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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2018)
MAY 4, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1 KEIZERTIMES.COM McNary golfers qualify for state By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes At least three McNary golf- ers will play in the 6A state championships on May 14-15. Joel Dutcher, Matt Lang- enwalter and Hannah Elliot all qualifi ed on Monday and Tuesday in the Greater Valley Conference Championships at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis. Dutcher shot 148 over the two days, a 71 in round one and 77 in round two, to fi nish sec- ond. Langenwalter carded a 72 and 78 for a combined score of 150 to place third. “It’s hard to go that low two days in a row,” McNary head coach Rick Ward said. “It was windy. The conditions weren’t real easy. But they were both very consistent and didn’t make mistakes. That was the big thing.” Elliot fi nished third in the girls tournament with an 88 on the fi rst day and an 87 on the second. Both McNary’s girls and boys are moving on as well, fi nishing second to qualify for regionals on Monday, May 7 at Tokatee Golf Club. McNary will compete against teams from Southern Oregon with the top two ad- vancing to state. McNary’s boys shot 671 over the two days as a team. Zach Roth carded a 182 and Nathan Young fi nished with a 191. “If you look at our scores we started out in the upper 370s and 80s and we were in the 330s at district both days,” Ward said. “Our younger guys came along. I’m really happy with our progress.” The Lady Celts fi nished with a 779. Juralee Stover shot 190 to place seventh overall. Emma John carded a 203. Katy Wyatt posted McNary’s fourth score on Monday, fi nishing with a 104. Bailey True then shot 107 on Tuesday. McNary’s Brad Lomax was voted Co-GVC Girls Golf Coach of the Year. West Salem won the boys title and Sprague took the girls championship to automatically qualify for state. West Salem freshman Brandon Eyre posted a 141 for low medalist. Ashley Zhu of South Salem had the top girls score at 149. The boys state champion- ship is at Emerald Valley Golf and Resort in Creswell while the girls tournament is back at Trysting Tree. KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior Hannah Elliot, left, and sophomore Joel Dutcher qualifi ed for the 6A Golf State Championships by placing third and second in the district tournament at Trysting Tree. Matt Langenwalter also qualifi ed, fi nishing third in the boys tournament. Celtics take down West Salem By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes Jacob Jackson didn’t care where West Salem was ranked in the OSAA power rankings, certainly not when he ripped a home run over the left fi eld fence, McNary’s fi rst of the season, as the Celtics took down the fi fth ranked Titans 5-3 on Tuesday, May 1. “We don’t really look at the rankings,” Jackson said. “I know a lot of the guys on our team don’t care about that. We just see it as the next team up and go play as hard as we can and this win was huge for us. It was a great win against a re- ally great team.” McNary led for the most of the game as Collin Wentworth drove in Lance Becktel with a RBI single in the bottom of the fi rst. Jackson’s home run to lead off the third then gave the Celtics a 2-0 lead. “He threw me a breaking ball before and he had been doing that to the last couple of batters,” Jackson said. “See- ATHLETE of the Week presented by Collin Wentworth McNary High School senior KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary junior Jacob Jackson hit the fi rst home run of his high school career and of any Celtic this season against West Salem on Tuesday, May 1. ing his patterns I knew he was coming back with a fastball. He’s got good speed and he located it right were I like it and I just put a swing on it that I thought I could hit it hard.” West Salem took the lead in the top of the fi fth, scoring three unearned runs with two outs. Collin Wentworth drove in four runs with a single in the fi rst inning and a double with the bases loaded in the fi fth as McNary defeated West Salem 5-3 at home on Tuesday, May 1. “Collin’s been swinging well all year,” McNary head coach Larry Keeker said. “He doesn’t seem to swing at bad pitches. He’s come a long way at the plate. He’s done a really good job. Please see HOMER, Page B4 Childress battles defending champ KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior Hannah Childress returns a backhand against Ceanne Elliott of West Albany on Tuesday, May 1. By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary senior Hannah Childress went toe-to-toe with Ceanne Elliott in a bat- tle of the top two girls singles players in the Greater Valley Conference. But Childress couldn’t put away the two-time defend- ing champ, falling to Elliott 6-7 (3-7) and 2-6 on Tuesday, May 1. Childress won the fi rst three games and led 5-4 in the fi rst set before Elliott grabbed a 6-5 lead. Childress was able to even the score at 6-6 but Elliott won the tiebreaker. “There was no pressure on me,” Childress said. “I just relaxed and had fun. I’m su- per proud of myself because I was able to relax and loosen up and play for fun. If I came in and was nervous and really stressing about it, I wouldn’t have got off to that kind of start.” Childress won the fi rst game of the second set before Elliott went on a roll to win the match. “I noticed she was just rip- ping them,” Childress said. “She picked her game up I feel like in the second set. They were just coming a lot harder.” Childress and Elliott were both undefeated this season with neither player being challenged. “It’s crazy. It’s like going from 0 to 100,” Childress said of the increased competition. “But it’s fun.” Childress said Elliott was just more consistent. “There was just a lot of technical errors on my back- hand that I can fi x with prac- tice,” Childress said. “When I was able to be more consis- tent, we were having really good rallies and I was winning most of the points but when I overpowered it or got nervous and choked up, my technical errors were getting me.” The match was her fi nal time playing on the home courts at McNary. “It’s really sad,” Childress said. “I was really stressing about this season and nervous because it’s my last season. I just wanted to do the best I can. It just fl ew by like a blink of an eye.” Childress should get an- other shot at Elliott in the GVC district tournament on May 10-12. “I know that I’m right there,” Childress said. “The only thing that I doubt is my tennis experience, which I shouldn’t, just come in and be confi dent and know that I can do it. It’s just intimidating be- cause she’s two-time champ. Now I know what I need to work on.” Katherine Perez had to come from behind to win her fi nal home match. Perez fell behind 0-5 in the fi rst set before storming back to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. “I think I just needed to warm up a bit,” Perez said. “My volleys were better than they have been in the last couple of matches. I’ve been working on them.” Perez got the only point for the Lady Celts with West Albany winning the match 7-1. The GVC Girls District Tournament begins Thursday, May 10 at 1 p.m. at Linfi eld College in McMinnville.
