B
S PORTS
Section B
Wednesday, MAY 17, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Sentman hangs up the blue and gold LION TRACK
Blake Sentman continues senior send-offs for 2017 class
TEAMS MAKE
SCHOOL
HISTORY
By Kyle McGowen
As the rain fell on and off Saturday
afternoon at Sutherlin High School, the
Cottage Grove Lions track and fi eld
team continued to reign supreme in the
Sky-Em league. For the fi rst time in school history, the boys and
coed Lions teams are back-to-back district champions after Thurs-
day and Saturdays events.
“We were hoping to get out of here with three trophies but to de-
fend your title is always hard,” Knutson said. I would say Junction
City was the favorite coming in. For the boys to swing it around to
pull off the win is pretty awesome.”
Led by a balanced effort, the men’s team’s 162 points earned
them a 1st place fi nish above Junction City. Cottage Grove had sev-
en members of the boys team that scored a combined 16 points who
were not seeded in scoring position going into the weekend, which
were big in Cottage Grove’s fi ve point win.
“It was such a team effort on the boy’s side cause while we didn’t
win a ton of events we had a lot of guy’s step and score. Our depth
is what won it for us today, for anyone who thinks track is an in-
dividual sport, it was a total team effort today on the boy’s side.
There are too many guys to even mention that stepped it up today,”
Knutson said.
On the track, Jacob Woods once again had a big day for the Cot-
tage Grove boys, winning the 100-meter fi nal with a time of 11.37,
just edging out Junction City’s Jake Rogers. Woods and Rogers
once again fi nished 1st and 2nd in the 200-meter race but Rogers
got the upper hand in that race.
“Going into the meet we talked a lot with the kids how this meet
was a lot like a boxing match, there was going to be 17 rounds.
There were a couple points where I thought Junction City was go-
ing to have us on the boy’s side,” Knutson added. The Tigers boys
fi nished just 5 points behind the Lions, with 157 points.
In the 1500 Konrad Raum’s PR of 4:18.90 was good enough for
a 3rd place fi nish. James Talley and Raum had another big showing
in the 3000, fi nishing 2nd and 3rd, with Raum coming just behind
Sisters lead man Jordan Pollard. The Lions 4X100 Relay team fi n-
ished 2nd in the fi nals on the boy’s team’s way to winning districts.
The boys fi eld events were highlighted by Hunter Hall, who
threw 43’ 0.25 and Joshua Clafl in throwing 40’ 6.5 in the shot put.
The Javelin fi nals also saw Hunter Hall throw 157’ 8, good enough
for third. But it was Tucker Porter (who also placed 2nd in the triple
jump fi nals, Woods, and Erick Giffen that highlighted the men’s
fi eld events. Porter and Woods fi nished 1st and 2nd in the Long
jump for the Lions while Giffen’s 6’1 high jump fi nished led to a
1st place fi nish.
After fi nishing 11th in last week’s Ciochetti invitational, the girls
team had a strong performance, fi nishing with 170 points, second
behind Sisters’ 175 points. Cassidy Herbert won the shot put event,
throwing 30-10.5 while also fi nishing 3rd in discus. Melissa Pow-
ers and Kaitlyn Brooks fi nished 3rd and 4th respectively in the Jav-
elin fi nals while Keara Murphy’s 4’10 jump was good enough for
2nd in the high jump. “Sisters beat us up pretty good last year (on
the girl’s side, we knew Sisters would be the favorite again but we
thought we had closed the gap on them a little bit,” Knutson added.
“To come fi ve points within a team like that…”
On the track the women’s team had another excellent showing
from Hannah Albrecht, Sabrina James, and Faryn Dahlen. Albrecht
took the 400, while also fi nishing 2nd in the 100 and 200 meter
races. James came in second in the 1500 and 3000 while Dahlen
fi nished 2nd in the 100M hurdles and Tyra Gordon fi nished 3rd in
the same event. Hudson Weybright also came in 2nd in the 800-me-
ter race.
Up next the Lions will send 18 student athletes to Hayward fi eld
in Eugene for the state championships this Friday and Saturday.
Knutson, who won the Sky-Em boys coach of the year award
along with his assistants, said this coming week’s practices will
be “a lot of recovery. A lot of attention to detail and a lot of tech-
nique. It’s hard to compete with this level of intensity two out of
three days so we need to make sure they are fresh for competing at
Hayward fi eld.”
For The Sentinel
At eight years old, Blake Sentman
was already on the Cottage Grove High
For The Sentinel
School basketball court nearly every
game, running onto the court at halftime
and pawing for a loose ball to shoot until
the Lions returned from the locker room.
“All the coaches...they just knew me as the little kid they couldn’t
keep off the court,” Sentman said with a laugh.
At the time, Sentman’s older brother Bryant Sentman was a
member of the Cottage Grove High School’s basketball and foot-
ball teams. Blake remembers attending his brother’s games, playing
on the fi eld or court at halftime and hoping that one day he could
follow in Bryant’s footsteps.
After his older brother was recruited to Oregon Tech, Blake set
the same goal to play sports at the college level.
Fast forward ten years and Blake is now a senior at CGHS and a
four-year letterman in both football and basketball. But he is much
more than just a member of these teams; Blake is a crucial element
to them.
His senior year, Blake showed his prowess in football, taking
home League Offensive Player of the Year honors, a First Team All-
League (Offense) and First Team All-State selection for his work as
the Lions’ quarterback.
When football season drew to a close, Blake didn’t. His senior
basketball season, he was named Sky-Em Player of the Year and
made the league’s First-Team roster and earned a spot on Oregon’s
4A First Team All-State list.
By Madison Layton
Blake said the decision to keep up the work in the off-season in
both sports, which helped him achieve these honors, wasn’t a tough
one to make.
“I grew up watching my brother doing that,” Blake said. “I also
got to grow up getting to watch him play at the college level...I
knew what I had to do to get there.”
And the fi rst week of May this year, all that work paid off.
Blake accepted an offer from Lewis-Clark State College in Lew-
iston, Idaho to play basketball under head coach Brandon Rinta.
Though he had offers from other schools for both basketball and
football, Blake said it was Rinta that solidifi ed the decision to go to
Lewis-Clark.
“The coach drew me there just because of how much he liked
to connect with his players on a personal level,” Blake explained.
“During the recruiting process, you don’t really fi nd a lot of coaches
that reach out to you and ask you how you’re doing throughout your
day before you’ve even signed.”
Rinta recently completed his sixth year of coaching the Lew-
is-Clark State basketball program and said he is looking forward to
having Blake on the team.
“We were just really impressed with him as a person and as a
player and are really excited that it worked out for him to be coming
over here and that he’s going to be part of our program next year,”
Rinta said.
Once a student at Lewis-Clark State, Blake plans to study edu-
cation with the hopes of becoming a physical education and health
teacher. The path to teaching for Blake is one that has been inspired
Please see SENTMAN PG B2
Athlete of the Week
LEFT: Cottage Grove Lions boys and co-ed track and fi eld teams
earned this weeks Athlete of the Week for bringing home the fi rst
back-to-back district championships to the school.
Congratulations to both teams!
Photo my Kyle McGowen
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