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B S PORTS Section B 'Comeback queens' off to Forest Grove Wednesday, November 1, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com State bound: Lions take second in Sky-Em Cottage Grove volleyball survives two close matches to advance to quarterfi nals By Zach Silva After being just points away from the end of their season twice in two matches last week, the Cottage Grove volleyball team rallied and are headed to the state quarterfi nals in Forest Grove that begin on Friday. “We are kind of comeback queens and we like to say that we like the extra conditioning,” said Cottage Grove captain Cas- sidy Herbert after Tuesday’s win. “We get in our own heads and we kind of don’t come out with the energy we need. And each of us has to pick up a piece and put it back together and eventually – usually – it comes back together.” It started Tuesday at home with Cottage Grove hosting North Marion in a play-in game. It was all Huskies in the ear- ly going as North Marion took the fi rst two sets 25-21 and 25- 18 and were one set away from ending Cottage Grove’s season. As they danced to the music between sets, it was clear that North Marion was comfortable and confi dent. But then the Li- ons came to life. “I think their energy changed,” said Cottage Grove head coach Kendra Anderson. “Just the energy on the fl oor and on the bench, just was upped to that next level that we need to be at to execute.” A pair of early 6-0 runs by Cottage Grove put them up 18- 8. The Huskies fought back to get the set as close as 22-16 but the Lions prevailed to win 25- 17. In the fourth set the Lions cruised to a comfortable 16-8 lead that was met by a North Marion 8-2 run to close the gap at 18-16. The Huskies got the score to 21-20 but the Lions gutted out a 25-22 win to force a fi fth and fi nal set. “It was a feeling of we’re go- ing to win this game. I had that assurance because I have that confi dence in my team,” said Herbert who fi nished the game with a team high 19 kills. In back and forth fi fth set that had a tie score seven different times, it was Cottage Grove that was able to hang on to win 15-12 and advance to the fi rst round in the playoffs. In the fi rst round, the Lions would be meeting Marshfi eld who they had played twice this year and won once and lost once. “I think we will be ready to play Marshfi eld – a rivalry,” said Anderson. “We played them twice this season so we know what to expect. This is for our goal of making it to the elite eight so I think that will be a good motivator.” On the road the Lions again faced adversity. The Pirates overwhelmed Cottage Grove in the fi rst set as they won 25-10. After splitting the next two sets, the Lions were a set away from the end of their season for the second time in a week. The fourth set was dead even at 20-20 until Cottage Grove’s Reilly Kelty took over the game as she got four kills in a row and the Lions took the set 25-20. The intensity did not waver in the fi fth set as it was neck and neck the entire way until tied at 13 the Lions scored back to back points to take the set and move on to the quarterfi nals. The Lions will play Hidden Valley on Friday at 10:00 a.m. at Forest Grove High School. The two teams met at the be- ginning of the season and the Mustangs won 3-1. Hidden Val- ley was undefeated in league play and won 18 matches in straight sets this season. Cottage Grove's Konrad Raum (right) and Paesen Timm (left) race up a hill at Lane Community College during the district meet last Thursday. Cottage Grove boys' cross-country take second place at districts By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com On Thursday afternoon at Lane Com- munity College, the Cottage Grove boys’ cross country team squeaked out a second-place fi nish at the Sky-Em dis- trict meet to qualify for the state cross country meet this weekend. The Lions fi nished in second place with 53 points just edging out Elmira who fi nished in third with 55 points. Sisters won the meet with 40 points. The Falcons and Lions were back and forth all race. After one mile, Elmira had all fi ve of their top runners in the top 15 and were, for the moment, ahead of Cottage Grove in points. As the race continued, the Lions picked off some runners and ended up fi nishing with four runners in the top 10 to secure a second-place fi nish and qualify for the state meet. Cottage Grove’s Konrad Raum was the fi rst fi nisher for the team in fourth place. “I did better than I thought I would to be honest. Placement wise I fi gured around here but time wise, I was think- ing about 17:20,” said Raum who fi n- ished with a time of 16:43 and attributed The journey to QB1 By Gabe Glenn CGHS Student Cottage Grove's Dylan Graves put in work on and off the fi eld to take over as starting quarterback the fast time that tied his personal best to the quick pace of the lead runners. “I was planning on pacing myself for a 5:30 for my fi rst mile and I went 5:11 and I was like, I kind of feel good so I kept going at it,” he said. In a close race where every point mat- tered, there was no bigger moment than the battle behind Raum for fi fth place between Cottage Grove’s Jimmy Talley and Elmira’s Paul Ossowski. Virtually tied as the runners entered the track for the fi nal 300 meters of the race, it was Ossowski who took the slight edge with 50 meters to go. But it was Talley’s surge in the fi nal 10 meters that edged out Ossowski at the line by six tenths of a second to claim fi fth place and secure the last automatic qualifying position for the state meet. “We were battling the entire race,” said Talley on the near photo fi nish. “I had never made it to state by myself be- fore, I’d only made it to state because of my team.” Following Talley, was Cottage Grove’s Jesse Ellingworth in ninth and Paesen Timm in 10th place. At this point, the Lions were the only team with four runners in and with points coming from the fi rst fi ve runners, it became a waiting game. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Sisters claimed their title as their fourth and fi fth runners fi nished 13th and 15th respectively and the battle for second intensifi ed. Elmira, who’s fi rst fi nisher was Os- sowski, then had fi nishers in 7th, 11th, 14th and 17th. With their top fi ve in be- fore Cottage Grove’s it meant that the Lions fi fth runner would need to fi nish in 26th or better for Cottage Grove to beat Elmira. And in 25th place, Cottage Grove’s Konnor Owens fi nished in a time of 18:48 that punched their ticket to the state meet. While the intensity swelled at the fi nish line, Cottage Grove coach Jim Settelmeyer remained calm and seem- ingly uninterested in where the team fi nished as long as they performed as best they could. As coaches of the other teams hur- riedly jotted down times and place- ments to see where their teams fi nished, Settelmeyer took pictures and cheered on his team. He noted that he found out the scores “when the scores were out. I don’t track numbers. I know [the team] is doing what they can do. These guys are big meet runners. They’ve been get- ting PRs at the state and district meet. [The courses] aren’t that fast of courses so how can you be sad about that.” The team will race at the state meet on Saturday Nov. 4 at 11:50 a.m. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove's Jimmy Talley out kicks an Elmira runner to take fi fth place. From being ineligible his sophomore year, to starting at the quarterback position on the varsity football team his junior year, Dylan Graves has gone through all emotions possible. During his freshman year, Graves played wide receiver on the junior varsity (JV) team at Cottage Grove High School. “I was expecting big things from myself at receiver my sophomore year, especially after getting those reps on varsity,” said Graves. This wasn’t the case when his soph- omore year came around though. Graves struggled with academics during his freshman year and his grades made him ineligible for all games during the season, but he still got to practice with the team. “When I found out I wouldn’t be able to step on the fi eld in a single game, it tore me up. I felt like I was kicked in the face. The amount of emotions I had when the fi rst game came along, it really stabbed me in the heart. I had that feeling week after week just knowing I couldn’t dress up and go in even when we had injured players,” said Graves. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Continued on page B4 Athlete of the Week Dylan Graves drops back to pass earlier this year. This week's athlete of the week is Cottage Grove's Cassidy Herbert who helped the Lions get two big wins to get the team to the state quarterfi nals. PHOTO BY CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com