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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2019)
Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports & Recreation SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION • WEDNESDAY | JULY 24, 2019 A farewell to Cottage Grove, M Drain, Elkton and Yoncalla By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com y favorite Cottage Grove sto- ry is one I have not told while working at Th e Sentinel for the past two years. But now as I am leaving this pa- per to work at Th e World in Coos Bay, it seems like the right time to tell it. As a senior in high school at Marist, Cottage Grove came to town to play the Spartans in a non-league basketball Changes at local 1A schools • B1 CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT 942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM game. It was the latest edition of the Pollard Bowl that saw Don coaching against his son Bart. With the game just days before Christmas, I dressed up as a present and led the student sec- tion as we lightly heckled the visiting Lions. “Lightly” may be doing a lot of work in that sentence. I mean, we didn’t do anything terrible but we – like any good student section – were certainly straddling the line between obnoxious and impolite. We sang “Jessie’s Girl” to a Cottage Grove free throw shooter named Jesse (which is not impolite but just funny). I also used the power of so- cial media to learn about everyone on the other team which led to us chiding them for their incessant shirtless mir- ror pics and gently reminding one that he failed his driver’s test. FAREWELL see B3 Pool project stays on track New athletic directors and coaches head to Elkton, Yoncalla and Drain By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Th ings are going to look a little diff erent at the high schools in Elk- ton, Yoncalla and Drain next school year. It has been a sum- mer of change at the area small high schools as coaches and athlet- ic directors have been jumbled around. Elkton and Yoncalla will both enter the year with new athletic directors while there are new coaches at both North Douglas and Elkton. In Elkton, last year’s principal/athletic direc- tor James Ellis has gone to Days Creek. In his place steps Andy Boe who now holds the po- sition of superintendent, principal (at both the high school and grade school) and athletic di- rector. “It will be a busy year. We did something a lit- tle bit diff erent. We hired an athletic director sec- retary position. And so that position will han- dle most of the things that I’m not good at,” said Boe with a laugh. “Like organization and planning, those sort of things.” Assisting Boe in his fi rst time as AD will be Laurie Winslow as athletics secretary. Th e other big change for the Elks is the departure of football and baseball coach Bill Shaw who is headed to Reedsport. Replacing Shaw as foot- ball coach will be Jeremy Lockhart. Over in Yoncalla, Pe- ter James was recently named athletic direc- tor for Yoncalla High School. James was apply- ing for the job as social studies teacher when he was asked if he would also consider taking the role of athletic director. “Small schools, they like to combine some- thing like that. At fi rst I was blown away, I was like, ‘Oh wow, I would love to do that,’” said James in a phone inter- view last Th ursday. What stood out about Yoncalla to James is the small-town communi- ty that comes with the school. James attended the slightly larger Doug- las High School and has most recently been working at Days Creek (while still living in Eu- gene). While James is com- ing in brand new to the community and without prior experience as an AD, he is excited to be immersed in all things CHANGES see B2 A worker installs tectum panels, to ensure there is little to no echo in the space, at the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatics Center last week. The cen- ter is undergoing a renovation process that will be completed in the coming weeks. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Th e upgrades to the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center have the pool slated to open up by early September By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Nine months aft er construction began, the updated Warren H. Daugherty Pool remains on track to open in the coming weeks. “Th e timeline says we should be at this point and be looking to fi n- ish this project up at the end of Au- gust, early September,” said South Lane School District communica- tions coordinator Garrett Bridgens last Friday. “Our goal is to get the community in there and get our water polo and swim team and club programs back in there for the fall so they can be training. We are very excited.” What has been dubbed a “mod- ernization” of the pool space got off the ground in 2016 with the pass- ing of ballot Measure 20-240. Th e bulk of the $36 million from this measure went to the new Harrison Elementary school while over $6 million was set aside for the pool. Th e 11-month construction project began last October on the pool space that fi rst opened in 1955. Th roughout the reno- vation the high school and local club swim teams practiced at the pool in Drain. Now the groups are swimming at the River Rd. pool in Eugene. During that time, the nu- merous faults of the previous pool began to be remedied. “While our pool before served us in so many positive ways… there were many challenges with the pool. It wasn’t a traditional size pool, the locker room had issues, there were no stalls in the bathrooms, there were plumbing issues, the lighting was diffi cult, the humidity in there was always really hard to control,” said Bridgens. “We’re taking care of all of those things and the school district is excited for the communi- ty to come in and see what we did as a community because this truly was a community eff ort.” “Th e whole experience of be- ing in here for any length of time is going to be so much better,” said South Lane School District main- tenance and facilities supervisor Matt Allen during a tour of the fa- cility last week. Allen added, “We’re on schedule. Right now, it’s fi nish- ing touches.” Th ere are changes across the en- tire space starting with the pool itself. Instead of the one 33-yard pool, now sits a 25-yard, eight- lane regulation pool which will al- low meets to be hosted in Cottage Grove. Next to the main pool is a warm water therapy pool. Th e previous therapy pool was located at the community center. To make sure that this pool was added during this process, instead of being put in at a later date, the district spearheaded a fundraising eff ort that raised about $500,000 for the space. Th e other biggest changes in the facility include the lighting that just went in within the last month. Nineteen lights now hang in the pool and refl ect up onto a white ceiling to bring in as much light as possible while not casting a glare on the water. Additionally, the win- dows are now located on the north and south sides of the building to ensure the sun will not shine on the water. On the outside of the facili- ty there are now 11 solar panels which, with the automated water system, will help more effi ciently heat the pool. POOL see B3 Gold Rush 5K celebrates running, community Over 60 runners compete in annual event By Nick Snyder nsnyder@cgsentinel.com A group of runners head out onto the course on Friday night. PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL Athletes of the Week As the sun set on Cottage Grove Friday evening, the annual Gold Rush 5K twi- light run got underway as part of the Bohemia Min- ing Days festival. Over 60 runners and walkers of all ages set off from the start- ing line in the center of town, completing two loops along Main Street to River Road and then following the Coast Fork of the Wil- Th is week’s athletes of the week are those that ran last week’s Gold Rush 5K at Bohemia Mining Days. To see race results, check runcgrun. com. lamette River. “Running and this time of year has been associated in this area back into the ‘70s,” said volunteer orga- nizer Jim Settlemeyer who, along with his wife and fel- low volunteer Joyce, also coach the Cottage Grove High School cross country teams. “Th ere used to be a half-marathon and then there was a big gap, then a 5K emerged, went away, then came back … this round it’s kind of taken hold and I think it’s here to stay for awhile,” Settlemey- er continued. While festival-goers at other Bohemia Mining Days events went about their activities with smiles and laughter, the faces of the twilight racers had a de- cidedly more exasperated look as they attempted to conquer the course. Put on by Run CG Run, a group of local running en- thusiasts dedicated to pro- moting health and running in Cottage Grove, the annu- al race is a way to increase interest as well as help raise funds for local youth run- BMD 5K see B2 Runners and walkers speed out to a fast start at the Gold Rush 5K. PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/ CG SENTINEL
