FEBRUARY 16, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1
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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.