Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Leisure
B1
THURSDAY | MAY 6, 2021
Note: Game times and
Lions make high marks
dates are subject to change
May 7
• Elkton baseball
at Riddle 3/5 pm
• ND/Yon baseball
hosts N. Bend JV
5 pm
• ND softball
at Glendale
noon/2 pm
• Elkton softball
at Riddle 2/4:30 pm
• Yoncalla softball
hosts Lowell
2/4 pm
May 8
• CGHS baseball
hosts J. City
noon and 2 pm
• CGHS softball
hosts J. City
noon and 2 pm
May 10
• ND/Yon baseball
hosts J. City JV
5 pm
• Yoncalla softball
at Glide 4:30 pm
T
he CGHS track and field team was on the road at
Siuslaw High School April 30 for the Sky-Em League
Showcase, which was a district preview meet. The Lions
teams finished third overall, with a win in the high jump
by junior Isaac Stere at 5-10 (far right), second place in
the triple jump by Ty Kishen at 37-05 (top left); and sec-
ond place by the girls 4x1 relay team of Cora NcClean,
Leona Marquess, Gracie Arnold (top right) and Matty Ladd.
The Lions will compete at district May 14 and 15.
PHOTOS BY NED HICKSON/FOR THE SENTINEL
A Race Well Run
After 23 Years, Settelmeyer Reaches the Finish Line as Cross Country Coach
of it was that I didn’t want to ever
get where it would be easy to walk
away. And it definitely wasn’t easy.”
In a way, an easy exit might mean
that Settelmeyer had already been
short-changing his team. And of
course, he’s not about doing things
the easy way anyway.
ByJon Stinnett
May 11
• CGHS baseball
hosts Marshfield
5 pm
• CGHS softball
hosts Marshfield
5 pm
• Elkton baseball
hosts Glide 4:30 pm
• Elkton softball
at ND 4:30 pm
• ND/Yon baseball
at Sheldon JV 5 pm
• ND softball
hosts Elkton
4:30 pm
May 12
• Elkton baseball
hosts Glide 4:30 pm
• Elkton softball
hosts Yoncalla
4:30 pm
• ND softball
at Glide 2/4 pm
• Yoncalla softball
at Elkton 4:30 pm
for The Sentinel
E
ven the most avid runner
knows that sometimes, run-
ning is just no fun.
Sometimes, the aching of weary
muscles seems almost bone-deep.
Lungs burn like fire, pulling in
vain for oxygen that never satis-
fies. Weather and terrain can make
one wish they were smart enough
to have stayed indoors. What feels
like the futility of these efforts can
lead to crippling self-doubt and the
desire — above all — to simply quit,
to lie down and wait for the pain to
slowly pass.
At times like these, it’s great to
rely on the support and encour-
agement of a trusted advisor and
friend, someone who knows from
experience and can help convince
runners that the pain they’re ex-
periencing is only temporary and
that, through it, self-betterment,
success and deep satisfaction can
be gained.
Later, these lessons can be ap-
plied to nearly all of life’s challenges
and we can, in fact, learn to love the
work for its own sake.
For nearly a quarter-century,
Jim Settelmeyer has served as just
such a mentor for young runners
at Cottage Grove High School.
Throughout that time, he’s had the
COURTESY PHOTO
Cottage Grove High School cross country coach Jim Settlemeyer
with wife, Joyce. Settelmeyer is retiring from coaching after 23
years at the helm of the Lions’ highly successful program.
support of his wife, Joyce, and a
host of friends and family to help
both new and veteran members of
the Lions’ cross country team real-
ize their own potential, overcome
their limitations, find success as in-
dividuals and teammates and, more
often than not, have a fair bit of fun
doing it.
Settelmeyer began coaching Cot-
tage Grove runners in 1998, and
he and Joyce have coached at the
middle and high-school levels. On
Athlete of
the Week
April 2, though, following one of
the strangest seasons imaginable —
a six-week stint that took place in
the spring due to a global pandem-
ic — he gathered the Lions together
one last time and informed them
that his tenure had come to an end.
Hearing him talk about it now,
it’s clear that this was a difficult de-
cision — and that he wouldn’t have
it any other way.
“Twenty-three years, and I regret
none of it,” he says. “Maybe part
This week’s athlete of the
week is Matty Ladd,
who won both the triple
jump and high jump
at last week’s Sky-Em
League Showcase.
A Winning Formula
Throughout his tenure at
CGHS, Settelmeyer has employed
a straight-forward formula to help
his athletes focus on their priorities.
“It gave us an opportunity to
help the kids prioritize the idea that
first is family, second is school and
third is the other things in life that
they have choices about,” he says.
“If they wanted to be varsity cross
country participants, then for that
third part, their priority would be
cross country during the season.”
Over the years, the formula
proved itself in competition and
beyond. Several Lion cross coun-
try teams placed as high as fifth at
the state tournament, and the Lions
won a district championship and
finished second several times.
Until this season, Cottage Grove
fielded a string of complete guys
and girls teams for 10 years in an
era when it’s pretty common to not
have a complete girls team. There
See RUN 2B
Cottage
Grove High
School
senior Matty
Ladd cleared
5-02 in the
high jump
and 37-07.5
in the triple
jump to win
both events
last week.