Polk County Sports/Education
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 24, 2016 17A
PERRYDALE GIRLS BASKETBALL
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Perrydale earns a spot at Men’s basketball clinches
Class 1A state playoffs conference championship
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
PORTLAND — It took
until the final seconds, but
Perrydale’s girls basketball
team clinched a spot in the
OSAA Class 1A state playoffs.
The Pi-
rates over-
came a
slow offen-
sive start to
d e f e a t
Willamette
V a l l e y
Christian
McGill
30-27 on
Friday in
the Casco
League
To u r n a -
ment.
“I’m ex-
cited,” sen-
ior Anna
Mc G i l l
said. “This
Newton
has been
our one goal throughout the
entire season.”
Perrydale battled more
than just WVC. Multiple
players missed practice
during the week due to ill-
Playoff picture
• Perrydale played Southwest Christian in the first round of
the Class 1A State Playoffs Tuesday after press time.
• The winner advanced to the second round of the state play-
offs on Friday.
• Head to www.polkio.com to find out updated results from
Tuesday’s matchup.
ness, including freshman
starter Shylar Halverson.
Two players, freshmen
Alyssa Lux and Hannah
Hallock, stepped into the
starting lineup.
“A l y s s a a n d Ha n n a h
stepped up,” senior Telaney
Newton said. “They both did
an excellent job.”
The Pirates held a 30-27
lead with five seconds left in
the game and WVC could
not get a potential game-
tying 3-pointer off before
time expired.
Perrydale, which lost to
Country Christian 62-19 on
Saturday in the tournament
title game, earned the
league’s second seed at state.
The Pirates hosted South-
west Christian in the first
round of the state playoffs
Tuesday after press time.
The winner advances to the
second round on Friday.
“We want to (succeed at
state) in basketball because
it’s an incredible feeling,”
Telaney Newton said.
For the team’s youngest
players, this experience sets
the Pirates up for future suc-
cess once the team’s four
seniors graduate, Terry New-
ton said.
“Fortunately for us, this is
a top 10 program,” coach
Terry Newton said. “Maybe
not this year, but we are Per-
rydale. We’ve been here.
These (older) girls have been
through it. Anna and
Telaney, they know what to
do at the end. Now, when we
lose the seniors, we’ll have
five or six girls who have
been through this experi-
ence.”
Itemizer-Observer staff report
ANCHORAGE — Western
Oregon’s men’s basketball
team clinched the Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence title after a 64-58 win
over Alaska Anchorage on
Saturday.
Julian Nichols scored a
team-high
17 points
and had
seven as-
s i s t s ,
D e v o n
Alexander
scored 14
points
and Tan-
Nichols
ner Omlid
added 12 points for the
Wolves. WOU bounced
back from an 87-78 loss to
Alaska Fairbanks on Thurs-
day.
WOU swept Alaska Fair-
banks for the first time
since the 2004-05 season.
The Wolves will earn a
bye in the first round of the
GNAC tournament. WOU
closes out the regular sea-
son at Montana State
Billings on Thursday. The
GNAC men’s basketball
championships begins
March 3.
MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
TAKES SECOND: Western
Oregon’s men’s track and ield
t e a m
placed sec-
ond at the
GNAC In-
d o o r
Champi-
onships on
Friday and
Saturday.
C o d y
Warner in-
Warner
ished sec-
ond in the 60- and 200-meter
runs, inishing in 6.95 seconds
and 21.78 seconds, respective-
ly. David Ribich took second in
the mile (4:10.14), Kaleb Dob-
son inished second in the 60-
meter hurdles (8.33 seconds)
and Badane Sultessa took sec-
ond in the 800 (1:55.95).
Stephanie Stuckey took
ifth in the women’s mile in
5:08.05 to lead the women’s
team, which placed eighth in
the team standings. WOU will
compete at the Seattle Paciic
Final Qualiier on Saturday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
DROPS TWO: Western Ore-
gon’s women’s basketball
team lost a pair of conference
games, falling to Northwest
Nazarene 61-57 on Thursday
and Central Washington 61-46
on Saturday. WOU (4-22 over-
all, 3-15 GNAC) closes out its
season at home against Saint
Martin’s Thursday at 7 p.m.
and Seattle Paciic Saturday at
2 p.m.
SOFTBALL WINS FOUR AT
INVITE: Western Oregon’s
softball team won four of six
games at
the West
Texas A&M
Lady Buf
Invite last
weekend.
WOU de-
f e a t e d
Newman 2-
0 and 4-3
Kuehl
on Friday
b e f o r e
falling to host West Texas
A&M 9-1 and 7-6 on Saturday.
The Wolves closed out the In-
vite with a pair of wins over
Lincoln University of Missouri
(12-1 and 10-1) on Sunday.
Destiny Kuehl had a home run
against Lincoln as the Wolves
racked up 23 hits over the
doubleheader. WOU opens
conference play by hosting
Saint Martin’s for a double-
header on March 5.
Pirates: Perrydale on the
road against Triangle Lake
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Telaney Newton (20) goes for a steal as teammates watch on Friday afternoon.
Continued from Page 15A
Triangle Lake went 12-13
overall and 8-4 in Mountain
West League play.
The winner advances to
the second round on Satur-
day.
Lowry said he expects
several players to be ready
to make some important
contributions, including
Brant Barnes, Devin
Cruickshank and Keenan
Bailey.
“I think if we can keep
focus on
what we
do well,
then we
can be
success-
f u l , ”
L o w r y
said. “I
Bailey
think the
fourth quarter (against
WVC) reminded us of that.”
It wasn’t the seed they
imagined, but Perrydale
achieved what mattered
most —
extending
its sea-
son.
“ T h e
goal was
to secure
a playoff
s p o t ,”
Barnes
L o w r y
said. “While it would have
been nice to be the No. 1
or No. 2 seed, bottom line
is we are in and still play-
ing.”
MVCA looking for board members
MONMOUTH — Mid-Valley Christian Academy is looking for
more board members to help the school grow.
Interested candidates, or those who wish to nominate a per-
son to serve, can write a letter or drop by the school’s oice,
1483 N. 16th St., Monmouth.
MVCA is hosting its ninth-annual Banquet & Auction on
March 5 at Central Baptist Church.
For more information, call 503-838-2818.
Spring break lunch locations noted
POLK COUNTY — Spring break lunches will be available at
four sites in Dallas and Independence during the break, March
21-25 from noon to 1 p.m.
SuperFunHappyBreakTime also will ofer free activities and
books to children during the hour lunches are served.
Lunches will be served in Dallas at Whitworth Elementary
School, 1151 SE Miller St. and Lyle Elementary, 185 SW Levens
St. In Independence, lunches will be available at Henry Hill Edu-
cational Support Center, 750 S. Fifth St. and Colonia Amistad, 30
S. Gun Club Road.
Mr. Dallas seeks
families in need
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Students from Kimberly Ward’s fourth-grade class at Monmouth Elementary count the day’s coin collection.
THREE CLASSES, ONE GOAL
Students learn about energy, raise money to light up third-world countries
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH/INDEPEN-
DENCE — Not everyone in
the world can come home at
night, flip a switch and have
lights to read, do homework,
or cook by.
Students at Monmouth
and Independence elemen-
tary schools discovered the
power to light the world
could lay in a soccer ball.
The Soccket Ball stores
energy as it is played with.
Users may then plug a lamp
into the ball to provide three
hours of light after 30 min-
utes of play.
“It works on a pendulum
swing device inside the soc-
cer ball,” Haven Wenzel,
MES fourth-grader, ex-
plained. “When you kick it
around, it makes the pendu-
lum swing, creating energy.”
The service-learning proj-
ect was the perfect way to
wrap up the lessons de-
signed by Kimberly
Wa r d , B r i a n
Ross and
M a n d y
Olsen,
learn-
i n g
about
differ-
e n t
types of
e n e r g y,
including
renewable
and nonrenew-
able energy.
“We just finished up on
energy, so we decided to buy
this $100 soccer ball for peo-
ple because a lot of people
don’t have lights,” said
Kyson Dodds, MES fourth-
grader.
Ward, Ross and Olsen en-
couraged students to think
globally about energy and
what they could do to help.
The fact that all three
classrooms decided to
raise money to
purchase Soc-
cket balls
came as a
surprise,
R o s s
said.
“ W e
decided
that it
would be
beneficial
for us to take
different ap-
proaches to improve our
chances of success,” he said.
In Olsen’s class, students
made homemade items to
sell at a school store, open
before and after school.
Ross’ students wrote persua-
sive essays and presented
their arguments to the par-
ent club to request dona-
tions.
Ward’s class held a penny
drive that will continue
through Monday.
Maikyla Gorrono, IES
fifth-grader, said the Soccket
balls are a buy-one, get-one-
free kind of thing. For every
one purchased, a second
one is sent to someone in a
third-world country.
“It gives them an equal
amount of exercise and edu-
cation,” she said. “If you’re
doing homework during the
day, you’re not getting as
much exercise.”
Students made mugs,
duct-tape wallets, scarves
and hats and raised more
than $500 in a week of sales,
Gorrono reported.
IES fourth-grader Adrian
Peterson-Garcia said he and
his classmates used the
power of persuasion to con-
vince the parent club to do-
nate to the cause.
See ENERGY, Page 14A
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Mr. Dallas, the annual fundraising pageant
put on by Dallas High School’s leadership class, is now Mr.
and Ms. Dallas.
Those contestants are looking for local families or indi-
viduals to benefit for the yearly display of talent and
ridiculous antics. Like last year, the pageant coordinators
are asking for nominations to help decide who should re-
ceive assistance.
In 2015, two families were selected. Both had medical
expenses and the pageant raised $5,000 to split between
them.
Leadership class advisor Jessica Lowry said nominations
should include an essay about why the individual or family
needs help and potential recipients should be willing to
share their story.
“That way the kids know who they are raising money for
and the community knows who they are donating to,”
Lowry said.
Nominations are due by March 2 and can be send to
Lowry at Jessica.Lowry@dsd2.org.
Pageant co-coordinators Emma Cromwell and Molly
Peffley said “Ms. Dallas” was added to spark more interest
in the competition.
“We wanted to get a lot more people involved,”
Cromwell said.
Ten contestants have signed up to compete and have al-
ready started putting together the show.
Otherwise, the pageant, slated for April 9 at the high
school, remains much the same, with an opening group
dance, a lip sync contest, formal wear, a question and an-
swer session, a talent showcase and an intermission auction.
“I think this year is going to be good,” Cromwell said.
In addition the pageant, a pizza fundraiser will be April
7 at Abby’s Pizza. The contestants are selling T-shirts.
Coordinators are still looking for event sponsors.
For more information: Jessica.Lowry@dsd2.org.