2B COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL August 5, 2015
D AWSON
Middlefi eld Men’s Club
Continued from 1B
Having already established herself
as a standout in soccer and basketball,
the coaching staff had her pegged as a
sprinter. But Dawson found that racing
someone to a fi nish line wasn’t the same
as chasing down a loose ball.
“It was a totally different mindset.
I tried every event and it still had me
messed up. So at the end of my fi rst sea-
son, I told the coaches that I only wanted
to throw javelin,” she said.
From that point on the coaches al-
lowed Dawson to focus exclusively on
fi eld events, but she says it wasn’t until
she broke 100 feet in the javelin early in
her junior season that they truly relented.
Later that year, she threw a personal best
of 123 feet, two inches at the state meet,
where she placed seventh overall.
The next fall, with college on the hori-
zon, Dawson started to consider her op-
tions. There were schools closer to home
that offered programs in architecture or
engineering, but only Hawaii had both.
And while athletics weren’t the major
factor, she would have had an opportu-
nity to try out for the Rainbow Wahine.
“My goal was to get on scholarship
somewhere,” Dawson recalled. “I had
such a passion for basketball, but I knew
that I was better at javelin, and I thought
that it would take me further.”
Dawson also felt the need to become
more independent from her family,
which by that point had grown by three
more siblings when her mom, Rene’, re-
married.
“When divorce happens in your fam-
ily at such a young age, I think that inde-
pendence starts to set in earlier than it’s
supposed to. I went through a lot of hard-
ships in high school. I was nearly living
on my own, but It was more so that I had
my own plan. And I knew that I wanted
to keep that up, or I would start losing
what I wanted for myself,” she said.
While David was concerned about
Destiny being 2,500 miles from home, he
said that her stubbornness won out.
Dawson did not have the senior season
that she had hoped for. After setting a
new personal best of 128-09 at a Sky-Em
League meet at Sisters in early April, she
did not approach that distance again until
the state meet, where she threw 124-01
for fi fth place.
“When I threw a PR so early in the
year, I was so encouraged, and I expected
it to keep happening, bu even though that
didn’t happen, I still loved it enough to
keep going,” she said.
Dawson’s foray into Hawaii athletics
was not uneventful. Although she had
been in regular contact with the throws
coach during her senior year, that per-
son left over the summer and didn’t tell
anyone else on the staff to expect her.
However, Dawson was still allowed to
walk-on during her fi rst semester, and in
the spring she was placed on a single-se-
H UNTING C LASSES
fi le photo
Destiny Dawson fi nished fi fth at
the Oregon 4A state track and fi eld
meet in 20014, her senior year at
Cottage Grove.
mester tuition scholarship.
Dawson spent much of her fi rst colle-
giate season almost exactly where she left
off in high school: struggling to break out
of the 120s. But in the two weeks leading
up to the Big West Conference Cham-
pionships, she made a dramatic change
to her approach; instead of the standard
run-up and fi ve-step crossover, Dawson
dropped the run-up completely and went
to a seven-step crossover.
“It changed everything,” she said.
“What I was doing before was just too
hard; transitioning from the run-up into
my crossover, I would lose all the mo-
mentum I had built up, and it messed
up the rest of the throw. But there are
so many ways to tweak a throw, and my
coach just wanted me to do what was
comfortable.”
At the conference championships
hosted at University of California at Riv-
erside in May, Dawson improved on each
of her fi rst four throws and fi nished with
a new PR of 129 feet. David, who took
the fi rst chance he could get to see Des-
tiny compete on the mainland, couldn’t
have been more proud.
“It was killing me that she was strug-
gling in the regular-season meets, be-
cause it sounded like she was practicing
so well. Over the phone, all I could say
was, ‘I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you
something to do, but I'm not there; I cant
tell you what's going on.’ I can’t even ex-
plain what it was like to watch her throw
a PR,” David said.
The outlook for Dawson is bright. She
is wrapping up a summer physics course,
the tuition for which was paid by the ath-
letic department, and depending on how
she progresses athletically and academi-
cally, she said she hopes to earn a full
scholarship.
S PEEDWAY
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF
4 FOUJOFM
Our Community Newspaper
since 1889
Continued from 1B
online courses (fees range from $13 to $24.50 and include
mobile-friendly options) or request a free workbook by email-
ing odfw.info@state.or.us. These students must also sign up for
and complete a fi eld day, where they practice safe fi rearm han-
dling and shooting with certifi ed hunter education instructors.
“It can be diffi cult to keep the kids busy this time of year,
but our summer courses allow them to complete this important
class before school starts and in time for fall hunting season,”
said James Reed, ODFW hunter education coordinator. “If you
can’t get them to a traditional class, they can do most of the
class online or through a take-home workbook.”
Most Oregon’s volunteer hunter education instructors hunt in
the fall, so we usually have more classes available in summer,”
Reed added.
Adults are also welcome to attend any hunter education class-
es and may take the adult online course, which doesn’t require
a fi eld day for certifi cation.
Hunter education is required for all hunters under the age of
18 and encouraged for adults, too. The classes cover important
issues including hunter ethics and respect for private landown-
ers; wildlife management and identifi cation; fi rearms handling
and safety; hunt preparation and techniques; survival and intro-
ductory bowhunting.
All classes and fi eld days are taught by certifi ed volunteers
dedicated to passing on the tradition of hunting to future gener-
ations. These volunteer instructors teach and certify about 6,500
students statewide each year in hunter education.
Those seeking more information about hunter education may
visit http://www.dfw.state.or.us/education/hunter/
Race Summary:
Wallbanger Cup
Saturday, August 1
Cottage Grove Speedway
Late Models
A Feature 1: 1. 42-Curtis
Towns; 2. 16W-Jesse Wil-
liamson; 3. 9-Rob Campos; 4.
13-Tony Brakeall; 5. 5-Brit-
ton Donahoo; 6. 88-Randy
Martin; 7. 09-Todd Shandy; 8.
38-Thomas Hunziker; 9. 68-
Greg Schellhorn; 10. 16-Rob
Williams; 11. 78-Ed Peters;
12. 20-Josh Sim
Clark Printing Extreme
Sprints
A Feature 1: 1. 5D-Patrick
Dills; 2. 3K-Michael (Buddy)
Kofoid; 3. 12-Orion Red-
mond; 4. 51-Bricen James; 5.
70-Raquel Ivie; 6. 1B-Chelsea
Blevins; 7. 57-Dusty Red-
mond; 8. 1-Bailey Hibbard;
9. 10K-Don Waddell; 10. 85-
Ricky Ashley; DNS 3-David
Hibbard; DNS 71-Colby
Carter; DNS 8-Anthony Pope
IMCA Modifi eds
A Feature 1: 1. 5M-Jake
Mayden; 2. 1K-Kinzer Cox;
3. 27-Mark Carrell; 4. 24-
Curtis Towns; 5. 11-Steven
Sturdevant; 6. 30-Kyle Yeack;
7. 84-Eric Ashley; 8. 44-
Greg McDonald; 9. 50-Justin
Ryker; 10. W5-Jesse William-
son; 11. 34-Eric Cooper; 12.
77-Kreg Britton; 13. 44-Nick
Bessette; 14. 85-T.J. Langan;
15. 10-Gus Cooper; 16. 34-
T.J. Richman; 17. 57-Ethan
Landers; 18. 95-Josh Linville;
19. S-Collen Winebarger
Street Stocks
A Feature 1: 1. 47-Kyle
Yeack; 2. 13-Bricen James; 3.
85-Evan Britton; 4. 24-Chris
Sine; 5. 41C-Cody Smith; 6.
88-Kevin Roberts; 7. 3-Jeff
Casto; 8. 11X-Donald Schott;
9. 99H-Dustin Hitner; 10.
4-Justin Krossman; 11. 7M-
Marena Starr-Ferguson; 12.
10-Steve Dubisar; 13. 35-Ken
Fox; 14. T3-Talyn Roberts;
15. 2D-Daniel Land; 16. 74-
Andrew Langan; 17. 7K-Matt
King; 18. 51-Doug Coffman;
19. 25-Myshkin Ferguson; 20.
11-Steven Sturdevant; DNS
99-Justin Evans; DNS 1X-
Sidney Schott; DQ. 34-Mark
Gaylord
W ELLNESS P ROGRAM
Continued from 1B
dramatic increase in partici-
pation.”
According to Superintendent
Krista Parent, SLSD used to
have wellness committees that
were tasked with fi nding healthy
solutions for the school district’s
400-plus employees; however,
when federal support for those
programs went away, employ-
ees were left on their own to de-
velop a healthy lifestyle.
“Teaching is hard work, and
the mind-body is critical for our
teachers to be at their best for
seven class periods a day,” she
said.
The grant was awarded to
SLSD through the Oregon Ed-
ucation Association’s Choice
Trust Employee Wellness Grant
Program. Grantees are eligible
to receive up to $75,000 over a
fi ve-year period to implement
a wellness program that im-
proves the health and well be-
ing of school district employees
by focusing on physical fi tness,
healthy eating and other mea-
sures of health, including body
weight, blood pressure and cho-
lesterol.
In addition to the obvious
benefi ts, the wellness program
has helped to facilitated more
interaction between staff who
otherwise may not ever get to
know each other.
“I know everybody in the dis-
trict, but if you work at London
Subscribe
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Game: 2-3 Points
Date: July 27
1, Larry Eyman, Bill Wilson,
David Morris, Gary Culp
116. 2, Bob McCarty, Bob
Lefl er, Larry Dreiling, David
Morris 110. 3t, Bill Avery,
Leon Hayes, Frank LaCosse,
Larry Zuvich 108. 3t, Larry
Emery, Dan Pearson, Gary
Sparks, Larry Eyman BD
108.
Low Gross: 1, Dan Smith
70. 2t, Gary Sparks 71. 2t,
Jack Doleman 72.
Low Net: 1, Bob Armor
58. 2, Larry Zuvich 62. 3t,
David Morris 63. 3t, Don
Arendell 63.
Closest to the Pin: No.
5, Don Arnedell. No. 7,
Mike Cooney. No. 14, Dan
Pearson.
Longest Putt: No. 13, Mel
Gowing.
Game: 2-3 Best Ball
Date: July 30
1, Dave Tooker, Milt Lev-
ings, Darrell Lee, Les
Rhodes (-27). 2, Dan Pear-
son, Don Perkins, Ed Wil-
son, Larry Zuvich (-26). 3,
Jake Cox, Frank Gates, Leon
Hayes, Bill Medin (-23).
Low Gross: 1, Dan Smith
65. 2t, Dan Pearson 70. 2t,
Mike Helms 70. 2t, Deross
Kinkade.
Low Net: 1, Ed Wilson 56.
2, Dick Winters 61. 3, Leon
Hayes 62.
Closest to the Pin: No.
5, Deross Kinkade. No. 7,
Leon Hayes. No. 14, Jim
Cunningham
Longest Putt: No. 15, Jake
Cox.
Caring for your Health
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SOUTH VALLEY
ATHLETICS
Fall Soccer Registration – 4 years old thru 8th grade
Volleyball Registration – 3rd thru 6th grade
Now through 3:00 on August 8th
Mass Registration: August 8th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
NEW THIS SEASON!!!
We will be splitting boys and girls teams up
for U8 and older!
Call 541-942-3079, check our website
or Facebook for more information!
You can also register online at www.familyid.com
you may not know your col-
leagues at the high school. So
it has been neat to see people
form those new connections,”
said Parent.
SLSD was awarded the maxi-
mum $25,000 in the fi rst year
of its wellness program, and
the expenses thus far have been
minimal: small stipends for fi t-
ness instructors and the grant
coordinator, two wellness clin-
ics that will take place later this
year and incentive prizes for
participation.
Parent said that the district
received glowing reviews on
its mid-year report for being on
track to exceed its objectives
as far as participation, meeting
benchmarks and raising aware-
ness for wellness opportunities.
She said that a renewal of the
grant is highly likely.
“Krista is a strong advocate
for SLSD, and she is very pro-
active and aware of what grants
are available,” said Wren, who
will be replaced by Erin Boyce
as the grant coordinator as she
transitions from being a teacher
at Harrison Elementary into her
new role as an assistant princi-
pal at Lincoln Middle School.
Offi ce closed July 17th thru 29th
1440 S. 8th Street • 541-942-3079
www.southvalleyathletics.org