Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Staying seen: students receive bike lights
A local
guide to
the 2018
World Cup
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
And here we are.
The 2018 World Cup is just
a day away and there sits our
beloved American team (for
the first time since 1986) on
the outside looking in. This
year, there is no speculating
about our group or waking
up early for watch parties to
cheer on our boys or getting
the nation to fully fall in love
with Christian Pulisic.
But it is time to trade
our grief for excitement as
we temporarily table any
thoughts of how the U.S.
men’s national team will
change over the coming years
and, instead, pick a new team
to emotionally invest in for
the next month. Now is the
time to enjoy the beautiful
game — which has start times
of 5 a.m. and sounds like a
great way to start the day.
If you are the type of person
who needs a team to invest in,
look no further because here
is your handy guide to find
who you should cheer for
based on local teams that you
already know and love.
If you are a fan of Elkton …
… then you should be
cheering for Iceland!
Let’s put some perspective
on this. The city of Portland
has nearly double the popu-
lation of the country of Ice-
land. The undersized country
Iceland is certainly the Elkton
of the world stage. Its small
size didn’t stop Iceland from
stealing the world’s heart at
the 2016 Euro Cup and qual-
ifying for its first-ever World
Cup appearance. Both teams
scrap and claw for everything.
The only difference is,
when it comes to Iceland,
there is just a lot more over-
head clapping.
If you are a fan of Yon-
calla…
…then you should be
cheering for Senegal!
You’ve had some success
in the past (Senegal made the
quarterfinals in 2002!) but it
is unclear what the fate of the
team really is. How far can
they really go? Ranked 28th
in the world, they could spoil
the group play for Colom-
bia or Poland but could also
could get bounced before the
real tournament begins.
If you are a fan of North
Douglas…
…then you should be
cheering for Argentina!
Much like the Warriors of
North Douglas, Argentina’s
team is a mix of a decorated
past (World Cup champions
in 1978 and 1986!) in addi-
tion to a team that is a threat
to make a deep tournament
run this year. In both instanc-
es, opposing teams instantly
respect the classic uniforms
and know that whoever is
wearing them has to be taken
seriously.
If you are a fan of Cottage
Grove…
…then you should be
cheering for Uruguay!
You have had success in
the past (national champions
in 1930 and 1950, Cottage
Grove swim team dominance
in the 1980s and other cham-
pionships sprinkled in) and
have some explosive pieces
on your team right now. But
at the same time, both teams
have those who doubt them
and their ability to make a
deep run. Some of the
WORLD CUP see B2
A pair of eighth graders at Lincoln Middle School are shown how to properly apply bike lights on Friday.
After the death of a student,
South Lane County Fire
and Rescue works to prevent
similar incidents
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Along with members throughout
the community, the December death
of 13-year-old Wesley Meadows deeply
impacted South Lane Fire and Rescue
firefighter Doug Lyda. Lyda was on the
call after Meadows, who was without a
helmet and not visible to vehicles on the
road, was struck by a car while riding his
bike on Highway 99 around 6 p.m.
“The injuries were pretty significant
and a helmet would not have saved him.
The only thing that would have saved
him was a light,” said Lyda. “I didn’t get a
chance to process it until the next morn-
ing … and I realized I was a little bit an-
gry. I couldn’t place where that anger was
going to go so I decided to be angry about
kids not having lights.”
With the goal “to put a light on every
kid in South (Lane) County” Lyda was
off. But he was not alone.
Independently of Lyda, Cottage Grove
resident and avid cyclist Don Strahan
also had begun working on getting lights.
“I heard about it a day or two after-
wards and … right then, it was we’ve got
to do something about this, this shouldn’t
be happening,” said Strahan.
Strahan and Lyda were put in con-
tact and were off to get every kid a bike
light. Lyda gathered $4,500 from various
community organizations (with pledges
adding another $5,000 in funds yet to
come) and combined it with Strahan’s
knowledge of bikes; they created a per-
fect match.
Ladd and Glenn
headed to George Fox
“(Strahan) is pretty much a bulldog
when it comes to gathering information,”
said Lyda. “He contacted the companies,
got samples, went out and shined it at
night — how far away could he get until
it was no longer effective — took it on a
bike ride, bike ride at night, bike ride on
bumpy roads. He went over the top.”
A model was agreed upon that includ-
ed both a light in the front and a tail light
that cost a total of $18. The next step was
getting the lights to those who need-
ed them. SLFR first teamed up with the
Gran Fondo bike event and had their first
give away.
The group also worked with South
Lane School District so it could get the
lights directly to students. But before it
gave them lights, it had to see if students
rode bikes. Strahan helped put together
a survey that went out to students across
the district.
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Athletes of
the Week
All told, 320 students from first- to
eighth-grade participated in a survey dis-
cussing their biking habits. 265 students
said that they own or have a bicycle to
ride and over 70 percent responded that
their bike had neither front or rear lights.
Additionally, 78 percent said they own
a bike helmet.
“There seemed to be kind of a big pub-
lic safety gap with, we are flushed with
helmets but we have nothing with lights
or visibility,” said Lyda.
Last Friday, lights were given to stu-
dents at Lincoln Middle School — where
Meadows was once a student — after a
demonstration of how to properly put
them on a bike.
“I think when you have a tragedy like
this you can either wallow and be sad
or you can do something about it,” said
LIGHTS see B3
Knutson steps down
as head coach
Cottage Grove track coach
resign after six seasons at the
helm
Hayden Glenn (left) and Cooper Ladd (right) become the newest members of
the George Fox University football team.
guys that want to go play, have the tal-
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
ent to go play and I think it’s a neat deal
that they have the wherewithal to say we
Cottage Grove’s Cooper Ladd and found a program that gives us the best
Hayden Glenn are heading to George opportunity to play football and get a
Fox University where they will play foot- great education. So, it’s a really cool deal
ball next season. In front of coaches and for the athletic department and for our
family members, the pair made it official football program.”
last Thursday as they signed their letters
Ladd and Glenn played integral parts
of intent in the CGHS library.
on last season’s championships team.
“It’s really exciting. It’s great anytime, The pair were both named first team all-
we don’t get the opportunity a lot of state in 4A on offense and defense with
times to send kids on to play college Ladd at center and linebacker and
football somewhere,” said head coach
Gary Roberts. “So it’s cool to have two
FOOTBALL see B2
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Coming off one of the most success-
ful runs for the track and field program
in school history — including three
consecutive boys district titles, three
straight co-ed titles and girls team dis-
trict championships in 2013 and 2014 —
head coach Ricky Knutson announced
his resignation last Thursday. The an-
nouncement was made via a press re-
lease from the South Lane School Dis-
trict and came just weeks after the boys
track and field team finished sixth at the
state meet.
Knutson, in an interview with The
Sentinel on Monday, noted that his deci-
sion had been a few years in the making
and coming into the school year, he had
told athletic director Gary Roberts that
this would be his last season coaching.
“It’s been something that’s been in the
works. But I think in order for student
athletes and programs to be successful
— and I don’t mean just winning and
losing, I mean just giving the kids the
chance to be their best — I think every-
body has to be on the same page,” said
This week’s athletes of the week
are the 11 local Special Olympic
Athletes who competed at the
Regional Games in Newberg last
week. The 11 athletes walked away
from the competition with four
gold, five silver and four bronze
medals in addition to nine ribbons.
William Craft led the way by taking
first in shot put and the 200.
Knutson. “From coaches, other pro-
grams, leadership ... I just haven’t been
feeling like that’s happening.”
Knutson did not identify a specific
team by name but noted that there are
“programs that have a direct impact on
one another that aren’t as in sync as they
should be.”
“Let’s say we talk hypothetically. If I
was coaching a program and for three
years in a row the top returning girl
didn’t come out for the team; the kids
that were most dedicated and passionate
about the sport were heading in another
direction; and if I had a kid quit the team
the week of the state meet — I’d have to
stop and say, 'What’s happening in my
program?'” said Knutson. “And what
kind of culture do I want? And is this the
kind of culture that is going to be best
serving these kids?”
The CGHS cross country team, which
is not coached by Knutson, has had top
girls not return to the program; the top
boys on the team play soccer; the boys
team’s third best runner last year — who
won districts in 2016 — did not run at
the cross-country state meet last season.
“There would be riots if it were bas-
ketball and football and this kind of stuff
was happening,” said Knutson.
TRACK see B2
Back left: Bob
Alexander, Anthony
Newcomb, Ian
Miller, William Craft,
Michael Crocket,
Gene O’Neil David
Cook-Neal, Mystika
Abbott
Front left: Jerry
Craft, Kendall Thiel,
Chantell Lemon,
Molly Conley, Jill
Vaverka, Natasha
Cosper, Daniel
Abbott
PHOTO C/O CARMEN
DOWELL