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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2019)
A10 THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, July 6, 2019 CONTACT US FOLLOW US Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Walt Postlewait Astoria’s Michael Postlewait, right, with teammate Brennan Osborn, of Westview High School, following the recent World Finals in Alabama. Astoria’s fisherman closes out season The Astorian Gary Henley/The Astorian Gretchen Hoekstre’s latest award for her record-setting season is the Gatorade girls’ track and field Athlete of the Year for Oregon. HOEKSTRE NAMED GATORADE’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR The Astorian I n its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, the Gatorade Co. announced Gretchen Hoekstre of Seaside High School as its 2018-19 Gato- rade Oregon girls track and field Athlete of the Year. Hoekstre is the first Seaside athlete to be chosen as a Gatorade Athlete of the Year. The award recognizes not only out- standing athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track. Hoekstre joins an elite alumni associ- ation of state track and field award-win- ners, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roo- sevelt High School, Iowa) and Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School). The 6-foot-2 senior won both the discus and the shot put at the Class 4A state meet this past season, launching the discus 156 feet, 11 inches and hurling the shot 43-8 ¾. Hoekstre’s season-best effort of 50-1 ½ in the shot put ranked as the nation’s No. 1 performance among prep competitors in 2019. Also a talented musician, Hoekstre is a youth leader in her church and has vol- unteered on behalf of a nursing home and special needs students in her community. “When we first approached Gretchen to come out for the sport, she resisted, saying she needed to concentrate on basketball,” said Seaside coach Jeff Kilday. “When she finally did come by as a sophomore, she nearly broke the school record on her first attempt with the shot put. My throw- ing coach immediately came over and said, ‘This one is special—we may never see another one this gifted again.’” Hoekstre has maintained a 3.62 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at Brigham Young Univer- sity beginning this fall. The Gatorade Player of the Year pro- gram annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school sports, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year. Hoekstre joins recent Gatorade Ore- gon girls track and field Athletes of the Year Shelby Moran (2017-18, Sherwood), Deshae Wise (2016-17, Grants Pass), Ella Donaghu (2015-16 and 2013-14, Grant) and Maddie Rabing (2014-15, Lakeridge) among the state’s list of former award winners. As a part of Gatorade’s cause market- ing platform “Play it Forward,” Hoek- stre also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. She is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year. Local bass angler Michael Postlewait, of Astoria, and team- mate Brennan Osborn, of West- view High School in Beaverton, took to the waters of Florence, Alabama, recently in the 2019 Student Angler Federation’s (SAF) 10th annual high school fishing World Finals. The pair finished 186th out of 389 teams. Postlewait, a senior-to-be at Astoria High School, and Osborn were representing Team Aquaf- ina and The Bass Federation of Oregon. “Big shout-out to my team- mate, B-Money, for landing our sole fish during the semifinals,” Postlewait said. “It was tough out there for the semifinals day. We had some chances to move on to championship Saturday, but I had three fish miss the hook on the baits. “It would have just taken two of the three to stick and we would have been above to cut line of top 20,” he said. The field of 389 teams repre- sented 38 states and two foreign countries, Canada and Zimba- bwe. With a payout of more than $2.8 million in college scholar- ships, cash, gift cards and other prizes at stake, it was the rich- est SAF high school fishing tour- nament in history and likely the largest ever posted in a single event at all levels of competitive bass fishing. Postlewait and his Astoria bass teammate, Leo Matthews, finished the 2018-19 season in fourth place, after finishing as the state champions in 2018. Postlewait teamed up with Osborn, the 2019 state cham- pion, to represent Oregon in the World Finals. The 2019-20 high school sea- son is underway in August, with two of the six scheduled events, followed by another two in Sep- tember. There is one additional event in October, with the final two events to be held in the spring of 2020. Postlewait currently sits in eighth place in the Northern Cal- ifornia region of the Future Pro Tour out of 51 youth anglers, after four of the trail’s five events. The top 10 anglers will advance to the youth championship tour- nament held in March 2020. WOMEN’S WORLD CUP Morgan says tea-sipping celebration was nod to actress Inspired by Turner on Instagram By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press LYON, France — Alex Morgan said her tea-sipping celebration at the Women’s World Cup was a nod to actress Sophie Turner’s amusing Ins- tagram posts. No, it wasn’t a dig at England or a random reference to the Boston Tea Party, or any number of other theo- ries out there. UP NEXT: FINAL • United States (6-0) vs Netherlands (6-0) • Sunday, 8 a.m. TV: FOX “My celebration was actually more ‘that’s the tea,’ which is telling a story, spreading news,” the U.S. forward said. Morgan has been criticized for the celebration. Her former teammate on the Orlando Pride, Lianne Sander- son, a broadcast commentator during the World Cup for beIN Sports, called the celebration “distasteful.” “She can celebrate however she wants and I’m a big believer in the Americans and how they cel- ebrate but this was disrespectful,” said Sanderson, a former striker for England’s national team. Morgan pretended to sip tea after scoring the go-ahead goal in Tues- day night’s semifinal victory over England. Goalkeeper Alysaa Naeher preserved the 2-1 victory by stop- ping Steph Houghton’s penalty kick late in the game. The victory sent the Americans into their third consecutive World Cup final. They’ll face the Nether- lands for the championship on Sun- day at Stade de Lyon. Morgan spoke to reporters Fri- day, clarifying the source of the goal celebration and referencing the “Game of Thrones” actress. Turner’s Instagram is filled with her saying audacious or gossipy things, adding “That’s the tea” and taking a sip. “I feel that there is some sort of double standard for females in sports to feel like we have to be humble in our successes and have to celebrate but not too much, or do something but always in a limited fashion,” Morgan said. AP Photo/Francois MorI United States’ Alex Morgan celebrates her side’s second goal during the Women’s World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and the United States.
