Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Swimmers
qualify for
state meet
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Warriors win physical game against Elks
Three individuals
from the Cottage
Grove swim team
are headed to
Beaverton for the
state meet
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
At the Special District 4
Swim Championships last
weekend, Cottage Grove
qualified three swimmers
for the state swim meet.
For the boys, senior Ian
Dukes claimed a spot in the
100-yard breast stroke after
finishing in fifth place with
a time of 1:09.62. Dukes
also qualified in the 500-
yard freestyle with a third
place finish in a time of
5:39.58. Joining him at state
in the 500-yard freestyle
will be freshman teammate
James Kelly who finished in
a time of 5:46.78.
The boys’ team finished
in sixth place with 77
points. Marshfield took first
with 324 points.
For the Cottage Grove
girls, sophomore MJ Raade
was the lone qualifier.
Raade will be racing in the
500-yard freestyle after se-
curing third place at dis-
tricts in a time of 5:49.31.
The state meet begins on
Friday (Feb. 15) at the Tu-
alatin Hills Aquatic Center
in Beaverton. Raade will
race in the 500 at 10:10 a.m.
while Dukes and Kelly will
race in the same race at
10:24 a.m. Dukes will race
in the 100 breaststroke at
11:03 a.m.
Tickets for the competi-
tion are $8 for adults and $5
for students.
Wrestling
sends seven
to state
Six CGHS boys
qualify last weekend
for state wrestling
tournament
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Competing at the Spe-
cial District 3, the Cottage
Grove wrestling team qual-
ified six wrestlers for this
month’s state tournament.
Scoring first place victo-
ries at districts was Jacob
Dunn and Drew Swenson.
Fernando Soto-Cruz and
David Cox each finished
third while Chance Ralston
and Austin Dempsey qual-
ified with fourth place fin-
ishes.
Cottage Grove’s Walker
Humphrey and Luke Johns
finished in fifth place while
Oden Armstrong took
sixth. As a team the Lions
finished fifth with 170.5
points. Mazama took first
with 295 points.
The Lions will be joining
teammate Raina Herzog
who qualified at the girls’
district qualifier on Feb. 2.
The wrestlers will com-
pete at state beginning on
Feb. 22 at the Veterans Me-
morial Coliseum in Port-
land.
Tickets for the competi-
tion are $8 for adults and $5
for students.
PHOTOS BY BECKY GERRARD
Left: North Douglas senior Abby Whipple drives in for a lay-up on Saturday night against Elkton. Whipple finished with a game-high 15 points on the way to a Warriors
win. Right: Junior Kieryn Carnes is tightly defended by North Douglas sophomore Natalie Thompson.
North Douglas finishes
regular season with
hard-fought victory over
Elkton
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
While North Douglas and
Elkton both scored baskets in
the opening 20 seconds of the
game, it was not a sign of what
was to come. Instead of out-
standing offense it was a foul
frenzy as the teams combined
four 33 fouls and 23 made bas-
kets. But through the slugfest of
a game Saturday night in Drain,
it was the Warriors (20-4, 11-1
Skyline) running away from the
Elks (13-10, 8-4) for a 36-24 vic-
tory to end the regular season
and claim the league title.
“We got our 20th win tonight
and we’re proud of that because
it was against a pretty good
schedule,” said North Douglas
head coach Jeff Davis. “I think
our league has a half-dozen
team that are very capable on
any given night… so it’s just a
good feeling [to get this win].
That’s what the assistants said
to the kids. Enjoy this, enjoy the
day tomorrow and then we get
back to work on Monday.”
While North Douglas de-
feated Elkton 43-19 in the first
matchup of the season, Satur-
day's contest stayed close in the
first half. The Elkton offense
tried to capitalized on loose
balls and turnovers but the War-
riors were keyed in on scoring
threats of Aspyn Luzier and Ki-
eryn Carnes.
On offense, North Douglas
controlled the majority of pos-
session as they cycled through
their sets waiting for oppor-
tunities that were few and far
between. A Rilie-Jo Olds three
point play to finish the first half
gave the Warriors a 16-12 lead.
“Sometimes it’s a game of who
makes the fewest mistakes and
tonight might have been one of
those nights,” said Davis. Add-
ing, “Four points can be a big
lead when your opponent only
has 12.”
In the third quarter, the fouls
went up as the scoring went
down. There were 13 combined
fouls in the quarter and eight
combined points as the War-
riors outscored the Elks 6-2.
Elkton had shots at the rim but
failed to convert as they strug-
gled against the physical North
Douglas defense.
“They are all over you. They’re
grabbing and holding and (the
referees) wouldn’t call it. Every
time we try to make a cut they
were pushing,” said Elkton head
coach Rob Parker. “When you
get knocked off your path and
you’re trying to rebound and
you’re getting hit. You’re going
up for a shot and getting hit. It’s
tough to get anything going.”
Elkton had 22 turnovers on the
game while the Warriors re-
corded 15 steals.
Throughout the physical
game, that featured the Elks
being called for an intentional
foul, North Douglas continued
to find ways to score. In the
second half it was senior Abby
Whipple leading the way scor-
ing 13 of her 15 points on the
game. Elkton scored 12 point as
a team in the second half.
“Without a doubt, she will
lead in some statistical category
each night,” Davis said of Whip-
ple. “She was a little too excited
early but once she settled down,
she did a real nice job.”
In the fourth quarter, the Elks
WARRIORS
see B4
North Douglas guard Sofia Alcantar tries to weave through the
Elkton defense.
Kelty downed with injury, Ladd leads Lions
Cottage Grove’s Kelty
injured against Elmira
in win
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove’s Matty Ladd calls for the ball in the second half
of the game against Elmira. Ladd scored 18 points in the game.
Athlete of
the Week
An attempted buzzer beater at
the end of the first half turned
into a season-altering play for
Cottage Grove on Friday night
at Elmira. While the Lions (13-
9, 5-3 Sky-Em) cruised to a
52-29 victory over the Falcons
(3-17, 1-7), the most impactful
moment was at the end of the
first half when Cottage Grove’s
leading scorer Reilly Kelty got
tangled up going for a rebound,
rolled her ankle and had to leave
the game early to get an x-ray.
As of Monday, Cottage Grove
head coach Steve Eastburn said
This week’s athlete of the week
is North Douglas senior Cal
Parks. Parks helped guide the
Warriors to a win over Elkton
last week recording 14 points,
nine rebounds, three steals
and two assists. To read more
about the team’s win, turn to
B4.
the high-ankle sprain would
“probably end her season.”
Kelty, who was named first-
team Sky-Em a season ago,
started the game strong for the
Lions scoring 10 points in the
opening quarter while dishing
out a pair of assists on the team’s
other two field goals.
“We were rolling. That’s why
you hate to see that happen be-
cause then we kind of had to
readjust and everybody had to
get used to playing with each
other again,” said Eastburn. “So
you always hate to lose one of
your top players like that be-
cause they are so important to
the team.” The Lions have faced
injuries all season including se-
nior starting point guard Tara
Child suffering a torn ACL ear-
lier in the year.
For Cottage Grove, Kelty’s
injury comes at the most pivot-
al time of the year as the team
heads into the final week of sea-
son. While top ranked Marsh-
field (21-1, 8-0) sits in first in
Sky-Em, the Lions are fighting
Marist (14-7, 6-2) and Junction
City (13-9, 4-4) for a coveted
second place finish. The Lions
host both teams this week and
earlier this season 13th ranked
Cottage Grove defeated the
ninth ranked Spartans and fell
to the 10th ranked Tigers.
But against Elmira on Friday
night, it was next person up for
the Lions as they focused on the
task at hand.
“I’m comfortable with any-
LIONS
see B4
North
Douglas’ Cal
Parks drives
against Days
Creek earlier
this season.
PHOTO BY BECKY
GERRARD