2B | WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
State
from 1B
Johnson expressed his
gratitude for all who came
to help, from within the
community and beyond.
“People from all over the
place, friends from Port-
land came down and so
many people in the com-
munity.”
According to Johnson,
“It’s pretty much dominat-
ed every waking moment
of my life for the last four
weeks, and there weren’t
a lot of moments where I
was sleeping, because my
brain was constantly try-
ing to figure out how to
do this and do it the right
way. And I think we pulled
it off in spades.”
While the event itself
was spectacular, the wins
for the Vikings made it
even more so.
Johnson explained some
of the history and signif-
icance of Blankenship’s
win.
“That was a big moment
when Brea won, it’s been
a hard year for a lot of us.
She was kind of banged up
during cross country, and
I know she didn’t finish as
high at the state meet as
she wanted to,” he said.
In addition to having
missed her junior year
of competing because of
COVID, Blankenship was
faced with the added chal-
lenge of running in two
events at the meet, which
is unusual for athletes at a
state meet.
“It’s tough to double as
a distance runner,” said
Johnson. “I said, ‘Brea,
you’ve always doubled
pretty well, and we have
a shot, and I know that’s
risky; it might make it
harder for you to win the
800,’ which we thought she
could, but she was all for
it. I don’t think the 1500
Viks
from 1B
athletes the opportunity
to compete in matches for
experience. Even though
the teams didn’t score as a
whole, according to Wart-
nik, “The wins were mean-
ingful. We had six or seven
boys that were undefeated
that day, and we had one
girl who got to wrestle, and
she was 1-1. The other boys
were kind of a mixed bag;
won some, lost some — but
our core kids are looking
strong. The kids are just an
amazing group. The spirit,
the mentality, the coop-
eration, the application;
they’re giving us 100 per-
cent and constantly getting
better.”
The next day (May 22),
the Viks headed to Marsh-
field for a dual meet and
defeated all five schools
they competed against in
each dual meet.
Wartnik explained that,
this year, the Vikings have
an advantage as one of the
larger teams in the league;
if neither of the two schools
competing don’t have a
wrestler in a weight class,
there are no points earned
for either team.
However, if one school
has a wrestler in a weight
class and the other school
doesn’t, the team that has a
Honors
from 1B
Gracie Freudenthal, Jane
Lacouture, Rylee Colton.
Football: Avery Hart,
Beau
Erickson,
Billy
Massey, Braydon Thorn-
ton, Camp Lacouture,
Christian Newlan, Cort
Waggoner, Daniel Shick,
DAyne Muller, Elijah
Blankenship, Ethan Aar-
on, Henry Rankin, Hunter
Petterson, Ian Sissel, Isaac
Garza, James Smith, Joe
Slaughter, John Rose, Ju-
lian Loftis, Landon Severy,
worked out as well as she
wanted it to,” he added,
with Blankenship finish-
ing seventh with a time
of 5:09.54a. “I think that
maybe just made her mad.
She came back and had a
look on her face for the
800 that said, ‘I’m not go-
ing to lose.’”
With about 350 meters
left in the race, Blanken-
ship kicked into high gear
and, as Johnson explained,
“She came by me with 200
meters to go, I just said,
‘They’re sitting on you,
they’re going to try to kick
you; you’ve got to make
them work now.’ So, she
stretched it out and she
won pretty comfortably. It
was a great moment.”
Blankenship, who has
been running with John-
son for her entire high
school career, was one
Johnson scouted early on.
“I told her parents I
tried to work on her and
Elijah both to come out
for cross country from the
time they were little kids,”
he said, “because you
could see that they both
have this potential, and
they worked really hard.
I pretty much promised
them that if she comes out
for track, she’s going to be
a state champion. So, it
was really rewarding and
she was super happy.”
In addition to Blanken-
ship taking first place, the
remainder of the girls’
team contributed a great
deal to their team taking
second place overall at the
meet.
“It was one of those
things where we were hav-
ing an okay meet, but not
a spectacular meet — and
then, the last few events,
everything just started to
come together,” said John-
son. “Gracie [Freudenthal]
getting second in the high
hurdles was really import-
ant,” he noted.
Freudenthal
finshed
with a time of 16.18a,
then placed third in the
300-meter hurdles with a
time of 48.41a.
“We’ve come a long way
with her in a short amount
of time. Having a whole
year off from track is one
thing, and the high hur-
dles are so technical, so it’s
been a long process,” said
Johnson. “To miss a year
and then have such a com-
pacted season, we’ve really
had to work hard to get
her ready. The highs were
really great, and [in the]
intermediates she scored
six points for us.”
The girls’ 4x400 re-
lay team, which came in
third place with a time of
4:17.63a, also made a huge
contribution to the team’s
point total.
“Before the 4x400, we
knew we had to get fourth
place and La Grande had
to not score, and then we
were going to beat them by
one point,” he explained.
“Then, they didn’t score,
but two people in the first
heat ran way faster than
we’ve run this year; the
two teams ran around a
4:20, and we had only run
a 4:26. Now, not only did
we need to beat three peo-
ple in the final, we had to
beat four people — and
our girls didn’t just run
great, they just ran out of
their heads!”
The Lady Viks loaded
the front with Brea and
Rylee Colton.
“We wanted Corduroy
[Holbrook] to get the ba-
ton and know that it was
now or never, and she held
off some studs,” said John-
son. “Then, Gracie ran a
great leg, her best leg of
the year, and we got third
place. That vaulted us into
second place as a team,
which was really special.”
When asked what she
was thinking during the
competition, Freudenthal
said, “I was thinking that
it’s senior year, and we just
have to give our best. I
think it’s having the mind-
set knowing that you’re
going to be tired, and run-
ning fast anyway, running
hard.”
Blankenship’s
focus
was to “Run hard and
leave it all on the track. It
was pretty cool — it feels
good!”
Colton also placed in
the 3000 meters, finishing
seventh overall with a PR
time of 10:56:51a.
In addition to the track
events, the Vikings’ An-
drea Osbon racked up
some serious points for
the girls as well.
“She didn’t have as good
of two days as she wanted
to have,” admitted John-
son, “but she scored 16
points and led us to score
in all three events. And
that’s what a state track
meet is all about. You just
have to keep whittling
away and get every scrap
and claw for every point
you can get so that you
have a chance to bring
home the trophy.”
Osbon finished second
in the shot put (40-01.50),
fourth in discus (113-05)
and sixth in the javelin
with a throw of 106-09.
The girls’ team’s per-
formance was especial-
ly exciting because they
showed much higher than
the week before at district.
“It was good, too, be-
cause the boys’ team was
so dominant at the dis-
trict meet,” said Johnson.
“We talked about it before,
and I said the girls had no
chance to win the district
meet, as we only have six
or seven girls on the team.
But we had those same six
girls go on this weekend,
and we knew that there
were kids who could score
points in bunches. And it
takes a whole lot of depth.”
Although the boys’ team
didn’t place as high as the
girls, they too had some
stellar performances at
the meet, scoring a total of
37.5 points.
“The
pole
vaulters
were great,” said Johnson.
“Camp [Lacouture] broke
a pole, and it was amaz-
ing how he just got up and
said, ‘Let’s go!’”
However, it was the only
pole in that size and right
for him to vault from.
“So, all of a sudden, he’s
on a pole he’s never jumped
on before that’s bigger and
harder to get in,” Johnson
said. “But Kyle Hughes —
that was the best he’s ever
jumped, and he made the
top-10 list, which was a
good start for us.”
Hughes finished fifth
with a PR at 13-00, and La-
couture tied for sixth with
a mark of 12-06.
“Sam Ulrich had an
amazing meet,” noted
Johnson. “We put him in
two races, and we thought
it was going to be really
hard for him to beat Brody
Bushnell.
Bushnell, from Philo-
math, had previously won
both the 1500 and the 800
races.
“Sam’s young and didn’t
have a freshman track
season. So, we wanted to
give him opportunities
to have experience in the
championship setting be-
cause it’s totally different,”
explained Johnson. “The
state meet is different than
any other race. It’s usually
really physical, and a lot of
times it’s tactical.”
While Johnson said he
felt Ulrich sat back a lit-
tle too long in the 1500
and didn’t give himself a
chance to get into the top
two, he took that experi-
ence a couple of hours lat-
er in the 800.
“He really ran a smart
race. He sat back a lit-
tle bit, but then when it
was time to go, he knew
he had to and was able to
run down a lot of people
for second place,” Johnson
said. “That is a pretty good
achievement for a sopho-
more.”
Ulrich finished fourth
in the 1500 meters with a
PR time of 4:09.16a, and
was second in the 800 me-
ters in 2:00.65a.
In addition to Ulrich,
sophomore Hunter Pet-
terson finished sixth in
the 100-meter race with
a PR at 11.59a, and Chad
Hughes finished seventh
in the 3000 meters in a PR
mark of 9:10.65a.
In the 300-meter hur-
dles, Lacouture finished
eighth with a time of
45.71a.
Both boys’ relay teams
placed as well; the 4x100
team (Petterson, Lacou-
ture, Elijah Blankenship
and James Smith) finished
sixth in 45.80a, and the
4x400 team (Petterson,
Ulrich, Jaxson Jensen and
Blankenship)
finished
fourth with a time of
3:33.45a.
Also on the field, Skyler
Loomis finished fifth in
the javelin with a throw of
150-00.
According to Johnson,
“It was good; it couldn’t
have ended much better.
We came through when we
needed to, and I was really
proud of the girls and the
boys. The boys are young,
and there are a lot of them
coming back. Hopefully,
we’ll get a couple more
kids in school to come out,
and maybe the boys will be
taking a trophy home next
year.”
wrestler in that weight class
scores six points.
“Many of the schools
don’t have full lineups,” said
Wartnik. “We have more
people in our lineup than
most schools right now, so
that’s an advantage.”
Siuslaw’s first matchup
was with Central Linn, a
perennial 3A powerhouse.
Said Wartnik, “[We]
faced a lot of close, hard-
fought matches, but we re-
ally came out on top in a lot
of those matches and really
kind of controlled the dual
meet.”
Next, Siuslaw was paired
up with Douglas, a typical-
ly strong 3A team that is
down in numbers this year.
“Douglas had a couple of
very good wrestlers,” ad-
mitted Wartnik. “They won
a couple of good matches
against us; I think we won
three of the matches and
they won two. But on the
dominance of our lineup,
we received a lot of forfeits
and, again, we won by quite
a large margin.”
In the third series of the
meet, Siuslaw wrestled 5A
Willamette.
“They had a pretty solid
lineup,” said Wartnik, “but
we out-wrestled them.
And then, with all the for-
feits again, we had a pretty
decisive win.”
The Vikings’ fourth
match was against Co-
quille, which had a couple
of wins but was dominated
by the Viks overall.
Finally, Siuslaw faced
host Marshfield.
“We finished out with
Marshfield,” said Wartnik.
“They won three of the
five matches wrestled. But
again, we were collecting
all of the forfeits and they
didn’t have people — so, we
won decisively.”
With regards to the team,
“We have some wrestlers
who are doing tremendous
work. Some of the young-
sters who are doing great.
A couple of my juniors —
John Corser and JC Gentry
— are really improved from
a year ago. I think that was
a real high mark for us, the
performance of Corser and
Gentry.”
In addition, the seniors
on Wartnik’s team per-
formed quite well over the
weekend.
“Elijah LaCosse and
Ryan Jennings are just
dynamite,” said Wartnik.
“Elijah lost a pair of very,
very close matches on Sat-
urday. But then, Elijah was
giving away 8-10 pounds;
he weighed in at 152, and
we had him wrestle 160
pounds all day.”
Wartnik said he could
tell by the end of the day
that LaCosse was tired.
“And I’m not making any
excuses, he wrestled some
great people. Lost tough
matches, but again, because
he was so close, the other
teams didn’t get very many
points. They got three
points, whereas our other
guys were winning by pin.
Elijah just looks great.”
LaCosse, who took third
at state last year, has his
eyes on the prize this year.
“The state championship
is always the goal, and I
have a good shot at it [this
year],” said LaCosse. His
other focus is “to enjoy my
last season and go for it all.”
Jennings had a great
weekend as well, going un-
defeated at the Marshfield
meet.
Wartnik also mentioned
three of his sophomores
who are performing well.
“Mason Buss is undefeat-
ed at this point,” said Wart-
nik, “and he won a pair of
good matches on Saturday.
We have Yoskar DeLaMora,
who wrestled very well. He
won a couple of matches,
and lost one — but even
in losing, he looked pret-
ty good. And then Cayden
Gray is one of the real sur-
prises this year. He’s wres-
tling so well and doesn’t
have a whole lot of experi-
ence. But he’s wrestling like
crazy with a ton of heart.”
Gray, who had a particu-
larly intense match Friday
night, managed to come
away unscathed, but his
opponent ended up with
minor injuries as a result of
the match.
According to Wartnik,
“There are moments where
things get scary, and I just
pray. It’s part of the game,
and we try to teach a lot of
tumbling and acrobatics so
that people learn how to
react in those strange mo-
ments — but it doesn’t in-
sulate you from everything.
So fortunately, neither
wrestler was ruined, but
they came away stretched
out a little bit.”
In all, the team is off to
an excellent start and a
promising season ahead.
“This is a team where it’s
just a very inviting group,”
said Wartnik. “The young
people are the most pos-
itive, respectful people
I’ve ever coached. It’s just
amazing. For a number of
reasons, this is a team that
has a lot of us excited.”
The Viks held their first
home dual meet this past
Tuesday (after press dead-
lines), with their next meet
tonight (May 26) at Sweet
Home starting at 5 p.m.
Their next home meet
is June 8, also starting at 5
p.m.
Noah Dotson, Odin Smith,
Owen Garneau, Rhys
Fleming, Skyler Loomis,
Talin Loomis, Tate Bot-
tensek, Victor Ayala.
Boys Soccer: Alex Goss,
Brayden Linton, Daniel
Paasch, Derrick Vanduch,
Dez Anderson, Dylan Jen-
sen, Imanol Pelayo, Jake
Roberts, Jaxson Jensen,
Jerrel Brumley, Jesus Jason
Garcia, Kayden Lane, Lu-
cian Murphy, Morgan Del-
le, Noel Hernandez, Yoskar
De La Mora.
On Siuslaw! Go Viks!
541-997-8474
3231 Hwy. 101 N, Florence
copeland.doitbest.com
FIRE
WATER
BIO
We Love Our Viks & Sailors!
“Open Daily”
BOARD UP
541-902-9100
of Lane County (541) 345-0115
24 HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICES
1252 Bay Street
Florence, Or 97439
thewaterfrontdepot.com