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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2016)
12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com COWAPA DISTRICT MEET — AT CAMP RILEA A WIN FOR COACH Seaside’s Branson coaches his last meet at Camp Rilea By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian W ARRENTON — It’s time for the stars to shine — the post-season OSAA cross country races are up and running. And no league at the 4A level has more stars than the Cowapa League, which held its annual district championship meet Wednes- day afternoon at Camp Rilea. Several top-ranked runners and one defending state champion team were all in action on a soggy, wind-blown course. Highlighting the event, the Seaside boys and head coach Neil Branson are off to another great post-season start, as the defend- ing league and state champion Gulls took Step 1 on their path to a repeat. Seaside senior Bradley Rzewnicki took first place for the boys in Wednesday’s race, leading the Gulls to another Cowapa team title. He covered the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 7 seconds. Scappoose junior John Kavulich finished second in 17:13. It may be the same two runners battling for the state title Nov. 5 in Eugene. Seaside finished with 41 points, ahead of second-place Valley Catholic (50), as the two state-qualifying teams. Tillamook won the girls’ team title, scoring 22 points, well in front of Scappoose (47). Astoria senior Lucas Caruana qualified for state individually, finishing fifth (17:47) in the boys’ race. It was a trio of finishers at seventh, eighth and ninth that really scored big for the Sea- side boys. Hunter Thompson was seventh in 17:51, followed closely by teammates Jackson Januik (17:56) and Rafi Sibony (18:00). Colton Carter was 16th and Juneau Meyer 18th to round out Seaside’s top six runners. Caruana settled into fifth in the early part of the race, and that’s where he stayed, to secure a spot in Eugene for the final race of his prep career. Scappoose junior Linnaea Kavulich (John’s sister) was the girls’ individual cham- pion, finishing in 20:19. Kavulich and Tilla- mook freshman Solace Bergeron ran step- for-step for most of the race, with Kavulich winning by one second. The third-place finisher was Tillamook junior Kara Putman, in 21:35. Astoria junior McKenzie Burnett finished ninth in 22:48, while Seaside senior Josie Smith placed 13th (23:38), with teammate Katie Zagata 15th (23:47). Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Bradley Rzewnicki finishes the varsity 5,000-meter race in first place during the Cowapa League championship on Wednesday at Camp Rilea in Warrenton. The Seagulls earned another Cowapa League team title. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Cross Country — 3A/2A/1A District 1 Championships, Tualatin Hills, 3:30 p.m. FRIDAY Football — Knappa at Central Linn, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at North Beach, 7 p.m. SATURDAY Volleyball — Seaside at Sisters, TBA Boys Soccer — Cottage Grove at Seaside, 7 p.m. CROSS COUNTRY Seaside Cross Country Coach Neil Branson chats with his team during the Cowapa League championship on Wednesday at Camp Rilea in Warrenton. One last time In his last appearance at Camp Rilea as the Seaside coach, Branson is hoping for simi- lar team results for the Gull boys Nov. 5 in Eugene, where Seaside will be the favorite to repeat as 4A state champions. It was an emotional day for Branson, in his last “home” meet as the Gulls’ coach. Bran- son recently announced his resignation as Seaside’s head coach, effective at the end of the season. “It was fantastic,” Branson said of his final meet at Camp Rilea. “I was out setting up the course yesterday and reminiscing. And fin- ishing it up this morning, working with Mr. (Jason) Boyd (Seaside Athletic Director). He’s been such a pleasure to work with. He’s just a barometer of all the support I’ve had through the years. “So it was a little nostalgic out here setting up, but warm feelings over and over.” Branson has coached the Gulls countless times in meets at Camp Rilea. “I think 1988 was our first (district meet) here, and then we had four years at the Gear- hart Golf Course, then back here,” he said. “Plus the 3-Course Challenges, and we used to have a pre-district race here … there’s been quite a few.” And how tough is Cowapa League cross country? While Rzewnicki is the defending state meet champion, he was NOT the defending cham- pion in his own league (Tillamook’s Eulises Astoria’s Lucas Caruana finished fifth, and qualified for the state meet. Astoria’s McKenzie Burnett finished in ninth place in the girls race. Cruz-Vieyra won last year’s league meet). Rzewnicki took care of that little matter Wednesday. The projected winner was John Kavulich, who held the lead at times during Tuesday’s race, until Rzewnicki took the lead with about 1,000 meters remaining. “I figured it was going to turn out that way,” between himself and Kavulich, Rze- wnicki said. “I was leading on the stretch around 3K, then once we made the corner by the north end of the course, the wind hit me and he caught back up. I figured I’d done a lot of the work, so I let him take the lead, and I drafted him from there. “I worked really hard this summer and I’m confident in my training, so winning league was one of my goals,” he said. A strong wind from the south changed race strategies, especially for the leaders. “I came in wanting to run a really fast time, but because of the windy conditions, I had a change of plans,” Rzewnicki said. “I tried to draft as much as I could, but I also tried to push the pace at times, so it wouldn’t be a ‘bunch sprint’ at the finish.” Teamwise, Rzewnicki said, “I’m think- ing our team will be just as strong as we were last year. I really want to go out with a win for (Branson). That would be really special to have a two-time state champions as his final year.” Cowapa Championships Girls Team: Tillamook 22, Scappoose 47, Banks 102, Seaside 104, Valley Catholic 118, Astoria 136. Boys Top 10 1, Linnaea Kavulich, Scp, 20:19 2, Solace Bergeron, Til, 20:20 3, Kara Putman, Til, 21:35 4, Whitney Averill, Til, 21:53 5, Julia Clark, VC, 21:57 6, Phoebe Brown, Til, 22:22 7, Allison Wilkes, Til, 22:33 8, Emma Jones, Scp, 22:41 9, McKenzie Burnett, Ast, 22:48 10, Georgia Benner, Scp, 23:10 Seaside (104) 13, Josie Smith, 23:38 15, Katie Zagata, 23:47 23, Summer Spell, 25:20 25, Lizzy Barnes, 25:30 28, Sydney Villegas, 25:59 29, Anesha Smart, 26:14 38, Ana Rojas, 28:17 Astoria (136) 9, McKenzie Burnett, 22:48 24, Kathy Perez, 25:22 33, Helene Schiffel, 26:50 34, Libbie Nash, 27:31 36, McKenna Long, 27:35 37, Taylor Palmrose, 28:01 Boys Team: Seaside 41, Valley Cath- olic 50, Tillamook 74, Scappoose 83, Banks 138, Astoria 146. Boys Top 10 1, Bradley Rzewnicki, Sea, 17:07 2, John Kavulich, Scp, 17:13 3, Zane Norville, VC, 17:36 4, Carter Kunert, Til, 17:42 5, Lucas Caruana, Ast, 17:47 6, Seth Martin, Til, 17:47 7, Hunter Thompson, Sea, 17:51 8, Jackson Januik, Sea, 17:56 9, Rafi Sibony, Sea, 18:00 10, Nate Hicken, VC, 18:03 Seaside (41) 1, Bradley Rzewnicki, 17:07 7, Hunter Thompson, 17:51 8, Jackson Januik, 17:56 9, Rafi Sibony, 18:00 16, Colton Carter, 18:40 18, Juneau Meyer, 19:02 28, Beau Johnson, 20:35 Astoria (146) 5, Lucas Caruana, 17:47 31, Calvin Kaul, 20:45 35, Parker Ivanoff, 21:01 37, Elias Simmons, 21:44 38, William Berezay, 22:40 39, Kevin Ero, 24:12 40, David Sharp, 24:33 Cubs even series with offensive outburst, pitching By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND — Nothing scares these Chicago Cubs. Not the stakes, the weight of history, a tough night at the plate or the prospect of going down two games to none in the fran- chise’s first World Series in 71 years. Their at-bats were good during a Game 1 shutout loss, the Cubs insisted. A breakout by the bal- anced lineup that propelled them to a National League championship and the best record in the majors was just a swing away. Three swings, as it turned out. Kris Bryant provided the first, a sharp single to center field off Cleve- land Indians starter Trevor Bauer two batters into Game 2 on Wednes- day night that gave the Chicago dug- out and blue-clad Cubs fans scat- tered throughout Progressive Field a needed jolt. The second came seven pitches later, a double to right from Anthony Rizzo that sent Bryant racing home with the Cubs’ first World Series run since Harry Truman was president. WORLD SERIES: GAME 3 • Cleveland at Chicago Cubs • Friday, 5 p.m. TV: Fox • Series tied 1-1 The third was in the fifth, a triple to right by Ben Zobrist that handed Jake Arrieta all the cushion he needed in a 5-1 victory that tied the Fall Clas- sic at one game apiece heading back to Wrigley Field on Friday. “Our goal today, it felt like a must- win for us,” Bryant said. “We didn’t want to go home down 0-2.” And so the Cubs didn’t, thanks in large part to three players who repre- sent the various stages of Chicago’s renaissance under President of Base- ball Operations Theo Epstein.
