Van Voorhis was selected
fi rst team receiver and special
teams return man as well as
honorable mention at cor-
nerback.
On offense, he had 32 re-
ceptions for 943 yards and 14
touchdowns in nine games.
Van Voorhis’ best performance
came against McKay when he
caught eight passes for 275
yards and four touchdowns to
go along with a 90-yard kick-
off return for a fi fth score.
On defense, he had two
interceptions at McMinnville,
one late in the fi rst half to set
Please see ALL-GVC, Page 11
Hunter makes college
hoops decision offi cial
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Sydney Hunter couldn’t
wait to fulfi ll her dream of
playing college basketball so
on the fi rst day of the early
signing period, Wednesday,
Nov. 9, she put pen to paper.
The McNary senior, who
averaged 10.8 points, six re-
bounds, two assists and two
steals per game for the Lady
Celts last season, signed with
the University of San Diego.
“I made my decision pretty
early,” Hunter said. “I didn’t
want to wait any longer to of-
fi cially sign. I wanted to get it
over with. Knowing that I’m
going to San Diego makes it
less stressful. I can play stress
free and that makes it way
easier.”
Hunter began playing bas-
ketball in kindergarten but the
game has been in her life even
longer. Her older sister, by fi ve
years, Devin, was also a star at
McNary before signing with
Oregon State.
“Growing up watching
Devin, I wanted to be just
like her,” Hunter said. “I just
remember this (signing day)
was so cool, all her friends and
teachers were there. I wanted
to do this so bad. She’s a great
player. I’ve always been com-
pared to her, growing up. I
wanted to show people that
I’m not just Devin Hunter’s
sister. I’m Sydney Hunter. I’ve
got my own name. I want to
make my own story for my-
self. It pushed me to work
harder than usual.”
While Hunter admit-
ted Devin is “way stronger”
thanks to four years in the
Oregon State weight room,
Sydney claimed she’s the bet-
ter shooter.
“We just have different
things that we’re better at than
each other,” Hunter said. “She
(Devin) was pretty scrawny
before college. I am pretty
small so I’m excited to get
some weight on me.”
San Diego fi rst got in con-
tact with Hunter early in her
high school career. Coaches
then came to McNary to
watch her play volleyball dur-
ing her junior season. Hunter
visited the campus and com-
mitted to the Lady Toreros
program last summer.
“I just fell in love with San
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Sydney Hunter signed a national letter of intent to play college basketball at the
University of San Diego on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Diego after I went there,”
Hunter said. “It was amaz-
ing. The fi rst thing I wanted
to see was the teammates be-
cause coming from where I’ve
grown up with all the girls
I’ve played with I wanted to
feel that chemistry and the
girls that go to San Diego
were amazing. They made me
feel welcome and I love the
coaching staff.”
According to McNary head
coach Derick Handley, what
makes Hunter special is the
combination of being a great
athlete and a hard worker.
Please see HUNTER, Page 11
Coburn gets 400th win
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Whiteaker Middle School head volleyball coach Scott Coburn won his 400th career game on
Monday, Oct. 24.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
More than 25 years ago,
Kennedy High School in Mt.
Angel was looking for a vol-
leyball coach.
Scott Coburn, who was
coaching the boys basketball
team at the time, said if the
school could get him in con-
tact with Chemeketa volley-
ball coach Terry McLaughlin,
he would give it a try.
More than 400 wins later,
the rest is history.
“I learned a lot from Terry,”
Coburn said. “He helped me
the fi rst few years and came
out and did some clinics with
my kids and I learned more
and more.”
In 1991, Coburn’s volley-
ball team made it to the state
championship game, falling to
Vale.
“We weren’t even rated
going into the state tourna-
ment and we upset several
teams along the way,” Coburn
said. “To get to the fi nals was
an amazing accomplishment.
That’s one of the game I’ll al-
ways remember.”
After four seasons at Ken-
nedy, Coburn began coaching
at Whiteaker Middle School
in 1993 and he’s been there
ever since.
“My kids were at the age
where I was always gone
coaching and I was missing
some of their lives,” Coburn
said. “They were young kids
and my wife and I made the
decision if I move to middle
school, I can be more a part of
what they’re doing and then
I just decided I enjoyed the
middle school level. The kids
can learn and grow so much
that it’s fun to watch them.
You can take them and really
develop some skills that I can
pass on to the high school.”
Coburn won his 400th
game on Monday, Oct. 24, de-
feating Walker 3-2 at home.
“When I retire sometime,
it’s nice to know what I did,”
Coburn said.
“It feels good for me but
it’s really fun that I’ve had
the opportunity over the past
20-something years to do this
and work with such great kids.
I see it as an accomplishment
for them also. There’s kids all
over town, that aren’t kids any
more, that are a part of it. To
me it’s a bigger thing than just
me winning games.”
Please see COBURN, Page 11