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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2015)
B S PORTS Section B Wednesday, May 27, 2015 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove bounced from the postseason Lions doomed by seven errors in 12-5 loss to North Marion BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel A urora, Ore. — A second chance doesn’t necessarily come with a clean slate, as Cottage Grove found out in its 12-5 loss to North Marion at Bob Brack Stadium on Thursday in the play-in round to the 4A state playoffs. The Lions fi nished the regular season on a 2- 9 skid, but they were given new life in the form of an at-large berth to the postseason. However, the issues that plagued Cottage Grove during its slump — committing errors and being unable to Lions fi nish sixth at golf state tourney BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel Cottage Grove took sixth place at the Class 4A boys golf state championships held May 18 and 19 at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks. The Lions were in seventh place after a 375 opening round, but they shot 356 on the second day to move past district foe Stayton for sixth place. Seaside won the tournament with a score of 623. Valley Catho- lic was second with 643. Bryce Wortman of Mazama won the individual title with 138 strokes — three ahead of Seaside’s Sam Hinton. With a two-day total of 165, Johnny Conrad had the lowest score for the Lions. He was followed by Nick Russo with 182, Cameron Sandoval with 185, Jeremy Hall with 199 and Dylan Wooten with 216. Cottage Grove coach Kent Russo said that the team fell out of com- petition for a top-fi ve fi nish due its performance on the fi rst day. “With this group of players, we could have had some of the best scores by any team since I’ve been coaching golf,” said Russo. “We just didn’t have all three top players shooting what they were capable of on the same day. ” Russo added that rounds in the 350s were not out of question for this group, and those would have put them in contention for a top- fi ve fi nish. “I’m really proud of this group,” he said. “They worked hard, had great attitudes and good team chemistry. And they made life time memories.” Next year the Lions will have to make up for the losses of seniors Conrad and Sandoval. Russo said he is hopeful that the returning players can improve, and that some new players will join the team. throw strikes — continued on Thursday. The visiting Lions committed seven errors, and Zach Thomason allowed eight runs on seven hits and six walks in 4 1/3 innings. “That was prototypical of our year,” said coach Dan Geiszler. “It was good to get in for that exact experience. But eventually, experience isn’t going to be enough. We have the players now where I hope that’s not good enough. We have to take it to the next level.” Cottage Grove (15-12, 6-9 Sky-Em) got on the Please see BASEBALL, Page 2B photo by Jo Wheat Cottage Grove coach Dan Geiszler (24) talks with his team after their 12-5 loss to North Marion on Thursday. Borigo, Hammel make their way to the podium Underclassman Howard, Tharp and Weybright also medal BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel Eugene — Heading into her fi nal throw of the Class 4A girls shot put competition on Saturday at Hayward Field, Conner Borigo was already as- sured of taking home a medal from the state track and fi eld championships. But there was still one competitor she wanted to surpass: herself. The Cottage Grove senior fi nished with her best throw of the day — 36- 6.25 — but came up eight inches short of a new life time best. “I didn’t perform the way that I wanted to today, but I knew that I had to get mad and do something about it,” said Borigo, who placed sixth. “My goal was to beat myself, my PR, and I didn’t achieve that, but I did the best I could.” Borigo has spent most of her athletic career pursuing excellence on the bas- ketball court, where she accomplished almost everything a player can except lead the Lions to the state tournament. So when she made the state meet af- ter just two years of throwing the shot put, she couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. “It wasn’t what I was expecting at photos by Matt Hollander all,” she said. “If you would have told Courtney Hammel (above) and Conner Borigo (below) ended their me during my freshman year that I Cottage Grove careers on the medal stand of the 4A state track and would go to state in track my senior fi eld championships, held last weekend at Hayward Field. year — especially since I was playing softball then — I would have said you were crazy.” “I’m glad it happened this way.” Fellow senior Courtney Hammel, who similarly fi rst came out for track and fi eld last year, also fi nished her career on the state meet podium. She placed seventh in the discus with a throw of 115 feet. “I didn’t really have a goal before the season started,” she said. “I was just doing the best that I could do. And I think that I’ve come a long ways since last year when I was throwing in the 80s.” Sutherlin’s Olivia Gulliford swept the shot put and discus with marks of 39-4.24 and 124-11, respectively. Sophomore Hudson Weybright made her second straight 800-meter fi nal for the Lions, where she fi nished seventh in 2:25.51. Five of the six run- ners who fi nished ahead of Weybright are seniors. “I’m happy with getting here,” she said. “You want to do your best be- cause you never know when it’s going to be your last time here.” In the team race, Astoria held off Newport 76 to 69 despite a heroic ef- fort by Rachel Vinjamuri, who won the 100 (12.02), 200 (24.57) and 400 (56.88) for the Cubs. The Lions scored seven points to fi n- ish tied for 25th. Cottage Grove sent four boys to state including Connor Howard in both the Please see TRACK AND FIELD, Page 3B Disc-golf tourney returns to Middlefi eld BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he second annual Lynx disc golf tournament, sponsored by Dynamic Discs, took center stage at Middlefi eld Golf Course over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23 and 24. One-hundred-and-fi fty-fi ve of the best amateur and professional disc golfers from throughout the west- ern region came to Cottage Grove for the rare opportunity to compete on a manicured golf course. Please see DISC Golf, Page 2B Athlete of the Week: Conner Borigo May 29th MARVIN SMITH MEMORIAL GROVE CLASSIC 360 Sprints, Late Models, Vintage May 30th MARVIN SMITH MEMORIAL GROVE CLASSIC- $4100.00 TO WIN 360 Sprints, Late Models, IMCA Modiϐieds, Vintage
