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