Polk County Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 6, 2016
Fairchild: Senior
ignores knee pain
Teeing Off
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas golfer Tristan White tees off from the first hole at Cross Creek Golf Course on Monday morning. White shot a
99 as the Dragons placed sixth at the tournament. Central’s boys golf team finished seventh.
Dallas’ Kailee Curtis placed first in the girls tournament held at Albany on Monday morning. Team results were not
available as of press time.
FALLS CITY TRACK AND FIELD
Varney places first at Estacada
Itemizer-Observer staff report
ESTACADA — Falls City
senior Brittany Varney
placed first in the girls dis-
cus at the Estacada Small
School Invite on Saturday.
Varney won the event with
a throw of 92 feet, 5 inches.
She also placed second in
the shot put with a mark of
30-11½ and ninth in the
javelin
(75-6).
Dylan
Yo u n g
took sec-
ond in the
boys 110-
m e t e r
hurdles
Varney
with a
time of 20.68 seconds. Sen-
ior Ryan Macnab placed
third in the shot put (39-
4¼), fourth in the discus
(114-4) and eighth in the
javelin (127-4) to lead the
boys squad.
The Mountaineers will
compete at the Life Invita-
tional at Life Christian
School in Aloha on Thurs-
day at 3:30 p.m.
Strike
Continued from Page 11A
But Fairchild enters the
spring with state aspira-
tions in the high jump and
triple jump.
The senior set school
records in the high jump (5
feet, 8 inches) and the triple
jump (37-4) in 2015 and set
the school mark in the long
jump (18-1) at Kennedy on
Thursday.
He ranks in the top five in
Special District 10 in all
three jumping events, in-
cluding second in the high
jump and triple jump.
“Right now, the goal is to
keep achieving my little
goals along the way,”
Fairchild said. “I want to set
a new record every day and
keep getting better.”
While he is excelling in all
three jumps, it’s the high
jump that holds a special
place.
“I love that feeling of
coming over the bar, espe-
cially when it’s high,”
Fairchild said. “You get a
free falling feeling for a mo-
ment. It’s incredible.”
Fairchild knows at some
point he’ll have to see a
doctor to get his knees
checked out. For now, that’s
off in the distance. His love
for the sport, and his team-
mates, overrides any pain
he’s feeling.
“It did go through my
mind (whether I shouldn’t
participate),” Fairchild said.
“Then I thought, but what
would I be doing? With this,
I’m staying conditioned and
hanging out with a team
that I like. My knees hurt in
basketball and eventually
pain hits in football. It’s just
something you have to fight
through it, unless some-
thing is seriously wrong,
which I hope there’s not. ... I
love track. The experience
with the team is what drives
me. Being able to encour-
age others and help them
do better and knowing
they’ll do the same for me,
that’s why I love track.”
HMCAP: WOU aims to change
how people view athletes
Continued from Page 11A
“It was really good to be in
a room where people are fo-
cused and engaged on how
do we create more allies and
how do we maybe change
the culture around sexual
assault,” Wilkins said. “We’re
seeing people across the
country talk about that. We
talked about how sexual vio-
lence perpetuates in many
different ways, especially
around masculinity. In par-
ticular, toxic masculinity is
pretty persuasive about
what it means to be a man,
and some of those things
have negative impacts on
those around us.”
Wilkins shared what he
learned with the university,
which began formulating a
plan to create an environ-
ment where athletes are
seen as allies in preventing
sexual assault.
“We want to engage our
athletes as positive role
models,” grant administra-
tor and Abby’s House Direc-
tor Mary Ellen Dello Stritto
said. “We want to really ex-
amine what we mean by
masculinity, what it means
to be positive and healthy
and really be the kind of per-
son that speaks up when
they see something they
don’t agree with or some-
thing that is degrading or
harmful to another individ-
ual.”
The first steps in that
process began in January
when student-athletes took
part in training sessions with
representatives from Men
Can Stop Rape.
The group held discus-
sions about masculinity and
society’s views on what it
means to be a male athlete.
“I think some people
think there’s a lot of alcohol
involved with athletic
events, that athletes are
macho and may be more vi-
olent than non-athletes,”
WOU Director of Compli-
ance Randi Lydum said. “I
think through the conversa-
tions, we came up with that
that’s not true. In every cate-
gory of student, there are
people who have some of
those characteristics, but
they can be good role mod-
els to prove those stereo-
types wrong.”
Whether that means
meeting young fans after a
game to holding themselves
accountable in the class-
room, everything adds up,
Lydum said.
The sessions in January
were aimed at beginning a
discussion, but was certainly
not the end.
Dello Stritto said the uni-
versity will hold more ses-
sions for first-year student
athletes this fall.
“I think they are con-
cerned about these high pro-
file cases and how athletes
are viewed as a result,” Dello
Stritto said. “They don’t want
to be associated with that.
They’re enthusiastic about
taking the positive view of
what can we do to prevent
(sexual assault) rather than
have the media look at them
as perpetrators.”
Changing the discussion
on masculinity may be a
long process, Lydum said.
But it’s one the university is
ready to tackle.
“Anything we can do on
campus to help our students
become better leaders in so-
ciety is great,” Lydum said.
“Once they leave campus,
they may be a husband, a fa-
ther, or an uncle.”
SPORTS BRIEFS
Cities declare Friday WOU men’s basketball day
MONMOUTH/INDEPENDENCE — The cities of Monmouth and Independence declared Friday as
Western Oregon University Men’s Basketball Day on Tuesday. A joint proclamation was read during
Monmouth City Council’s meeting.
The men’s basketball team advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four for the first time in school
history. The squad set a program record for most wins in a single season (31). WOU won the Great
Northwest Athletic Conference tournament title and NCAA Division II West Regional title for the first
time.
Registration due soon for Dallas adult rec leagues
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Central’s Peter Mendazona throws a pitch against Woodburn on Friday afternoon.
Mendazona threw a complete game against the Bulldogs, giving up just a single
hit as the Panthers won 16-0. Central took two of three against Woodburn, winning
the series opener 4-2 on March 29 and falling 4-3 on March 30.
DALLAS — Registration for the city of Dallas’ coed volleyball and men’s basketball leagues are due
soon.
Volleyball forms must be turned in by Friday (games begin on Tuesday).
Men’s basketball sign-ups must be completed by Monday (games begin April 14).
Forms are available online at www.ci.dallas.or.us/756/Adult-Recreation.
For more information: David Brautigam, 503-831-3559. Email to david.brautigam@dallasor.gov.
Living: Senior cruises to win on Thursday
Continued from Page 11A
“Soccer, our team wasn’t
that good,” Gniadecki said.
“We won one game, and it
was like the biggest deal
ever. It was kind of funny.
Wrestling was the opposite.
People expect Dallas to win.”
This spring, he’s ready to
leave his mark in the sport
he’s been waiting all year to
begin — tennis.
—
Gniadecki entered the
season as Dallas’ boys tennis
team’s No. 1 singles player
and with good reason.
He’s played tennis for al-
most as long as he was
strong enough to pick up a
racket. He has the size,
speed and experience to es-
tablish himself among the
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence’s top singles players —
just ask his opponent on
Thursday, Central senior
Kevin Cable.
“The toughest part is he
just doesn’t hit anything
out,” Cable said. “You have
to be aggressive, but he’s
forcing you to hit it out.”
Gniadecki cruised to a 6-1
win in the first set over
Cable, a 2015 state qualifier
in doubles. The start of the
second set showed perhaps
his biggest weakness. Trail-
ing 2-0, Gniadecki led the
third game 40-15. A scoring
dispute between the two
players, the second of the
match, led to uncharacteris-
tic mistakes.
“I got frustrated because it
happened twice. The second
time, he stood on the other
side and didn’t want to move
or even talk about it,” Gni-
adecki said. “I lost three
points in a row and lost the
game. I thought, dang, that
was my game right there.”
Dallas coach Caleb
Gillette pulled him aside to
calm him down. He re-
sponded by winning six of
the final seven games.
“I forgot the previous
game and just played my
game,” Gniadecki said.
He will face difficult tests,
including against traditional
league powers Corvallis and
Crescent Valley. But he’s
looking forward to the chal-
lenge.
“I haven’t really reached
my full game,” Gniadecki
said. “I still hold back a little
when I play, but I haven’t
played matches in six
months. I just need to get
back into it.”
He has done everything
he can to enjoy his time
spent at Dallas. The U.S. has
undoubtedly impacted Gni-
adecki. Now, he’s hoping to
do the same for the Dragons.
“Everyone told me Dallas
sucks at tennis,” Gniadecki
said. “I think we have a really
strong team and we’re pretty
stacked with experienced
players.”
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Thomas Gniadecki attempts to track down a ball on Thursday afternoon.