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Sports Cottage Grove Sentinel Wednesday, June 6, 2018 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Forler and Bloom shine at Speedway Section B Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Creating her own destiny By Ben Deatherage CG Speedway The final night of the 2018 Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic would be a thriller on Sunday, May 27th. Despite only two classes on the schedule both divisions would thrill the crowd the en- tire night. Those two divisions were the 360 Sprints and the Street Stocks. Michael Kofoid, piloting the Doug and Kathy Rutz owned entry, would seize the initiative of the forty-one lap 360 Sprint feature on the opening start. The Penngrove, California teenager would have his hands full when he hit slower traffic around lap three. Despite having to make the split second decisions and constant pressure from be- hind he would retain the race lead for quite some time. However, on lap fourteen Jason Solwold would make an incredible pass for the lead. Solwold, racing for car owners Mike Anderson and Monica Baca, kept his mount ahead of the field but unfortu- nately would get caught up in an incident after the caution flag waved on lap twenty-two. The Burlington, Washington veteran was able to restart but was put to the tail end of the field and it gave first place back to Kofoid. Michael Kofoid again would try and pull away from the rest of the pack but again he would have challengers rise to the occasion. Logan Forler, of Boise, Idaho, man- aged to put himself in a po- sition to challenge late and obtained the top spot on the thirty-eighth circuit. Two consecutive red flag stoppages, both of which in- volved drivers running inside the top five, would keep the drama building in the final stages. On the ensuing restart Forler would master the tim- ing and propelled himself to a comfortable lead. He would go on to win the feature and become the fourth different driver in five years to win the prestigious event. Jason Solwold tried to challenge late but was a no- ble second while Clarksburg, California’s Justyn Cox placed third. The balance of the top five would consist of fourth finishing Lucas Ashe, of Cot- tonwood, California, and Quilcene, Washington driver J.J. Hickle, in fifth. Earlier in the evening Lu- cas Ashe and Michael Kofoid were the quickest drivers in their respective groups while Kofoid would go on to win the dash and start on the pole. Heat race winners were Medford’s Seth Nunes, Tyrell Mead of Winston, Mill Creek, Washington chauffeur Cam Smith, and Sutherlin teenag- er Cooper Desbiens. Allison Journey, from Lincoln City, won the consolation feature. In the Street Stocks Aaron Houseman, of Monroe and racing for Roy Moore, got out in front early. Jasper’s An- drew Langan made it around Houseman on lap four and began to pull away from the pack. He would be hunted down by Ray Bloom, from Cottage Grove, in the last half of the race. Bloom managed to track Langan down and pull off a last lap upset with a big win for himself and his team. Andrew Langan was a re- spectable second followed by Eugene’s Hunter Bloom, in third. Aaron Houseman end- ed his evening in fourth while SPEEDWAY see B2 Destiny Dawson, the javelin record holder for OSU, competes at a meet at Oregon State earlier this season. Cottage Grove alum has had a journey to the NCAA Championships By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com While at Cottage Grove High School, Destiny Dawson was a good athlete. The 2014 grad was on varsity soccer, basketball and in her sophomore year, was convinced to go out for track and field. Dawson dabbled in a little of every- thing; she sprinted, she jumped, she threw and even, for a brief moment, con- sidered pole vault. She was fine at every- thing but not yet great at anything in the sport. “The coolest thing about her story is that in high school, she wasn’t necessarily a star,” said Cottage Grove track and field coach Ricky Knutson. “She was going to go to the state meet but you don’t necessarily think, ‘This is going to be a kid that is going to be a D1 NCAA qualifier.’ That’s the awesome thing about her story.” Dawson is representing Oregon State University at this week’s NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. And while there are plenty of sto- ries of athletes finding their event and instantly becoming a phenom, that is not quite Dawson’s story with the javelin. It took time to get there. After her first year of throwing javelin in high school, Dawson, who had a per- sonal best of 98 feet, had to convince her coaches to let her continue to compete. “My coaches told me I wasn’t allowed to be a javelin thrower when I started ju- nior year because they said I’m not a jav thrower until I throw at least 100 feet,” recalls Dawson. “So, I think I might have thrown 100 feet the first or second meet of the season and they’re like, ‘Okay, you can be a jav thrower now.’ So, that’s when I fully changed over to javelin.” Her junior year she took second at districts and seventh in state while, her senior year, she was again second in Sky- Em and then finished fifth in state. “It was cool,” she said of competing at Hayward Field for the state meet. “Truth- fully, I don’t remember much except I wish I had done better both times.” Dawson’s personal best at the time of 128-09 was good for a distant third place on the all-time Cottage Grove javelin list and for a walk-on at University of Hawaii at Mānoa. University of Hawaii checked the boxes of being not in Oregon, hav- PHOTO BY DAVE NISHITANI/OREGON STATE ATHLETICS ing both an engineering and architecture program and a track and field program that she could join. After communicating with a coach who then left the program, the new coach didn’t know who Dawson was. She joined the team all the same. But as nice as Hawaii was, it was also full of hard work. “Everyone assumes you’re going to just live in paradise. I think I went to the beach once a month, maybe. When I did go, it was amazing and it was what every- one says it is. But it’s not as leisurely as everyone thinks,” she said. Struggling throughout her first season, Dawson finished the year with a fifth- place finish at the Big West Champion- ships that saw her set a personal record of less than a foot better than her high DESTINY see B3 A grand time at the Gran Fondo PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Riders fill Main St. at the start of the Gran Fondo on Saturday morning. Cyclists flock to Cottage Grove for annual event By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Last Saturday, Cottage Grove wel- comed over 250 cyclists to town for the sixth annual Gran Fondo. Meaning “big ride” in Italian, riders from around the state and five different states rode one of four courses that had lengths of 40 miles, 71 miles, 117 miles or 134 miles. The route started and finished on Main St. “Cycling is something most people don’t see themselves doing after child- hood,” said event organizer Mike Ripley. “These folks have not given up a child- hood dream. It’s fun, it’s playful.” The event, in its sixth year in Cottage Grove, is part of a three-part bike series around the state that include the Oregon Coast Gravel Epic and the Sasquatch Duro. During the race, Ripley served as a “grocery store on wheels” as he drove through various checkpoints on the course offering what he could to the rac- ers. Athletes of the Week “Between the six aid stations and get- ting every single individual their supplies including bike racks, water jugs, and food -- oh hell,” said Ripley. “The course spread out over 130 miles of road, that is a unique logistical challenge.” It was well worth it for Ripley who got to fulfill his dream in providing a per- sonal favorite at one of the aid stations in the form of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glazed doughnut as the bread. “The most amazing thing ever,” he said. In addition to those competing in the event, the Gran Fondo also relied on over 80 volunteers throughout the course. The volunteers did everything from handing out water at aid stations along the route to announcing riders crossing the finish line. From Ripley’s perspective, nearly ev- erything went right for the race except for several markers being stolen from the course and causing riders to get lost. “Somebody took the main corners down during the event. So we had some riders that got off course and went to Drain. So that was the first time we had the community sabotage the event,” he said. This week’s athletes of the week are Cottage Grove’s Jaace Cross (left) and Payton Frieze (right). The pair were named to the first team Sky-Em baseball team. PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL