B
Section B
S PORTS
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Lions place ninth in home invitational
Regionals are next for
wrestling team
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove fi nished tied for
ninth out of 42 teams in its two-
day home invitational this past week-
end. Churchill and North Medford each
scored 212 points to share the champi-
onship.
Four Lions placed in the top six of
their respective weight classes: Bryce
Allen (5th — 120 pounds), Andrew
Bordeaux (2nd — 160 pounds), Tanner
Herbert (3rd — 195 pounds) and Adam
Lamb (6th — 285 pounds).
Herbert had a particularly outstanding
tournament. After losing in the opening
round to Ashland’s Chance Swenson, he
pinned his next fi ve opponents to reach
the consolation fi nal. Waiting for him
in that third-place match was Swenson.
However, this time Herbert came out on
top with a technical fall.
Bordeux cruised through the 160-
pound bracket but faced a familiar op-
ponent in Churchill’s Riley Jaramillo in
the fi nals. Jaramillo, who is undefeat-
ed this season, pinned Bordeuax — a
transfer from Churchill — with 30 sec-
onds remaining in the bout.
"As a coach you could see that both
of them knew exactly what the other
was wanting to do," said Cottage Grove
coach Kyle Temple of the matchup of
former workout partners. "It may not
have been the fi reworks show that peo-
ple were expecting. But those kids sup-
port one another. There was no animos-
ity or hard feelings afterward."
With 101 team points, Cottage Grove
only trailed two 4A schools: Marshfi eld
(136.5) and Phoenix (101.5).
Between the varsity, JV/freshman
and girls’ tournaments, no fewer than
650 wrestlers took part in the 22nd an-
nual Cottage Grove Invitational. Tem-
ple said that 2015 was the largest in
the tournaments history and that it took
many hands to make sure that all went
smoothly. He was particularly grateful
to have high-school math teacher Jeff
Drumm as the meet director.
Temple said that the large and busy
tournament serves as great preparation
for the regional and state formats.
The Lions will now turn their at-
tention to next weekend’s regional
tournament. The favorites in the team
championship race are Cascade, Elmira
and Sweet Home, with Cottage Grove,
North Marion and Philomath expected
to compete for fourth through sixth
place.
Five Lions are seeded among the top
six wrestlers in their weight classes. Al-
len (120) and Herbert (195) are num-
ber-three seeds, while Alan Bordeaux
(152), Andrew Bordeaux (160), Herbert
(195) and Lamb (285) are number-two
seeds.
“We came out of the seeding pretty
well. I like how we’re wrestling at this
point in the season. We just need to do
what we’re capable of doing and we’ll
be in peak form,” Temple said.
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Athlete of the Week
Tanner Herbert
Epilogue
Closing out the most
successful season and
era of Oregon football
with Grant Thompson
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Since the 2010 season, the Ducks are
60-8; they’ve played for two national
championships; they’ve won three con-
ference titles, two Rose Bowls and a
Fiesta Bowl. Over this time, the Pac 10
became the Pac 12, Chip Kelly passed
the torch to Mark Helfrich, Marcus
Mariota won the Heisman Trophy and
the College Football Playoffs supplant-
ed the Bowl Championship Series. It
was an unprecedented fi ve-year run of
success and change for the Oregon pro-
gram — one that may never be topped.
And Cottage Grove alum Grant Thomp-
son was there for all of it.
Matt Hollander: What stands out
from your time at Oregon?
Grant Thompson: All the accom-
plishments seem kind of small when
you put in the day-to-day work and see
what it takes to get there. Obviously,
it was a matter of good timing, and it
wasn’t like I took us to the national
championship games. But I feel fortu-
nate to have been a part of it.
‘Good timing’ may also depend on
one’s goals and perspective. In 2005,
Cottage Grove alum Brent Haberly
was a 12-game starter, fi nished fi fth on
the team in tackles and returned a fum-
ble for a touchdown against Arizona to
keep Oregon’s BCS-game hopes alive.
Competing for playing time with a cali-
ber of recruits that refl ected the rise of
the program, Thompson appeared in 17
games and made nine tackles.
MH: Had you come along at a differ-
ent time, do you think you could have
had a career — like Brent’s — in which
you had a greater impact on the fi eld?
GT: Brent was a beast. I remember
photo by Ryan King/Daily Emerald
Tyler Johnstone interviewed teammate Grant Thompson for a television spot during Media Day for the CFP Championship Game at the Dal-
las Convention Center in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015.
watching him while I was in middle
school and asking for advice from one
Cottage Grove kid to another. I looked
up to Brent, and his was the path I
wanted to follow. But there were so
many things that went into Brent being
able to start: The guy in front of him
tore his ACL; Terrance Kelley got shot.
There are a lot of circumstances that go
into earning a starting role.
Prior to this season, there had only
Equestrian team is
off to a quick start
in OHSET season
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
EUGENE — The Cottage Grove competed in the fi rst Oreon
High School Equestrian Team South Valley district meet of the
season this past weekend, and the Lions showed particularly
well in the gaming events with numerous top-fi ve fi nishes.
Shania Schueller was the overall winner in breakaway rop-
ing. She also placed fourth in pole bending and fi fth in barrel
racing.
Ashley Goertzen fi nished second pole bending and third in
barrel racing.
In steer daubing, Ellie Harold fi nished second out of 19 com-
petitors.
Newcomer Shelby Glaspie placed third in saddle seat equita-
tion.
The Canadian fl ag team of Schueller, Justin Hill, Katherine
Dennis and Sara Witty placed second out of 15 teams.
Cottage Grove had two teams place in two-man birangle:
Schueller and Goertzen fi nished fourth, just ahead of Hill and
Ty Schueller.
The Lions did, however, have a mishap during their drill per-
formance and will need to improve in the next two district meets
in order to pick up their fourth-straight title.
“Our kids run a very fast paced, rodeo-style drill,” said team
advisor Shannon Simons. “You want to do your best at every
single meet, and Cottage Grove is a very aggressive team.
Please see Equestrian Team, Page 2B
been two Heisman fi nalists in the histo-
ry of Oregon football: Joey Harrington
fi nished fourth in the 2001 balloting,
and LaMichael James was third in
2010. Marcus Mariota brought home
this year’s trophy with the second high-
est percentage of votes in the 80-year
history of the award.
MH: What was it like to be around
Mariota during his historic season?
GT: I remember questioning if a
Duck would ever win the Heisman. But
then, after knowing Marcus for four
years, I came to expect it. I remem-
ber watching him run hill sprints all
by himself as a redshirt freshman and
thinking that he could get to that level.
He was mature enough to get there and
had the mental toughness to win it. We
saw that from day one, and it was an
honor to be around him.
Oregon entered the 2015 CFP Cham-
pionship Game against Ohio State on
Jan. 12 as seven-point favorites. The
Buckeyes prevailed 42-20.
MH: Were you surprised by how the
game played out?
GT: Obviously, I expected for us to
win. I thought our gameplan was
Please see Thompson, Page 2B
Lions take their fi nal laps before districts
Swimmers set new
PRs against Spring-
fi eld, Junction City
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
SPRINGFIELD — The Cot-
tage Grove swim teams had their
fi nal tune-up for districts in a tri-
angular meet with Junction City
and Springfi eld on Friday at the
Willamalane Park Swim Center.
The 5A Millers swept the boys’
and girls’ competitions, but the
Lions easily outpaced the Tigers
for second.
Springfi eld boys won all
11 races en route to 164 team
points. Riley and Tristan James
and Shane Williams each picked
up two individual victories for
the Millers, and they were key
legs on winning relay teams.
However, the Lions did their
best to keep up, and many were
rewarded with personal records.
Sophomore Ian Miller fi n-
ished third in the 100-yard but-
terfl y and set a PR of 1:04.59.
photo by Matt Hollander
Please see Swimming, Page 2B
Cottage Grove's Clover Rudicel fi nished second in the 100-yard breaststroke in Fri-
day's meet at Willamalane Park Swim Center. Her time of 1:22.53 set a new personal
best by four seconds.