8 DECEMBER 1, 2002
Smoke Signals
DECEMBER 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 9
Strong Willamina Volleyball Team Met Its Match at State
Next year looks even better.
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Intensity The Willamina High School Volleyball
Team went to the state playoffs this year for the first
time in school history. Although the team lost in their
first two games and was eliminated from the champi
onship tournament at David Douglas High School in
Portland, the season was a success and bodes well
for the future of the Willamina Volleyball program.
Coach Carrie Zimbrick (upper left) shows her inten
sity with her team in trying to urge them on to victory.
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Willamina Sought Some of the Old Glory
The young football team still has a lot to
learn.
By Ron Karten
The Willamina Bulldogs football
team was looking for the old
glory days this year, but it
was not to be. In the 1980s
and 90s, head coach Ron
Caligure led the Bull
dogs to the state play
offs in three of eight
years. Since then, his
travels have taken him
to coaching jobs in Dal
las and at Central High
School in Indepen
dence. Last year, he re
turned to Willamina as assistant
coach, shepherding the team
through a difficult 1-8 season. This
year, as head coach, he was expect
ing better, and succeeded, but not
by a lot. As Smoke Signals went to
press, the team was sitting on a 2-6
overall record.
"I always expect better," he said.
At the season-opening Jamboree
at Scio, the Bulldogs opened on a
positive note with the team winning
two of three games. Overall,
Caligure "was really pleased" with
the offense and thought "the de
fense was really good against the
run." In the second game, the
team's pass defense, he said, "was
suspect."
Athletes to keep an eye on for the
2002 season included senior Matt
Zimbrick, a wide receiversplit end
and Tribal member, senior Freddy
Ayala and sophomore Bryan
Fendall, both running backs.
Regarding the interior line,
Caligure was "looking for good
things out of Jason Bergon (play
ing center or tackle) and Jon
Talmadge (tight end or full-back)."
New players covered the rest of the
line this year, he said.
The West Valley League also in
cludes Amity, which has been state
champ for the last four years, Day
ton, which is a perennial statewide
competitor, Santiam Christian,
Nestucca, Gaston, and regular ri
val, Sheridan.
This year, the Willamina
Sheridan rivalry turned into some
thing of a rout for the Bulldogs with
a 42-13 victory at the end of Sep
tember. It demonstrated some real
character in the team, coming as it
did after a crushing defeat a week
earlier at the hands of Amity.
In addition to Zimbrick, Tribal
members on the team also included
Lee Wilson, running and defensive
back, and Nick Kimsey, a full back,
running back, and on defense, a
line backer.
The team faced two devastating
injuries, including running back
Josh Krehbiel, who broke his
ankle, and backup quarterback
Koby Bryant, who broke his hand
early in the season. B
Perrydale QB Turns Program Around
Tribal member Keith Brown never misses
practice and is also a good student.
By Ron Karten
Tribal member Keith Brown's
dad has been coaching him in foot
ball since the second grade. Last
year, as a junior, Brown shared
the quarterbacking responsibilities
for Perrydale, a 1A school with an
8-man football team.
This year, Brown is the lead
quarterback. And no surprise to
the team, Perrydale is number one
in its league and number two
statewide in the latest poll of the
Oregon 8-Man Football Coaches
Association.
"We knew we were going to be
good," said Brown the player.
"We've been playing together for
a long time. We really made an
effort this year. It was either now
or never. We knew we were go
ing to have a better shot than last
year."
"He's just a great kid," said
Perrydale Athletic Director and
Assistant Football Coach Chris
Gubrud. "He's got a great work
ethic and good athletic ability.
He's one of those kids that com
bines athleticism with great char
acter. "He never has missed a practice.
He never whines or complains. He
is completely coachable and never
makes excuses."
Although Brown's statistics were
not readily available, Gubrud
said, "He's become extremely effi
cient - about half of his passes are
for touchdowns. The biggest thing
is he doesn't make mistakes.
"He comes from a great family
and he's one of those kids that's
real sawy with athletics. He has
a lot of parental support in every-
la
thing he does, not just sports.
"He's developed into a team
leader," Gubrud went on. "He's
shouldered a lot of the weight -great
command in the huddle. It's
turned around our football pro
gram. We used to lose games be
cause we missed the big plays. He
makes the big plays at crucial
times."
The highlight of the year for
Brown was "beating St. Paul. The
school's only beaten them once in
our history, and my class has
never beaten them."
How does he explain it: "We
were prepared and came out fired
up, not intimidated like last year."
The team went 5-1 for the sea
son, clobbered (46-0) McKenzie
High School in the opening round
of the state playoffs, and easily
defeated (62-34) the three time
state champ, Dufer, in the second
round, and at press time were
scheduled to face St. Paul in the
state championship game on No
vember 30.
This year marks the first that
Perrydale has reached the playoffs.
By Ron Karten
With a 15-6 record, the Lady Bull
dogs went to State Volleyball Play
offs for the first time in school his
tory. With unanticipated loses to
ward the end of the season to
Santiam Christian, Dayton and
Amity, the Willamina volleyball
whiz-kids were nevertheless excited
about a season that could be a sign
of things to come in future years.
Second in league play, the Lady
Bulldogs ran into the ultimate state
champs, Union, in the first round,
and lost a squeaker to Weston
McEwen in the second round of the
state championships.
"It was an amazing season," said
Coach Carrie Zimbrick. "They ac
complished everything they set out
to accomplish this year, which was
to get to state.
"Our big strength," said Zimbrick,
"is that we're young."
The team has only two seniors
along with six juniors and four
sophomores.
"We won't have to replace any
body next year."
Even with a great deal of talent,
said Zimbrick, "We still need to de
velop some strength in the hitting
positions. We do have one of the
leading killers in the district," she
said, referring to her daughter,
Tribal member Caitlin, who also
plays in a women's power league.
(And "killing" in volleyball-speak is
a successful spike or point.)
Caitlin was an honorable men
tion in last year's All-League poll
ing and this year she was named
to the second All-League team,
while teammates Jessica
Cruickshank and Jessica White
were named All-League honorable
mention.
"Her (Caitlin's) game has im
proved tremendously," said
Zimbrick.
Another honorable mention for
all-league last year was Cass
Cochrun, this year a senior utility
player, also an honorable mention
all leaguer this year.
Zimbrick praised junior Jessica
White as an "outstanding setter.
She really commits her body to ev
erything. She's really willing to hit
the floor to save balls."
She named junior Jessica
Cruickshank as "the second lead
ing hitter in the kill department,"
and praised junior Breann Wilson
as the teams "defense specialist,"
junior Alex Bishop, also a Tribal
member, as "a front row hitter who
can place it on the spot," and se
nior Jessy Rosenberry, as an excel
lent setter who came back from a
wrist injury.
"I'm really stressing their mental
game," said Zimbrick. "They're tre
mendous athletes and they know
it."
Tribal member Janelle Lara was
a junior varsity player last year and
next year will join the varsity team,
said Zimbrick.
"They've already set their goals
higher for next year," said
Zimbrick. B
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Shannon McKenzie Runs a Great Race
Barlow Junior has racked up a string of impressive Cross Country victories.
By Ron Karten
Barlow Cross Country coach, Jim
Babson, called Tribal member Sh
annon McKenzie, "Just a great girl.
Never complains. She's very
coachable. Extremely durable. She
never gets injured."
She is a 3.85-point student. She
plays the flute.
But on the Cross Country course,
she is something else. She played
soccer (a fall sport) and ran track
(a spring sport) in her freshman
year and then last year, the fall of
her sophomore year, she traded soc
cer for Cross Country which is a
5,000 meter (3.1 mile) course over
hill and dale.
"I've always been able to do dis
tance," she said. "My coaches were
wanting me to do cross country and
I like that a lot better."
She made the all-state team and
finished in the middle, somewhere.
But she has improved dramatically
this year, said Babson.
"Some is experience but she
worked hard. She trained really
well. She's a very disciplined kid."
"I just know that if I work hard
now, it's going to pay off in the fu
ture," she said. "If I work hard now,
it will most likely get easier."
This year, she finished 3rd in the
Seaside Invitational in September,
a region wide race, this year includ
ing 300 runners from California,
Oregon and Washington.
"It's a fun race," she said. "It's a
really good course. I like the ones
that have a lot of hills - that go hilly
and then flat."
McKenzie finished 3rd in the Mt.
Hood Crossover held at Grant High
School in October, which included
runners from the Portland Inter
scholastic League and the Mt. Hood
Conference. And, said Babson, of
Barlow's number one runner, "she's
won several smaller meets with
runners from only three or four
schools."
What's ahead for McKenzie?
Babson thinks she's going na
tional. "If she runs well at State
(November 2 at Lane Community
College, 1:30 p.m.) that would help
her go to the Kinney Meet," (spon
sored by Kenney Shoes), held in
San Diego in December. If she
gets within the top 23 at State, she
qualifies for the Border Clash
sponsored by Nike and held at
their Portland campus. Border
Clash pits an Oregon team against
a Washington (state) team.
And also in the cards is the pos
sibility that she could join the se
lect team of WINGS, an Indian
running team based in Kansas.
"Last year I tried and got de
clined," she said.
"It just made me think. It pushed
me for this year. That was my goal
to make them want me. Made me
work real hard to get where I am
right now."
She described her recent one-second
victory over Grant High
School runner Annaliese Chapa.
"It was very scary. All this stuff
was going through my head T
got to stay with it.' It was very
dramatic."
Not all have been victories, but
McKenzie said this about losing -"When
I've done my hardest, then
I'm pretty satisfied."
McKenzie is the daughter of
Sherrie McKenzie, the niece of
Claudette Parazoo and the older
sister of two brothers and a sister,
who get out of school early to
watch her races. She does not
know, however, whether they like
to watch her run or they just like
to get out of school early.
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She's The Best Tribal member Shannon McKenzie (left in blue uniform)
leads a group of cross-country runners at meet earlier this year. Shannon beat
Annaliese Chapa - the daughter of Oregon track legend Rudy Chapa - to highlight
her young running career.
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