Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Calendar
Feb. 21
• CGHS boys wres-
tling: OSAA South
Regionals opening
rounds, Cottage
Grove High School @
TBD
• CGHS swimming:
OSAA State
Championship
Preliminaries,
Tualatin Hills Aquatic
Center @ 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 22
• CGHS boys wres-
tling: OSAA South
Regionals finals,
Cottage Grove High
School @ TBD
• CGHS swimming:
OSAA State
Championship
Finals, Tualatin Hills
Aquatic Center @
6:30 p.m.
•
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 20, 2020
Lions take league crown
for fi rst time in seven years
with win at JC
By Nick Snyder
For the first time since the 2013-14 sea-
son, the Cottage Grove Lions girls basket-
ball team are Sky-Em league champions.
After Junction City upset Marist last
Tuesday, leaving both teams with two
league losses on the year, the Lions (18-5
overall, 9-0 league) took their undefeated
league record north to take on the Tigers
(12-11, 6-3), needing a win to claim the
Sky-Em’s top spot.
And they did just that. On Friday, Feb.
14 Cottage Grove defeated Junction City
for the second time this season, 37-24, to
seal the league title and allow the team to
breathe a small sigh of relief as they head
towards playoffs.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game,”
said head coach Steve Eastburn. “Realisti-
See DISTRICTS 2B
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
off the pool surface, the inside
of the Daugherty Center felt at
times like summer in Florida,
but it did little to dampen the
excitement of the event.
Cowbells rang out, parents
and coaches cheered on their
kids, and after two days of pre-
liminaries and finals, there were
successes to be counted both in
and out of the water.
While the capacity of the
Daugherty Center to host such
an event — now and in the fu-
ture — was a big takeaway, the
Cottage Grove Lions swimmers
and their Special District 4 peers
The North Douglas
boys’ basketball team
started the 2019-20 sea-
son with a roster com-
prised of half freshmen
and half seniors. They
went just 5-4 in their
non-league
games.
Questions abounded ear-
ly. Now, they’re Skyline
league champions.
After fi nishing the
season by winning 11
of their fi nal 13 games,
the Warriors (17-8 over-
all, 11-1 league) took on
a talented Days Creek
team (15-10, 11-1) on
Mon., Feb. 17 in a tie-
breaker game that would
determine the league
winner as well as the top
seed in the Skyline North
for league playoffs.
North Douglas prevailed,
winning 39-30, and ce-
mented themselves as
the Skyline’s top dogs in
2020.
“I did some research,”
said head coach Tyler
Vancil after the game.
“The last time North
Douglas won a league
title in basketball was in
the 2010-11 season and
before that it was 1995.
So, this is only the third
time in 25 years.”
In recent years, the
boys team has often
found themselves in the
back seat, as the girls’
basketball program fi nds
success year after year,
but, having never won a
league title of their own
since joining the Skyline
in 2014, the Warriors
saw an opportunity as
their team began to come
together more and more
throughout the season.
“I brought it to their
attention at the start of
practice last week and
let them know that this
is our biggest week yet,”
Vancil said.
In order to earn their
championship, the road
wasn’t exactly easy and,
for much of the last
week, the road was ex-
actly where they spent
their time.
The Warriors traveled
to Riddle (16-4, 9-2)
last Friday, won, then
the very next day made
a two-and-a-half hour
trek to Aloha to take on
third-ranked Life Chris-
tian (23-1, 17-1) where
they narrowly lost, 46-
41, in impressive fash-
ion. Then, on Monday
they were off to Umpqua
Valley for the neutral-site
tiebreaker game.
“That’s one of the
things we talked about
See SWIMMING 4B
See WARRIORS 2B
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Ema Gardner and Gracie Arnold hug after clinch-
ing the Sky-Em title. Matty Ladd walks towards
the bench to celebrate with her teammates.
Districts go swimmingly
(Clockwise from top left) James Kelly
competes in the 200 individual med-
ley; Mikayla Baird performs the but-
terfly; Kassidy Poetzl and Kajsa Merz
cheer on their teammates; Iverson
Bascue sets a state qualifying time in
the 100 backstroke; boys from various
schools get ready to begin their race.
NICK SNYDER/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Lions’ swim team qualifi es 12 swimmers for state, including four
relay teams, four boys, and eight girls
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
For what was perhaps the
biggest high school swimming
event in Cottage Grove’s history,
things couldn’t have gone much
better.
On Fri. and Sat., Feb. 14-15
the Cottage Grove Lions swim
team and the revamped Warren
H. Daugherty Aquatic Center
hosted the Special District 4
District Swimming Champion-
ships for the first time.
With 10 teams, hundreds of
swimmers, plus friends and
family, hosting such a large-
scale event was no easy task.
But, the facility was a hit, both
Lions teams earned top-three
finishes and everything went off
with nary a hitch.
“Especially considering we
lost power [before the start] and
it was our first time running dis-
tricts, it did go very well,” said
head swimming coach Tyson
Pilling.
“People had a really good time
and they loved the pool. Lots of
good feedback and the space
was just great. It didn’t seem like
there were quite as many people
as there actually were.”
The pool deck was packed
with athletes and spectators and
coupled with humidity rising
Athlete of
the Week
Warriors edge
out Days Creek,
win league
North Douglas
boys claim just
their third title in
25 years
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
www.dfw.state.or.us/RR
See ODFW 3B
CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT
942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM
Queens of the jungle
ODFW R EGIONAL F ISHING
R EPORT
ATTENTION ANGLERS – WE
WANT YOUR PHOTOS!
Whether you’re out after trout
or bass, steelhead or salmon,
surfperch or rockfish, we’d love
to see photos of your adventure.
When you submit your photos
to ODFW they could appear on
our website or signs, or in social
or brochures. What a great way
to share your experience with
others!
BEST BETS FOR FISHING
• It’s prime winter steelhead
fishing on the north and mid-
coast, and rivers should be in
great shape for at least the early
part of the weekend.
• The Sandy and Clackamas
rivers also will be prime for good
winter steelheading.
• Some anglers have been
catching their limits of hatchery
steelhead on the South Umpqua.
• Several waterbodies along the
mid-coast, and in the Willamette
and SW zones will be stocked
with trout this week.
• Trout fishing has been good
(and for big fish, too) in Priday,
Krumbo and Malheur reservoirs.
• And for something a little dif-
ferent, check out the wiper fishing
in Ana Reservoir.
• Some extra large trout (three
pounders) will be stocked in
several north Willamette water-
bodies: Henry Hagg Lake (500),
St, Louis Ponds (500), EE Wilson
Pond (500), Sheridan Pond (150)
and Willamina Pond (150).
MID COAST LAKES
Stocking of the mid-coast lakes
has begun for the 2020 season.
Last week several of the mid-
coast lakes were stocked. Check
the stocking schedule online for
dates and locations of lakes that
have been stocked so far this
year. Lakes that are scheduled to
be stocked in February include:
Alder, Dune, Carter, Lost, Elbow,
Cleawox, Munsel, Siltcoos, This-
sel Pond, Big Creek Reservoirs,
Olalla Reservoir and Devils Lake.
SIUSLAW RIVER: winter steel-
head
Winter steelhead fishing has
improved on the Siuslaw as the
river continues to drop into
•
B1
Th is week’s athlete
of the week is
North Douglas
freshman Ray
Gerrard who
scored a team-high
13 points in their
Skyline-clinching
win over Days
Creek.
Ray Gerrard,
along with
several
other fresh-
man, has
been a key
contributor
in his team’s
league-title
season. The
future is
bright for
Warriors
basketball.
COURTESY PHOTO