Polk County Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 20, 2016
DALLAS SWIMMING
Ford, Locke look to fine tune for districts
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Dallas
swim team is ready to begin
its charge toward districts.
The Dragons, who host a
home meet Thursday at 3
p.m., will turn their atten-
tion toward getting swim-
mers ready to give their
best.
Senior Parker Ford and
sophomore Hannah Locke
enter a key stretch of the
season with different ex-
pectations, but both have
become examples of what
coaches hope to achieve
for everyone who joins.
—
Ford and Locke come
from two different swim-
ming backgrounds.
Ford has been a lifelong
swimmer, competing on the
Blue Dolphins youth squad
prior to arriving at Dallas.
“I’m feel-
ing pretty
confident
right now,”
Ford said.
The sen-
ior isn’t the
only Ford
on
the
Ford
s q u a d .
Younger sister Jolie-Rae Ford
also competes for the Drag-
ons.
The pair use its bond to
help push each other
throughout the season.
“With Jolie on the team,
we know what our strengths
are and we use it to push
each other,” Parker said.
“We’ll have little competi-
tions and stuff.”
The latest was who could
record the fastest time in the
100-yard freestyle. Jolie won
that round, but Parker said
he’s ready to top that mark
soon.
Dallas Invite
• Dallas will host the Dal-
las Invitational Thursday at
3 p.m. at the Dallas Aquatic
Center.
• Dallas, Central, Corvallis
and Blanchet Catholic will
compete.
The three-sport athlete
placed first in the 50-yard
freestyle on Jan. 5 with a
time of 27.26 seconds and
has become one of the boys
team’s fastest swimmers.
Locke is in her first year of
swimming. A knee injury suf-
fered during the spring play-
ing softball meant she was
on the lookout for a sport to
help with rehab — swim-
ming was a natural choice.
“I knew it was going to be
really difficult and it was,”
Locke said. “It’s been tough
mentally and physically. I’ve
had to learn the ropes of
where to go and what to do.”
Locke’s times have been
steadily improving. Most re-
cently, she finished the 50
freestyle in 38.82 seconds on
Jan. 5.
While they may have
come from different swim
backgrounds, both Locke
and Parker have become ex-
amples through their work
ethic and dedication, Dallas
coach David Morelli said.
“Hannah and Parker ex-
emplify what high school
swimming is all about,”
Morelli said. “They work
hard and do whatever I ask
of them. Where age-group
swimming is about individ-
ual times and performance,
the high school team is
about the team. They bring
this team attitude to the
pool every day.”
Now, the Dragons atten-
tion begins to change from
getting swimmers into
shape to
prepar ing
to swim
their best
when it
matters
most.
“ T h e
challenge
Locke
in high
school swimming is to build
the endurance and develop
the technique of the seasonal
swimmer so they will be
competitive,” Morelli said.
“… We have met that chal-
lenge and all our swimmers
now have the endurance and
technique to compete in sev-
eral races at districts. In the
next few weeks we will con-
centrate on the finer points
of their strokes and perfect
their starts and turns.”
For Ford, that means en-
suring his stroke becomes as
efficient as possible as he
looks to become a con-
tender to qualify for state.
“I’m working on lengthen-
ing my stroke and my flip
turns,” Ford said. “I tend to
go back to a 10-year-old’s
stroke and short arm every-
thing.”
For Locke, that means a
greater focus on her stroke
and breathing. She may
have more modest expecta-
tions when it comes to com-
peting at districts, but that
doesn’t make her any less
important to the team,
Morelli said.
Whether they are compet-
ing for a berth at state or
simply to set a new personal
record, Morelli said the
Dragons are here to wel-
come everyone.
“It is our job to let the sea-
sonal swimmer know they
are part of a team and can
add valuable points in indi-
vidual races and relays,”
Morelli said.
CENTRAL ROUNDUP
Growth: Falls City looks to
Girls basketball tops Dragons
knock off league’s best
Continued from Page 10A
“As seniors, we ask our-
selves what we can do to
help and encourage them,”
Allison Kidd said. “Everyone
makes mistakes, and we
don’t want
them to
feel like
they’re
bringing
the team
d o w n .
When they
make a
mistake,
Varney
you can
see it in their faces some-
times and they, like, shut
down.”
Lately, that hasn’t been
the case. Falls City entered
the week on a three-game
win streak as several under-
classmen made their pres-
ence felt.
“The girls are getting
more comfortable and more
confident,” Micke Kidd said.
“They don’t have to think as
much. They have enough ex-
perience that it’s starting to
become natural and they
just know where they are
supposed to be going and
where to rotate.”
The result has been the
ability to add new schemes
on defense and a more po-
tent offense.
“I think the talent’s always
been there,” Allison Kidd
said. “We’re more talented
than last year. I think every-
one saw that we can do this
and started thinking we
want to go somewhere.
Everyone is on the same
page now and are giving it
their all in games and prac-
tices.”
The next step will be to
defeat the league’s top
teams.
The Mountaineers hosted
Willamette Valley Christian
Tuesday after press time
with a chance to move into
third place in the Casco
League. Falls City lost to
WVC by five on Dec. 8.
The Mountaineers en-
tered the week 0-3 against
the league’s top three
squads, losing to Perrydale,
second in the Casco League,
30-25 on Jan. 5 and league-
leading Country Christian
on Dec. 14 — but Falls City
doesn’t play like the same
team that took the court in
early December, Micke Kidd
said.
“We have three seniors,
but we’re so young that we
sometimes forget everyone
else are freshmen and
sophomores,” he said.
“We’re asking them to play
a lot of minutes, and they
just haven’t been there be-
fore. They are learning.”
BOYS BASKETBALL: Falls
City’s boys basketball team de-
feated Jewell 56-38 on Jan. 12
before falling to C.S. Lewis 51-
27 on Friday.
The Mountaineers (2-9 over-
all, 1-6 Casco League) play at
Livingstone on Thursday and at
Country Christian on Tuesday.
DALLAS ROUNDUP
Wrestling takes first at Southridge
Itemizer-Observer staff report
BEAVERTON — Dallas’
wrestling team placed first
at the Southridge Wrestling
Tournament on Saturday.
Ryan Bibler (106 pounds),
Jesse Stuhr (120) and Sammy
Chung (126) placed first to
lead the Dragons.
Joseph Foster (113), Ean
Woodruff (138) and Tylor Van-
denbroeke (145) finished sec-
ond.
Dallas hosts South Albany
Wednesday (today) at 6 p.m.
b e f o r e
competing
at
the
R e s e r ’s
To u r n a -
ment of
Champions
on Friday
and Satur-
Chung
day.
The Dragons also host
Crescent Valley on Jan. 27 at
6 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
SPLITS LEAGUE GAMES: Dal-
las’ girls basketball rolled to a
74-28 win over South Albany
on Friday.
The Dragons opened the
week with a 49-37 loss to Cen-
tral on Jan. 13. Tristin Savage
scored 16 points against the
Panthers. Dallas (6-6 overall, 2-
1 Mid-Willamette Conference)
plays at Corvallis Wednesday
(today) before hosting Cres-
cent Valley Friday at 7 p.m.
The Dragons play at Redmond
Saturday at 1:45 p.m. and
plays at Lebanon Jan. 27 at 7
p.m.
Everett Minahan
Dallas High
Minahan, a senior, came through
when Dallas’ boys basketball team need-
ed him most. Trailing by three with less
than five seconds left in regulation, Mi-
nahan made a buzzer-beater from half
court, sending the team’s game against Central into over-
time. The Dragons went on to defeat the Panthers 38-37 in
overtime. Minahan’s miracle shot allowed Dallas the chance
to put away the Panthers in the extra period.
Krista Omlid
Central High
basketball team lost a pair of
MWC contests last week. The
Panthers dropped a heart-
breaker to Dallas, falling 38-37
in overtime on Jan. 12 before
losing to Crescent Valley 58-48
on Friday.
“The game vs. Dallas was an
absolute heartbreaker for our
guys,” Central coach Tim Kreta
said. “We had some extremely
teachable moments. I know it
sounds cliché, but our guys
walked out understanding
how we let that game slip
away.”
Against Crescent Valley, the
Panthers held an early advan-
tage entering the second quar-
ter before the Raiders rallied.
“We had kind of a debacle
from about the middle of the
second quarter and into the
third,” Kreta said. “They put
some pressure on us and we
had a hard time handling
that.”
Central (5-7 overall, 1-2
MWC) hosted Lebanon on
Tuesday after press time. The
Panthers host Silverton Friday
at 7 p.m. Central entered the
week in a ive-way tie for third.
“Our league is going to end
up beating each other up the
next week and a half,” Kreta
said. “After the top teams,
everyone is stuck at 1-2. This
next week is going to start
separating some teams out.”
Pirates move into first in league standings
Itemizer-Observer staff report
PERRYDALE — Perry-
dale’s boys basketball squad
sits alone at the top of the
Casco League after a 50-42
win over Crosshill Christian
on Friday.
In a battle of two of the
league’s top teams, the Pi-
rates (10-4 overall, 7-1
Casco League) handed
Crosshill its first league loss
of the season.
“It was probably our
most complete game of
the year,” Perrydale coach
Mike Lowry said. “Howev-
er, after the game I got the
impression the team
thinks we can get better. It
was great to see everybody
chip in.”
Haylen Janesofsky and
Brant Barnes scored 18
points each to lead the Pi-
rates.
Perrydale played Jewell
Tuesday after press time.
The Pirates host C.S. Lewis
Friday at 7 p.m., St. Paul
Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and
Willamette Valley Christian
Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“The goal now is to keep
improving,” Lowry said.
“We need to refine things in
offense and defense.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL EX-
TENDS WIN STREAK: Perry-
dale’s girls basketball squad
team won its sixth game in a
row, d e fe a t i n g C ro s s h i l l
Christian 31-20 on Friday. The
win was the team’s fourth in
a row by 11 points or more.
The Pirates (9-5 overall, 7-1
Casco League) played Jewell
Tuesday after press time. Per-
rydale hosts C.S. Lewis Friday
at 5:30 p.m., St. Paul Saturday
at 2 p.m. and Willamette Val-
ley Christian Tuesday at 5:30
p.m.
Central: Tuipulotu clinches dual win
Omlid, a sophomore, played a big role
in Central’s girls basketball team’s wins
over Dallas and Crescent Valley. Omlid
scored a team-high 14 points against the
Dragons on Jan. 13, helping the Panthers
to a 49-37 victory over their league rivals. Against the
Raiders, she again added 14 points, helping to propel Cen-
tral to a 57-42 win on Friday. Omlid helped the Panthers
enter the week at 3-0 in Mid-Willamette Conference play.
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.
CALEB WALLACE/for the Itemizer-Observer
Central’s Kyle Nash (left) drives to the hoop as Dallas’
Tristin Savage (right) attempts to block her. The Pan-
ters defeated the Dragons 49-37 on Jan. 13.
PERRYDALE ROUNDUP
Itemizer-Observer
Athlete of the Week
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE 2- Cen-
tral’s girls basketball squad
improved to 3-0 in Mid-
Willamette Conference play
after defeating Dallas 49-37
on Jan. 13 and Crescent Val-
ley 57-42 on Friday.
Krista Omlid scored 14
points,
Alex Al-
v a r e z
added 13
points and
Kylie Nash
re c o rd e d
11 points
for the
Pa n t h e r s
Omlid
against the
Dragons.
N a s h
had 26
points, in-
cluding
five 3-
p o i n t e r s,
w h i l e
O m l i d
Alvarez
scored 14
points against Crescent Val-
ley.
“We worked on our of-
fense and really under-
standing the game of bas-
ketball,” Panthers coach
Julie McDonald said. “We’re
focused on one game at a
time. The experience our
players have gotten is a
major part of our success.
Our freshmen have played
major roles, and we need
everyone to be successful
on offense.”
Central (8-4 overall) ex-
tended its win streak to six
games.
The Panthers play at
L e b a n o n We d n e s d a y
(today) and at Silverton on
Friday. Silverton entered the
week undefeated at 13-0.
BOYS BASKETBALL
DROPS TWO: Central’s boys
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Marlon Tuipulotu defeated Dexter Rimer on Jan. 13.
Continued from Page 10A
Both Luis and Manuel
began wrestling during mid-
dle school.
Since then, they couldn’t
picture themselves doing
anything else.
“After my first match, I
loved it,” Louis said. “I just
wanted to wrestle from then
on.”
The pair has grown into
two of the team’s most de-
pendable wrestlers.
Now, the Panthers will
look to the Martinez broth-
ers, among others, to build
the depth necessary to com-
pete for a Mid-Willamette
Conference title.
It’s a goal they know won’t
come easy, but one the Pan-
thers’ wrestlers are excited to
try and overcome.
“We want to win league,
that’s our goal,” Tuipulotu
said. “We just have to take it
one goal at a time.”