Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports & Recreation SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION Calendar • • THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 13, 2020 CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT 942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM CG swim preps to host districts Feb. 13 By Nick Snyder nsnyder@cgsentinel.com • Yoncalla boys bball vs. Oakland @ 6 p.m. Feb. 14 • CGHS bball @ Junction City (girls @ 5:45 p.m., boys @ 7:15 p.m.) • CGHS swimming: Special District 4 District Meet @ Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center @ TBD • NDHS bball @ Riddle (girls @ 6 p.m., boys @ 7:30 p.m.) • Yoncalla girls bball @ Pacific/Powers @ 6 p.m. NICK SNYDER/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL The deck at the Daugherty Center was full on Dec. 20 with five teams present. This weekend’s districts will include 12 schools. The grand reopening of the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center happened over four months ago. This weekend, the revamped facility will be hosting its largest event since its reintroduction to the Cottage Grove com- munity. On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15 the Daugherty Center and the swimmers of Cot- tage Grove High School (CGHS) will host the Special District 4 state qualifying meet, fulfill- ing the pool’s promise of being not just a home for the Lions, but a central hub of swimming events for athletes all around the state. “It’s probably one of the biggest sporting events that Cottage Grove has ever hosted,” said CGHS head swimming coach Tyson Pill- ing. “So it’s really good for the community. See DISTRICTS 2B Herzog tops podium at regionals Feb. 15 • CGHS swimming: Special District 4 District Meet @ Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center @ TBD • NDHS boys bball @ Life Christian (Aloha, Ore.) @ 6 p.m. • Elkton boys bball vs. Crow @ 6 p.m. • Elkton girls bball vs. Dufur (@ Falls City H.S.) @ 5 p.m. NICK SNYDER/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL CGHS’ Raina Herzog stands atop the podium at last weekend’s OSAA Girls South Regionals at Thurston High School. Next to her in second place is Elkton’s Tayla Swearingen. By Nick Snyder nsnyder@cgsentinel.com Feb. 18 • CGHS bball vs. Marist (girls @ 5:45 p.m., boys @ 7:15 p.m.) ODFW R ECREATION R EPORT www.dfw.state.or.us/RR GO STEELHEAD FISHING THIS WEEKEND The winter steelhead season is well underway. Recent rains have dispersed fish throughout the basins on the coast and in the Willamette Valley. The key to winter fishing is to keep an eye on water levels and fish when they are dropping. • In the north coast, rain Tues- day night spiked water levels but several rivers should be fishable, if high, by the weekend. • Fishing has been picking up on the Siletz and Siuslaw, which should be in good shape for the weekend • On the south coast, check out the Applegate, Illinois, Rogue and Umpqua for some good weekend fishing. • In the Willamette Valley, the Sandy and Clackamas may still be running high this weekend, but the Molalla might be just right. OTHER GOOD BETS FOR WEEKEND FISHING Steelhead aren’t the only fish biting. Trout anglers, too, will See ODFW 4B Cottage Grove High School (CGHS) junior wrestler Raina Herzog has three primary goals for the 2019-20 wres- tling season: be the OSAA state champion, be named an All-American and never get pinned. After last weekend, she’s one step closer to one of her goals: a second consecu- tive state championship. On Friday and Satur- day, Feb. 7-8 Thurston High School welcomed hundreds of girls wrestlers from around the state — all of whom were looking to cement their place in the state tournament — for the second annual OSAA Girls South Regionals. The Lions entered eight wrestlers in the two-day event and while six made it to day two, Herzog ended up as the lone CGHS wrestler on the po- dium, defeating Elkton’s Tayla Swearingen by fall (1:57) in the 235-pound championship match and locking her down her place at state. “I feel like it was a lot more eventful than last year just because I had a full bracket,” Herzog said referring to the fact that she only needed to win two matches in 2019 to ad- See WRESTLING 2B ODFW announces big game hunting survey ODFW wants to hear what resident big game hunters think about current hunting seasons in Oregon. Tell the ODFW what you think by commenting at https://www. oregonbiggameforum.org/ through March 3, 2020. For the last several years, ODFW has been working to review and improve big game hunting seasons and associat- ed regulations. “This year we are planning on reviewing our primary deer and elk hunting sea- sons, which includes general archery and rifle (any legal weapon) seasons,” says Nick Myatt, the ODFW watershed manager leading the review for the agency. “Before we start devel- oping proposed changes to 2021 hunting seasons, we want to collect input from Oregon resident hunters on what their current experi- ences are with these seasons, what changes they would like to see considered, and what other issues are important to them,” Myatt added. ODFW is working with Responsive Management, a survey research firm spe- cializing in attitudes toward natural resource and outdoor Athlete of the Week recreation issues, to host the online forum and conduct additional research includ- ing surveys of hunters. While survey respondents will be randomly selected, all Or- egon resident deer and elk hunters are encouraged to comment at https://www.or- egonbiggameforum.org/. Information from this fo- rum and the surveys will be used to inform proposed changes to the 2021 big game hunting seasons. Additional opportunities for public com- ment will be provided once proposed changes have been developed. Th is week’s athletes of the week are the members of the CGHS wrestling team, whose girls competed last week at the regional championships. B1 Q&A with the Lady Lions of CGHS In the midst of a cur- rently undefeated league season, Th e Sentinel sat down with six members of the Cottage Grove Lions (16-5 overall, 8-0) girls basketball team — soph- omore Gracie Arnold, ju- niors Alexia Riggs, Matty Ladd and Mikaela Blom- quist and seniors Megan Schatz and Ema Gardner — to get to know them better and discuss the suc- cess they’ve had thus far in the 2019-20 season. Q: What makes this season special? Mikaela Blomquist: We played sports together when we were younger, we’ve been on the same basketball teams multi- ple times and last year was kind of a hot mess, so this year we actually came together. Everyone has really good chemis- try and everyone has a really good bond, just in a positive place. Alexia Riggs: Th e chemistry between us is strong on and off the court. No matter what, we’re always close. Matty Ladd: Last year was defi nitely the year where we learned how each other played and how to work with each other. So, this year we’re just having fun, just play- ing basketball. Th is year, if one person scores, it’s the whole team scoring. It’s a whole diff erent en- vironment. Q: Was there anything preseason that gave you an idea of the success you’re having this year? Riggs: Summer ball we got really excited and just went out there and played. We didn’t worry about anything, our re- cord or getting to state. We just went out there and played then, at one point, we’re like, ‘Hey, we’re kinda good!’. Megan Schatz: I would say it was our last tourna- ment up in the Portland area last summer. I feel like that tournament it kinda clicked with us that we can actually show that we’re good and we can win and go on to state. Q: Have you achieved your goals yet this year? Blomquist: We’re start- ing to. We lost our main scorer, main rebounder from last year, but I feel like losing her opened up a spot for all of us. We re- lied on her a lot, but this year Ema’s in there, Mat- ty’s in there, Gracie’s in there. We’re all just doing our best and it opened up a lot. Ladd: I feel like losing her kind of made us have to come together more. It gave us a challenge we See LIONS 4B While just the girls competed, the boys helped them pre- pare. Now, the roles re- verse as the boys prep for their regionals. COURTESY PHOTO