Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 6, 2016 11A
SCHEDULE
Living it up
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
Baseball: Lebanon at
Central, 4:30 p.m. Wood-
burn at Dallas, 4:30 p.m. St.
Paul at Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Softball: Central at Sil-
verton, 4:30 p.m. Crescent
Valley at Dallas, 4:30 p.m.
St. Paul at Perrydale, 4:30
p.m.
Track and field: Dallas
at Central, 4 p.m.
Senior making the most of his
time in the United States
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
Boys tennis: Central at
Lebanon, 4 p.m. Dallas at
Corvallis, 4 p.m.
Girls tennis: Lebanon
at Central, 4 p.m. Corvallis
at Dallas, 4 p.m.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
Baseball: Central at
Lebanon, 4:30 p.m. Dallas
at Woodburn, 4:30 p.m.
Softball: Corvallis at
Central, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at
Lebanon, 4:30 p.m. Scio
(JV) at Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Track and field: Falls
City, Perrydale at Life Invi-
tational, 3:30 p.m. Western
Oregon at John Knight
Twilight meet, 1 p.m.
SATURDAY, APRIL 9
Baseball: Concordia at
Western Oregon (DH), 1
p.m.
S of tball: Wester n
Washington at Western
Oregon (DH), noon.
Track and field: Central
at Sandy Invitational, 10
a.m. Perrydale at Banks In-
vitational.
SUNDAY, APRIL 10
Baseball: Concordia at
Western Oregon (DH),
noon.
Softball: Simon Fraser
at Western Oregon (DH),
noon.
MONDAY, APRIL 11
Baseball: Kennedy at
Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Boys golf: Dallas at
Trysting Tree (Corvallis), 10
a.m.
Softball: Kennedy at
Perrydale, 4:30 p.m. Mon-
tana State, Billings at West-
ern Oregon (DH), 2 p.m.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
Baseball: Silverton at
Central, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at
Crescent Valley, 4:30 p.m.
Boys tennis: Central at
Silverton, 4 p.m. Crescent
Valley at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Girls golf: Dallas at
Trysting Tree (Corvallis), 11
a.m.
Girls tennis: Silverton
at Central, 4 p.m. Dallas at
Crescent Valley, 4 p.m.
Softball: Woodburn at
Central, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at
Silverton, 4:30 p.m. Mon-
tana State, Billings at West-
ern Oregon, 2 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
Baseball: Central at Sil-
verton, 4:30 p.m. Crescent
Valley at Dallas, 4:30 p.m.
Perrydale at Western Men-
nonite, 4:30 p.m.
Softball: Central at
South Albany, 4:30 p.m.
Siletz Valley at Perrydale,
4:30 p.m.
Track and field: Corval-
lis, Lebanon, South Albany
at Central, 3:30 p.m. Wood-
burn, Crescent Valley, Sil-
verton at Dallas, 3:30 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
By Lukas Eggen
Swinging away
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When senior Thomas
Gniadecki arrived in America from
Denmark, he was shocked.
Not at the culture, or the weather
or the education system but at the
image he had of what Americans
would look like.
“There’s a lot of movies about the
U.S. and the food and stuff and that
people are all fat here,” Gniadecki
said. “They really aren’t that big.”
Of course, Gniadecki, who arrived
last year on a foreign exchange stu-
dent program, also found out Polk
County offers a different view than
the bustling city life he was used to
in Denmark.
“It’s pretty country here,” he said.
“I live close to Copenhagen, so
there’s just houses and roads. Here,
there is land. My first host family
had chickens. That was completely
different for me. They never had that
in the city.”
• Dallas’ boys tennis team de-
feated Woodburn 6-2 on March 29
and Central 6-2 on Thursday.
• Thomas Gniadecki and Caed-
mon Blair won singles matches
against the Bulldogs, while the dou-
bles pairs of Josh Dudley and Cole
Oace, Ryan Bibler and Randy
Mullins, Honorio Colipano and Evan
Koons, and Michael Friesen and
Travis Wilson won matches.
Against Central, Gniadecki, Joe
Gillette, and Blair won singles
points. Mullins and Bibler, Koons
and Colipano, and Wilson and
Friesen earned doubles points
against the Panthers.
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas senior Thomas Gniadecki defeated Central senior Kevin Cable 6-
1, 6-4 on Thursday afternoon at Dallas High School.
Perhaps the most lasting impact
of his time? The food.
“(I love) the Cheesecake Factory,
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Redefining masculinity
WOU part of pilot program to prevent sexual assault, promote healthy masculinity
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
This is the first part of a se-
ries on the Healthy Mas-
culinity Campus Athletics
Project. Part two will look at
the project from the athletes’
perspective.
MONMOUTH — What
does it mean to be a man?
Everything from friends
and families to TV, movies
and books impact how
people view masculinity,
both positively and nega-
tively.
Western Oregon is one of
13 universities nationwide
hoping to identify how so-
ciety views masculinity
among one of the most vis-
ible groups on any campus:
Male athletes.
They’re hoping by re-
defining masculinity they
can prevent something that
affects people across the
country — sexual assault.
—
One in five women and
one in 16 men will be sexu-
ally assaulted while in col-
lege according to the Na-
tional Sexual Violence Re-
source Center.
In recent history, several
high profile cases involving
alleged sexual assault have
thrust collegiate athletes
into the spotlight about the
issue.
Western Oregon hopes to
be among the leaders in
changing the culture around
masculinity.
WOU joined a pilot pro-
gram during the summer of
2015 called Healthy Mas-
culinity Campus Athletics
Project.
The HMCAP is part of
the Healthy Masculinity
Action Project that began
in 2012 to “eradicate the
harmful expectations and
stereotypes our society
teaches boys about what it
means to be a man.”
The program is an exten-
sion of the Campus Against
Sexual Assault grant and
a i m s t o u s e a t h l e t e s’
unique position on campus
to promote awareness and
prevention.
Representatives from
the university attended a
three-day training summit
last August in Washington,
D.C., to discuss the topic.
John Wilkins, WOU Coor-
dinator for Campus Life and
Activities, was one of the two
who attended the training.
See HMCAP, Page 12A
PREP TRACK AND FIELD
Fairchild outjumps his pain
Registration for
Dragon Run open
By Lukas Eggen
DALLAS — Registration
is open for the ninth annual
Dragon Run Saturday at 10
a.m. The event features dis-
tances for all ages ranging
from a quarter mile to 1½
miles long.
There is also a 5-kilome-
ter run for adults, teens and
younger kids (accompanied
by an adult).
Starting locations differ
based on distance, but each
race will finish on the Dallas
High School track.
Every runner will receive
a medal.
After covering the costs
of the event, the rest of the
money raised will be donat-
ed to the Dallas Education
Fund.
Cost is $25 for the 5k run
and $20 for all other dis-
tances. A family/group rate
(four or more runners) is
available.
To r e g i s t e r o n l i n e :
www.runsignup.com/Drag-
onRun. Day-of-race regis-
tration will also be avail-
able at Whitworth Elemen-
tary School.
PERRYDALE — It’s not the technique that
Perrydale senior Kirk Fairchild finds most
difficult about jumping, though he struggled
to master the form required for the high
jump, triple jump and long jump.
It’s the pain his body experiences on an al-
most daily basis.
“My knees are kind of banged up,”
Fairchild said. “They started hurting my
sophomore year, so I’ve just had to battle
through the pain. I keep find-
ing new ways to make
them feel better.”
It’s not uncom-
mon to see both
of Fairchild’s knees
taped up before prac-
tice or a meet. But the
source of his discomfort
remains a mystery.
“I don’t know what it is yet,” he said. “I
haven’t gone to the doctors because I don’t
want them to tell me no more track.”
Fairchild’s love of track and field has over-
ridden whatever pain he deals with — a sur-
prising development for someone who never
planned on competing past his freshman
year.
—
Football was Fairchild’s go-to sport grow-
ing up. The spring of his freshman year, track
and field was a means to an end to stay in
www.polkio.com
Buffalo Wild Wings and Red Robin,”
Gniadecki said. “The food is really
good here.”
Wanting to immerse himself dur-
ing his time in America, he’s also
made it a point to become as in-
volved as possible with Dallas High
athletics — joining the soccer and
wrestling squads.
See LIVING, Page 12A
The Itemizer-Observer
Off to the races
• Perrydale’s boys and girls track and field
teams competed at Kennedy on Thursday af-
ternoon. Sarah Clark led the girls, winning
the girls javelin with a throw of 108 feet, 7
inches. Taylor Price added second-place fin-
ishes in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.
Jacob Pope took second in the boys
javelin (128-4). Kirk Fairchild took second in
the high jump (5-6), fourth in the long jump
(18-1) and fourth in the triple jump (35-9).
shape for his favorite sport.
“I came out for track to stay conditioned
for football,” Fairchild said. “That’s the only
reason I came out.”
The sport piqued his curiosity enough for
him to return the following spring.
It was then that coach Brian Evans con-
vinced Fairchild to give jumps a try.
Deciding was easy.
Mastering it is a task he’s working on to
this day.
“Coach would say let’s focus on this, so
we’d work on something like stepping,”
Fairchild said. “Then I think I’d have that
down and he’d say let’s focus on this part now
and the steps would be all wrong. There was
nothing there. The first four meets, he’d take
pictures of me and show them to me. I’d tell
him I look funny and he would just nod and
say ‘yes, you do.’”
See FAIRCHILD, Page 12A
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Perrydale senior Kirk Fairchild holds school records in the
long jump, triple jump and high jump.
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