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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2016)
Polk County Sports Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 23, 2016 15A DALLAS ROUNDUP Boys tennis defeats North Marion LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Dallas freshman Emma Classen delivers a pitch during the Dragons’ 11-2 loss to Roseburg on Friday afternoon. Itemizer-Observer staff report DALLAS — Dallas’ boys tennis team defeated North Marion on a tiebreaker 4-4 (11 sets to 9) on Friday. “I think it was good,” coach Caleb Gillette said. “The guys were having fun. They’ve been a little rusty and had some nerves, but they did well.” Josiah Gillette earned the Dragons’ lone singles point, while the doubles pairs of Josh Dudley and Randy Mullins, Travis Wilson and Michael Friesen, and Eli Koons and Honorio Coli- pano earned wins as well. “It was kind of shaky at first,” Dudley said. “We haven’t been able to hit that much because we’ve been in the gym a lot, but we got down into it and we were able to put up a good game.” Dallas will play at McMin- nville on Monday and at Woodburn on Tuesday. “I’m trying to figure out where people play best,” coach Gillette said. “I’m just trying to get them to under- stand the concepts of play- ing. We have to focus on what we’re doing in prac- tices. They come to the match and they forget what we did in practice. That’s more important to me than winning or losing right now.” BASEBALL FALLS TO AS- TORIA: Dallas’ baseball team dropped its season opener 9-0 to Astoria on Friday. The Drag- ons will compete at the Buck Bags Tournament Thursday through Saturday in Idaho. LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Dallas’ doubles pair of Randy Mullins and Josh Dudley, right, helped the Dragons defeat North Marion. PERRYDALE ROUNDUP Family: Nerves FALLS CITY TRACK AND FIELD Varney, Macnab Clark places first undo Dragons lead Mountaineers Continued from Page 13A The Dragons scored two late runs in an encouraging sign at the plate. “We had a lot of strikeouts looking,” Jackson said. “We need to control the control- lables. Let’s be aggressive and swing the bat. We start- ed swinging and good things happened.” As players battled first game jitters, Jackson and her father shared words throughout the game, in- cluding thoughts on play- ers and what they saw going on. The family affair was the result of a last-second im- pulse rather than a long- planned contest. “Roseburg had a game of theirs canceled and we needed another game or two because Woodburn went in- dependent in softball,” Jack- son said. That doesn’t mean she hopes this is a one-time en- counter. “It would definitely be fun,” Jackson said. “I would like to get a new whack at him. I think that would be enjoyable.” Dallas competed at the Medford Spring Break Tour- nament on Monday and Tuesday. Varney takes first in girls discus Itemizer-Observer staff report WALDPORT — Seniors Brittany Varney and Ryan Macnab led Falls C i t y ’s track and f i e l d squad at the Wald- port Run for the Clover on Varney Thursday afternoon. Varney placed first in the girls discus with a throw of 88 feet, 1 inch. She also finished sec- ond in the javelin and shot put. Macnab took first in the boys shot put with a throw of 39-0. He also placed fourth in the discus. Sophomore Madelyn Hendrickson placed sec- ond in the girls 100-meter hurdles, finishing in 19.66 s e c o n d s . Te a m m a t e Phoenix Brown placed third (20.57). Itemizer-Observer staff report McMINNVILLE — Senior Sarah Clark led Perrydale’s track and field team at the Grizzly B e a r Open on F r i d a y. Clark took first in the g i r l s javelin with a throw of Clark 114 feet, 11 inches. She also placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (1:01.31). Senior Taylor Price took third in the 100 hurdles (17.26). Senior Kirk Fairchild led the boys team with a fourth-place finish in the triple jump (37-31¼). The Pirates will compete at the All-Comers meet at Oregon City High School Wednesday (today) at noon. BASEBALL DROPS TWO: Perrydale’s baseball team dropped its season-opening games. The Pirates fell to Wald- port 13-1 on March 16 and Amity 12-2 on Friday. The Pi- rates (0-2 overall) will host Sheridan Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. SOFTBALL FALLS TO WALDPORT: Perrydale’s soft- ball team lost its season- opener to Waldport 7-5 on March 16. The Pirates host Scio on Tuesday and Sheridan on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. CENTRAL ROUNDUP Girls tennis splits season-opening matches Itemizer-Observer staff report INDEPENDENCE — Cen- tral’s girls tennis team split its opening matches of the 2016 season. T h e Pa n t h e r s defeated Blanchet Catholic 5- 3 on Thur- sday be- fore falling t o No r t h Marion 6-2 Bruning on Friday. Against Blanchet, Ana Martinez earned Central’s lone singles point. The dou- bles pairs of Renee Bruning and Danielle Chance, Olivia Teague and Diana Huerte, Lauren Martinez and Julia Hamar, and Sarah Gonzales and Jasmine Gonzalez also earned wins. “Renee and Danielle played well at No. 1 dou- bles,” Panthers coach Dave Eble said. “Their serves are coming along nicely. Our No. 2 doubles pair of Diana and Olivia’s serves are also coming along much better than last year.” Central will play at South Albany on Tuesday. BOYS TENNIS EARNS WIN: Central’s boys tennis team earned a 5-3 win over Blanchet on Thursday afternoon. Kevin Cable earned a singles victory, while Brice Spreadbury and Has- san Eltelbany, Brian Larson and Nathaniel Miller, Bailey Yates and Joel Robinson, and Cade Magill and Luis Vera earned doubles wins. The Panthers will host South Albany Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. BASEBALL DEFEATS CAS- CADE: Central’s baseball team won its opening game of the 2016 season, defeating Cascade 3-2 on Friday. Luis Amador and Peter Mendazona each hit a double, while pitcher Humberto Alarcon earned the victory on the mound. The Panthers com- peted at the North Marion Tour- nament Tuesday after press time. Central plays at North Mar- ion Wednesday (today) before hosting Woodburn Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. SOFTBALL DOMINATES TAFT: Central’s softball squad defeated Taft 11-0 on Friday af- ternoon. The Panthers will play at Sandy Saturday at 10 a.m. be- fore opening Mid-Willamette Conference play by hosting South Albany Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Central’s girls tennis team defeated Blanchet Catholic on Thursday afternoon in the team’s first match of the year. Schools face increase in PE minutes By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer POLK COUNTY — Polk County schools may need to get moving quickly to pre- pare for a big change com- ing to physical education. House Bill 3141, passed in 2007, will increase the num- ber of physical education minutes to 150 minutes per week at the elementary school level and 225 min- utes per week at the middle school level beginning with the 2017-18 school year. “How can you argue against giving kids more physical activity,” Central School District Superinten- dent Buzz Brazeau said. Finding ways to imple- ment the extra minutes could prove challenging. In Central School district, elementary schools average about 75 minutes a week, Brazeau said. The middle school grades average ap- proximately 140 minutes a week. “It would be a significant increase (in minutes),” Brazeau said. “… What you’re going to have basical- ly, and this is where I think people have to look at it with regards to reality, in essence, the majority of school dis- tricts you’re talking about doubling your PE staff at the K-8 level. … I would also ask are there enough PE teach- ers out there? Is the space LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Students at LaCreole Middle School take part in a game during PE on Thursday afternoon. available? If we live in San Diego, I can do PE outside most of the time. If I live in Monmouth, I have rain and it can be difficult to do PE outside all the time.” In the Dallas School Dis- trict, elementary levels aver- age around 90 minutes a week, DSD Director of In- structional Services Steve Martinelli said. Dallas hopes to explore options where teachers can help ease the burden on fa- cilities and PE teachers. “What we run into in the elementary level is that we have one PE specialist, so they’re schedule is really maxed out,” Martinelli said. “Homeroom teachers have their kids all day long. We’re working with our PE special- ists about some activities that our classroom teachers can do. We just need to be super creative with how we’re going to increase those minutes so we have true physical education versus running them out for recess. We want to be very inten- tional with how we increase this time.” LaCreole Middle School Principal Jamie Richardson said middle school students average 162 minutes a week — 210 minutes during the weeks students have PE three times and 140 when they have it twice. Richardson isn’t as wor- ried about meeting the in- crease, however. “In the morning and dur- ing lunch we have what we call intramurals,” Richard- son said. “Formalizing that a little bit more could be just what we need.” Martinelli said they will be trying out different activi- ties and ideas during the 2016-17 school year to see what works and what doesn’t. It’s not just the increase in minutes that may prove challenging — it’s how to schedule those increases without putting too much of a strain on current facilities. “Some places have hired two PE specialists and they double teach,” Martinelli said. “We think that creates barriers because now we’d have 60 kids in a space that was made for 30.” Both Dallas and Central school districts are exploring possible options to upgrade facilities. Brazeau said the PE bill calls for grants to help schools prepare for the new requirement, but those grants haven’t been made available. He is optimistic that during the next legisla- tive session, state lawmak- ers will take a look at the upcoming increase and act accordingly. “I’m doing two things in m y m i n d r i g h t n o w,” Brazeau said. “I’m working hard to think about it, the potential issues and solu- tions. At the same time, I’m trusting the legislature is going to take a look at it and figure out a way to help us get to the target or adjust the target down the road.”
