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.”