PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 5, 2017
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary senior up for
Oregon Sports Award
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
A year ago, McNary se-
nior Katelyn Lester “never
in a million years” thought
she would be invited to the
Oregon Sports Awards show
along with the best athletes
in the state or up for the same
honor that in 2015 went to
former Ducks quarterback
Marcus Mariota.
Last April Lester was di-
agnosed with mononucleo-
sis and when the symptoms
lingered for months she went
to Doernbecher Children’s
Hospital in Portland for more
tests. Lester had a 104 degree
fever, severe joint pain, mi-
graines and doctors didn’t
know why. A year later, they
still don’t.
Due to fatigue, Lester gets
out of school everyday at
12:45 and, except for a single
serve to open the match on
senior night, she wasn’t al-
lowed to play volleyball.
But that didn’t stop Lester
from contributing in other
ways. One of those was keep-
ing stats.
“It was defi nitely hard not
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to play volleyball, just because
it was my senior year but I was
happy that I got to be part of
the team in some way,” Lester
said. “I still feel like I made an
impact on the team. I went to
all of the practices and all the
tournaments and games and
it was still cool to be a part
of that.”
Lester also wanted to show
people that even if you have
an injury you can still be part
of a team.
“You have the freshmen
that come in and the pro-
gram can be intimidating
at fi rst because you go from
middle school to high school
and I wanted to help them
get comfortable,” Lester said.
“I’ve played with the girls on
varsity for years now. I didn’t
just not want to be part of
that experience anymore.”
Lester has taken the same
route with golf this spring,
going to practices even
though she can’t compete.
And it’s that mentality
along with volunteering with
OSAA that got Lester one of
12 Play It Forward awards.
The honor, presented by
Nike and Providence Health
and Services, went to two
high school and two college
athletes each season, fall, win-
ter and spring.
Of the 12, one will be
honored as the Play It For-
ward Athlete of the Year at
the Oregon Sports Awards
on June 18 at Nike’s World
Headquarters in Beaverton
and receive a $2,500 scholar-
ship.
On the same night, the
top male and female athlete
in each sport will also be an-
nounced.
Please see LESTER, Page 11
Submitted
McNary senior Katelyn Lester will attend the Oregon Sports Awards on June 18 at Nike’s World
Headquarters as one of 12 nominees for the Play It Forward award.
Lady Celts 9-2 in GVC with fi ve to go
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary head softball
coach Kevin Wise chalked up
the performance, a 12-5 home
loss to West Salem on Monday,
May 1, to an off night.
“Even in warmups, I don’t
think the focus was there as
much,” Wise said.
“We got up 4-1 and it
seemed like we had it for a
few minutes. I don’t know
if we let off the gas at that
point or what. We keep talk-
ing about when we get up
like that, we’ve got the put the
pedal to the metal.”
Wise also credited the Lady
Titans, who cranked out 18
hits to score 12 runs.
“They play really well and
they just hit the ball well,”
Wise said. “There were a lot of
their girls that we were trying
to work around. It just didn’t
work tonight and we made a
few errors that were unchar-
acteristic. That’s probably the
worst defensive game we’ve
had. That all kind of plays into
it. A team like that, you can’t
keep giving them at bats be-
cause they’re going to hurt
you.”
McNary pitcher Faith
Danner shut out West Salem
for the fi rst three innings and
the Lady Celts went up 1-0 in
the bottom of the third when
Haley Ebner drove in Nadia
Witt with a RBI single.
West Salem began hit-
ting the ball in the top of the
fourth but McNary was able
to get out of the inning with
a 1-1 tie thanks to two defen-
sive plays by senior Hannah
Carr.
With one out and run-
ners at second and third, Carr
made a catch in shallow center
fi eld to save at least one run
and possibly a second. When a
ball went through the legs of
Ebner at fi rst, Carr was there
to back her up and run to fi rst
to make the tag to end the in-
ning.
The Lady Celts then scored
three runs in the bottom of
the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.
Sabella Alfaro singled to
center fi eld to score Haley
Bingenheimer. Alexa Cepeda
then hit an infi eld single to
the pitcher to drive in Alfaro
and Nadia Witt.
Danner began to pitch be-
hind in the count in the top of
the fi fth and West Salem made
her pay, scoring four runs on
six hits and a walk.
Please see OFF, Page 11
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary freshman Haley Bingenheimer slides in safe Monday, May 1 against West Salem.
Giessinger breaks school record
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Courtney Giessinger went 17-06 in the long jump at Jesuit.
BY DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary senior Courtney
Giessinger needed less than
one track and fi eld season or
exactly seven meets to break a
school record in the long jump
that had stood for 23 years.
Giessinger went 17-06,
three more inches than the re-
cord, in her second jump at the
Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays on
Friday, April 28 at Jesuit High
School in Portland.
She fi nished eighth in the
meet that draws schools from
Washington and Idaho as well
as Oregon.
“I was really shocked be-
cause I knew the record was
17-03,” Giessinger said. “To
beat it by that much was good
because my goal was to beat it
by the end of the year. Coach
just told me to just jump as
high as I could and bring my
knee up high and I guess that
helped a lot. I watched a video
of it and my form was better. I
just keep working on my form
and it keeps getting better and
better.”
Giessinger’s next goal is 18
feet and a berth in the state
meet at Hayward Field in Eu-
gene.
Running in the 100 me-
ters elite division, Brendan Van
Voorhis fi nished sixth with a
personal record of 10.92 at Je-
suit.
“It was cool. I feel like my
start wasn’t too good but I
PR’d with a bad start,” Van
Voorhis said. “It was a good ex-
perience to have and they gave
me free gear for being fast.”
Cambrain
Partridge
couldn’t stop smiling after
breaking 100 feet in the discus
for the fi rst time this season on
Wednesday, April 26 in a dual
meet against McMinnville. She
threw a PR of 104-02 to win
the event.
“It was a good meet,” Par-
tridge said. “It just felt right. I
was nice and smooth, relaxed.
I’m more comfortable at home
now that we’ve got our new
ring. Last year we didn’t have
a ring so we practiced at dif-
ferent schools. It’s nice that we
get to practice everyday here
so it’s defi nitely an advantage.”
Partridge wasn’t as success-
ful at Jesuit, where her best
throw was 87-09 in tough
conditions.
“The discus area wasn’t
on turf so it was super wet
and muddy,” Partridge said.
“It was kind of like a swamp.
You stepped in and sunk three
inches. I was covered in mud. It
made the ring really slippery so
a lot of people were falling out
and slipping.”
Tim Kiser won the boys
discus on Wednesday, throwing
a PR of 124-03. Caitlyn Kief-
iuk Yates took fi rst in the 100
hurdles in 17.41 at home and
then PR’d at Jesuit in 16.68.
Angie Martushev won the
pole vault Wednesday in 8-06
and Van Voorhis fi nished fi rst in
the 200 in 23.15.
The Greater Valley Confer-
ence Championships begin
Wednesday, May 10 at West Al-
bany High School.