WHS PREVIEWS
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016
11A
Wrestling tradition continues at Warrenton
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Warrenton Warriors lost most of
their state tournament points to gradua-
tion, but there’s one returner that Warren-
ton wrestling always has: Tradition.
Warrenton’s tradition was working
hard last season and resulted in an individ-
ual state championship for one wrestler,
and a fourth-place showing for another.
“We have an excited young team that
is putting in a lot of work to get ready for
the season,” said Warrior coach Corey
Conant.
THE DISTRICT
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton wrestling head coach Corey Conant speaks
with his team as practice wraps up at the high school. For
the first time, there will also be a girls team.
Last year, Warrenton had to travel 275
miles to take part in the Special District 1
tournament.
Once they got there, the Warriors and
everybody else had to watch Nyssa dom-
inate the action, as the Bulldogs scored
a whopping 482 points to run away with
the team championship. Vale was second
with 258.5 points, followed by Riverside
(175.5), Clatskanie (115) and Warrenton
(88).
The good news for the Warriors: the
top three teams are gone, as Nyssa, Vale
and Riverside have all moved to District 3.
The bad news: Dayton and Willamina
have joined District 1, and the Pirates and
Bulldogs also have traditionally strong
wrestling programs.
“Our 3A District 1 has been redrawn to
include top 10 teams Willamina and Day-
ton, as well as some other quality teams
with quality wrestlers in Rainier, Clats-
kanie and Amity,” Conant said.
THE WARRIORS
Last year’s seniors scored most of the
points for Warrenton both at district and at
state, and they will be sorely missed.
Colton Walker was the state champion
at 106 pounds, and Justice Watson placed
fourth at 152, after advancing to the cham-
pionship semifinals.
Seniors Levi Lewis (182) and Forrest
Vaughn (195) both took third at districts.
Among the returners this year are
seniors Asia Lambert and Brian Sheppard;
juniors Caden Hans and Brandon William-
son; and sophomore Giovanni Martinez.
“We are fielding a women’s team for
the first time ever,” Conant said. “They are
pioneers in a tough sport and have a chance
to make a mark in our history books. Wom-
en’s wrestling is a rapidly growing sport
across the country and in Oregon.”
Young Warriors set to
battle on the boards
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Warrenton boys bas-
ketball program added num-
bers last season over the
year before; now the War-
riors are hoping to add wins
in 2016-17.
After suffering through
a winless 2013-14 sea-
son (0-24), head coach Nate
McBride and the Warriors
won eight games in 2014-15,
followed by a four-win season
last year.
Warrenton lost a few key
seniors, but help is — slowly
but surely — on the way.
“We have decent depth,”
McBride said. “We have
more kids (22) in our program
than we’ve had the last cou-
ple years, so we should have
enough solid numbers for JV
and varsity.”
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton senior Landree Miethe sets up for a shot in
a recent preseason practice for the Lady Warriors.
Loads of returners
for Lady Warriors
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
THE LEAGUE
Of course, it’s hard to make
progress when you compete
in one of the strongest 3A
boys basketball leagues in the
state.
The private schools are a
much bigger factor once the
Lewis & Clark League tips
off the basketball season.
The league had two teams
(De La Salle and Portland
Adventist) in the Final Four
last year, with De La Salle
falling short in the state title
game against St. Mary’s. The
Lewis & Clark finished with
six teams ranked in the top 18.
De La Salle has lost Player
of the Year Javary Christmas,
in addition to two additional
all-league starters; while
Portland Adventist graduated
three all-league players.
“PAA will probably be the
best team,” McBride said.
“They bring back pretty much
their whole roster. And they’re
adding a senior kid who could
be their best player, so they’re
actually adding to what they
have.
“If I had to pick a favor-
ite, it’s PAA,” he said. “De La
Salle lost a ton of talent, but
you never know. Catlin Gabel
should also be pretty good.
They’ve had the best player
in the league the last cou-
ple years (Jacob Adler), then
they’ve got a 6-8 kid who
was pretty raw last year. He
should be tough.”
In addition, “Rainier could
be tough,” he said. “They
graduated a few, but they play
good team basketball. Clats-
kanie will be interesting, with
a new coach Ryan (Svenson)
from West Linn.
“This could also be a
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Christian Holt, senior, drives to the basket during practice at Warrenton High School.
WARRENTON
BASKETBALL
Coach: Nate McBride, 4th
year
2015-16: 4-20 (1-15 L&C)
All-League Losses: None
All-League Returners:
Christian Holt, Sr.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
The basketball team at practice on Nov. 15 at Warrenton
High School. The team is slowly increasing its ranks.
year where
something.”
Catlin
does
THE WARRIORS
Anthony
Cochran,
Joe
Little and Hunter Wilson
were last year’s seniors, and
will be missed, along with
6-foot-3 Austin Stein, who
has transferred.
Despite the losses, there’s
still varsity experience return-
ing for Warrenton in 2016-17.
Raymond
Alcoben-
das, four-year starter Chris-
tian Holt and three-year
starter Tyler Whitaker are the
seniors, while Dalton Knight
— who gained invaluable
experience helping run the
offense last year as a fresh-
man — returns for his sopho-
more season.
Rounding out the sev-
en-player rotation will be
juniors Ryan Fowler and
Logan Fischer, who have both
seen varsity minutes; and
freshman Devin Jackson.
Senior Nathan Osegura
will add depth.
L IFE HAPPEN S... Tha t’s w hy w e’re here!
GO
Tony Bogh • Owner
503.325.5000
Com e vis it us for
your S ports P hys ica ls
on l y
$ 40 !
CCB#188326
The coach is “hopeful,” so
to speak, that the Warrenton
girls basketball program can
start making strides this sea-
son within the Lewis & Clark
League.
Warrenton coach Rob-
ert Hoepfl has increased the
overall wins (from 2-22 in
2014-15, to 8-16 last year),
but the Warriors were unable
to improve on their league
record, 2-14 in each of the last
two seasons.
The Warriors have a head
start on the new season, with
11 of their 12 varsity play-
ers from last year returning,
including two all-leaguers.
Entering his third season as
coach, Hoepfl says, “hopefully
the practices, the leadership
and the experience we have
returning translates into suc-
cess on the court. We worked
hard in the summer, and seven
of our top eight players from a
year ago are back.”
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Tyla Little is one of two
all-league returners for
the Warrenton girls bas-
ketball team, and will help
run the Lady Warriors’ of-
fense this season.
LADY
WARRIORS
Coach: Robert Hoepfl,
2nd year
2015-16: 8-16 (2-14 L&C)
All-League Losses: None
All-League Returners:
Tyla Little, Jr.; Landree
Miethe, Sr.
THE LEAGUE
Describing the Lewis &
Clark League in one word,
Hoepfl said, “it’s tough. Port-
land Christian and Portland
Adventist have both been to
the Final Four the last two
years, and they’ve got every-
body back.”
While Portland Adven-
tist returns all-league seniors
Sarah Halversen, Tori John-
son and Kira La Sage, “PC
returns the Player of the Year
with their point guard (senior
Demi Guild), and PAA has a
lot of talent coming back,” he
said. “Rainier has had some
changes in rotation in recent
years, but they bring a good
core group back.
“Those would be the top
three — after that, it’s wide
open,” Hoepfl said. “Catlin
Gabel and OES both gradu-
ated some good players.”
THE LADY
WARRIORS
Warrenton has four seniors
on the roster — Katelynn
Blodgett, Landree Miethe,
Krista Morrill and Elle
Schenbeck.
Rachel Dyer and Tyla Lit-
tle return for their junior sea-
sons, and the Warriors have
an up and coming sophomore
class, with Fernanda Alvarez,
Morgan Blodgett, Claire Bus-
sert, Adriana DeJesus, Sagi
Diego and Maria Heyen.
Miethe and Little were
both all-league last season.
“We will have Landree’s
leadership level,” Hoepfl said,
“and obviously she’s a great
athlete — all-state in vol-
leyball and softball, and all-
league in basketball.
“She’s got very good bas-
ketball skills, and between her
and Tyla, they were our top
two leading scorers last year,
and our leading defenders.”
The Warriors also have
enough size to be competitive
in league play.
“We’ve
got
Katie
(Blodgett) in the low post,”
said the coach. “Fernanda’s
5-11 — she and Maria are our
two biggest players.”
GIVE ‘EM
YOUR BEST
TEAMS!
K eith K la tt, M D • S a lly B a k er, PA -C
M a rk Ta b o r, PA -C • H o n ey M a rqu es , PA -C
503-325-0333
WARRENTON!
2120 Excha n ge S t., S u ite 111
Ho u rs : 9 AM - 7 PM
Ope n 7 Da ys A W e e k! W a lk-in s W e lc o m e
A
CCEPTING
M OS
T I NS URA NCE ,
O HP & M EDICA
RE
• 20% C A
S H
D IS CO UNT
APPLIANCE AND
HOME FURNISHINGS
529 SE MARLIN, WARRENTON 503-861-0929
HOURS OPEN: MON-FRI 8-6 • SATURDAY 9-5 • SUNDAY 10-4
We Service What We Sell