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