AHS PREVIEWS
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016
Fishermen ready
for another run
Astoria must
navigate tough
Cowapa League
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Lady Fish Alexis Wallace, a senior this year, takes a
shot during practice.
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Lady Fish hope
for big season,
even with changes
Like so many other sports,
the best teams in Class 4A boys
basketball reside right in the
Cowapa League.
Three of the top-five finish-
ers in the state tournament last
season were from the Cowapa,
with all three playing on the
final day of the season.
And the Astoria Fishermen
are (or should be) quick to point
out, they were the only Cowapa
League team to win that day.
Seaside fell short in the
state championship game and
Scappoose lost the third-place
game, but the Fishermen came
through in the consolation
bracket final, defeating Cottage
Grove 56-46.
With eight returners, you
can expect the Fighting Fisher-
men to make another big run in
2016-17.
Astoria
optimistic
despite losing
starters
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
For starters, four start-
ers are gone. But coach Mike
Jacobson is still optimistic
about the upcoming season
for the Astoria girls basketball
program.
The Lady Fishermen are
still stocked with good ath-
letes, size and hard workers.
Astoria lost Mykka Abra-
hams, Chloee Hunt and Tay-
lor Mickle to graduation,
while Kaylee Mitchell has
transferred to Sprague High
School.
As a result, last year’s
juniors are the new team lead-
ers, and Jacobson will have to
rely on some young players in
key roles.
“There’s a lot of teaching
going on,” Jacobson said after
one week of practice. “There’s
a lot of new stuff. We’re going
to miss Chloee, Taylor and
Mykka, and their senior lead-
ership. But we’ve improved
each year, and that’s our goal
this year. I think we will.”
THE COWAPA
“Banks is going to be
really good,” Jacobson said.
“I’m sure they’ll be a top-five
team in the state. Then it will
be Valley Catholic and Sea-
side, and the rest of us.”
The Braves lost four all-
leaguers but return two oth-
ers (Anna Klein and Aspen
Slifka), while the Valiants
have junior Noelle Mannen.
Maddi Utti is the league’s top
player, back for her senior
season at Seaside.
THE LADY FISH
The seniors are Ashlee
Dalton, Rylee DeMander,
Anna Gimre and Alexis
Wallace.
“We didn’t have any
seniors my first year,” Jacob-
ASTORIA
GIRLS
BASKETBALL
Coach: Mike Jacobson,
3rd year
2015-16: 11-14 (4-6
Cowapa)
Playoffs: Lost Regional
Play-in at Henley, 56-64
All-League Losses:
Chloee Hunt
All-League Returners:
None
son said. “Now we’ve got
four seniors and three juniors.
We have seven freshmen out
and we’ll have another big
class next year. So we’ll get
our numbers back up.”
The junior class includes
McKenzie Burnett, Libbie
Nash and McKailyn Rogers;
and there’s a young sopho-
more running the offense,
with Sam Hemsley returning
for her second varsity season.
Sophomores Gracie Cum-
mings, Lexi Lyngstad and
Taylor Palmrose make the
move up to varsity.
The big 6-foot freshman
in the Brick House is Brook-
lyn Hankwitz, who steps into
the hole left by Hunt. A year
or two from now, she could
be teaming with 6’1” Kaisa
Jackson to give Astoria the
tallest lineup.
“Sam and Rylee will run
offense, and we’ll expect
scoring from Alexis and
Anna, and hopefully Ashlee,”
Jacobson said. Hankwitz will
be in the post, “and we’ll see
how she does. She’s pretty
athletic, and can get up and
down the floor.
“Rylee has improved —
she has put a lot of time in the
weight room,” he said. “I’d
like to press, but I don’t know
if we’ll be able to. It depends
if we can get Gracie and Sam
on the same page.”
Jacobson has added Emily
Delay (junior varsity coach)
and former Seaside Gull
Haylee Dundas to the coach-
ing staff.
Astoria
senior
Rylee
Demander
shoots for
the score
during a
November
practice
at Asto-
ria High
School.
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end of Pier 39
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
The Fishermen basketball team practices at Astoria High School.
THE FISHERMEN
The Twin Towers will defi-
nitely be missed. Cowapa
League co-Player of the Year
Derek Jarrett and first-team all-
leaguer Justin Fruiht played
key roles in Astoria’s postsea-
son run.
But the Fishermen have ath-
letes ready to step in and fill the
gaps.
A pair of 6-foot-5 seniors
— Jackson Arnsdorf and Ryan
Palek — both return, while the
Fishermen could match Seaside
as the team with the most ath-
letic guards.
Senior Olaf Englund was
all-league last season, and will
be joined in the backcourt by
senior Cade O’Brien. Senior
Kyle Strange is still sidelined
with a broken leg suffered in
football, but could be back by
the second half of league play.
At wing, Fridtjof Fremstad
will look to continue his big
senior year in sports, after quar-
terbacking Astoria football to a
big season.
Jasyn Gohl is one of eight
seniors, along with Arnsdorf,
Palek and the guards.
“Jackson Arnsdorf and
Palek can step into those spots
(left by Fruiht and Jarrett),”
Goin said. “They both played
a lot of minutes last year. Alex
Burchfield is about 6’2”, and
plays a lot bigger than he is.
And Josh Olson is 6’4” and can
play down low, as well.
Astoria head basketball coach Kevin Goin talks with his team during a November prac-
tice at Astoria High School.
ASTORIA BOYS
BASKETBALL
Coach: Kevin Goin, 3rd
year
2015-16: 21-8 (7-3 Cowapa)
Playoffs: Defeated
Marshfield (69-61, OT)
and Cottage Grove (56-46)
in consolation at state
tournament.
Astoria’s Fridtjof Fremstad takes a shot during practice in
November at Astoria High School.
Astoria’s Olaf Englund shoots for a basket at practice.
“Outside of that group,
Karsten Johnson is a junior
who played JV last year. And
with Josh Olson and Tristan
Wallace (So.), those three will
have opportunities early on,
and that gives us 10.
“Kyle Strange … I don’t
know. Most of the time, they
say four to six months with that
All-League Losses: Derek
Jarrett (co-MVP), Justin
Fruiht
All-League Returners:
Olaf Englund, Sr.; Kyle
Strange, Sr.
injury … we’ll see. I know he’s
going to physical therapy, he’s
doing what he has to do and he
looks a lot better.
“The big thing will be
replacing Derek and Justin, but
with Jackson, Ryan and Alex,
we have kids who can step in
and play those spots. We might
be a little more transitional.
Those kids can run and jump,
so we might be a little more
fast-paced.”
Adding varsity depth at
times will be juniors Timothy
Schumacher, Kainoa Kanonohi
and David Sharp.
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THE COWAPA
But first, the Fishermen
have to navigate through their
own league to get to Hillsboro.
“Banks and Valley Catho-
lic will both be big,” according
to Astoria coach Kevin Goin,
entering his third season. “Val-
ley didn’t lose a kid. They’ll
have another back who’s 6’9”
(senior Vlad Katin), so they
will be huge. Banks was big
last year and they lost some
guards, but they have all their
size back.
“Obviously Seaside will be
tough again with the guards.
They have all their guards back,
and they had a really good JV
group.
“Tillamook will still have
(Jacob) Berge (all-league as
a sophomore and junior), and
they had a pretty good sopho-
more class. The league overall
should be pretty good.”
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