Polk County
Sports
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17
Boys basketball: Cen-
tral at Silverton, 7 p.m.
Crescent Valley at Dallas, 7
p.m.
THURSDAY, FEB. 18
M e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l :
Western Oregon at Alaska
Fairbanks, 8 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at North-
west Nazarene, 6 p.m.
FRIDAY, FEB. 19
Boys basketball: Red-
mond at Dallas, 7 p.m.
Casco League Tournament:
Perrydale vs. C.S. Lewis at
Warner Paciic College,
7:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Casco
League Tournament: Falls
City vs. Livingstone Adven-
tist, 2:15 p.m. Perrydale vs.
Willamette Valley Christian
at Warner Paciic College,
5:45 p.m.
Softball: Western Ore-
gon vs. Newman (DH) at
Canyon, Texas, 11 a.m.
Swimming: Dallas at 5A
State Championships at
Mt. Hood Aquatic Center,
Gresham, 1:45 p.m.
Track and ield: West-
ern Oregon at GNAC
Championship, all day.
Wrestling: Central, Dal-
las at Mid-Willamette Con-
ference District Champi-
onships at South Albany
High School, 11 a.m.
SATURDAY, FEB. 20
Boys basketball: Casco
League Tournament: Perry-
dale vs. Willamette Valley
Christian/Country Chris-
tian or Crosshill Christian
at Warner Paciic College,
4 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Casco
League Tournament: Perry-
dale vs. Falls City/Living-
stone Adventist or Country
Christian at Warner Paciic
College, 2:15 p.m. or 5:45
p.m.
M e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l :
Western Oregon at Alaska
Anchorage, 3 p.m.
Softball: Western Ore-
gon vs. West Texas A&M
(DH) at Canyon, Texas, 3
p.m.
Swimming: Dallas at 5A
State Championships at
Mt. Hood Aquatic Center,
Gresham, 1 p.m.
Track and ield: West-
ern Oregon at GNAC
Championship, all day.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at Central
Washington, 4 p.m.
Wrestling: Central, Dal-
las at Mid-Willamette Con-
ference District Champi-
onships at South Albany
High School, 11 a.m.
SUNDAY, FEB. 21
Softball: Western Ore-
gon vs. Lincoln (DH) at
Canyon, Texas, 9 a.m.
TUESDAY, FEB. 23
Girls basketball: Cen-
tral at Corvallis, 7 p.m.
Lebanon at Dallas, 7 p.m.
Class 1A state playofs, irst
round: Falls City vs. TBA,
TBA. Perrydale vs TBA, TBA.
Men’s basketball: Con-
cordia at Western Oregon,
7 p.m.
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 17, 2016 12A
DALLAS SWIMMING
Ford, Dressel earn trip to 5A state meet
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
CORVALLIS — Dallas sen-
ior Elizabeth Dressel thought
her season was over.
Despite setting a pair of
school records in the 100
butterfly (1 minute, 4.90 sec-
onds) and 100 backstroke
(1:04.17) at the Mid-
Willamette Conference dis-
trict swim meet on Saturday,
Dressel didn’t think she did
quite enough to earn a wild
card berth
to the state
champi-
onships.
“I didn’t
think I was
going to
make it, so
I d i d n’t
Ford
even check
the other results on Sunday,”
Dressel said. “I got a mes-
sage on Monday congratu-
lating me for making it to
state. I was really confused. I
L uc k y N
What: OSAA Class 5A State Swimming Championships.
When: Friday preliminaries, 1:45 p.m.; Saturday finals, 1
p.m.
Where: Mt. Hood Community College Aquatic Center, Gre-
sham.
Admission: Adults, $8; students, $5.
Dallas Qualifiers: GIRLS: Jolie-Rae Ford, jr. (200 freestyle, 500
freestyle), Elizabeth Dressel, sr. (100 butterfly).
butterfly) again’,” Dressel
said. “Then I thought, this
will be good. It gives me
one last shot to do some-
thing exciting.”
See STATE, Page 13A
CENTRAL
WRESTLING
Swinehart
looks for
title finish
o . 7?
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas’ wrestling team has won six-straight district championships. The Dragons will try for seven this weekend.
Dragons hope to soar to seventh-straight district title
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
Battle For State Berths
DALLAS — For the past six years, the
script has been the same — Dallas’
wrestling team has walked away as dis-
trict champions.
The Dragons are
keen on having a re-
peat performance at
the Mid-Willamette
Conference District
Championships at
South Albany on Fri-
day and Saturday.
“ We’re taking a
lean team to district
Chung
this year,” coach Tony
Olliff said. “We had a tough road this
season and a few decided it was too
tough to finish. But the few who made
it are capable of qualifying a large
number for the state tournament.”
What: Mid-Willamette Conference District Wrestling Championships.
When: Friday, 11 a.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.
Where: South Albany High School.
Who: Dallas, Central, Corvallis, Crescent Val-
ley, Lebanon, Silverton, South Albany and
Woodburn high schools.
Admission: Adults, $6; students, $4.
What’s at stake: The top four placers in each
weight class qualify for the OSAA Class 5A state
wrestling championships, to be held Feb. 26-27 at Vet-
erans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Among them include returning dis-
trict champion Treve Earhart and sec-
ond-place finishers Noah Sickles,
Sammy Chung, Jeff Dunagan and Cody
Janssen.
Chung, a senior, has come a long
way from his first days at DHS.
“My freshman year I didn’t compete
very much,” Chung said. “I was proba-
bly like JV 4. I didn’t compete at the var-
sity level. It was frustrating, but I knew
I would keep working at it.”
The senior continued to develop his
wrestling skills, becoming more aggres-
sive against his opponents.
See DALLAS, Page 13A
I N D E PE N D E N C E —
Central senior Collin
Swinehart has come close
to tasting victory.
As a junior he placed
second at both the Mid-
Willamette Conference
district
finals
and the
5A state
finals.
Down
to his
f i n a l
chance,
he hopes
Swinehart
his sen-
ior year ends with the two
things that have eluded
him thus far — district and
state titles.
—
Collin and older brother
Tanner always looked up to
their eldest brother, Joseph.
There was little doubt the
pair would follow in
Joseph’s athletic endeavors.
Until Joseph’s sixth-
grade year, it appeared
that would be basketball.
“(Joseph) was kind of
the short, chubby kid,”
Collin said, smiling. “My
dad told him he might
want to do something else
because he didn’t really
have the body structure to
play basketball.”
See FINISH, Page 13A
WESTERN OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
WOU ranked No. 1 in nation
By Lukas Eggen
happen.
The veteran
The Itemizer-Observer
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
DHS spring sports
registration begins
www.polkio.com
State Meet
DALLAS
WREST
LING
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24
Boys basketball: Cor-
vallis at Central, 7 p.m. Dal-
las at Lebanon, 7 p.m. Class
1A state playofs, irst
round: Perrydale vs. TBA,
TBA.
—
DALLAS — Registration
for spring sports at Dallas
High begins Thursday. For
more info: www.polkio.com.
thought I
was done.”
Dressel
is
not
q u i t e
done, ad-
vancing to
state in the
100 butter-
Dressel
fly, joining
teammate Jolie-Rae Ford,
who qualified in the 200-
and 500-yard freestyle.
“My first thought was,
‘oh no, I have to swim (the
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon’s Tanner Omlid goes up for a dunk.
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s men’s basketball
team has been on a historic
run over the past two sea-
sons.
From winning its first
conference title last year, the
Wolves can now add another
piece to school history —
the team’s first No. 1 ranking
in the national Division II
men’s basketball poll.
“It’s definitely cool,” sen-
ior forward Andy Avgi said.
“I don’t know how many
people can say they’ve been
ranked No. 1 at any level.”
For two of WOU’s most
important players, playing
in Monmouth almost didn’t
Co m i n g o u t o f h i g h
school, Avgi wasn’t supposed
to end up at Western Ore-
gon. In
fact, he
wasn’t even
planning
on playing
basketball.
“I al-
ready com-
mitted to
play foot-
Avgi
ball at Ore-
gon State,” Avgi said. “I was
there for like two weeks
going to school there, but it
wasn’t working out.”
Fo r m e r c o a c h Bra d y
Bergeson, then in his first
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
year at Western Oregon,
made his move.
“It was a hard decision,”
Avgi said. “I didn’t want to
give up basketball and I
think I always knew that, but
getting to play (Division I)
football is hard to pass up. I
knew what I wanted,
though.”
Avgi backed out of Ore-
gon State and chose to at-
tend WOU. After redshirting
his first year, he saw the
early building blocks of
what would become the
core of the Wolves. Avgi,
Devon Alexander, Dezmond
Du p re e - Tu r n e r, Jo rd a n
Wiley and Jordan Schriber
all entered the program to-
gether.
See WOU, Page 13A
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