14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 13, 2015
Polk County Sports
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD
WOU wins four individual GNAC titles
Western Oregon athletes hope for national championship invites
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — The
Western Oregon track and
field team took home four
individual titles at the Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence Outdoor Track and
Field Championships on Fri-
day and Saturday.
Junior Emmi Collier start-
ed things off Friday when
she won the shot put with a
throw of 45 feet, 7 inches,
setting a new personal best
in the process.
WOU saw a trio of athletes
join Collier on Saturday. Sen-
ior Rebecca Laible defended
her title in
the triple
jump, win-
ning with a
mark of 38-
1¼. On the
men’s side,
j u n i o r
Badane
Collier
Sultessa
won the 800-meter run in 1
minute, 52.31 seconds.
Freshman David Ribich
pulled away from his rivals
in the second heat of the
1,500 to win the event in
3:50.58, also setting a new
personal record.
Other notable perform-
ances included freshman
Cody Warner finishing sec-
ond in the 200 and freshman
Kaleb Dobson taking second
in the 400.
WOU finished fourth in
the men’s teams standings
and fifth in the women’s.
Western Oregon will now
wait and see if any of its
athletes advanced to the
NCAA Division II Outdoor
Track and Field Champi-
onships. The NCAA was
scheduled to release a list
of qualifers Tuesday after
press time.
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon’s Badane Sultessa (279) wins the men’s 800-meter run on Saturday.
GNAC: Wolves hit two home runs in final game
Continued from Page 10A
“We were locked into
what we were trying to do,”
Walker said. “The situation
of the game, each at bat or
play in the infield or outfield,
we were focused on what we
were trying to accomplish.”
In the deciding game,
Matt Taylor and Harpole
each hit a two-run home
run to build a 4-0 lead, pro-
viding just enough run sup-
port to hang on for the one-
run victory.
“It was pretty awesome,”
Harpole said. “I had been
struggling a little bit at the
plate. I made good contact
and got lucky that it did
what I was trying to do. I
knew it had the distance,
but it was hooking pretty
badly. I was just hoping it
would stay fair.”
The Wolves, who played
the Crusaders seven times
over the season’s final two
weeks, saw its fifth game be-
tween the opponents come
down to a single run during
that stretch.
“You feel like you’ve
played them more than you
actually have,” Harpole said.
“It can feel like it’s the only
team you’ve played all year.”
With the victory, the
Wolves extended its confer-
ence championship streak
to 14 seasons.
“I’ve been on the team for
four years and have had a lot
of winning success,” Harpole
said. “But just the way the
whole season went about,
making sure our last game
was a win, there were a lot of
emotions on the field.”
As WOU celebrates its lat-
est triumph, Walker said
while this season had its
share of bumps in the road,
the players and coaches
never strayed in their belief.
“They experienced some
adversity this year, some of
it is self-inflicted, but I give
this group a lot of credit for
staying with it the entire
year,” Walker said. “Their
focus never changed. The
players and coaching staff
stayed together for the en-
tire year. I’m happy for them
to have some success.”
PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP
Dallas wins two of three against Central
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central first baseman Luis Amador attempts to tag Dal-
las’ Tucker Weaver on Friday afternoon.
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — With the regu-
lar season winding down,
Dallas and Central’s baseball
squads faced off in a key
Mid-Willamette Conference
series.
And while the Dragons
took two of three from the
Panthers, the series had
major ramifications for the
MWC standings.
Dallas started the series
with a 13-1 win on May 5
and a 19-9 win on May 6, be-
fore Central won the series
finale 4-2 on Friday.
Pitcher Logan Hatley
started the opener, record-
ing 13 strikeouts as the
Dragons scored seven runs
in the sixth inning to pull
away.
In game two, a nine-run
third inning helped the Drag-
ons to the 10-run victory.
In the final contest, Cen-
tral pitcher Humberto Alar-
con kept the Dragons’ of-
fense at bay.
“It’s a rivalry week, and we
knew they weren’t going to
roll over in the third,” Dallas
coach Scot McDonald said.
“Humberto pitched really
well.”
Central’s series was a re-
minder of its season so far —
the Panthers have shown the
ability to compete with the
league’s best teams as well as
see teams pull away.
“We put together a com-
plete game for once,” Pan-
thers coach Zach Miller said.
“… We had a complete de-
fensive effort (on Friday)
that we didn’t have the other
games.”
The Panthers win meant
Central entered the regular
season’s final week at 11-7 in
league play, two games
ahead of fifth-place Silver-
ton. Dallas’ loss dropped it
into a tie for second with
Crescent Valley at 13-5 in
MWC play, three games be-
hind league-leading Corval-
lis (16-2 MWC).
The top two teams in the
league gain an automatic
berth into the OSAA’s 16-
team state championship
bracket. The third- and
fourth-place teams host a
play-in game, while the fifth-
and sixth- seeded squads
will play on the road.
“You can only control
what you can,” McDonald
said. “Whatever happens in
the other games, we won’t
worry about it too much. We
are looking for our guys to
perform consistently and get
ready for the postseason. …
You want to play the best
baseball in the playoffs, so
that’s what we are working
toward.”
Dallas hosts South Albany
Wednesday (today) at 2:30
p.m. before playing at South
Albany Friday in the team’s
regular season finale. Cen-
tral plays at Cor vallis
Wednesday (today) before
hosting the Spartans Friday
at 4:30 p.m. to close out its
regular season.
PERRYDALE DROPS THREE:
Perrydale’s baseball team lost a
trio of Special District 2
matchups, falling to rival St.
Paul 5-0 on May 6, East Linn
Christian 10-5 on Friday and
Regis 8-2 on Monday. The set-
backs dropped the Pirates to
9-9 overall and 3-8 in league
play.
ANNUAL PLANT SALE RETURNS
With 13 vendors, the annual plant sale had the most vendors in its 25-year history. This
year featured native plants, 250 unusual and hard to find plants, 83 varieties of toma-
toes and 45 varieties of peppers.
PHOTOS BY EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
The 25th Annual plant sale of the Polk County Master Gardner’s sold more than 15,000
plants, the most ever sold in the sale’s history.
More than 2,500 customers were estimated to have attended this year’s plant sale.
Money raised from the sale will be used to support projects, gardening clinics and ac-
tivities for Polk County, including repairs to The Gentle House in Monmouth, expanding
support to the Fall Fling educational workshop in Dallas and more.