Keizertimes., March 02, 2018, Page PAGE B1, Image 7

MARCH 2, 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
Salem
Keizer
appeal
denied
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary High School will
offi cially be competing in a
league with Bend beginning
next fall.
Salem-Keizer
School
District’s appeal against the
OSAA’s decision to place fi ve
of its high schools, in a con-
ference with Bend, Mountain
View and Summit was dis-
missed by hearings offi cer Mi-
chael Gillette, who stated there
was “no legal basis on which
I can sustain the district’s ap-
peal.”
The school district received
the opinion on Thursday, Feb.
22, more than three weeks af-
ter Salem-Keizer argued its
case at a hearing on Jan. 29.
“Understandably, we are
disheartened by this ruling,”
said Superintendent Christy
Perry. “We know this will
impact our students and our
staff, as well as their families.
We have already begun assess-
ing ways to reduce the impact
to our budgets, but we know
our student athletes are going
to have to make some diffi cult
decisions about participation
because of the impact to their
time in our classrooms.”
In its appeal, Salem-Keizer
said OSAA did not give the
district suffi cient notice that
SKPS would be placed in a
district that included Bend-La
Pine. The district also stated
the Classifi cation and Dis-
tricting Committee failed to
consider the safety of students,
fans and school personnel; the
impact to student instructional
time; and the additional ex-
penses imposed on the schools
as a result of redistricting.
In regards to lack of notice,
Gillette noted that the CDC
issued two draft classifi cation
and districting proposals in
October of 2016, a six class
proposal and a fi ve class pro-
posal. Both placed Bend high
schools in the same district as
Salem-Keizer. Moving for-
ward, further drafts continued
to assign most Salem-Keizer
schools in a league with Bend.
A later suggestion from the
Salem-Keizer athletic directors
even supported a proposed fi ve
class model that would com-
bine the three Bend and fi ve
Salem-Keizer schools.
“I fi nd that the district
had plenty of notice,” Gillette
wrote in his opinion. “Wheth-
er with respect to a fi ve or six
tiered classifi cation system,
Salem-Keizer was aware vir-
tually from the outset of the
CDC’s work that there were
those who believed that a joint
league of Salem-Keizer and
Bend-La Pine schools was ap-
propriate.”
Gillette also noted that
nearly half of the proposals by
the committee over its year-
long process placed the two
school districts in a league
together and that two differ-
ent proposals from the district
itself to the CDC appeared to
accept the idea.
“It may be that, as the pro-
cess neared its end, Salem-
Keizer believed that it was
no longer in danger of being
placed in such a league, but
there was no guarantee of
that,” Gillette wrote.
Please see DENIED, Page B6
Lady Celts one and
done at Oregon City
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Paige Downer scored fi ve points in her fi nal
game at Oregon City on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
OREGON CITY—McNary got Oregon
City out of its full-court press early but the
Lady Celts couldn’t make enough shots to pull
off the upset, falling to the Pioneers 51-41 on
Tuesday, Feb. 27 in the fi rst round of the 6A
girls basketball state playoffs.
“We knew that one of the keys to winning
was beating their press,” McNary senior Kailey
Doutt said.
“We watched fi lm on it and they destroyed
teams with the press. They got their hands ev-
erywhere. They jump the ball a lot and get a lot
of turnovers out of it.”
In a game that featured 10 guards on the
fl oor for much of it, the Lady Celts kept up
with Oregon City’s fast and aggressive play in
the fi rst half.
After the Pioneers went on a 8-0 run at the
end of the fi rst period, McNary senior Paige
Downer knocked down a jump shot at the top
of the key and then a 3-pointer from the cor-
ner to get the Lady Celts within 14-13 with
6:27 remaining in the fi rst half.
When Oregon City immediately answered
with a three-point play, Abbie Hawley made a 3
and Sabella Alfaro hit two free throws to tie the
game at 18-18 with 2:55 remaining.
Alfaro, who led the Lady Celts with 11
points, including eight in the fi rst half, tied the
game again at 20-20 on a layup with 1:53 left
to play.
Please see DONE, Page B5
Cutting down the net
Celtics wrap up league title on senior night
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
The singing started with
1:33 left to play.
It came from the McNary
student section—“We are the
champions.”
With 54 seconds remain-
ing, Celtics head coach Ryan
Kirch called a timeout so se-
niors Riccardo Gardelli, An-
drew Jones, Lucas Garvey and
Chandler Cavell could each
leave the court, one at a time,
to cheers from the stands and
hugs from the bench.
The countdown was then
on, 10, nine, eight... until the
fi nal buzzer sounded and Mc-
Nary students stormed the
court to celebrate a Greater
Valley Conference champion-
ship.
The Celtics sealed the GVC
title with a 73-56 win over
McMinnville on Wednesday,
Feb. 21.
After the game, coaches
passed out championship t-
shirts. On the back was a pic-
ture of the team and under
it the words “GVC League
Champs, 5th to 1st.”
Before the season, McNary
was picked by the league’s
coaches to fi nish fi fth in the
GVC and the Celtics certainly
hadn’t forgotten.
“That put a chip on our
shoulder,” said Garvey, who
had 20 points while going
5-for-8 from 3 against Mc-
Minnville. “We took it to
heart and we played really
good this season.”
A ladder was then placed
under the basket and each
player cut down the net, one
string at a time, beginning
with the seniors and ending
with Kirch.
“It just solidifi es what I
hope our program is recog-
nized for, being competitive,
being tough and most im-
portantly playing together
as a group,” Kirch said of the
league championship. “These
guys are all really good friends
and you can tell by the way
they play. They just love play-
ing with each other and for
each other and it’s contagious.
You can see it on the fl oor.”
No better example of
that on this night was junior
Boston Smith, who came off
the bench, so senior Daniel
Zwemke could start on senior
night.
“I asked Boston if he was
comfortable with Dan start-
ing and he couldn’t have
been happier,” Kirch said. “It
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
ABOVE: McNary seniors Daniel Zwemke, from left, Riccardo Gardelli, Chandler Cavell, Andrew Jones and Lucas Garvey were
honored before their fi nal regular season home game against McMinnville. BELOW: Head coach Ryan Kirch, left, and Jones cut
down the net after winning the Greater Valley Conference championship.
was about the team. It’s hard
to fi nd that anymore in high
school athletics. These guys
just love playing together and
they love McNary and the city
of Keizer is unique in that we
just have one high school here
and this is the high school of
Keizer. Kids grow up wanting
to play for McNary and expe-
rience all of that.”
Gardelli, an exchange stu-
dent from Italy, had 18 points,
16 rebounds and fi ve assists in
the victory.
Please see CHAMPS, Page B6