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