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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 2016)
B S PORTS Wednesday, July 13, 2016 Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Former Olympic Grover refl ects on the Olympic Trials at Hayward Field Dyrol Burleson, a former CGHS track star and Olympian, helps convey the experience of attending and competing in the biggest track and fi eld competition in the country BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The Olympic Trials just wrapped up in Eugene on Sun- day, ending what could be the biggest stage most of the ath- letes have competed in outside of the Olympics themselves. On such an enormous national platform, Oregon has managed to stand out, with many UO ath- letes achieving great success. Among this titanic event is a former Lion track star who has had the opportunity to compete at the Trials and also watch the sport develop and grow. In the 1950s, Cottage Grove High School’s track and fi eld program produced one of the top athletes in the country. Dyrol Burleson burst onto the scene under coaches Wally Ciochetti and the late Sam Bell and went on to receive the fi rst full scholarship for track at the University of Oregon under Bill Bowerman. The scholarship motivated Burleson to make a commitment to never lose a race during his time at the university, and he made good on his prom- ise. To this day, he is the only athlete from the UO track and fi eld program to have done so. At age 14, "Sports Illustrated" published one of its fi rst issues with track star Roger Bannister on the cover. That set Burleson’s goals of getting on the cover of the magazine, making the Olympic team and winning an Olympic gold medal. Burleson achieved the fi rst two but fell short of a gold medal in his two Olympic appearances. Howev- er, Burleson is not regretful and is as enthusiastic as ever when it comes to track and fi eld. Now that all of the events have been completed and the roster has been set, Burleson has been able to refl ect on his track expe- rience, as well as comment on how the sport has changed since he competed. “I really can’t believe how it’s changed,” he said. “The equip- ment is better, the facilities are far superior and the training is much more intense.” Burleson added that the sport has changed so much that it is genuinely dif- fi cult to compare the present and the past. For instance, in 1960 there was only one 1500-meter race rather than multiple to ensure the top athletes were the ones to go to the Olympics. “In 1964 they changed it to three races in case some run- ner didn’t perform their best,” he noted. Burleson had expe- rienced some of the changes himself, but it didn’t change the result: he won the 1500-meter Photo by Sam Wright Hayward Field hosted over 20,000 spectators over the 10-day trial period. race in both Trials. Burleson was supposed to compete in 1968, when he be- lieves he was in the best shape of his life, but he suffered a calf injury and couldn’t compete in the Trials. Unfortunately, due to a health CG Football Golf Tournament a great success BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The fi rst of several tourna- ments at Middlefi eld Golf Course teed off this past Sat- urday, July 9. The 2016 Cot- tage Grove Football Fundraiser Tournament brought out a size- able crowd of golf and football enthusiasts. The tournament helps raise funds for the football team and subsidizes some of the efforts made by football team members who host fundraisers around the year. According to football head coach and athletic director Gary Roberts, the annual goal of the fundraiser is $3,500. Golfers battled the damp- ness early Saturday morning as looming rain clouds threat- ened to cancel the event, but the weather held out and the tourna- ment went on. Thirteen teams of four registered to play the 18-hole course. Teams featured all different kinds of Lions sup- porters, including fans, coaches and even some CGHS alumni Please see TOURNAMENT, Page 2B issue, Burleson was unable to attend the trials at Hayward fi eld but still recorded and watched them every day between July 1 and July 10. “I am the ultimate track fan,” he said. Burleson is just as ex- cited to watch the young athletes compete as he was when he had his fi rst chance to compete him- self in 1960. “I live vicariously through these athletes,” Burleson said. To add to the excitement is the fact that the University of Oregon has produced so many Athletes of the Week competing athletes, and as a former Duck himself, Burleson is ecstatic “beyond belief.” Please see TRIALS, Page 4B July 4 sees excitement at Speedway BY BEN DEATHERAGE For the Sentinel Photo courtesy of Gary Roberts Tony Lefl er tees off as teammates Joe Brunetti and Ray Bloom watch. The team, in- cluding Darren Giffen (not pictured) took fi rst place in the tournament with a score of 14 under. New league gives casual soccer fans more options Along with the familiar SCORES soccer league, South Valley Athlet- ics has brought a new, more ca- sual league to the table. MLS is a new league formed by commu- nity members who wish to play a more casual game of soccer. While SCORES is still limited contact, MLS is completely no contact. The league is designed for players aged 30 and older or for younger players with no experience. The format of the games are a four-on-four fi eld with no goalie on a fi eld about half the size of a regular fi eld in square footage. “People came to us asking to create a league that wasn’t as com- petitive as SCORES, so we came up with this,” SVA director Smiley Glenn said. “There isn’t much to it, but it seems to be a good solution for more casual players.” The league has yet to reach the required number to be able to sepa- rate into permanent teams, so for now teams are randomly created each week. The league meets every Thurs- day at Currin fi eld and is still open for late registration. The form can MLS is a perfect league for novice soccer players and people over 30. be found on the SVA website. 541-942-7561 Photo by Sam Wright Cottage Grove Speedway played host to the second leg of the 2016 Speedweek Northwest schedule. It was another Inde- pendence Day thriller at CGS with the best car count of the week as well as a packed grand- stand to watch the July 4 action. Thirty-three cars were in atten- dance representing the states of Oregon, Washington, Cali- fornia, and Idaho as well as the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia and even a driver from the Southland re- gion of New Zealand. Roger Crockett got out to the lead on the opening lap. The Medford driver started from the pole and was extremely quick from the get-go. With a long green-fl ag run, it brought lapped traffi c into the mix, but Crockett was able to handle the slower cars extremely well. A lap-13 caution bunched the fi eld up and another yellow occurred on the 19th circuit, which ended up being the fi nal stoppage of the race. Shortly after the restart, Crockett had a little bit of diffi culty making it around a lapped car, which brought about an opportunity for him to be challenged. Paradise, California’s Kyle Hirst made it around Crockett on lap 25 and looked to close out the race as the leader. Crockett reeled Hirst back in and at the Please see Speedway, Page 3B Join us July 16th for BMD MINERS NIGHT - LADIES NIGHT LADIES 18+ FREE - TRIPLE CROWN ROUND 3 www.cottagegrovespeedway.com 360 Sprints, Late Models, IMCA SportMods, Quality RV Repair Hornets
