Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Joey Tanner
Wins 2019
Loggers Cup at
CG Speedway
•
WEDNESDAY | JULY 31, 2019
•
B1
CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT
942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM
Athletes ‘tri’ their best and succeed
B Y B EN D EATHERAGE
Cottage Grove Speedway
Saturday, July 27 was
the big date for the 2019
Loggers Cup at Cottage
Grove Speedway. The
race is one of the biggest
in the Pacific Northwest
and boasted a car count
of twenty-nine drivers
from the states of Oregon
and Washington. In ad-
dition to Late Models in
the house were the cars
and stars of the Interstate
Sprint Car Series. Other
divisions in action in-
cluded the IMCA Sport
Mods, Street Stocks, and
Hornets.
However, before the
races on Saturday, the
karts were back in action
on Friday, July 26. Em-
mett Lowry, of Cottage
Grove, won for the first
time in the Pee Wee di-
vision. In the 5HP Inter-
mediates, it was Spring-
field’s Mason King back
in the winner’s circle
scoring his fourth tri-
umph in the class. Ian
Whisler, from the coast-
al city of Otis, bested the
250cc class for the first
occasion while his older
brother, Eston, won his
second Open Kage fea-
ture win.
The forty-lap Late
Model main event start-
ed with Sweet Home
chauffeur Brian Smith
pacing the field. Racing
for car owner Jerry Ca-
sey, Smith held on to the
top spot until lap five.
Making a move to first
place on the fifth circuit
was Joey Tanner of Port-
land. Tanner, the 2017
winner of the Loggers
Cup event, set a rapid
pace and was success-
fully able to keep several
challengers behind him.
Lapped traffic did
prove a little bit a factor,
but Tanner was able to
navigate through it suc-
cessfully. With the lon-
ger than usual distance,
there were a few more
cautions than what usu-
ally would occur. With
six total stoppages it put
a lot of pressure on Tan-
ner on the restarts, but
each time he would mas-
ter the field when racing
resumed.
Joey Tanner was the
first to the checkered
flag to become the first
driver to win the Log-
gers Cup twice since the
race was reestablished in
2015. It is also Tanner’s
second win of the sea-
son at CGS. Justin Duty,
from Mulino, was a close
second followed by Bri-
an Smith, in third. The
rest of the top five con-
sisted of Creswell’s Paul
Culp, ending his evening
in fourth, while credit-
ed with first was Darren
Coffell of Bend.
The Interstate Sprint
Car Series returned
to the historic quar-
ter-mile clay oval for
the first time since June
14. Steven Snawder, of
Roseburg, showed the
way early and looked to
win his second straight
feature at CGS this sea-
son. Snawder would get
passed on lap ten by Har-
risburg’s Tyler Thomp-
son. But Thompson lost
the lead on the next lap
to Jacksonville teenager
Tanner Holmes. Holmes
SPEEDWAY see B3
Triathletes begin the fi rst leg of the Olympic-length triathlon at Saturday’s Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove. PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Athletes pack
Cottage Grove
Lake for the
annual triathlon
B Y N ICK S NYDER
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
The natural beauty of Oregon is
rarely lost on its residents, partic-
ularly during the pristine summer
months.
As expected in late July, that
beauty was on full display Saturday
morning at Cottage Grove Lake
where around 400 swimmers, cy-
clists, runners, kayakers and pad-
dleboarders from around the coun-
try took part in the ninth annual
Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove.
With cool waters and typical-
ly warm July air, the near-perfect
conditions took center stage as par-
ticipants of all ages and experience
levels headed out on the course.
“It’s such a beautiful, beautiful
spot for a triathlon,” said Shane
Jensen of Portland, Oregon, who
woke up at four o’clock Saturday
morning to make the three-hour
drive down to Cottage Grove.
“The location is exceptional, the
lake seems cleaner than most and
... it’s a flat course, too, so I like the
size of it. It’s not too big ... but still
there are enough folks that there’s
serious competition. So all those
things together make the three-
hour drive worth it.”
Clanging cowbells to spur the
athletes on, the boom of the an-
nouncer’s voice over the PA system
and throngs of cheering spectators,
family and friends made for a live-
ly ambience. Yet perhaps the most
immediately noticeable aspect of
this year’s Tri at the Grove was the
diversity of participants.
“Just getting out here with so
many different folks and seeing the
whole spectrum of athletes. It’s im-
pressive, especially the age ranges.
There was a 72-year-old out there
just crushing it. I only caught up
with him on the last few miles of
the bike ride ... he’s out there ahead
of most of us, I mean, just an ani-
mal!” said Jensen.
Throughout the day, race di-
rector Blair Bronson wore many
hats, though none more noticeable
than his trademark cowboy hat.
Nonetheless, despite his full plate
on race day, Bronson took notice
of the varied demographics repre-
sented at the lake.
“Seven or eight states were rep-
resented today, so a good little
reach. A lot of folks come up from
California, Washington. We had
a good contingent from B.C. that
comes and joins us and an Idaho
group that’s pretty regular. So it’s
pretty cool to see folks willing to
travel across state lines and beyond
to come down to CG, and our goal
is to make as positive of an impact
as we can,” Bronson said.
“This year we added a paratri-
athlon in which paratriathletes
come out,” Bronson continued,
“so the highlight’s probably getting
[them] out there for the first time
and … this is the most youth ath-
letes we’ve had out here as well.”
On the other end of the spec-
trum from this year’s record youth
turnout was Lockett Wood, the
oldest participant of the day at 80
years old.
“I started [doing triathlons]
when I was 70,” Wood said. “I had a
brother in law that just challenged
me to do one. We did the Nation’s,
which is a triathlon with 5,000 peo-
ple in Washington D.C., and I won
the age group and got hooked.”
Wood, who came all the way
from Lyons, Colorado, also shared
his views on the quality of this par-
ticular event..
“This is one of the prettiest tri-
athlons that I’ve ever run. It’s gor-
geous. It’s one of the nicest courses
I’ve run on. And the bike course
and run course were both gor-
geous.”
When asked if he planned on
coming back in the future, Wood
responded enthusiastically, “I hope
so, I hope so. It’s a good run.”
The 400 participants had a num-
ber of different course combina-
tions to choose from. The longest,
the Olympic triathlon, consisted of
a 1500 meter swim, a 40 kilometer
bike ride, and a 10 kilometer run.
The sprint triathlon was roughly
the same, just with distances cut in
half.
Participants also had a duathlon
option (biking and running, no
swimming), the aqua bike course
(swimming and biking, no run-
ning) as well as the paddle triath-
lon which replaces the swim with
either a paddleboard or a kayak.
All options were available in both
the Olympic and sprint distances.
Finally, there were two shortened
course options for kids, one for
ages four to seven and another for
ages seven to 17.
Natural beauty, varied race
TRIATHLON see B2
Local students put CG wrestling on the map
Local wrestlers
achieve national
recognition through
their skill and hard
work
B Y N ICK S NYDER
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
Wrestlers Raina Herzog (top)
and Adelle Kent (bottom) . PHOTO
C/O RICH HERZOG
For a pair of Cottage Grove wres-
tlers, the wrestling season hasn’t
stopped.
While the high school season of-
ficially ended in February, Cottage
Grove’s Raina Herzog and Adelle Kent
have continued in the sport and both
wrestled at junior nationals in Fargo,
North Dakota earlier this month. At
the tournament, Herzog finished sec-
ond in her weight class.
“It’s like any sport, it’s hard work,
it’s dedication - willing to put the
time in. The girls that put the time
in during the summer time, those are
the ones that you are going to see suc-
cessful during the high school season
come state in February,” said Natasha
Umemoto, the women’s wrestling
coach for the state of Oregon.
Athlete of
the Week
Th is week’s
athletes of
the week are
the youth
participants at
last week’s Tri
at the Grove
triathlon.
Herzog and Kent, who will both be
juniors at the start of next school year,
competed on the Oregon team under
Umemoto. The pair of girls qualified
to be one of the 34 girls on the team
at a tournament this past March. For
this tournament, wrestlers compete
in freestyle wrestling as opposed to
folkstyle which is used at high schools
in Oregon. Before the 25-hour bus
ride to Fargo, the team spent a week
preparing at Elmira High School.
“We get everybody equated to each
other, and we spend a week train-
ing and making sure the girls are in
shape,” said Rich Herzog, Raina’s dad,
who is an assistant coach on both the
CGHS team and the Oregon team.
“We own them for one week.”
During the high school season
Raina Herzog, in her first year of high
school wrestling, won the state title at
the 235 weight class. But at nationals,
she was now competing in the 200
weight class.
“That weight class is actually more
fitting for her. And in this case, she did
it right. She took the time, you know,
so it was a little over three months of
working the weight off and it wasn’t a
crash weight cut. So she was healthy,
she was strong and she wrestled well,”
said Rich Herzog.
Going into the tournament, Raina
didn’t know what to expect.
“My goal coming into the tour-
nament was maybe to place because
I didn’t know where I sat, I had no
idea. But I came into the tournament
thinking I just want to place, I want
to win my first match, then my sec-
ond match,” she said. “I just had these
little tiny goals because I didn’t know
what my potential was.”
After rallying back in the first round
against a wrestler from Iowa, Herzog
cruised into the quarters and then the
semifinals. Executing a move that her
and her dad had practiced in the mat
room – a front headlock paired with
an underhook while turning your op-
ponent that the Herzogs dubbed the
“head scoopy” – Raina Herzog had
wrestled her way to the finals.
In the finals she lost to Oklahoma’s
Olivia Brown who has won multiple
WRESTLING see B2
Kids give
high fi ves
during tran-
sition out of
the water
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/
CG SENTINEL