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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2016)
Polk County Sports Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 2, 2016 10A SCHEDULE PREP WRESTLING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 Boys basketball: Class 5A state play-in round: Eagle Point at Central, 6 p.m. Becoming a champion FRIDAY, MARCH 4 Girls basketball: Class 5A State Playofs, irst round: Central vs. TBA, TBA. Dallas vs. TBA, TBA. M e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l : GNAC Championships: Western Oregon vs. Cen- tral Washington/Seattle Paciic at Lacey, Wash., 2:15 p.m. Track and ield: West- ern Oregon at Linield Ice- breaker, all day. Central junior earns 5A state title at 285 pounds SATURDAY, MARCH 5 Baseball: Western Ore- gon at Concordia (DH), 1 p.m. Boys basketball: Class 5A State Playofs, irst round: Central vs. TBA, TBA. M e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l : G N AC C h a m p i o n s h i p s : Western Oregon vs. TBA, at Lacey Wash., 5:30 p.m. Softball: Saint Martin’s at Western Oregon (DH), noon. Track and ield: West- ern Oregon at Willamette Opener, all day. SUNDAY, MARCH 6 Baseball: Western Ore- gon at Concordia (DH), noon. Softball: Central Wash- ington at Western Oregon, noon. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9 Girls basketball: Class 5A State Playofs, quarter- inals: Central vs. TBA, TBA. Dallas vs. TBA, TBA. — Schedules Subject to Change QUICK HITS Veal Bikes Plus to offer safety course POLK COUNTY — Veal’s Bikes Plus, 155 Main St. W., Monmouth, will ofer a bicy- cling safety education course Saturday at 10 a.m. Two sessions will be held. One at 10 a.m. is for those 16 and older and one at noon is for those ages 16 and younger. The irst 10 people in each session will receive a head and tail light or free tune up (excluding parts). There is no cost to at- tend. For more information: Veal Bikes Plus, 503-837- 1837. Dallas bowling competes at state KLAMATH FALLS — Re- sults from the Oregon High School State Bowling Championships, held Friday through Sunday, were not available as of press time. Check www.polkio.com for results on how Dallas’ boys and girls teams fared. LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer Central junior Marlon Tuipulotu celebrates after winning the 285-pound 5A state title on Saturday evening at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer PORTLAND — Central junior Marlon Tuipulotu couldn’t contain his emo- tions on Saturday. He won the OSAA Class 5A State Wrestling Champi- onships at 285 pounds, earning a 5-0 decision over Churchill’s Blayne Burnett, showing a rare outburst of emotion, clapping, shouting and point- ing to his family. “I was super excit- ed,” Tuipu- Swinehart lotu said. “I want to thank God, my coaches, my teammates, my family and everyone who www.polkio.com Crow wrestled my style, I’d come out with the v i c t o r y, ” Tuipulotu said. “I wanted to set the tone early and take shots.” Tuipulotu’s performance showcased his athletic abili- ty and the culmination of countless hours of work, coach Van Holstad said. “That’s a fun guy to watch, isn’t he,” Holstad said, smiling. “With that ath- letic ability comes a lot of work. He’s put in a lot of time with coaches. He showed heart. He didn’t just show up today and win it. A lot of work goes with that.” See CHAMP, Page 13A Dragons take fourth at state By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer PORTLAND — Dallas’ wrestling team placed fourth at the 5A State Wrestling Championships on Friday and Saturday. Junior Tanner Earhart (152 pounds) placed second to lead the Dragons, losing a 6-4 decision to Hermiston’s Valen Wyse in the state finals. “Tanner fought his way through the tough side of the bracket and put on a great show in the state fi- nals against a wrestler that was an awful lot like him,” coach Tony Olliff said. Earhart’s run to the state finals highlighted the Dragons’ perform- ance, but he was already thinking of a little revenge next season. “I’ve got to learn how to win close matches against that guy (Wyse),” Earhart said. Senior Jeff Dunagan may have Dunagan turned in the gutsi- est performance at state. Facing Churchill’s Riley Jaramillo in the championship semifinals, it ap- peared Dunagan’s final state tourna- ment would end early. “I was making an escape and there was a scramble,” Dunagan said. “His whole entire body landed on my ankle. It did not feel good.” Dunagan let out a scream of pain. He forfeited the match and left the floor with help from coaches. But the senior’s day wasn’t done. Needing to ad- vance to the third/fourth-place match to help se- cure a fourth-place Earhart finish in the team standings, Dunagan returned to the mat for one final match in the con- solation semifinals. He won by major decision over Bend’s Jacob Dupuis. “I tried to stay off my ankle,” Dunagan said. “It hurt really badly during the match. I just wrestled hard. It was my last match and I fig- ured I’d try and help the team out.” See DRAGONS, Page 13A LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Tanner Earhart looks to make an escape against Valen Wyse. CENTRAL BOYS BASKETBALL Panthers clinch home play-in game Avgi named GNAC Player of the Year MONMOUTH — Western Oregon senior Andy Avgi has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Confer- ence Men’s Basketball Play- er of the Year on Tuesday. WOU’s Jim Shaw earned Coach of the Year honors. Avgi was also named irst team all-GNAC. Senior Julian Nichols and sophomore Tanner Omlid received second team all-conference recog- nition, while senior Jordan Wiley earned honorable mention. helped me through this and got me here.” Tuipulo- tu con- trolled the m a t c h from the Negrete outset, dic- tating the pace and the ac- tion. “My coaches said if I By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Central senior Madison Stepp drives to the hoop during the Panthers’ 52-45 win over Woodburn on Friday night. INDEPENDENCE — It took until the final game of the regular season, but Cen- tral’s boys basketball team advanced to the state play-in round. The Panthers defeated Woodburn 52-45 on Friday to clinch the Mid-Willamette Conference’s fourth seed — and a home play-in game against Eagle Point Wednes- day (today) at 6 p.m. “It feels pretty good,” sen- ior Harkie Bal said. “At the beginning of the (league sea- Playoff push What: OSAA Class 5A boys state play-in game. Who: Eagle Point (6-17 overall, Midwestern league No. 5) at Central (10-13 overall, Mid-Willamette Conference No. 4). When: Wednesday (today), 6 p.m. Where: Central High School. Admission: Adults, $6; students and children, $4. What’s at stake: The winner advances to first round of the state playoffs on Saturday. son) our hopes were down and we didn’t think we would get anywhere. Some- thing just clicked.” Alec Barba scored 12 points and Bal added 11 points as the Panthers built www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209 a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter. Woodburn wouldn’t go quietly, cutting Central’s lead to as little as five points with less than a minute re- maining. See PANTHERS, Page 13A www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports DALLAS 121 Main St • 503-623-8155 INDEPENDENCE 1710 Monmouth St • 503-838-6340 Mon -Fri 8am - 6pm • Sat 8am - 5pm • www.LesSchwab.com
