B
S PORTS
Section B
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Relay teams, individuals qualify for state meet after
strong performances at district meet
Aqua Lions qualify for the State Finals at
Mt. Hood Community College after the girls
fi nished in third and the boys fi nished in sixth
By Sam Wright
sports@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove fi nished a suc-
cessful district meet in North
Bend over the weekend by plac-
ing third overall for the girls
and sixth for the boys. All of the
relay teams from Cottage Grove
qualifi ed for the state fi nals, and
a few made it to state in individ-
ual events.
The girls’ medley relay team
of Nadia Witt, Emma Meyers,
Clover Rudicel and Tori Raade
fi nished in third in the 200-
yard medley relay in a time of
2:08.54.
Raade fi nished with one of
the more outstanding perfor-
mances. The senior fi nished
in third place in the 200-yard
freestyle race with a time of
2:09.85, just two seconds be-
hind second-place fi nisher Sier-
ra Trichler.
Rudicel snagged a fi fth-place
fi nish in the 200-yard inter-med-
ley race with a time of 2:41.18.
Meyers fi nished in 12th place
with a time of 2:54.19.
Mikayla Baird stepped onto
the scene with several top-fi ve
fi nishes. In the 50-yard free-
style, Baird took fourth place
with an impressive time of
27.25. The top six performers
in that race all fi nished within
2.4 seconds of each other. Baird
then took fi fth place in the 100-
yard butterfl y with a time of
1:09.9, and teammate Meyers
fi nished in 10th with 1:22.15.
Nadia Witt qualifi ed in the
100-yard freestyle by placing
in sixth place with a time of
1:02.73. Another outstanding
performance came from Witt
fi nishing fourth in the 100-yard
backstroke in a time of 1:10.03.
But the best individual fi nish
from Cottage Grove came from
Raade in the 500-yard freestyle.
In the longest race of the meet,
Please see AQUA LIONS, Page 3B
PHOTO COURTESY OF CONNIE PIFER
Ian Dukes swims the 100-yard breaststroke, fi nishing in fi rst place, the only fi rst-place fi nish for Cottage Grove over the weekend.
Lady Lions have Sky-Em in sight; on
seven-game winning streak
Athlete of the Week
Kory Parent puts up personal season-high
29 points against Sweet Home
After a low-scoring loss against Sisters, Cot-
tage Grove demolished Sweet Home with Kory
Parent leading the way. The senior put up 29
points and had three steals on the night.
Farrell and Boitz to State
Wrestlers qualify for state fi nals
The Cottage Grove Lions
fi nished last in the district tour-
nament this year, but on the up-
side, the team is sending two of
their wrestlers to the state tour-
nament.
To qualify for state, an athlete
must fi nish in the top four in the
weight class. However, those
who placed fi fth get a chance
to “wrestle back” for fourth
place by taking on the fourth-
place fi nisher, which is exactly
how Cottage Grove’s Nathan
Farrell qualifi ed for state in the
160-pound weight class.
Farrell fi rst defeated Cas-
cade’s Jacob Chelsey by pin-
ning him in 2:47. He then went
on to pin Marcus Paclisick from
Newport in one minute faster.
In the quarterfi nals, Farrell was
able to get a late pin over Clay
Dickerson from Stayton.
But Farrell then struggled
against his next two opponents.
Gregory Wing from North Mar-
ion, who boasts a 17-1 varsity
record, pinned Farrell in the fi rst
round. In the consolation round,
Farrell lost by decision to
Cleveland Smith from Stayton.
With a loss in the consolation
match, Farrell found himself
fi ghting Dickerson yet again for
fi fth place. He won by major de-
cision, 11-3.
The fi fth place match gave
Farrell the chance to “wrestle
back” for fourth place and a
qualifying spot at the state tour-
nament. Farrell managed to de-
feat Newport’s Ayite Mettle by
an 8-2 decision.
In the 120-pound weight
class, Aaron Boitz denied a
Sutherlin player the chance
that Farrell had. Boitz fought
his way to the semifi nal match,
but he lost to Russel Stigall of
North Marion. He won the con-
solation match but lost the third
place match, giving him fourth
place. Bryce Olsen, who was
in fi fth place, had a chance to
wrestle Boitz, but Boitz won by
rule over Olsen, making Boitz
the last qualifi er for his weight
class.
Boitz and Farrell will head to
the Veteran’s Memorial Colise-
um on Feb. 24 and 25 to wrestle
in the state fi nals.
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Junior Maria Pardee gets a block against Sisters on Wednesday.
By Sam Wright
sports@cgsentinel.com
The Cottage Grove girls’
basketball team has made an
immense turn around on their
season during league play. Even
if the Lions lose their last two
games, the team will have fi n-
ished the season 7-2 after start-
ing 3-10.
Last time we checked in,
Cottage Grove capped off a
fi ve-game winning streak after
getting revenge on Elmira in a
nail-biting home victory. And
now, after two road games last
week, Cottage Grove has ex-
tended its winning streak to sev-
en, beating Sisters and Sweet
Home in their own houses.
Aside from the high-scoring
win over Sutherlin in late Jan-
uary, it has been defensive play
that has recently stepped up and
allowed the Lions to maintain
their leads. On Wednesday, Cot-
tage Grove held Sisters to just
17 points all game, and then
only allowed 21 points scored
against them on Friday by
Sweet Home.
The Lions held control over
the Outlaws for the entirety of
the game. Cottage Grove took a
9-3 fi rst quarter lead, and then
duplicated that for an 18-6 lead
at the half. To hold any team to
just six points at halftime is an
outstanding feat. Sisters shot
only 16.67 percent from the
fi eld and had 21 turnovers.
Cottage Grove made 13 of 32
fi eld goals (40.62 percent) and
had 13 steals, four blocks and 23
defl ections, giving themselves a
31-17 win over the outlaws.
“Our defense is really start-
ing to make it hard for teams to
score,” Head Coach Kevin Yoss
pointed out.
At the front, there is Hud-
son Weybright and Tara Child.
Please see LADY LIONS, Page 3B
Sky-Em still up for grabs as Lions
fall to Sisters but rout Sweet Home
By Sam Wright
sports@cgsentinel.com
The boys’ basketball team
was held to a season low of
32 points against Sisters on
Wednesday, losing 45-32.
The loss keeps the Lions in a
deadlock with the Outlaws and
the Bulldogs from Sutherlin for
a three-way tie for fi rst place in
the Sky-Em League. All three
teams sit at 6-2 in league play,
but Cottage Grove and Sisters
both hold 14-6 records while
Sutherlin is 14-7.
Sisters held Cottage Grove
to just six points in the fi rst
half and a 22-6 defi cit seemed
insurmountable. The Lions
outscored the Outlaws 26-23
in the second half, but Sisters’
lead was too great and Cottage
Grove snagged their second loss
of the league play.
The Lions sank only 11 of 30
fi eld goals on the night, fi ve of
which were three-point shots.
Sisters doubled Cottage Grove
on rebounds (22-11) and shot
55 percent from the fi eld (15-
of-27).
Cottage Grove also struggled
from the free throw line, shoot-
ing only 45 percent.
Blake Sentman was the
high-scorer of the game (from
both teams) with 10 points.
Kory Parent fi nished with nine.
Hunter Gipson fi nished with
seven points and had three
steals on the night. Trey Hus-
ko was the only Cottage Grove
bench player to score a basket.
The Lions only lost two
games in a row once this season,
and it wasn’t about to happen
again, especially in league play.
After their lowest-scoring per-
formance against Sisters, Cot-
tage Grove traveled to Sweet
Home on Friday where they ran
over the Huskies in a dominated
77-51 performance.
Sweet Home managed to stay
close with the Lions in the fi rst
quarter, but after a 20-9 run in
the second quarter, the Huskies
seemed to be out of reach with
Cottage Grove leading 38-21 at
halftime. The Lions didn’t slow
down after the fi rst half. They
put up 15 points in the third
quarter and 24 points in the
fourth to rout Sweet Home.
This time, the Lions improved
to shooting 47 percent from the
fi eld and 40 percent from be-
yond the three-point line, and
Please see BASKETBALL, Page 3B