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