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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2019)
PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 4, 2019 OSAA appeal denied Salem-Keizer School Dis- trict’s appeal against the OSAA’s decision to place fi ve of its high schools, in a conference with Bend, Mountain View and Summit was dismissed by hear- ings offi cer Michael Gillette, who stated there was “no legal basis on which I can sustain the district’s appeal.” The school district received the opin- ion on Feb. 22, more than three weeks after Sa- lem-Keiz- er argued its case at a hearing on Jan. 29. “Understand- ably, we are disheart- ened 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 assessing 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 partic- ipation because of the impact to their time in our classrooms.” In its appeal, Salem-Keizer said the OSAA did not give the district suffi cient notice that SKPS would be placed with three Bend schools (Mountain View, Summit and Bend). The district also stated the Clas- sifi- cation and Continued from Page A12 Districting 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 regard to lack of notice, Gillette noted that the CDC is- sued two draft classifi cation and districting proposals in Octo- ber of 2016, a six class proposal and a fi ve class proposal. Both placed Bend high schools in the same district as Salem-Keizer. Moving forward, further drafts continued to assign most Sa- lem-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 combine the three Bend and fi ve Sa- lem-Keizer schools. “I fi nd that the dis- trict had plenty of notice,” Gillette wrote in his opinion. “Whether with respect to a fi ve or six tiered classifi ca- tion system, Salem-Keizer was aware virtually 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 appropriate.” Wolverines win all-city Cheryl Barrie, cross coun- try coach at Whiteaker Middle School, knew she had some- thing special the fi rst time she saw sixth grader Vince Estrada run. “At the 1000 meter mark, I saw him cruising down the hill in fi rst place and thought he was running at an unsustainable pace and the next thing I know he is crossing the fi nish line in fi rst place,” Barrie said. Estrada fi nished the 2K at Bush Pasture Park on Sept. 27 in 8 minutes and 12 seconds. It was his fi rst race, ever. “My mom was a compet- itive runner in high school as well as my uncles,” Estrada said. “I feel like it runs through my blood and I wanted to continue the family tradition.” Estrada’s teammates, Brayden Kaehler, Caden Car- ter, Aidan Hedberg and Derek Jones, were close behind fi n- ishing second, fourth, fi fth and ninth, to post a team score of 19 points. A perfect score is 15 points. Throughout the season, Whiteaker’s sixth grade boys only got faster. Estrada won all four meets he entered and on Thursday, Oct. 25, the Wolverines took fi rst at the Salem-Keizer All-City Cross Country Meet at Bush Park. Estrada won the 2K race in 7:47. Carter (8:12), Hedberg (8:18), Jones (8:25) and Kae- hler (8:34) placed fi fth, seventh, 10th and 15th out of 95 run- ners. “I was so nervous that day for a couple of reasons, one was the possibility of slipping on a wet downhill course and sec- ond was letting myself, family, and school down,” Estrada said. Barrie also added: “Coach (Bradley) Kilgroe and I loved working with this group of hard working boys and girls,” Barrie said. “We are already ex- cited for next year as Aspynn returns coupled with our sixth grade girls and boys will make for an exciting year. “We are both lucky to teach and coach in our Keizer community with such great support from parents and our Whiteaker administra- tion.” File Vince Estrada, from left, Caden Carter, Aidan Hedberg, Brayden Kaehler and Derek Jones helped the Whiteaker sixth grade boys cross country team win the all-city meet File McNary seniors Daniel Zwemke, from left, Ricardo Gardelli, Chandler Cavell, Andrew Jones and Lucas Garvey played signifi cant roles in the Celtics winning the league championships Celts clinch league crown on senior night The singing started with 1:33 left to play. It came from the McNary student section—“We are the champions.” With 54 seconds remaining, head coach Ryan Kirch called a timeout so seniors Riccardo Gardelli, Andrew 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 varsity boys basketball squad offi cially clinched the Greater Valley Conference title with a 73- 56 win over McMinnville on Feb. 21. After the game, coach- es passed out championship t-shirts. On the back was a picture 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 puzzle answers GVC and the Celtics certainly hadn’t forgotten. “That put a chip on our shoulder,” said Garvey, who had 18 points while going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. “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.” That friendship was put on display before the game when junior post Boston Smith, came off the bench so that senior Daniel Zwemke could start on senior night — the fi - nal home game of the regular season. “I asked Boston if he was comfortable with Dan start- ing and he couldn’t have been happier,” Kirch said. “It 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. “This is the best night of my life,” Gardelli said. “We played like a real team, like a family. I’ve never been on a team where they take me (in) like a member of the fami- ly and I’ve been here just six months and to me it’s just like a second family. I feel bless- ed. I’m from the middle of nowhere and I’m winning a league championship. League championship, I can’t stop say- ing that.” “I’m always trying to get better and this game is show- ing off the work that I did. I don’t know how many re- bounds I (got). I don’t know how many points I (got) but I know that we’re a beautiful team. We all play together. Ev- erybody was on fi re tonight.” Sam Goesch CLU, Agent Sam Goesch Ins Agcy Inc 3975 River Road North Keizer, OR 97303 Web: SamGoesch.com Bus: 503-393-6252 1211999 State Farm , Bloomington, IL MAN CODE LESSON 4: DON'T FORGET The Wedding Party SHOW SOME APPRECIATION TO YOUR BUDDIES Purchasing a gift for your groomsmen is the best way to thank them for being a key part of your big day. We have many to choose from. DON'T FORGET DIAMONDS B OUCHER 503-393-0701 4965 River Road N JEWELERS Monday – Friday 9 to 6 Saturday 9 to 5
