A10
Hood River News, Wednesday, January 7, 2015
S PORTS
McLean, Keillor repeat as Cato champs
HRV ski team out the
gates at 25th and final
Cato Memorial Race
By ADAM LAPIERRE
News staff writer
Lucy McLean successfully defend-
ed her (unofficial) title as “Queen of
the Cato Race” Saturday at Timber-
line Lodge, where the Hood River
Valley High School senior blew away
the competition to win the varsity
girls race for a fourth consecutive
year. Also defending his title, senior
Austin Keillor posted the fastest
time of the day to win the varsity
boys race for his second year.
The annual Christine Cato Memo-
rial Race is held at the beginning of
each year to kick off the Oregon
high school racing season, and al-
though focused around fun, team
building and school spirit, the event
is also a good way of sizing up com-
petition from the state’s seven
alpine leagues, most of which won’t
meet again until the state champi-
onships in March.
After a full day of slalom racing,
the Eagles finished runner-up in
overall boys and girls categories; the
boys were just barely edged by West
Linn and the girls by Lakeridge for
team titles.
“Great conditions, great weather,
a great course and a great race,”
coach Scott Keillor said in summary.
“This was the final Cato race. It’s
been a great event to be a part of and
I hope they replace it with some-
thing.”
After 25 consecutive years, this
was the last of a legacy started in
1990, in memory of Christine Cato, a
young ski racer from Beaverton who
died at Timberline in the summer of
1989, just before her senior year of
high school. Although still a race,
the “fun” aspect of the event is
stressed. Teams are awarded with
prizes for most spirit and costumes
are judged prior to the race, with
many racers electing to keep their
costumes on as they fly down the
hill. HRV’s theme was garden
gnomes, which they sported with
white bandanas and colorful, pointy
caps.
On a more serious side, Keillor
and McLean return to the slopes for
their final year of high school rac-
Please see CATO, Page A9
Photo courtesy Mike Juliana Photography
CATO WINNERS: During the post-race dinner and awards ceremony, Lucy
McLean and Austin Keillor, both seniors, pose with a Gnome painted with the
UO logo in honor of the Ducks’ Rose Bowl appearance the same days as the
race. As is tradition with the race, teams wear costumes, and HRV’s
theme was garden gnomes.
Wrestlers roll into busy
stretch of season
SPORTS BRIEFS
An action packed week
for prep sports
Eagles 4-4 at last week’s Northwest Duals;
team ready for eight events in next two weeks
By ADAM LAPIERRE
News staff writer
Hood River Valley High School
wrestlers stayed busy over the win-
ter break, traveling to Reno for the
three-day Tournament of Champi-
ons before Christmas and to West-
view High last week to close out
2014 with the annual Northwest
Duals, which pitted 28 teams
against one another for two full
days of combat.
With four duals each day, HRV
wrestlers had up to eight matches
during the weekend, which provid-
ed valuable mat time before the few
days rest they got for the New Year
holiday. The team picks up this
week with back-to-back meets on
the road; the first Wednesday in
Stevenson for the annual Battle for
the Bridge dual and the second
Thursday when the Eagles get their
first shot at Columbia River Confer-
ence rivals, the Pendleton Bucka-
roos.
At NW Duals the Eagles went 2-2
each day for an overall tournament
record of 4-4. On Monday the team
defeated Cleveland and Lakeridge
and lost to West Albany and Sno-
homish. The following day HRV
beat Westview and Lake Oswego
and lost to Sweet Home and Glen-
coe.
Individual highlights (complete
results below) include Christian
Marquez going undefeated with
seven wins, including five by fall, in
the 132 and 138 weight classes,
Oscar Villegas winning three of
three to finish undefeated at 182 and
195 pounds, Steven Swafford win-
ning four of his seven matches and
freshman Jason Shaner finishing 5-
2 at the 120 and 126 weight classes.
The tournament format consist-
ed of four pools of seven teams,
with all teams in their respective
pools wrestling one another. Hood
River ended up in third place in its
pool, with Snohomish finishing
first and Sweet Home second. That
result put HRV in the third-tier
bracket for the final round, where
the team finished in a tie for fourth.
Complete results
(WBF is win by fall,
LBF is loss by fall)
■ 106: Justin Lane, 2-4
(forf., forf., LBF, inj., inj.,
LBF)
■ 113: Angel Jones, 4-3 (6-1
loss, LBF, forf., 9-1 win, LBF, 10-
3 win, 7-3 win)
■ 120/126: Jason Shaner, 5-2
(LBF, 4-0 win, 16-4 win, WBF,
27-14 win, WBF, 13-2 win, 9-4
loss)
■ 132/138: Christian
Marquez, 7-0 (12-7 win,
WBF, WBF, 11-6 win WBF,
WBF, WBF)
■ 132/138: Sam Ahrens, 2-5 (WBF,
LBF, LBF, LBF, 20-4 loss, WBF, LBF)
■ 145: James Estes, 2-5 (forf., 17-2
loss, forf., LBF, loss, 19-3 loss, 7-5
loss)
■ 152: Chris Castro: 3-3 (5-2 loss,
LBF, win by fall, 10-8 win, 10-4 loss,
forf.)
■ 152: Derrek Flora: 0-1 (LBF)
■ 170: Ian Rand: 2-1 (8-5 win, WBF,
11-2 loss)
■ 160/170: Trystan Fisher: 1-6
(LBF, forf., LBF, LBF, LBF, LBF, LBF)
■ 160/170: Chris Lane: 0-3 (17-8
loss, 16-9 LBF, LBF)
■ 182/195: Oscar Villegas: 5-0 (10-5
win, WBF, forf., 7-3 win, forf.)
■ 182/195: Steven Swafford: 5-3
(12-3 win, 14-3 loss, LBF, LBF, WBF,
WBF, WBF, forf.)
■ 195/220: Mark Reyes: 3-4 (LBF,
LBF, 6-5 win, LBF, forf., 10-3 win,
LBF)
■ 285: Max Lane: 1-5: 3-1 loss, LBF,
LBF, DQ, WBF, LBF)
HEAVY LIFTING: Hood River
Valley High School wrestler
Steven Swafford hoists Cleve-
land’s Nathan Thai before tossing
him to the mat in route to a 12-3
victory last week at the Northwest
Duals in Beaverton. Swafford went 5-3 in
the dual meet tournament. Below, Oscar
Villegas works a power-half on his Cleve-
land opponent. Villegas won all three
matches he wrestled at the 182 and 195
weight classes. Below left is Christian
Marquez in mind-form as he ankle picks
an opponent on his way to a perfect
7-0 tournament showing. Below
right, freshman Jason Shaner hip
tosses an opponent to his back on
his way to a 4-0 win in the
match and a 5-2 tournament
record.
Photos by Adam Lapierre
Hood River Valley and
Horizon Christian athletes
hit the ground running as
they return from winter va-
cation this week. Here’s
what’s on the docket:
Jan. 6: HRV girls basket-
ball hosted South Albany,
(varsity 7 p.m.) while the
boys were away against the
same school. Horizon bas-
ketball also hosted Sher-
man, girls at 6 p.m. and boys
at 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 7: HRV wrestling
went on the road to Steven-
son to take on the Bulldogs
in a cross-river rivalry
called Battle of the Bridge.
Wrestling started at 7 p.m.
Jan 8: HRV swimming
hosts Hermiston, Pendleton
and The Dalles in a home
meet at the Hood River
Aquatic Center starting at
2:45 p.m. HRV wrestling
travels to Pendleton to take
on the Buckaroos in the
team’s first conference dual
of the season.
Jan. 9: HRV freestyle
skiers are at Meadows for
their first event of the sea-
son, HRV boys basketball
hosts Woodburn (varsity at 7
p.m.) while the girls are on
the road against Saint He-
lens and Horizon basketball
is on the road at Dufur.
Jan. 10: HRV swimmers
host The Dalles for a meet
starting at 10:15 a.m., HRV
girl wrestlers are in Kelso
for a two-day tournament
and boys basketball hosts
Heritage, varsity at 6 p.m.
Jan. 12: HRV wrestling
hosts a special dual against
the Japanese National
Team, 1:20 p.m. at HRVHS.
Mid-season
leaders at
the Lanes
By JEFF OLSON
Kegler’s Corner
We’re just about at the
mid-season point in league
action at Hood River’s vener-
able Orchard Lanes, so as we
normally do this at this time
in the bowling season, let’s
see who our top bowlers are
right now (all scores are
scratch):
Men top averages
1st: Pat Olson, 217
2nd: Roger Montavon, 217
3rd: Mark Chabotte, 215
4th: Greg McDaniel, 214
5th: Gordon Sim, 214
6th: Jeff Miller, 213
7th: Josh Worth, 212
8th: Jeremy Bloom, 211
9th: Bryan Mason, 211
10th: Dan Wahl, 210
Women top averages
1st: Nancy Asai, 193
2nd: Sandy Holmes, 186
3rd: Bernie Keys, 178
High series
Wrestlers host Japanese National Team, community invited to Jan. 11 dual
In a unique cultural opportuni-
ty, Hood River Valley wrestling
hosts members of the Japanese
National Wrestling Team for a
three days next week as part of
the 2014 Oregon Wrestling Cultur-
al Exchange program. The group
of 13 wrestlers and three coaches
will arrive in Hood River on the
night of Jan. 10 and will home stay
with members of the Hood River
Valley High School wrestling
team.
On Jan. 11, the group will spend
a day sightseeing in the area and
hanging out with host families. On
Monday, Jan. 12 the group will at-
tend the first two periods of school
at HRVHS before a special dual
meet between the Japanese team
and a selection of HRV wrestlers
and three others from outside
schools. Members of the public are
invited to attend this dual, which
will showcase Japan’s lineup of
all-star wrestlers from across the
country (school visitors must
check in at the front office). An
opening ceremony at 1:20 p.m. will
kick off the dual meet; wrestling
starts at 1:30 p.m. and is expected
to finish at about 3:15 p.m.
The group will leave Hood River
later that evening and will be
handed off to members of Prairie
High School’s wrestling program.
Men: Pat Olson, 832
Women: Nancy Asai, 676
Senior men: Lynn Spell-
man, 750
Senior Women: Charlotte
Severns, 565
High game
Men: Rick Nishimoto, 299;
Jeremy Bloom, 299; Pat
Olson, 299
Women: Nancy Asai, 289
Senior men: Gordon Sim,
268; Lynn Spellman, 268
Senior women: Polly Bull, 234
Please see HIGHS, Page A9