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
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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
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