B
S PORTS
Section B
Wednesday, APRIL 12, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove Speedway opening day delayed
Mother Nature may have taken our original Season Opener
scheduled for April 8th but we took that as a challenge to make
April 15th even better!!
The fi rst 100 people into the stands will still receive FREE
general admission and the next 200 will receive a special gift
courtesy of Mohawk Metals, and we have over 1000 Easter
eggs fi lled with goodies for the kids to have a little fun during
intermission!
Todd’s Auto Body Sprints, Mohawk Metals IMCA Modi-
fi eds, IMCA Sportmods, and Quality RV Hornets will be out
and ready to do battle for the fi rst checkered fl ags of the season!
The familiar drivers in these classes will be joined by some
new ones in what is sure to bring the most exciting season yet!
Times:
Pit Gate – 2:00
Front Gate – 4:00
Hot Laps – 5:30
Qualifying – 6:00
Track and Field teams spring into action
Racing – 6:30
Prices:
General Admission Adult $13.00
General Admission JR (13-17), Seniors 62+, Military $10.00
General Admission Youth – 6-12 $5.00
General Admission 5 & Under – FREE
General Admission Family Pass (2Adults & 4 Youth (6-12)
$30.00
Pit Pass $30.00
‘There’s Good Things
Coming’ for Young
Lions
The Cottage Grove Lions girls’ softball
team
has yet to win a game in nine tries
For The Sentinel
this season, but head coach Cheryl Frieze
remains positive about her squad.
“We’re just a young, inexperienced team, and so, they’re getting
there,” said Frieze. “There are good things coming. No one on the
fi eld has more than four years of experience playing softball. Our
starting pitcher (Chloe Malmstedt) is a freshman, and our starting
catcher (Taylor McVey) is also a freshman. They are going to be
good. We just have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Last Tuesday the over-matched Lions hosted Junction City, the
fi rst place team in the Sky-Em, and were routed 26-0. The game
was called to a halt by rule after fi ve innings. Despite the lop-sided
score, there were some fi elding gems and some good swings at the
plate by the Lions. Shortstop Chelsea Davis made an outstanding
over the should catch, Jayla Leach made a fi ne a catch in center
fi eld, and catcher Taylor McVey made a nice bucket catch in front
of home plate to put out a Tiger. First baseman Kate Johns ruined
a no-hitter by Tiger ace Jenna Kister by beating out an infi eld. A
couple of other Lions hit some hard line drives, but unfortunately
they were right at the Tigers.
This week the Lions are scheduled to play Elmira, Sweet Home
and Sisters. The latter two games are at home at Taylor Street Field.
By Jerry Thompson
The Cottage Grove High School track teams ran two meets last week, opening the season on Thursday against Junction City and Pleasant Hill.
Despite a blustery
and rainy week, the
Cottage Grove High
School boys and
girls track teams timed it just right as they
were able to compete in two meets last week
when the sunshine was most prevalent. On
Thursday the Lions opened this season’s in-
terschool competition by hosting Junction
City and Pleasant Hill at the Wally Ciochetti
track. Saturday a large contingent of Lions
travelled to the Marist Classic, which was
held at Willamette High School due to prob-
lems with installation of Marist's new track.
At home, the Lion girls edged Pleasant
Hill by a score of 66 to 65. The Cottage
Grove boys fi nished second to Junction
City, 83 to 54. Cottage Grove was one of
eight schools which competed at the Marist
Classic along with: Marist, Marshfi eld, Tim-
berline (Boise, Idaho), Ontario, East Linn
Christian, Sheldon and Willamette. None
of the teams were at full strength, but for
the record, Marshfi eld swept both the boys
and girls competition. The Lion boys took
fi fth and the girls fi nished in sixth place. In
both meets the Lion boys competed without
the services of Hayden Glenn, a junior who
excels in the hurdles, sprints and long jump.
In the girls’ victory on Thursday, fi rst
place winners for the Lions were: senior
Hudson Weybright in the 1500 meters
(5:45.30), junior Faryn Dahlen in the 100
By Jerry Thompson
For The Sentinel
hurdles (17.70), sophomore Cassidy Her-
bert in the shot put (29’ 10”), senior Melis-
sa Powers in the javelin (98’6”), and junior
Keara Murphy in the high jump (4’8”). Lion
junior Hunter Hall led the boys with fi rst
places in both the shot put (43’11”) and jav-
elin (140’8”). Junior Chad Bottorff in the
200 (24.77), and senior Tucker Porter in the
triple jump (38’5.25”) were the other Lion
boys who won their events.
Victories were very hard to come by in
the 8-team meet on Saturday. Senior Han-
nah Albrecht was the only Cottage Grove
victor for either the girls or boys. Albrecht
won the 400 meters in a time of 63.82 and
came back later to take fourth in the 200
(28.02). The next highest fi nish for the CG
girls was a third place by Melissa Powers in
the javelin (98’8’). Four Lion girls earned
fourth places. Junior Keara Murphy claimed
fourth in both the long jump (15’4”) and tri-
ple jump (30’5”), and sophomore Tyra Gor-
don tied Murphy in the long jump (15’4”).
Freshman Sabrina James crossed the fi nish
line in fourth in the 3000 meters with a PR
of 11:39.29, while junior Faryn Dahlen im-
proved her 100 hurdles time from Thursday
to 17.39.
For the boys the top individual plac-
ers were junior Jacob Woods with a leap
of 20’6” in the long jump and sophomore
Erick Vallejo Giffen, who cleared 5’6” in
the high jump. Both marks were good for
second place. Woods also took fourth in
the 200 meters (23.84) and anchored the 4
x 100 relay team which took second in a
time of 44.99. The lone Lion to earn a third
place was junior Hunter Hall with a throw
of 147’4” in the javelin. In the triple jump
senior Tucker Porter earned a fourth place
(39’2”) as did junior Takoda Brooks in the
pole vault (9’6”).
Head coach Ricky Knutson was partic-
ularly impressed by Woods breaking the
20-foot barrier in the long jump as well as
Tyra Gordon going over 15-feet in the same
event. Knutson also was pleased with how
James ran what he termed as a “smart” race
in the 3000 meters, and was encouraged by
junior Joshua Clafl in’s PR of 39’2.5” in the
shot put.
The Lion boys were the Sky-Em District
Champions last season and the CG girls took
second. Knutson said both teams have lost
many key performers, but is still optimistic
that his squads will be able to compete for
the league titles again. He sees Sisters as the
early favorite in the girls’ team competition
and Junction City as the frontrunner for the
Sky-Em boys.
The next meets for the Lions will be at
Elmira on Thursday when they take on the
Falcons and the Sisters Outlaws, and on
Saturday Cottage Grove will also compete
in the Elmira Relays.
The Lions' Kate Johns beat out this infi eld single, the only hit of the game
vs. Junction City.
Athlete of the Week
Ducks football coach stresses building relationships
Since
M
ark
For The Sentinel
H e l -
frich
was dismissed as the Oregon
Ducks football head coach
and Willie Taggart was hired
away from South Florida on
December 7, there has been a
new wave of excitement about
Ducks’ football. It began with
the hiring of an all-star assistant
By Jerry Thompson
coaching staff with an emphasis
on shoring up a porous defense.
Then, despite two of the new
assistants leaving, Taggart re-
placed them with coaches with
even better resumes. They came
Feb. 1 when the Ducks signed
what was ranked as the nation’s
No. 18 recruiting class, beating
out Stanford, Washington and
UCLA, fi nishing only behind
USC in the Pac-12.
The cast of assistants Tag-
gart wooed include defensive
coordinator Jim Leavitt from
the Colorado Buffaloes along
with secondary coach Charles
Clark. He executed another
coup by obtaining Washington
State’s outstanding defensive
line coach, Joe Salave’a. On
offense, Mario Cristobal, the
offensive line coach of peren-
nial power Alabama joined the
Please see Taggard PG. B3
Senior Hannah Albrecht, in her fi rst 400 meter run of the season, raced to
fi rst place at the Marist Classic last week.
Join Us April 15th Gates Open 4:30pm
EVENT CLASSES
Quality RV Hornets, IMCA Sportmods, Mohawk Metal IMCA
Modiieds, Todd’s Auto Body Sprint Cars
The irst 100 people in will receive free general admission, the
next 200 will receive a special gift courtesy of Mohawk Metals