Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
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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