JULY 14, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Now and then: Barchus fulfi lls D-I dream
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
A broken hand cost Jordan
Barchus a season at Lower
Columbia College but it did
not derail his dream of playing
Division-I baseball.
The 2014 McNary gradu-
ate has signed a commitment
letter with the University of
San Francisco.
“That’s been my goal
growing up, to play Division-
I baseball,” Barchus said. “It’s
amazing to see how far I have
come, just how much better a
person and how much better
at baseball I’ve gotten. Espe-
cially the last three years, I did
a lot of growing up and made
me ready for Division-I base-
ball.”
After playing sparingly as a
role player his freshman sea-
son, Barchus broke his hamate
bone swinging a bat early in
his second year and red-shirt-
ed.
Barchus spent last summer
playing with the Gresham
GreyWolves to prepare for his
fi nal season at Lower Colum-
bia, a two-year community
college in Longview, Wash.
“There’s a lot of Division-
I baseball guys playing in the
summer league so I get to face
all of that competition to get
me prepared to head to the
next level,” Barchus said.
Batting cleanup and play-
ing third base, Barchus re-
turned for the 2017 season
Submitted
Jordan Barchus spent the last three years at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Wash. after graduating from McNary High School in 2014.
and led Lower Columbia with
44 RBIs along with 24 runs,
seven doubles, two triples and
two home runs while hitting
.317.
On May 29, the Red Devils
won their second Northwest
Athletic Conference in three
seasons. Barchus was voted to
the all-tournament team as
well as First Team All-NWAC
during the regular season.
“It’s a dream come true to
be part of a college champion-
ship team,” Barchus said. “You
see the fruit of your labor
from all of the hard work that
you put in at the beginning of
September, all the way until
the end of May. It’s just unbe-
lievable to see how much you
grow, your team grows and it’s
just a lot of fun.”
Part of Barchus’ growth
was getting bigger, faster and
stronger. Barchus weighed
150-155 pounds when he
arrived at Lower Columbia
three years ago but will leave
at 175.
“There’s a lot of extra con-
ditioning at Lower Columbia
that we do that pushes you
to become a better baseball
player,” Barchus said. “It makes
you tougher.”
With his future in doubt,
Barchus didn’t hear from San
Francisco until about a week
before the NWAC tourna-
ment.
“I’m pretty sure I was the
last one from my team to sign
or commit somewhere so it
was a little frustrating for the
type of season I was having,”
Barchus said. “These are my
best friends so I was extremely
happy for them but I was just
personally frustrated. I just
kept playing the game. It was
out of my control. I just dealt
with the things I could control
and play really good baseball.
“I was going to keep play-
ing, didn’t know if it was go-
ing to be Division-I level but I
was going to keep playing no
matter what.”
In mid-June, he received a
second offer from High Point
University in North Carolina,
before deciding to sign with
San Francisco the fi rst week
of July.
“I just felt like I had the
best opportunity and the best
chance for that team to go to
the NCAA playoffs and espe-
cially for me to grow as a hu-
man being even further,” Bar-
chus said. “I felt like it was a
really good fi t program wise.”
Barchus plans to major in
the human physiology fi eld.
He wants to be a surgeon or
chiropractor.
But signing with a Divi-
sion-I program also gets Bar-
chus closer to another dream.
“The childhood dream is
to play pro baseball and I’m
just a step closer to that real-
ity,” he said. “I’ve just got to
work harder. Only the 1 per-
cent of the 1 percent will get
that opportunity to get paid
to play baseball. Now, I’ve got
to make new goals and that’s
defi nitely one of them.”
Norstrom, Wilcoxen break
Holiday Swim Club records
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Kyra Norstrom’s path to
setting a new Holiday Swim
Club record in the pool be-
gan at home, competing with
her 5-year-old sister, Eirelyn,
on who could eat breakfast or
get dressed fi rst.
“She’s like ‘I’m going to
beat you,’” Kyra said. “She’s
very competitive for her age.”
And the desire to win
doesn’t end with her sister.
“My mom is super com-
petitive and my dad is com-
petitive but only in certain
sports. I’m only competitive
in swimming,” Kyra clarifi ed.
That competitiveness paid
off Thursday, July 6 at the
Northview Terrace pool as
the elder Norstrom swam a
club record 15.28 seconds to
win the 11-12-year-old but-
terfl y.
Norstrom, 11, joined the
Holiday Swim Club last sum-
mer after the family moved to
Keizer from Eastern Oregon.
While it was her fi rst team,
Norstrom did take lessons in
La Grande.
“I was terrifi ed of swim-
ming,” Norstrom said. “My
teacher couldn’t even get me
to jump off the edge because
I was too scared.”
Norstrom has come a long
way since starting with Holi-
day, especially her diving.
“Last year, I just totally bel-
ly fl opped them,” Norstrom
said. “Diving was horrible for
me. Last year, I was the worst
butterfl y ever. I could barely
do it so it was really fun to
improve my times.”
Norstrom also won the 11-
12 girls backstroke at North-
view in 36.06, two seconds
faster than she swam last sum-
mer, and the freestyle in 29.82.
Norstrom credited her
coaches and of course her
competitiveness for the swift
improvement.
Submitted
John Campos celebrates with his daughter Bristol after winning an IMCA Modifi ed race on Me-
morial Day weekend in Banks. Campos also won July 8 at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon.
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
ABOVE: Kyra Norstrom and Alex Wilcoxen set new Holiday
Swim Club records in the butterfl y on Thursday, July 6. BELOW:
Eli Stayley won the the 11-12 individual medley for Northview.
“Sarah (Eckert) and Cody
(Luth) and Kylie (McCarty)
pushing me and for me to
beat all my friends is really
fun,” Norstrom said.
Alex Wilcoxen’s success in
the pool also comes from her
family. Her mother was previ-
ously the head coach at Holi-
day and her father currently
serves as the club’s president.
Along with breaking her
own record in the 9-10 girls
butterfl y in 15.06 seconds,
Wilcoxen also won the breast-
stroke in 45.65 and the indi-
vidual medley in 1:19.62.
“It tires me out but it just
keeps me going,” Wilcoxen
said of the butterfl y. “Just our
coaches cheering you on just
pushes you on.”
A strong start was key.
“I did a really straight dive
instead of a deep dive,” Wil-
coxen said. “I had a really, re-
ally good dive. It felt good.”
Wilcoxen and Norstrom’s
swims helped Holiday defeat
Northview 337 to 232.
Evylyn Hales had the fast-
est times in the 7-8 butterfl y
and backstroke.
Please see RECORDS, Page 13
Keizer man wins IMCA race
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
John Campos, 41, of Keiz-
er, is making a name for him-
self in his third year on the
International Motor Contest
Association (IMCA) Modi-
fi ed circuit.
Campos won his third race
of the season on Saturday, July
8 at Willamette Speedway in
Lebanon.
Competing in the Clair
Cup, Campos started outside
on the third row.
However, after a caution,
Campos took the lead before
the 10th of 30 laps and never
let it go.
“They’d just put a little bit
of water down on the track
before we got going,” Cam-
pos said.
“The track was really dusty
and had a little bit of a cush-
ion around the top edge of it.
Basically, I was the fi rst car to
get up there and fi nd it and
use it to my advantage. I took
the lead and nobody could
catch me from there.”
Campos estimated he
maintained about a quarter
of a lap lead over the fi eld,
which included 14 cars.
The clay oval track at Wil-
lamette Speedway is a third of
a mile.
“We just had a good hot
rod that night,” Campos said.
“We had a good car and we
just never really got chal-
lenged after I took the lead.”
Winning came with a
$1,000 prize, which is double
of a typical race. And since
fi reworks were after the race,
Campos said it was a packed
house.
The win also helped Cam-
pos remain on top of the
IMCA Modifi ed Oregon
point standings. A state cham-
pionship would bring even
more prize money.
Campos, who also works
as a shipping manager at Pa-
cifi c Building Systems in
Woodburn, races about every
weekend from April through
September and would like to
make it his full-time job. He
hates the word ‘hobby.’
“It’s more than a hobby
just because you spend so
much of your life with it,”
Campos said. “Obviously, if
we could have it as a career
and not have to go to work
everyday I would.
“I’d love to pack it all up
and just hit the road and go.
One day it would be nice to
make the effort and see what
you can do. It’s a long shot.”
Campos grew up around
the sport, watching his dad
race at the Roseburg Fair-
grounds.
Campos has been at it for
nearly 20 years. He was in
the late model division before
switching over to modifi ed
three years ago.
Campos races for Break
the Chain, an organization
that helps fi ght addiction and
violence.
“They’re racing to break
the chain,” Campos said. “It’s
just a good cause and I want-
ed to run it on my car and
help spread that word.”