S PORTS
www.hoodrivernews.com
Weekly’s two HRs propel HRV to win over Centennial
Eagles win two in a row with victories over Centennial and Mountain View
By MIKE WEBER
For the News
The Hood River Valley
High School softball team
turned its season around and
regained momentum follow-
ing two confidence building
nonleague wins. The Eagles
(4-6) won 4-2 Monday over the
Centennial Eagles (2-8) in
Gresham. On Friday, the Ea-
gles utilized a strong offen-
sive attack while recording a
season-high 14 hits in a 9-3
home win over the Mountain
View Cougars.The No. 23-
ranked Eagles will try to ex-
tend their win streak to three
games when they host the
Century Jaguars (3-5) in a
4:30 p.m. preseason contest Century lost 12-9 to West An-
Wednesday at Westside Ele- chorage on Mar. 23 in a spring
mentary School in Hood break tournament in The
River. HRV then travels to Dalles.
Gresham for a 4:30 p.m. con-
Hood River, the defending
test Thursday versus the Bar- Columbia River Conference
low Bru-
co-cham-
ins (5-1).
pions
Based
( w i t h
u p o n
Pendle-
compara-
t o n ) ,
t i v e
demon-
scores of
strated
ERIC KELLER
previous
resilient
contests,
qualities
the Ea-
of
a
gles should have a good high-caliber team in over-
chance to get a win Wednes- coming a 2-0 deficit Monday
day. HRV won 9-2 at home on the road versus Centenn-
Mar. 21 over West Anchorage. nial. The Eagles, guided by
‘We’ve started a little win
streak now.’
coach Eric Keller, responded
by scoring four runs over the
next three innings and hold-
ing Centennial scoreless for
the remainder of the game to
get a second consecutive vic-
tory.
“We’ve started a little win
streak now,” said Keller. We’ll
have to continue playing hard
again in order to get another
win on Wednesday and we’ll
see what happens. Our two
pitchers (freshmen Hannah
McNerney, Kaylin Winans)
are really doing good and
they’re starting to adapt to
pitching at the varsity level.
See WINS, Page A8
SENIOR MADDY GRAHAM
returns a volley during
Monday’s match against
Benson Polytechnic in Hood
River. Graham, who coach
Jaime Rivera is going after
the state title this year won
No. 1 singles Monday in
two sets, 6-0, 6-0.
Photo By Ben Mitchell
Girls tennis ties in sets, wins in points at home debut
The girls tennis team has struggled
to get matches in so far this season,
with scheduling conflicts and rain can-
cellations, but was able to get in their
first home match of the year Monday
night, which ended in a draw in sets
against Benson Polytechnic, although
coach Jaime Rivera said the team
“won in points and sportsmanship.”
The varsity team went 4-4 in sets at
the Tsuruta courts, with singles wins
coming from Maddy Graham, Ann
Evans, and Nikki Paulus and HRV’s
lone doubles victory coming from
Olivia Newcomb and Camaryn Cham-
bers in three sets (full results below).
The season is young, but Rivera
likes already what he sees from his
team.
“The team looks solid after only two
competitions,” he said. “What I am
most proud of is their desire to com-
pete and the way in which they have
approached the season, especially con-
sidering the new team culture we have
established. We are loaded with ju-
niors and freshman so our future is
bright.”
Rivera said athletes to watch out for
this season are returning standout se-
nior Maddy Graham, who is aiming
for a shot at the state title in the sin-
gles category. Other notables in singles
include AnnElise Acosta, Ann Evans,
and freshman Nikki Paulus. In dou-
bles, the team of Olivia Newcomb and
Camaryn Chambers look to lead HRV.
Rivera said his top priority this sea-
son is to work on creating a team cul-
ture.
“This group is looking to become a
team in the true sense of the word,” he
The Hood River Valley boys lacrosse team has gotten off to
a good start, going 2-1 in their first three games and looking to
dominate the flow of games with the team’s signature up-
tempo style of play.
In a Friday night home game, the Eagles ground out a win
against Oregon City, edging the Pioneers 8-7.
“It was a nail-biter for sure,” said coach Matt Luchsinger.
“It started off kind of slow for both teams. First quarter, both
teams were trying to figure out each other’s strategy.”
It took a timeout in the second quarter for the Eagles to find
their bearings, whom Luchsinger said were stunned by the
speed of Oregon City’s game.
“The hardest thing for our defense was to figure out their
offense they were really fast,” he said. “So I called a timeout
in the second and said, ‘This is our offense: It’s transition ball;
they’re just doing it better than we are.’”
HRV pushed the pace, and eventually took control of the
flow of a game that had largely been dictated by Oregon City.
“We were able to move the ball fast from one side to the
other,” Luchsinger said. “They were playing unselfish ball. It
allowed for the guys to make a lot of great goals.”
Half of those goals for HRV came from attack Henry Bar-
ton, who had a team-high four goals — two of which were be-
hind the back, Luchsinger noted.
Middie Cody Wheat led the team with eight ground balls
“which is a lot of ground balls, which is good to see,”
News staff writer
The HRV girls lacrosse
team had their highest scor-
ing game of the season Mon-
day evening, when the Eagles
absolutely dominated their
opponent, Wilson High
School, 18-6 — and on the
road no less.
HRV (2-2) “brought their A-
game,” according to coach
Andrew McElderry, after the
team recovered from a less
than ideal start.
“We got off to a shaky
start, allowing Wilson to
score two quick goals in the
first two minutes, but after
that, we took the wheel and
never gave it back,” he said.
Leading HRV was sopho-
more captain Riley Bauer
who
McElder ry
said
“brought an intensity that in-
fected the whole team.”
Bauer had a team-high six
goals on seven shots and also
led HRV in ground balls, with
four. Close on her heels was
Erin Mayer, who scored five
in eight.
Others scoring for HRV in-
cluded Lydia McElderry (3),
Sam Davies (2), Savannah
Brentlinger (1), and Daisy
Dolan (1), who also led the
team in draw controls, with
seven. On defense, McElderry
said that the skills of frosh
goalie Ella Rand, who had
seven saves, “continue to im-
prove in the cage as her confi-
By BEN MITCHELL
News staff writer
The East County Classic meet is circled every year on
the HRV track team’s calendar as the first official com-
petition of the season where it’s more about wins and
losses than it is about personal best times and dis-
tances. The meet gives the Eagles to compete against
other 5A teams such as The Dalles and Hermiston, as
well as teams from other classes
HRV came in determined to take the title after last
year’s meet that saw the girls team take first, and the
boys team take fifth overall. This year, the girls grabbed
second — first went to Clackamas — and the boys team
took first in a victory that bowled over coach Donnie
Herniesen.
“As happy as we were with the girls performance, the
boys were truly outstanding,” he said. “Last year’s team
win by the girls was a bit of a surprise, but the boys win
this year was completely unexpected, even though it
probably shouldn’t have been. We had boys winning
events and scoring points across all events, both track
and field events.”
Typically, Herniesen said the team is “chasing (per-
sonal records) and solid marks to improve and prepare
ourselves for the District Championships in May,” at
this point in the season. Herniesen said that “with the
weather being a limiting factor, we instead tasked our
kids with going out and competing for meet points.”
And they did. And while first-place finishes are im-
portant, Herniesen noted that second- and third-place
finishes — as well as seventh- and eighth-place finishes
— are key if a team wants to win overall. That was es-
pecially the case with the boys team, who squeezed past
Hermiston by just four points.
“It was a total team win, and it was important for us
to scrap out every point and every finish in order to get
those points. With a 4-point margin of victory over Her-
miston, if even one boy doesn’t place where he did, if
we don’t get one of those seventh-place scorers, or a
Hermiston athlete beats us in one more event, Hermis-
ton ends up with the team trophy,” Herniesen said. “We
had wins by many of our superstars, in the jumps, the
distances, and the throws, without which we wouldn’t
have been in position to win at all – but it was the points
scored by our seventh- and eighth-place finishers which
closed the deal for us. Track is a team game that relies
on individual efforts, just like every other sport. Every
athlete we took to that meet owns a small chunk of the
trophy we brought home on Friday night.”
HRV will compete next in the Sandy Invitational on
Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
1. Maddy Graham- WIN (6-0, 6-1)
2. AnnElise Acosta - Loss (4-6, 4-6)
3. Ann Evans - WIN (6—1, 6-4)
4. Nikki Paulus - WIN (6-4, 6-3)
VARSITY DOUBLES
1. Olivia Newcomb & Camaryn Cham-
bers - WIN (6-4, 5-7, 1-0)
2. Tia Semmes & Vanessa Olivas - Loss
(6-1, 4-6, 0-1)
3. Madison Mooney & Crystal Flores -
Loss (4-6, 5-7)
4. Yasmeen Ziada & Mattie Elise Back -
Loss (3-6, 0-6)
Luchsinger said. “I’ve been telling the team all year that
ground balls and face-offs win games.”
On defense, Luchsinger praised goalie Dallen Olmstead,
who had “a ton” of saves with a total of 14 on the evening and
was “definitely one of the main reasons for us winning the
game.”
At the moment, HRV sits near the top of the Columbia Con-
See LAX, Page A8
HENRY BARTON
Offense for girls lax explodes against Wilson High
By BEN MITCHELL
HRV track teams
go 1, 2 at ECC
VARSITY SINGLES
Eagles make it two in a row with Friday’s win over the Oregon City Pioneers
News staff writer
A7
said. “That is our number one goal.”
The Eagles will next head to Pendle-
ton for a match against the Buckaroos
Wednesday at 4 p.m.
HRV boys lax looks to keep foot on the gas pedal
By BEN MITCHELL
Hood River News, Wednesday, April 8, 2015
dence grows.”
You would think the high
score would be the highlight
of the night for Coach
McElderry, but as good as all
those goals were, he said the
team’s “crowning achieve-
ment” came in the last five
minutes of the game when
HRV already had it in the bag.
“I asked the team to hold
the ball, value possession and
work it around the outside,”
he said. “They showed a pa-
tience and maturity that I
have been dreaming about for
a long time.”
The game Monday night
came on the heels of a game
against Sunset High School
in Beaverton, which HRV lost
16-6 against what McElderry
called “a pretty polished Sun-
set team.”
Lydia McElderry and Erin
Mayer led the team in the
goals cate gory with two
apiece; Mayer had a team-
high four shots. Savannah
Brentlinger and Sam Davies
tallied the other two goals for
HRV. Brentlinger, Mayer, and
Riley Bauer were each award-
ed an assist. Victoria Kohner-
Flanagan and Lauren Trum-
bull each won a draw control
while Savanna Boersma, Ash-
ley Hendricks, and Laura
Scarborough each won a
ground ball. Goalie Ella Rand
was able to save six of the 28
shots she f aced F riday
evening.
Photo by Donnie Herniesen
THE HRV boys track team celebrates with their first-place tro-
phy they took home from the ECC meet on Friday.
TRACK RESULTS
East County Classic
Boys team results
1st: Hood River Valley
(146.5)
2nd: Hermiston (142.5)
3rd: Clackamas (116.5)
4th: Franklin (93.5)
5th: Reynolds (83.5)
6th: The Dalles (47.5)
7th: Clatskanie (31)
Girls team results
1st: Clackamas (184)
2nd: Hood River Valley
(141)
3rd: Franklin (97)
4th: Reynolds (96)
5th: Hermiston (71)
6th: The Dalles (62)
7th: Clatskanie (4)
HRV boys in top five
100 meters
Parker Irusta, 5th
200 meters
Parker Irusta, 5th
1500 meters
Connor Truax, 3rd
3000 meters
Justin Crosswhite, 1st
(9:12.91); Quinn Fetken-
hour, 4th
110 meter hurdles
Parker Kennedy, 2nd
300 meter hurdles
Noah Noteboom, 4th
3K steeplechase
Jesse Wiley, 2nd; Jacob
Bromham, 5th
4x100 relay
Parker Kennedy, Parker
Irusta, Tyrone Stintzi,
Gabriel Campos-Davis (3rd)
4x400 relay
Cole Osborn, Parker
Kennedy, Owen Ramsey, Ty-
rone Stintzi (3rd)
Shot put
Sebastian Barajas, 1st
(49-2); Sam Fults, 4th
Discus
Sebastian Barajas, 1st
(169)
High jump
Tyrone Stintzi, 3rd
Pole Vault
Parker Kennedy, 1st (14-
6); Patrick Crompton, 2nd
Long jump
Parker Irusta, 1st (20-10)
HRV girls in top five
100 meters
Jestena Mattson, 1st
(12.67)
200 meters
Jestena Mattson, 1st
(25.93)
400 meters
Emily Viuhkola, 2nd
800 meters
Caitlyn Fick, 3rd; Claire
Davies, 5th
1500 meters
Lauren Robinson, 5th
3000 meters
Sascha Bockius, 1st
(11:10.62); Denali Emmons,
5th
100 meter hurdles
Marlie Bloomster, 5th
300 meter hurdles
Marlie Bloomster, 4th
2K steeplechase
Terri Hewitt, 3rd; Chloe
Clark, 4th
4x100 relay
Clarissa Najera, Jestena
Mattson, Emily Viuhkola,
Kassidy Davidson (2nd)
4x400 relay
Kassidy Davidson, Cait-
lyn Fick, Audrey Marble,
Emily Viuhkola (2nd)
Shot put
Lauren Winans, 4th
Discus
Lauren Winans, 5th
High jump
Jestena Mattson, 1st (5-
3); Shae Duffy, 3rd
Pole Vault
Amber Kennedy, 3rd
Triple jump
Casey Sherrerd, 5th