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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2015)
B S PORTS Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Wednesday, Aug . 19, 2015 Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Haze disrupts football camp, youth league expands Smoke from southern fi res causes football camps to move practice inside on Thursday morning and cancel practice that evening Youth volleyball sees slight drop in turnout, rise in skill level photo by Sam Wright BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel Monday kicked off the youth and high school football camps this week as young football play- ers geared up in preparation for another football season. While the fi rst three days seemed to go smoothly, the fourth and fi nal day would be faced with envi- ronmental disruptions. By the early afternoon on Monday Aug. 10, the sunny skies over Cottage Grove were dimmed by thick smoke. How- ever, there were no reports of Coach Bill Thompson (right) had to run drills inside the high school gym due to the concerning haze. fi res near the area, and KVAL’s meteorologist suggested that the smoke came from the Stouts fi re east of Canyonville, the Collier Butte fi re west of Grants Pass, or even fi res as far south as Cali- fornia. The football camps took place too early on Monday to be affected by the haze, and on Tuesday and Wednesday slower winds may have reduced the lev- els of smoke in the area. How- ever, Thursday’s practice had to be adjusted as health concerns for young athletes had arisen. The younger sixth through eighth graders moved their practice to the basketball gym, while the high school camp spent the majority of their time in the weight room. While Thursday’s haze didn’t initially appear as harsh as on Monday, it could defi nitely be felt on the fi eld. In fact, high school head coach Gary Roberts decided to cancel the evening practice on Thursday. “I spoke with our pediatri- cian, who recommended that we don’t have our evening camp, so we may have to cancel,” Rob- erts said. By the end of Thurs- day’s morning practice, it was confi rmed that the evening ses- sion was indeed canceled. Bill Thompson, who coaches for middle school students, agreed with the decision. “We don’t want to put any of the kids at risk,” Thompson said, “the heat can get bad enough.” Thompson is one of the coaches for the youth league, and encourages those already signed up to invite friends to join. This is because it is the fi rst year where all three grades of sixth, seventh and eighth grade will be playing full contact, 11 player football. “This is the fi rst time we’ve ever done all three grades, and we’ve even decreased the price to $50, that’s about a $75 de- crease,” he said. The middle-school football games will start weekly on Sept. eighth, and the fi rst high school game is Sept. fourth against Marshfi eld. Beer, bark, banter at WOE's Lumberjack Show Axes fl y, chainsaws growl, cold-start competitors struggle at WOE's annual Lumberjack Show BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he Western Oregon Ex- position fair saw lots of excitement over the weekend, and nothing drew a bigger crowd than the annual lumber- jack show. This year’s events took place Friday evening and Saturday afternoon with the big log stock saw, hot saw, women’s stock saw, modifi ed power saw, youth axe throw and open axe throw on Friday. Saturday’s events were men’s double buck, women’s stock saw, hot saw, axe throw, modifi ed chain saw, fi ve- cube saw, six cube saw, three-cut hot saw and several kids events in the early afternoon. More often than not, contes- tants dealt with equipment is- sues during the saw events that required a cold start. Starting up the chainsaws took multiple attempts by the majority of the contestants, increasing their times and hindering their effi - ciency. The axe throw saw a lot of spilled beer, as a can was placed Lower numbers aren't necessarily seen as a negative BY SAM WRIGHT The cottage grove sentinel The South Valley Athletics youth volleyball camp began this week, and the gym at Lin- coln seemed a little emptier than usual. The camp saw a slight de- crease in attendance this year; however coach Jennifer Rad- cliffe says that the skill level is inversely correlated to the atten- dance trend. “Attendance is lower than previous years, but we’re seeing a big increase in skill for the age group,” Radcliffe, who’s on her third year of coaching the SVA camp, said. Lower attendance with a higher skill level could indicate the sport's growing popularity among youth in the area. While not as many people are attend- ing, those who do are taking the sport more seriously and truly engaging in the learning pro- cess. Photo by Sam Wright The axe throw even brought a lot of excitement with the occasional beer spraying out from the target. at the bull’s eye of the target. Drawing beer from the can was the indicator for the six-point reward for hitting the bull’s eye, but it wasn’t always a guaran- tee. Erin Cramsey managed to nick the can, drawing a good amount of beer out, but the axe stuck right to the left, awarding Cramsey with only three points for that throw. The events were open to any- one willing to sign up, but all contestants had to bring their own equipment. One hopeful axe-thrower, Willie Gonia, was met with disappointment when he came ill-prepared. “I’m just visiting a friend from out of town, and I’ve always loved watching these lumber- jack shows on TV so I thought I’d try it,” Gonia said “unfortu- nately I don’t have my own axe, so my dreams were shattered,” he said laughing. The competition’s results will be released sometime next week. Kyle Miller earns emotional victory at Historical Night Miller, Wauge, Towns, Sine, and Maricle Historical Night Winners Due to the WOE fair, the Speedway was dormant this weekend, but the emotions from Aug 8's historical night still remain a week later BY BEN DEATHERAGE For the Sentinel Saturday Aug. 8 marked the annual Historical Night at Cot- tage Grove Speedway. Con- gratulations go out to the 2015 Class of the CGS Hall of Fame and also a special thanks to Dot’s Trophy Shop for provid- ing the plaques for the induct- ees. Divisions that were racing included the 360 Sprints, IMCA Modifi eds, Late Models, Street Stocks and Quality RV Repair Hornets. In the 360 Sprint feature, Patrick Dills set the pace in the opening laps. The Cottage Grove native, piloting his Jacob Daniels Attorney at Law/Or- egon State Representative Ced- ric Ross Hayden/M.D. Yearous Logging #5D KPC, would hold the coveted position un- til lap eleven. Taking over the lead would be the Moxie Vinyl Graphics/Grant Springer Rac- ing Engines #10 XXX of Kyle Miller from Eugene. Miller would set a rapid pace, but once he got into some lapped traffi c he would briefl y be challenged by Enumclaw, Washington’s Henry Van Dam. Van Dam, in his Kovash Log- ging/Johansen Excavating/Big Al Kids & Motorsports Foun- dation/Factory Kahne Shocks #33V A.R.T., would unfortu- nately pull off the track under caution on lap 23. Miller had the luxury of several lapped cars in between himself and second place. Miller would cruise the remainder of the distance to earn an emotional victory in honor of his longtime motor builder Grant Springer, who passed away a few weeks ago. Rob Lindsey from Sherwood was an impressive second in his Maxline Custom Cases/Sum- merfi eld Golf & Country Club/ Speedmart Inc./Triple X Race Co. #23 XXX, followed by the Athlete of the Week Photo courtesy of Dirt Monkey Productions #10 Kyle Miller cruised to victory with a commanding lead on Historical Night. DES Inc./LaChance Kofoid Products/Awesome Race Wear/ Enterprises/Red Line Oil/Dr. Rodgers Racing Engines #5N Ramos Dentistry #11K Max- KPC of Seth Nunes, from Med- im, of Penngrove, California’s ford, was fourth, followed by Michael Kofoid, in third. The Dills in fi fth. Napa Auto Parts/Lucas Oil Please see SPEEDWAY Page 2B Kyle Miller, driv- ing his Moxie Vinyl Graphics/Grant Spring Racing En- gines #10 XXX (left), took the lead in the 11th lap of the 360 Spring feature, taking a commanding lead. Miller would be challenged by Henry Van Dam, who later pulled off the track, allowing Miller to fi nish in fi rst place with ease. His victory was an emotional one, as his victory was to honor his late motor builder Grant Springer who recent- ly passed away. Join us August 22nd LOGGER’S CUP- $1,500.00 TO WIN LATE MODELS NWWT Sprints: ODSS-Oregon Double Shot Series Late Models, IMCA SportMods, Street Stocks, USAC HPD Midgets
