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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2015)
Polk County Sports Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 25, 2015 10A CLASS 5A STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25 Girls Basketball: Leb- anon at Dallas, 7 p.m. Corval- lis at Central, 7 p.m. Class 1A State Playoffs, First Round: Falls City at Portland Luther- an, 7 p.m. THURSDAY, FEB. 26 Men’s Basketball: West- ern Oregon at Alaska An- chorage, 8:30 p.m. Women’s Basketball: Central Washington at West- ern Oregon, 7 p.m. FRIDAY, FEB. 27 Boys Basketball: Silver- ton at Dallas, 7 p.m. Central at Woodburn, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball: Dallas at Silverton, 7 p.m. Wood- burn at Central, 7 p.m. Wrestling: Dallas, Central at Class 5A State Champi- onships, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, 8:30 a.m. SATURDAY, FEB. 28 Girls Basketball: Falls City at Class 1A State Play- offs, Second Round, TBA (if needed). Wrestling: Dallas, Central at Class 5A State Champi- onships, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, 8:30 a.m. Men’s Basketball: West- ern Oregon at Alaska Fair- banks, 8:30 p.m. Women’s Basketball: Northwest Nazarene at Western Oregon, 7 p.m. Baseball: Western Ore- gon at Saint Martin’s (DH), noon. Swinehart aims for perfect finish Senior enters state tournament with 43-0 record this season By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer Pinning Down A Title INDEPENDENCE — In the mo- ments before a match, Central wrestler Tanner Swinehart is focused on one thing. But it’s not his oppo- nent. “I always talk myself up,” Swine- hart said. “I never degrade myself before a match. I focus on what I do well and the things I am good at.” Swinehart has a lot to draw on. After winning the Mid-Willamette Conference district title at 170 pounds on Feb. 14, Swinehart will enter the OSAA state wrestling tour- nament with a 43-0 record. “It’s my senior year, so it was all or nothing this year,” Swinehart said. Yet, Swinehart isn’t focused on the matches he’s won. “(State) is what I’m looking for- ward to,” he said. “All of the other tournaments don’t really matter. This is the one that matters.” Swinehart has been a dominant What: OSAA Class 5A State Wrestling Championships. When: Friday, 8:30 a.m.; Saturday, 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Where: Veterans Memorial Coli- seum, Portland. Admission: Friday — adults, $15; students, $10 (good all day). Satur- day — adults, $10; students, $8 (per session). NEAL OLSON/for the Itemizer-Observer force on the mat, earning 31 wins by pin. His ability to control his oppo- nents and his strength and speed make him a difficult matchup for any opponent, Central coach Van Holstad said. “His attacking style, attitude and work ethic are all in line and it has Central senior Tanner Swinehart defeated South Albany’s Nick Smith en route to a Mid-Willamette Conference district title on Feb. 14. been evident so far this season,” Holstad said. “As a result, he has a lot of confidence to execute his plan for each match.” Swinehart’s success hasn’t come out of nowhere. It’s been the result of years of training and dedication, Holstad said. And through all his tri- umphs, his younger brother, Collin, a junior, has been there nearly every step of the way. See FINISH, Page 12A PREP SWIMMING Ford, Glade place at state meet SUNDAY, MARCH 1 Baseball: Western Ore- gon at Saint Martin’s (DH), noon. TUESDAY, MARCH 3 Boys Basketball: Class 5A State Play-In Round, TBA. Dragons, Panthers happy with results WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 Girls Basketball: Class 5A State Play-In Round, TBA. Women’s Basketball: GNAC Championship Tour- nament at Billings, Mont., 5:15 p.m. — By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer Schedules Subject to Change QUICK HITS Goularte named Player of the Week MONMOUTH — Western Oregon senior Dana Goularte earned the Great Northwest Athletic Confer- ence wo- men’s basket- ball co- Player of the Week honors along wi- th Mont- ana State Billings’ Goularte Quinn Peoples on Monday. For the week, Goularte totaled 46 points, 11 re- bounds, four steals and three assists as Western Oregon split a pair of con- ference games, defeating Montana State Billings on Thursday, before falling to Seattle Pacific on Saturday. The Wolves (4-12 GNAC) kept their postseason hopes alive. WOU must win out and receive help to earn a post- season berth. STAT SHEET The number of Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships the Western Oregon men’s bas- ketball team had prior to clinching the title against Simon Fraser on Saturday. 0 LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Steve Lynn, Shea Coker, Brittany Varney, Drew Ellingson, Tierra Reynolds, Shane Castle, Allison Kidd, Tiauannah Davis, Sarah Ziola and coach Micke Kidd (from left) celebrated Falls City’s first ever trip to the state playoffs. HISTORY MAKERS Falls City advances to girls state playoffs for first time By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer Postseason Party FALLS CITY — In the nearly four decades since the first girls basketball team set foot on a court for Falls City High School, no team had ever accomplished some- thing of this magnitude. The Mountaineers punched their ticket to the Class 1A state playoffs for the first time in school history after defeating Jewell 47-28 on Thursday in a con- ference playoff contest that de- cided the Casco League’s No. 3 seed to state. Even for a team that prides itself on not letting emotion get the best of it, the victory set off a celebra- Who: Falls City Mountaineers (12-12, Casco League No. 3) vs. Portland Lutheran Blue Jays (15- 10, The Valley 10 League No. 2). What: First round, OSAA Class 1A girls state basketball playoffs. When: Wednesday (today), 7 p.m. Where: Portland Lutheran High School. Admission: Adults, $6; students and children, $4. What’s at stake: The winner advances to the round of 16 (state second round) and will play on Saturday against a yet- to-be determined opponent. Of note: Watch for final results and state playoff updates involving the Lady Mountaineers at www.polkio.com, www.twitter.com/polkiosports and the I-O’s Facebook page. www.polkio.com/ns/sports tion of monumental propor- tions. “It was really loud and we were in a really small locker room,” Falls City junior wing Allison Kidd said. “You couldn’t tell what we were saying, but it was electric in there.” Even the team’s youngest players knew what their ac- complishment meant. “Drew (Ellingson) talked for the first time for the whole season,” junior post Brittany Varney said with a s m i l e . “A n d s h e w a s screaming.” The Mountaineers’ road to the state playoffs didn’t start as planned, however. Falls City opened the league playoffs with a sur- prising 46-28 loss on Feb. 18 to Willamette Christian, a team the Mountaineers swept during the regular season. “They expected to win that first game,” Falls City coach Micke Kidd said. “I was wondering how they would respond. They were pretty bummed the night before.” The Mountaineers re- sponded in a big way. Tiauannah Davis poured in a game-high 19 points, while Tierra Reynolds scored 12 points and Varney added 10 points against Jewell. See HISTORY, Page 11A www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209 Mon -Fri 8am - 6pm • Sat 8am - 5pm DALLAS 121 Main St • 503-623-8155 INDEPENDENCE 1710 Monmouth St • 503-838-6340 www.LesSchwab.com Prices good through 2/28/15 GRESHAM — Dallas and Central each earned a finalist on the medal stand at the Class 5A state swim- ming championships last weekend. Jolie-Rae Ford of Dallas finished fourth in the finals of the girls 500-yard freestyle while Central’s Nathan Glade pl- aced fifth in the boys 100- yard bre- aststroke finals. Ford, a sopho- Ford m o r e , hoped to save her best per- formance for last on Satur- day. She m o r e than de- Glade livered in the 500 freestyle. Ford finished the race in 5 minutes, 17.33 seconds, setting a personal record in the process. “I can always hope for better results, but last year I did not even make finals,” Ford said. “Fourth in high school state is an amazing accomplishment and I am beyond happy with how it all worked out.” Ford also finished sev- enth in the 200 freestyle preliminary in 1:59.03 on Friday, narrowly missing qualifying for the Saturday finals. The top six swimmers advanced out of the pre- liminary heat. See STATE, Page 12A www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports
