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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 2015)
B Section B S PORTS South Lane County Sports and Recreation Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Athletes of the Year Big decisions pay off for Borigo Presley masters the art of shifting BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel is fi rst baseball glove was made of plas- tic so stiff that he couldn’t even squeeze it. And he showed up to his fi rst prac- tice as a third-grader not knowing how to catch a pop fl y. But by the end of the year, he was hit- ting and getting on base, fi elding ground balls and playing shortstop. These early baseball memories might sound a lot like those of Scotty Smalls from “The Sandlot,” but they are in fact those of Payton Presley, the Cottage Grove Sentinel’s male athlete of the year. “I was surprised by how fast I picked it up, and I think that’s why I stuck with it,” he said. “I liked that it was a mental game, and I liked that it was fun.” Presley recently completed a banner ju- nior year at Cottage Grove High School. On their way to a postseason berth, he led the Lions with a .386 batting av- erage while driving in 16 runs. He also led the team with 28 stolen bases. On the gridiron, Presley caught 24 passes for 392 yards and a team-high fi ve touchdowns. Defensively he primarily played at cor- nerback, and he came up with a key interception in the Lions' fi rst win of the year against Sutherlin. It’s shaping up to be a busy summer for Presley. Earlier this spring he ummer basketball has nearly arrived for Conner Bori- go. Borigo, the recently graduated Cottage Grove girls' basketball star, says it’s one of her favorite times of the year. She can focus solely on hoops and create bonds with her team- mates that will last them through the long winter season. When she returns to the gym this week, Borigo will be doing so with Northwest Christian University. And though her new home court will look a lot like the one on which she spent the past four years excelling — both are 94 feet long with blue and gold accents — Borigo knows that her life is about to change. “I’m sad to leave behind the memories and the people I got to know here, but I’m super excited for what NCU has to offer,” she said. Borigo, the Cottage Grove Sentinel’s female athlete of the year, signed with the Beacons this past December and fi nished her high-school career in dominating fash- ion. She led the Lions to the postseason with a second- place fi nish in the Sky-Em League. In a non-conference game against Stayton on Jan. 9, she established a new single-game school record of 34 points. And follow- ing the season, she was awarded co-league player of the year and was named second team all-state. Later in the spring, in just her second season of track and fi eld, Borigo climbed to fi fth on the school’s all-time shot put chart with a mark of 37-2 and placed sixth at the 4A state meet. Looking back, Borigo knows that fi nalizing her college plans before her senior season be- gan had a lot to do with how she performed during it. “Last summer I was still trying to fi nd a coach and a school that would really give me an offer, and I was stressed out all the time. But when it fi nally happened, I H Please see PRESLEY, Page 2B S photo by Gary Ordway Sports Action Photography photo by Jo Wheat Please see BORIGO, Page 2B Male Overall: Payton Presley — Football, Baseball Female Overall: Conner Borigo — Basketball, Track and Field Freshman: Adam Lamb — Football, Wrestling, Track and Field Freshman: Halle Petersen — Soccer, Track and Field Sophomore: Hudson Weybright — Soccer, Track and Field Sophomore: Kory Parent — Football, Basketball Junior: Bryce Allen — Wrestling, Baseball Senior: Johnny Conrad — Football, Golf Junior: Delia Nichols-Ferguson — Soccer, Basketball, Track and Field Senior: Taylor Sayles — Volleyball, Basketball, Softball Fall Sports Winter Sports Spring Sports Boys Cross Country: Adam Najera Girls Cross Country: Breanna Wright Boys Soccer: Joe Welch Girls Soccer: Kia Hemenway Football: Austin Gordon Volleyball: Sara Bass Boys Basketball: Chance Hopkins Girls Basketball: Melissa Thielman Boys Bowling: Austin Renfro Girls Bowling: Gracie Stewart Boys Swimming: Jarett Raade Girls Swimming: Tori Raade Boys Wrestling: Andrew Bordeaux Girls Wrestling: Katie Dennis Baseball: Lucas Ward Softball: Liz Wiltse Boys Golf: Cameron Sandoval Girls Golf: MacKenzie Husko Boys Track and Field: Michael Tharpe Girls Track and Field: Courtney Hammel The Business of Sports Program offers CGHS students hands-on work experience in athletics BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel I t’s a fall Friday night in Cottage Grove, and you’ve decided to go catch the Lions. By the time you get your program, purchase your snacks and settle into your seats at Herald White Stadium, it’s likely that you’ve encountered at least half-a- dozen instances of work done by the school’s Ad- vanced Business Concepts class. The program was started in 2007 with a gift from the Carl Perkins Foundation. The goals for the class were twofold: provide students with valuable, hands-on experience; and generate rev- enue to help compensate for cuts to the school’s activities budget. The class now raises $10,000- $15,000 annually for school activity programs and scholarships. “We saw it as a win-win for everyone involved,” said instructor Ricardo Florez. “A lot of coaches were already fundraising in the community, and we felt that if we could concentrate our efforts into one proposal, then we wouldn’t put local businesses in the position of having to choose which programs to support.” The class started small in both size and scope. Its primary function in the early days was to pro- duce and sell programs at sporting events. But it wasn’t long before the students also took on vend- ing and concessions. “Early on, we wanted it to be something the stu- dents could handle and do correctly,” said Florez. In recent years, the program has become in- creasingly multi-faceted. Within Advanced Busi- ness Concepts is the Sports Marketing division, Please see The Business of Sports, Page 2B photo by Matt Hollander Advanced Business Concepts students Kenny Thurman, Makenzie Wells and Croix Hogan and instructor Ricardo Florez make sure that sponsor signs are evenly spaced around the fences of Herald White Stadium. Join us June 13th for Ladies Night Late Models, 360 Sprints, IMCA SportMods, Quaility RV Repair Horents, Pro 4’s
