Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 14, 2015 11A
Polk County Sports
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Wolves pass home tests
Men’s basketball now in first place in conference standings
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s men’s basketball
team received a gut check
against Northwest
Nazarene and Central
Washington last week.
The Wolves passed both
tests.
WOU defeated North-
west Nazarene 66-59 on
Thursday. Junior Andy Avgi
scored a team-high 18
points, including a tip-in
that gave the Wolves a 64-
59 lead with 23 seconds left
in the game.
“Thursday’s win was
gutsy,” Western Oregon
coach Brady Bergeson said.
“They clamped down de-
fensively on us and made
everything hard in the sec-
ond half, but we did take
care of the ball. I just
thought we were a little bit
more detailed with our at-
tack in the last four minutes
of the game.”
The Wolves trailed the
Wildcats 74-68 on Saturday
but WOU (13-3 overall, 5-1
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference) scored the final
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
WOU guard Devon Alexander advances the ball against
Central Washington on Saturday night.
10 points to earn the victo-
ry. Avgi scored 23 points,
while Marwan Sarhan and
Jordan Wiley added 10
points each.
“The quiet difference, to
me, was there was a stretch
of eight or 10 minutes in the
middle of the second half
where we really dominated
the boards,” Bergeson said.
“It didn’t show up on the
scoreboard immediately,
but we would have been
down six or eight or nine
points had we not done
that.”
Western Oregon hosts
Saint Martin’s Saturday at 7
p.m.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
DROPS TWO: Western Ore-
gon’s women’s basketball team
dropped a pair of conference
games last week at home. The
Wolves lost to Alaska Anchor-
age 79-61 on Thursday before
falling to Alaska Fairbanks 74-
65 on Saturday. Jordan Motter-
shaw led the Wolves with 17
points against Alaska Anchor-
age, but the Seawolves used a
10-0 run in the second half to
extend their lead to 66-48 with
7:06 left in the game. Freshman
Sami Osborne recorded a dou-
ble-double against the
Nanooks on Saturday, scoring
14 points and grabbing 12 re-
bounds, but Western Oregon
could not overcome a 19-point
second-half deficit. Senior for-
ward and leading scorer Dana
Goularte missed both contests
with an ankle injury. WOU plays
at Western Washington on
Thursday before facing Simon
Fraser on Saturday.
Attitude: Barnes
developing fast
Continued from Page 10A
From Troy Trembly to
Haylen Janesofsky and
Chad Price, the Pirates
aren’t short on experience.
It’s easy for Barnes to open
up scoring chances for his
teammates.
“I try and get the ball to
people who can score easier
than I can,” Barnes said.
But Lowry is on a mission
to help show Barnes he can
be as much of a scoring
threat as his teammates.
“When he drives, he can
take it to the hoop with ease
when he wants to,” Lowry
said. “He’s not the type of guy
to say that ‘I’m the best op-
tion on the team, get out of
the way’. That’s not how he is.
But I hope he starts to do that
a little in certain situations.”
Barnes’ development is as
much about the future of the
program as it is helping the
team now.
Barnes will see his offen-
sive looks increase this sea-
son. Coupled with his hus-
tle plays, whether it be
sprinting back to stop a fast
break or diving to the floor
to fight for a loose ball,
Barnes can inspire his
teammates to play harder
every time they step onto
the court.
“He’s one of the better
athletes I’ve seen come
through here, regardless of
l e v e l ,”
Lowry said.
“His stuff
doesn’t al-
ways come
up on the
stat page.”
W h a t
may be his
biggest
Barnes
roadblock
is changing his mindset.
“If (coach) wants me to
shoot, I’ll shoot,” Barnes
said. “But it’s not my first op-
tion, though.”
Whether Barnes can break
free of his conservative men-
tality remains to be seen.
But as the Pirates enter
the thick of their Tri-River
Conference season, Barnes’
emergence could be an X-
factor for the Pirates.
“He’s going to be the
leader,” Lowry said. “He’s not
going to get in people’s faces.
But his teammates look at
him and go ‘I need to play
like him.’”
Torch: Brunner visits invitational each year
Continued from Page 10A
Approximately 50 volunteers
show up each year to help. They
range from parents to children to
alumni, doing jobs from keeping
time to running match scores to
the tournament table.
That willingness to help is
something that sets the
wrestling community apart,
Brunner said.
“When you have a son that is a
wrestler, you become a part of a
very big family that can span sever-
al generations,” Brunner said.
“When you need something done,
who do you call first? You call fami-
ly. That is why Dallas has such great
volunteers. Many of mine were with
me from day one and I am so grate-
ful for them. They are what made
this tournament so successful.”
Even as her sons graduated from
high school, Brunner kept her post
as tournament director.
“It was kind of like orchestrating
the annual family gathering,”
Brunner said.
One person you won’t see at-
tending to the running of the tour-
nament is Dragons coach Tony Ol-
liff — and that’s a luxury he doesn’t
take for granted.
“If you talk with other wrestling
coaches at other schools, they
don’t even get to coach when they
host a tournament,” Olliff said.
“They are too busy running the
tournament. … It’s a big process. I
get to just coach.”
Brunner served as a constant for
two decades. But in 2013, Brunner
stepped down from the role she
had come to define.
New faces
Brunner’s decision to leave her
post wasn’t easy, but it was time.
“When something you love
starts to become work, it is time to
let it go,” Brunner said. “Our
youngest son, Brett, had been out
of high school for nine years and I
found that I just didn’t have the
connections that I once did. But
this tournament had become my
baby. I wasn’t willing to turn it over
to just anyone. It had to be some-
one with a love of the sport and the
organizational ability.”
Bibler was the perfect choice,
Brunner said.
Olliff renamed the event in
Brunner’s honor in 2013, just in
time to celebrate her last year as
tournament director.
Since then, Bibler, along with
former wrestling coach Steve Mar-
tinelli, have made sure the invita-
tional runs smoothly.
“If the greatest form of flattery
is imitation, then Brunner should
be quite flattered,” Bibler said.
“She had that tournament run-
ning like a fine-tuned machine.
We just had to follow her instruc-
tions and it has continued to be a
success.”
For Brunner, the tournament
continues to be a welcome treat,
Peace: Cedillo no longer shy
Continued from Page 10A
But Cedillo’s doubts soon
disappeared.
“I realized the swim com-
munity is free of judgment,”
Cedillo said.
She slowly became more
familiar with the workouts
and drills.
As she made new friends
and teammates, her insecu-
rities about her image start-
ed to fade.
It wasn’t long until her
confidence helped her
transform outside of the
pool as well.
“Slowly, I built confi-
dence and noticed myself
being bolder in other as-
pects of my life,” Cedillo
said. “Now, I’m not afraid to
be in any social setting and I
could even go as far to say
I’m a social butterfly.”
Now, the once shy swim-
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Sabrina Cedillo warms up before Central’s Mid-
Willamette Conference dual meet against South Albany.
mer is the one out talking to
others around the school to
recruit for the team.
“I’m helping people who
are new and don’t under-
stand something,” Cedillo
said. “I got a couple swim-
mers to join this year. I tell
people swimming is some-
thing you can do if you
want to better yourself.”
Cedillo, who was part of
Central’s 200-yard medley
relay that took second at the
Clemens Invitational on
Saturday, hopes to break
through in the 500 freestyle
and the 100 breaststroke
this season.
Cedillo’s competitive
swimming future beyond
high school remains up in
the air.
But one thing won’t
change — the water’s ability
to make all of Cedillo’s
stresses fade away.
“In the water, I know that
everything is OK and any-
thing is possible,” Cedillo
said. “Swim practice just
feels like an everyday thera-
py session to me. That is
why I love it so much.”
COLLEGE NOTEBOOK
Omlid to miss rest of season
Itemizer-Observer staff report
Central High graduate Tanner Omlid
is watching the remainder of the 2014-
15 basketball season
from the bench after
suffering a knee in-
jury on Nov. 25.
He was declared
out for the season on
Dec. 9.
Omlid played in
five games for Army’s
basketball team be-
Omlid
fore suffering a right
knee injury. The 6-foot-3 sophomore
averaged 6.6 points per game and had
11 steals.
—
Dallas High graduates Kaj Chris-
tensen (Class of 2014) and Jacob Rorem
(Class of 2013) recently completed the
2014 football season on a successful
note at College of the Redwoods in Eu-
reka, Calif.
Both players started every game at
defensive tackle for the Corsairs.
Christensen, a 6-foot, 260-pound
freshman, finished the season with 36
tackles, 4½ sacks, 7½ tackles for a loss
and one fumble recovery. He was
named to the All-Pacific-7 Conference
first team for his play.
“The conference was loaded at the
position from top to bottom, so it was
great to see Kaj get in there,” College
of the Redwoods coach Taylor Breitz-
man said. “He didn’t have stats that
blew people away, but he was just so
disruptive and difficult to block week
in and week out that people took no-
tice.”
Rorem, a 6-1, 290-pound redshirt
freshman, finished the season with 28
tackles, 1½ sacks and 5½ tackles for a
loss.
—
Cody Jones of Dallas is a member of
the 2014-15 wrestling team at South-
ern Oregon University in Ashland.
Jones, a 2010 graduate of Dallas High
School, is a redshirt junior for the
Raiders. He has been competing at 174
pounds this season. Jones won three
matches and reached the consolation
semifinals at the Menlo College Invita-
tional on Jan. 3 in Atherton, Calif., as
the Raiders, who are ranked No. 2 na-
tionally at the NAIA level, placed third
at the tournament.
—
Central High graduate Grant
Hedrick recently completed the 2014
football season at Boise State. Hedrick
helped the Broncos
to a 38-30 win over
Arizona in the Fiesta
Bowl on Dec. 31.
Hedrick threw for
309 yards and a
touchdown.
He finished his ca-
reer with a 70.2 com-
pletion percentage, a
Hedrick
program record.
He finished sixth in program history
in completions (475), passing yards
(5,656), attempts (677) and total of-
fense (6,627 yards).
—
Information for College Notebook
comes from college and university
sports information departments. To
submit an item or a tip for an up-
coming College Notebook, send it via
email to iosports@polkio.com or con-
tact Sports Editor Lukas Eggen at
503-623-2373 or leggen@polkio.com.
and something she volunteers for
each year. But she is happy to have
passed the torch.
When Brunner began her post,
she never dreamed of doing it for
20 years. Now that she’s stepped
down, Brunner’s just happy to
have made a positive impact.
“I’m so humbled to have this
tournament recognized as the
Brunner Invitational,” she said.
“Our family’s involvement with
wrestling was amazing. Anything
that (husband) Gregg and I did was
because of our love of the sport
and of the wrestlers. There is no
way to describe how it makes you
feel when by doing something that
you love, you are recognized in
such an amazing way.”
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
Panthers ease
by Aloha for win
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE — For
two quarters, Central’s girls
basketball team looked like
what coach Julie McDonald
expects to see.
That was enough to defeat
Aloha on Jan. 6.
The Panthers scored a
combined 38 points in the
second and fourth periods as
Central earned a 58-39 win.
“We just need to work on
putting four good quarters to-
gether,” McDonald said. “The
effort is there, we just need to
be a little more patient.”
Reba Hoffman scored a
team-high 13 points, while
Sai Tapasa scored 10 points
and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Panthers (5-4 overall)
opened Mid-Willamette
Conference play against
South Albany Tuesday after
press time. Central hosts Dal-
las on Friday at 7 p.m.
DALLAS LOSES HEART-
BREAKER: Dallas saw a late-
game rally fall short, as it lost to
Beaverton 51-49 on Jan. 6. Sarah
Zwicker scored a team-high 14
points. The Dragons (5-4 overall)
hosted Woodburn Tuesday after
press time. Dallas plays at Cen-
tral on Friday at 7 p.m.
FALLS CITY WINS BIG: Falls
City held C.S. Lewis’ junior varsi-
ty team to one point in the sec-
ond half, as the Mountaineers
(3-10 overall) earned a 41-7 vic-
tory on Jan. 6. Tierra Reynolds
and Brittany Varney scored
eight points each to lead Falls
City. The Mountaineers play at
Livingstone Adventist on Thurs-
day and Gaston on Friday be-
fore hosting Jewell Tuesday at
5:30 p.m.
PERRYDALE SPLITS LEAGUE
GAMES: Perrydale split a pair of
Tri-River Conference matchups,
defeating Central Linn 51-37 on
Jan. 6 before falling to Regis 42-
32 on Friday. Cheyenne Locke
scored 24 points against Central
Linn to lead the Pirates. Telaney
Newton scored a team-high 10
points against Regis. The Pirates
played East Linn Christian Tues-
day after press time. Perrydale
travels to Western Mennonite on
Friday and faces North Eugene’s
junior varsity team on Saturday.
Itemizer-Observer
Athlete of the Week
Jolie-Rae Ford
Dallas High
Ford, a sophomore, recorded four first-
place finishes against Blanchet Catholic
on Jan. 6. Ford won the 200-yard individ-
ual medley in 2 minutes, 21.31 seconds,
and the 100 freestyle (56.59). Ford was
also part of the 200- and 400-freestyle relay teams, which
took first with times of 2:01.17 and 4:31.18, respectively.
Both times were personal records for the relay team of Ford,
Elizabeth Dressel, Allura Eldridge and Paige Bowler.
To submit nominations for the Itemizer-Observer Athlete of
the Week, contact Sports Editor Lukas Eggen at 503-623-2373
or leggen@polkio.com by 9 a.m. on Monday.