10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017
ASTORIA FISHERMEN • SPRING SPORTS 2017
Astoria girls gunning
for a three-peat at state
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
he historic run by the Asto-
ria girls track program …
T
isn’t over yet. In fact, if it was
a race, the Lady Fishermen
would only be about halfway
through with this run. They’ve
got a loooong ways to go.
Astoria won the 4A state
title last year by a record 37.5
points over the second-place
finisher.
It may be a little closer this
spring, but the team that won it
last year (and the year before),
is still the heavy favorite to
win their third straight. And if
you’re looking down the road,
the Astoria Lady Fishermen
could be the first to win four
state championships in a row at
the 4A level since Oregon went
to a six-class system.
Henley won three straight
4A titles from 2007-09, while
Summit High School of Bend
has won the last 10 team cham-
pionships at the 5A level.
Either way, Astoria’s cur-
rent dynasty in girls’ track will
be one of the best ever, when
it’s all said and done.
Currently, the Lady Fish are
in the process of replacing big
points lost off last year’s team
with more young, up and com-
ing talent. So far, so good.
“It’s hard to replace kids
who set school records, but it’s
the name of the game,” said
Astoria coach Garrett Parks.
“They move on or graduate,
and we have to find that next
person, put them in, and keep
movin’.”
The Lady Fishermen lost
big points with the graduation
of Halie Korff (now at West-
ern Oregon), while Skadi Freyr
and Kaylee Mitchell are now
enrolled at different schools.
Astoria has simply reloaded
to replace all three. Lose your
two best throwers? Bring in
sophomore Kes Sandstrom
from Scappoose and fresh-
man Kajsa Jackson. Mitchell
no longer there? Bring in Sam
Hemsley, a sophomore four-
sport athlete who can do a little
bit of everything.
The Lady Fish still appear
to have the top athletes, across
the board.
Senior Natalie Cum-
mings (full-ride scholarship
to Portland State) and sopho-
more Gracie Cummings could
score a sweep in the sprints
at the state meet, with sopho-
more Andrea Harris (hurdles)
and freshmen Elizabeth Bar-
nett adding more points on the
track and in the jumps; Jack-
son, Sandstrom and junior Tay-
lor Cosner will continue Asto-
ria’s winning tradition in the
throws; Shrida Sharma returns
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Freshman Julia Norris has her sights set on a strong
season for the Astoria softball team.
Astoria softball
team ready to
challenge again
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
With two state team championships already to their credit, Astoria junior Darian Hage-
man and the Lady Fishermen track team are headed for more success in 2017.
in the pole vault; and of course
the best athlete in the state is
last year’s Athlete of the Meet
at state, Darian Hageman.
The junior can do it all, and
usually wins. Hageman is the
defending state champion in the
long jump, high jump and triple
jump, winning all three events
last year as a sophomore.
Add up all the potential
points and places, and Astoria
could actually end up surpass-
ing last year’s 4A state meet
record of 109.5 points.
“We return a handful of our
top scorers and the leaders of
the group, and went out and
found some new kids, as well,
who can fill some gaps for us,
and continue to make us com-
petitive, not only in league, but
in the next level at state,” Parks
said.
“We’re optimistic. We have
(Hemsley) doing some jumps,
she’s done the javelin (at the
Seaside Ice-Breaker meet),
she’s been working on the
track, and we’re also sharing
her with golf,” he said. “She’s
just an incredible kid.”
Meanwhile, throws coach
Bob Ellsberg keeps churn-
ing out state placers, year after
year.
“He always finds some-
body out there, and finds their
full potential,” Parks said. “We
have a couple girls — Kajsa
Jackson is coming in as a fresh-
man, and Kes (Sandstrom) is a
girl we got from Scappoose
who’s starting to flourish and
do well. They’re looking really
strong.”
Fishermen boys
And with a good mix of
young talent and top returners
for the Astoria boys, the Fish-
ermen could potentially score
a sweep in this year’s Cowapa
League Championships.
“We have a handful of very
talented boys coming back,”
said Parks, who helped the Sea-
side boys win a state champion-
ship in 2001 as a sprinter with
the Gulls. “We have a little bit
more experience, which is nice.
We’ve got a few younger kids
in the mix, and with our return-
ing kids, we have (throwers)
Tim (Barnett) and Nain (Gar-
cia Rojas) are looking really
strong; Jacob (Olson) in the
sprints, Lucas (Caruana) is our
distance kid … with that kind
of a foundation and some of
our new kids, I think we’ll be
more competitive on the boys’
side.”
Caruana finished third last
year in the state 800 meters,
won by Seaside’s Jackson
Januik.
Barnett could also end up
medaling in Eugene.
The keys? Parks knows the
routine.
“Step 1, keep everybody
healthy. Step 2, we have to get
through the league,” he said.
“Then we’ll see where things
go from there. The nice thing
with all that competition is that
it makes us all better.”
With just one meet under
their belt heading into Satur-
day’s Daily Astorian Invita-
tional, he said, “it’s looking
pretty good. We’re progress-
ing along really well. There’s
been significantly more rain
this year, so it’s been chal-
lenging from that standpoint.
But we had a lot of kids doing
what they needed to do in the
off-season to come in ready
to go. It’s sports in the Pacific
Northwest.”
More golfers equal more hopes for Astoria golf
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Last year’s top golfer has
graduated, but the numbers are
up — way up — for Astoria
girls golf.
And numbers are every-
thing in golf, where it takes
four to qualify for team scor-
ing in tournaments and invites.
“The good part is hav-
ing eight golfers,” said Asto-
ria coach Chris Hunt, who had
just five golfers total on last
year’s roster. “They all get to
play at the invitationals, and it
will be nice having the depth
in the scoring.”
The Cowapa League and
district will still present the
usual challenges.
Crook County was the Spe-
cial District Regional cham-
pion, followed by Scappoose,
Valley Catholic and Oregon
Episcopal.
Astoria was fifth in team
scoring in last year’s tourna-
ment, after a third-place finish
in the Cowapa League meet.
League-wise, “I would
expect the top two to be Val-
ley Catholic and Scappoose,”
Hunt said. “Scappoose had the
top individual (Morgan Hall),
and she returns. Then you
just have to wait and see with
everybody else once you get to
Regionals.”
Last year’s regional Med-
alist, Jane Schlenorf of OES,
!
O
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Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Sam Hemsley will be a two-
sport athlete this spring for
Astoria, on the golf course
and the track.
has graduated.
Astoria’s top golfer last
season, Chloee Hunt, has
moved on to college volleyball
and basketball, leaving four
returners: senior Kristin Tra-
vers, junior Sadie Wooldridge,
and sophomores Sam Hemsley
and Jenny Travers.
The Lady Fish have four
first-year golfers: seniors Sar-
iah Dieffenbach and Anna
Gimre; and juniors Sarah Ler-
tora and Jasmine Mabry.
“The Travers girls go out
and play quite a bit, and Sam
and Sadie are both experienced
returners,” coach Hunt said.
“With the new girls, we’re
just going to ease them into it
and see what kind of progress
they make. They’re eager to
learn.”
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The Astoria softball team
came up agonizingly short of
the state playoffs last season.
Trailing 4-3 in a los-
er-out, winner-to-state playoff
game against Hidden Valley,
the Fishermen had the bases
loaded with two outs in the
bottom of the seventh inning.
Unfortunately for the
Lady Fish, they couldn’t push
across the tying run, and their
season ended that day at CMH
Field.
It also ended the prep
careers for a talented senior
class, which included Mykka
Abrahams, Libby DiBar-
tolomeo, Taylor Mickle and
Kelsey Wullger.
The good news for Asto-
ria softball fans — the Lady
Fish are back with an equally
talented lineup to take another
shot at those elusive state
playoffs.
“I’m hoping to be over
.500 this year, get a play-
off game, and see where we
can go from there,” said Kent
Israel Jr., in his second year as
head coach.
THE COWAPA
Like many other sports, the
Cowapa is home to the defend-
ing state softball champions.
Banks defeated McLough-
lin in last year’s 4A final. And
the only reason it wasn’t an
all-Cowapa League champi-
onship was that Banks and
Scappoose were in the same
half of the bracket (the Braves
defeated the Indians in the
semifinals).
Banks and Scappoose will
be strong again, while the
Lady Fish could be the favor-
ites for that No. 3 spot to state.
“Obviously Banks, the
returning state champs, is
going to be good,” Israel said.
“And so will Scappoose.
“We know what Banks has
coming back, and Scappoose
has so many girls out for soft-
ball, they’re going to be good
again,” he said. “The rest of
us will be fighting. Seaside
has Jetta (Ideue) coming back,
and she’s a good pitcher, and I
think they have some younger
kids coming in who can play.”
THE LADY FISH
Another small, but talented
ASTORIA
SOFTBALL
Coach: Kent Israel Jr., 2nd
year
2016: 16-11 (9-6 league)
Playoffs: Lost Regional Play-
in to Hidden Valley, 4-3.
All-League Losses: Mykka
Abrahams, Libby DiBar-
tolomeo, Taylor Mickle, Kelsey
Wullger
All-League Returners:
Rylee DeMander, Sr.; Caitlyn
Hougham, Sr.
senior class for Astoria, as Abi
Danen, Rylee DeMander and
Caitlyn Hougham gear up for
their final seasons.
During the course of the
preseason, Israel was still fig-
uring out the rest of the lineup.
The conclusion: “We’re
going to start some fresh-
men,” he said.
For Astoria, the future
belongs to the Frosh. The list
includes pitcher Julia Norris,
who has already seen action in
the circle; Brooklynn Hank-
witz, Astoria’s starter at first
base; Kayla Helligso and Hai-
ley O’Brien.
In addition, freshman
Emma Graham was out with
a concussion “so she hasn’t
seen the field yet, but she
will be there when she gets
cleared,” he said.
There’s two juniors on
the roster — outfielder Hai-
ley Ranta and pitcher McK-
ailyn Rogers; and two soph-
omores, Jenna Barendse and
Lexx Lyngstad.
Whatever the final lineup
looks like, Israel said, “we
only have two players in the
same position as last year,”
with Hougham at catcher, and
Rogers at pitcher or center
field. “Other than that, we’re
putting seven different players
in seven different spots.”
Danen will move to third
base, with DeMander going
from second base to shortstop.
For most of the nonleague
season, it was Norris and Rog-
ers sharing the pitching duties.
“Right now, we’ll rotate
Julia and McKailyn in cen-
ter,” he said, “which is what
I did last year with Libby and
McKailyn. Julia can also play
anywhere on the field. That
whole (freshmen) group has
been together a long time,
and they’ve played a bunch of
tournament ball.”
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Astoria’s McKailyn Rogers will pitch or play center field.
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