THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016
SPORTS
7A
Seaside is the star of volleyball tournament
sphere,” Dyk, from Medford,
said. “Everyone is very laid
back. You just make friends
with whoever’s around, lis-
ten to music, hang out, play
pick-up games — it’s just a
By R.J. MARX
very fun atmosphere.”
The Daily Astorian
They were just a few of the
1,500 teams and 3,500 competi-
SEASIDE — Seaside’s tors. Seaside Chamber of Com-
biggest party was in full swing merce President Brian Owen
over the weekend, with spec- estimated more than 10,000
tacular weather and a beach visitors attended the event.
full of volleyball players and
Behind the scenes, orga-
fans.
nizers Thilavanh, Deng The-
With the Summer Olym- pharat, and Mike Grifin —
pics in Brazil airing the world’s “the bad boys of volleyball”
best athletes every night, the — described a smooth-run-
competitors in this
ning event and
year’s amateur tour-
hailed the launch
nament
received
of a new schedul-
added inspiration.
ing program. The
“Gosh, to me it
cellphone applica-
actually boosts up
tion enables players
the morale and that
to check online for
excitement of play-
court assignments
ing,” said co-orga-
and times, eliminat-
nizer PT Thilavanh.
ing needless waits
“The players are
and confusion.
PT
watching the Olym-
“The dificulties
Thilavanh
pics after they’re
have been the new-
done and then
ness of how we’re
they’re anxious to play even running the format, every-
more.”
body’s not really familiar
On the Turnaround, New about going on the electronic
York City’s Josh Sweigert brackets, but given a tutorial
and Katie Nicholls shared the on it they’re ine,” Grifin said.
energy of competition and a
“The system works as
pitch-perfect 70-degree day on planned,” Thilavanh said.
the beach with coed doubles “People are loving that the
partners Joey Burda and Katie schedule is online. There’s no
Dyk.
center bulletin boards to worry
Nicholls — who was mak- about checking their matches.
ing her irst trip to Seaside — They can watch matches. It’s
and Sweigert lew in for the been great.”
tournament from New York
“It’s paid off in spades,”
City late Thursday. A three- Owen added. “What I’m hear-
hour delay deposited them in ing from local merchants, is
Portland at 4 a.m., only hours that when people arrive com-
before their irst matches.
ing off the beach, they aren’t
The trip is an annual one complaining not knowing
for Sweigert, a Portland native, when they play next, having
who has appeared in 16 Sea- to be stuck on the beach wait-
side volleyball tournaments.
ing for the bracket boards to
“My parents actually met be updated, they’re actually
playing beach volleyball here, able to shower and have lunch
so it was kind of like part of and come back and play their
their marriage,” he said. “I matches.”
grew up with it being part of
Even better, “This is prob-
my family.”
ably the best weather out of
Rounding out the family my many years playing in
affair, Burda, who now lives this tournament,” Thilavanh
in metro Portland, is a former added.
volleyball teammate of Swei-
“This is what we call
gert’s cousin.
‘Chamber of Commerce
“This is an awesome atmo- weather,’” Owen said.
Hundreds of
players hit
the beach
Jeff TerHar/Submitted Photo
Hundreds of amateur volleyball players hit the beach in Seaside over the weekend.
Jeff TerHar/Submitted Photo
Jeff TerHar/Submitted Photo
Betsi Flint, left, Kelley Larsen, right, took the women’s
open title.
Miles Evans, left, and Marty Lorenz, right, won the men’s
open division.
Soccer gets a jump on 2016 season
Gulls look strong
in tournament
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — It’s a
long ways to November, but
fans of the Seaside boys soccer
team have to be encouraged
with the early results.
The Gulls looked to be
in midseason form over the
weekend in an annual “pre”
preseason tournament.
Today is the irst oficial
day of fall sports practice, but
nowadays — with summer
tournaments, open gyms and
conditioning camps — most
teams in most sports like to get
a jump on things. And some
local soccer teams took it a bit
further over the weekend.
The players were playing
and the coaches were coach-
ing in Astoria’s annual pre-
season tournament Friday,
Saturday and Sunday at the
Lower Columbia Youth Soc-
cer complex.
Other than a shorter time
limit on games, every scrim-
mage looked pretty much like
any regular season game.
Or, in this case, playoff
game … since many of the
teams that took part will end
up in the state playoffs a few
months from now.
Participants included the
Astoria, Catlin Gabel, Hen-
ley, Hidden Valley and Seaside
boys; with the Astoria, Banks,
Catlin Gabel, Henley, Hidden
Valley and Klamath Union
girls.
“It’s just a brilliant tour-
nament that (former Asto-
ria coach) Bill Patterson and
LCYSA with Astoria puts on,”
said Seaside boys coach John
Chapman. “There’s some good
schools here. Being local,
we’re honored to take part in
some of these games.
“Going into daily doubles,
it’s a great opportunity to see
where our boys are, what we
need to work on, and where we
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Irving Contreras of Seaside outraces a Henley defender
down the field in a Saturday morning soccer match.
need to focus,” he said.
Chapman’s team got off to a
great start, as Seaside defeated
Hidden Valley 4-0 Friday.
The Gulls also jumped out
to a 3-0 lead over Henley, in a
9 a.m. contest Saturday morn-
ing. The Hornets — a Class
4A semiinal team last year —
scored two goals in the second
half, as the Gulls won 3-2.
Seaside’s irst goal came
from Colton Carter, off a give-
and-go from teammate Jack-
son Januik; Januik assisted on
a second goal; and Irving Con-
treras converted a penalty kick
in the closing seconds of the
irst half.
“That’s a great league they
have down there (the Skyline
Conference), with Hidden Val-
ley, Mazama, Phoenix and
Henley,” Chapman said. “We
don’t get to see those teams
until a playoff situation. A lit-
tle early-season lavor helps us
see how those leagues do.”
Seaside’s main challenger
in the Cowapa League could
be Astoria.
The Fishermen scored ive
irst half goals in a win over
Class 5A St. Helens Friday,
despite not having their coach.
Tim Fastabend — who
coached the Astoria boys last
year and was recently named
the girls’ varsity coach — was
on the sidelines for both in the
weekend scrimmages.
“I think the boys and the
girls looked real good this
weekend,” Fastabend said.
“It was mainly just a chance
to give all the young kids a
chance to play.
“These facilities are so
nice, and Camp Kiwanilong
was open to everybody — it’s
just a real nice opportunity for
the North Coast to show every-
one what we have,” Fastabend
said. “The University of Ore-
gon women’s team was here
earlier in the summer, OES
was here for a few days …
and we had 150 kids here this
weekend.”
Lee Cain will coach the
Astoria boys this season,
but Cain was in Mexico on a
ield trip with students, which
included several players for
the Astoria girls.
The Lady Fishermen had
a nice start, as Hailey Ranta
scored in the opening min-
utes against St. Helens Friday,
before the Lions answered
with ive unanswered goals.
Astoria goalkeeper Lexis
Law suffered a wrist injury
later in the weekend, but the
extent of the injury was not
known.
get ready for
FALL SPORTS!
Sports Physical Clinic
Aug. 10, 9am-4pm
Astoria High School
1001 W. Marine Drive, Astoria
Cost: $25
Stop by to complete your required sports physical
with a CMH physician. A parent must be present.
No appointment necessary.
2111 Exchange Street, Astoria, OR • 503-325-4321 • www.columbiamemorial.org
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