Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2018)
FEBRUARY 16, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1 WE’RE TOOTING OUR OWN HORN! OREGON’S FORD 2014 2015 2018 2016 2017 DEALER OF THE YEAR Keizer 5 YEARS IN A ROW 3555 River Road N, Keizer (503) 463- 4853 www.skylineforddirect.com KEIZERTIMES.COM Hooper, Vaughn get Celtics on podium By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes MCMINNVILLE—Kyle Hooper wanted to get on the podium and make a statement for the McNary swim team at the Greater Valley Conference Championships. With the help of his team- mates, he got there, fi nishing third in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200 individ- ual medley Saturday, Feb. 10 at the McMinnville Aquatic Center. “When I saw fi ve or six people standing at the end cheering me and Harrison (Vaughn) on, it shows that our team cares about us and they want us to succeed,” Hooper said. “When it matters they re- ally show it to us.” Hooper and Vaughn got to A Finals of the 500 free by fi n- ishing fi rst and second in Fri- day’s prelims. Motivated to beat Sprague senior Colby Evenson, who swam a record 4:49.96 at the district meet last year, Vaughn dropped more than 14 sec- onds from his best time, fi n- ishing in 4:58.93, to place fi rst. “I really wanted to beat Colby, and I did, but he didn’t actually go very fast,” Vaughn said. “It boosted my confi dence KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary sophomore Kyle Hooper, left, fi nished fourth in the 200 IM at the Greater Valley Championships on Saturday, Feb. 10 at the McMinnville Aquatic Center. Hooper and Harrison Vaughn placed third and fi fth in the 500 free. a lot, probably too much. To- day, I tried to hold with him again and obviously that didn’t work.” In fi nals, Vaughn clocked his fi rst 100 in a blistering 53 seconds before falling back to fi fth and fi nishing in 5:03.12. Hooper said he also started too fast, fi nishing his fi rst 100 in 55 seconds. “I knew I needed to hold a consistent pace and going out that fast was going to make me die in the end,” Hooper said. “So I had to think to my- self, what do I need to do to keep this pace? From feeling in myself, I knew that this isn’t the way I’m going to take a medal in this race.” Hooper slowed down but fi nished strong in 4:58.95, a nearly 4 second personal re- cord. Evenson won the race in 4:50.64. West Salem sopho- more Marcus Ramirez took second in 4:58.13. “Everybody knows that he’s probably going to win,” Hooper said of Evenson. “In our minds it was a race for second. My main goal was get up on the podium and make a statement for my team.” Hooper, a sophomore, swam the 500 free in 5:13 at least year’s district meet. Swimming against Vaughn, a teammate at both McNary and Mid-Valley Aquatics, ev- eryday has made him faster. “We’re always racing each other and always pushing each other in practice to get bet- ter and get results like this,” Hooper said of Vaughn, who also fi nished ninth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.61. McNary opened Saturday’s competition by placing fourth in the girls 200 medley relay as Alex Beard, Bella Beard, Em- ily Alger and Haley Debban fi nished in 200.80. Alex took fi fth in the 500 free in 5:35.17 and sixth in the 200 IM in 2:22.12. Please see SWIM, Page B2 McNary wrestlers eye state fi nals By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary senior Brayden Ebbs and West Linn junior Sean Harman, two of the top 160-pounders in the state, have known each other for a long time, training on the same club team, All-Phase Wrestling, since they were little. But they’ve never met in high school competition. Ebbs hopes to change that at the OSAA State Champi- onships Feb. 16-17 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Port- land. “We’ve been best friends for a very long time,” Ebbs said of Harman. “We’ve gone on out of state trips together, multiple camps and we’ve been very close for a long time. We have trained a lot together. He’s actually helped me become a tougher wres- tler.” Harman, undefeated at 40- 0, enters the state tournament as the No. 1 seed. He won the 152-pound state title last sea- son and is part of a wrestling family that includes a grand- father, father and two broth- ers who have all wrestled for Navy. “When we were younger I actually used to beat him a lot but he got a lot better as he grew older and he became a great wrestler,” Ebbs said. “As long as I make it to the fi nals, I know it’s going to be a good match between me and him and there’s going to be a lot of respect from both sides and I think it will just be a fun match to be a part of, too.” To get to the fi nals, Ebbs, the No. 3 seed, will have to fi rst get past No. 2 Josh Grant of Century. Grant, a senior, lost to Har- mon 5-2 in the semifi nals last season, and took third in the state. “He’s a tough wrestler but me and my dad (McNary head wrestling coach Jason Ebbs) have prepared and we know what we’re going to do and what we need to avoid,” Ebbs said. “I think I have a pretty good shot of beating him.” McNary junior Enrique Vincent was just happy to qualify for the state tourna- ment a year ago. That won’t be the case this time around. Please see STATE, Page B3 KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary wrestlers Nicolette Parra, front, from left, Enrique Vincent, Grady Burrows, Blake Norton, Nick Hernandez and Brayden Ebbs will compete in the state tournament on Feb. 16-17 in Portland. McNary boys now fi rst in GVC Lady Celts fall at South Salem By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes SALEM—Down by three points with 30 seconds to go, McNary had a shot at South Salem, just no one would take it. After passing the ball around the 3-point line for nearly 25 seconds, Saxons freshman point guard Hilary James stole it, knocked down one of two free throws and the Lady Celts fell on the road 39- 35 on Tuesday, Feb. 13. “We’ve had very few end of the game situations,” McNary head coach Elizabeth Doran said. “We wanted to get to the basket if we could and draw contact, score quick.You’ve got to want it at the end of the game. You can’t be passive. We made fi ve or six passes and we had open shots and nobody wanted it right at the end.” The Lady Celts trailed 34- 28 with 4:12 remaining in the game when Kailey Doutt made a free throw and Ab- bie Hawley knocked down a 3-pointer to get McNary within 34-32. Doutt then hit a jump shot to tie the game at 34-34 with 1:43 to go. Please see SOUTH, Page B3 KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior Emma Kinler tries to rip the ball away from a South Salem player on Tuesday, Feb. 13. by DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary’s boys basketball team (17-5, 12-2) jumped to the top of the Greater Valley Conference standings on Tues- day night with a 70-48 win over South Salem. Sprague, who appeared to put an early wrap on the league title after opening GVC-play 11-0, including two wins over the Celtics, lost its third con- secutive league game on Tues- day, falling to McMinnville 61-44. McNary led just 24-21 at halftime against South Salem but outscored the Saxons 46 to 27 in the second half, including 22 to 10 in the fourth quarter. The Celtics were led by their seniors. Lucas Garvey had 20 points, shooting 4-for- 6 from 3-pointers. Chandler Cavell fl irted with a triple- double, fi nishing with seven points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Riccardo Gardelli added 12 points and seven rebounds. McNary, No. 5 in the OSAA power rankings, fi nish the sea- son at No. 10 West Salem on Friday, Feb. 16 and then host No. 12 McMinnville on Tues- day, Feb. 20.
