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