Polk County Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 11, 2016
Spring (football) is in the air
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon’s football team held its annual spring game on Saturday afternoon.
The day’s festivities began with a free kids’ clinic and finished with a family barbe-
cue. The Wolves finished 7-4 overall and 5-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference
play during the 2015 season.
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Baseball clinches spot in
conference tournament
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s baseball team
punched its ticket to the
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference Champi-
onships.
The Wolves closed out
the regular season taking
three of four from Central
Washington, earning 16-8
and 10-7 wins on Friday
and splitting a doublehead-
er on Saturday, winning 6-2
before falling 6-5.
Senior Trevor Podratz
recorded at least one hit in
each of the four games —
extending his hit streak to
22-straight games. Podratz
opened the series on Friday
by recording a single, dou-
ble and home run.
WOU earned the No. 3
seed and will travel to
Nampa, Idaho, for the con-
ference tournament.
Western Oregon will
open the tournament
against Montana State,
Billings Thursday at noon
before facing Northwest
Nazarene Thursday at 3:30
p . m .
North-
w e s t
Nazarene
and Mon-
tana State,
Billings
also play
e a c h
other on
Podratz
Thursday
in the round-robin tourna-
ment. The conference
championship game begins
Friday at 1 p.m.
TRACK AND FIELD TO
HOST GNAC CHAMPI-
ONSHIPS: Western Oregon
will host the GNAC Champi-
onships Friday and Saturday at
McArthur Field. WOU’s track
and field team sent athletes to
the Oregon Twilight Meet in
Eugene on Friday and the Lin-
field Open in McMinnville and
the Oxy Invite in Los Angeles
on Saturday.
WOU’s women’s 4 x 400-
meter relay team of Bailey
Beeson, Suzie Van De Grift,
Megan Rose and Olivia Woods
took first in McMinnville, fin-
ishing in 3 minutes, 54.44 sec-
onds, and Rachel Huffman
won the discus with a throw of
131 feet, 9 inches to lead the
women.
Kaleb Dobson won the
boys 110 hurdles (15.27 sec-
onds). The 4 x 100 relay team
of Wesley Gray, Devonte
Woods, Aaron Whitaker and
Cody Warner took first (41.53),
and Kody Kantola won the
long jump (21-3 ½).
Aaron Whitaker won his
section of the men’s 400-
meter run in Eugene, finishing
in 48.52 seconds.
Tickets for this weekend’s
championships will cost $8
(per session) for adults, $5 for
seniors, students and chil-
dren.
Events begin at 2 p.m. on
Friday and 9:30 a.m. on Satur-
day.
Falls City: Hendrickson learns to let others help
Continued from Page 11A
“Last year, I tripped on a
hurdle for the first time,”
Hendrickson said. “I came
pretty close to falling.”
She was able to avoid tak-
ing a spill and finished the
race, but her confidence was
gone.
“After that (race), mental-
ly, I couldn’t do it,” Hen-
drickson said.
A number of medical is-
sues began to take its toll on
her physically. What she
hoped would be a promising
freshman year turned into a
nightmare.
“My strength that I could
possibly have had last year
wasn’t cutting it,” she said.
She entered this spring
with a clean bill of health,
but one thing still lacked —
confidence.
“I thought my hurdles
were toast because I couldn’t
even get over them last
year,” Hendrickson said.
As she prepared for the
Mo u n t a i n e e r s’ s e a s o n -
opening meet, she was
warming up for the 100 hur-
dles when she nearly
tripped again.
“I thought, ‘not again,’”
she said. “My friends and
coaches kept telling me they
believed in me. I just
thought I’m going to go
through with this, and I did.
I ended up taking first in my
heat that race.”
Since then, she’s become
one of the district’s top hur-
dlers — discovering that a
big part of her success was
letting others — including
freshman Phoenix Brown —
support her.
“You have to have bud-
dies to push you,” Hen-
drickson said. “If you don’t
have anyone to push and
support you, you won’t be
as successful.”
As Hendrickson regained
her form on the track, she
also gave long jump a try —
even if it took a little con-
vincing.
“I was terrified to do it be-
cause I’ve seen two long
jump accidents in my life,”
she said.
Turns out, she was a natu-
ral, setting
the school
record (15
feet, 3 ¾
inches) in
just her
second
time jump-
ing.
Labrado
H e n -
drickson began the season
hoping to regain some of her
pre-high school magic. This
weekend, she has a chance
to do that.
“I’m super excited that
I’m even close to making
state,” she said. “If I make it
to state, I know I’m going to
be real jittery, but I think I’ll
do OK. It would be really ex-
citing, especially since I’m
only a sophomore.”
Hendrickson isn’t the only
state hopeful the Moun-
taineers have.
Senior thrower Ryan Mac-
nab is seeded second in the
shot put and fourth in the
discus.
Sophomore Jeremy
Labrado is ranked third in
the high jump and Robert
Kempfer is seeded fourth in
the triple jump.
For the girls, freshman
Rachel Beatty is seeded first
in the triple jump.
Senior thrower Brittany
Varney is ranked third in the
shot put and discus.
With a mix of experi-
enced and young athletes
hoping to make their pres-
ence felt,
M o u n -
taineers
coach Ron-
nie Sim-
mons said
he’s excited
to see who
can rise to
Varney
the occa-
sion and learn what it will
take for them to join the
state’s elite.
“They have a lot of natural
athleticism,” Simmons said.
“I think they need to devel-
op a stronger work ethic.
Sometimes, having failure
might be the best motivator
and they can see what it
takes to get to the next
level.”
PERRYDALE TRACK AND FIELD
Pirates optimistic about
Clark pursuing school
records in quest for state chances at district meet
By Lukas Eggen
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
SD1 Track and Field Championships
The Itemizer-Observer
PERRYDALE — Senior
Sarah Clark isn’t afraid to
dream big.
Clark took 10th at state in
the javelin as a junior. The
thrower/hurdler wanted to
leave her mark on Perry-
dale’s record books as a sen-
ior.
“My goal for this season
was to break the school
records in all three throwing
events and just PR as best I
could in the hurdles,” Clark
said.
That pursuit has helped
Clark become one of the top
throwers in Special District
1, primed for a return trip to
Eugene.
—
It didn’t take long for Clark
to begin her assault on the
record books.
“At the very first meet (this
year) in McMinnville, I beat
the school record in the
javelin with a throw of 114
feet, 11 inches,” Clark said.
“It was a huge accomplish-
ment for me and realizing
that I had one down and two
more to break was exciting.”
It took until the last meet
What: Special District 1 track and field championships.
When: Friday, 11 a.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.
Where: Portland Christian.
Who: Athletes from Falls City,Perrydale, C.S. Lewis, Colum-
bia Christian, Columbia County Christian, Crosshill Christian,
Damascus Christian, Jewell, North Clackamas Christian, Open
Door Christian, Oregon School for the Deaf, Portland
Lutheran, Portland Waldorf, Southwest Christian, St.
Stephen’s Academy and Willamette Valley Christian.
What’s at stake: Winners and second-place finishers from
each event at the district meet automatically qualify for the
Class 1A state track and field championships, May 19-20 at
Hayward Field in Eugene.
Any athlete meeting a predetermined qualifying standard
may also qualify for state, regardless of number.
PERRYDALE — If there’s
one thing Perrydale track
and field coach Brian Evans
is feeling it’s hope.
The Pirates will compete
at the Special District 1
track and field champi-
onships Friday and Satur-
day at Portland Christian
High School, and Evans
hopes to see multiple ath-
letes book their ticket to the
state championships in Eu-
gene.
—
Among Perrydale’s state
contenders, one of its top
athletes will face a unique
challenge.
Senior
Ta y l o r
Price is
ranked
first in the
girls 100-
m e t e r
hurdles
and third
in the 300
Price
hurdles,
but she’s also balancing a
challenging schedule.
“She’s also doing OHSET
the same time as districts,”
of the regular season, but
Clark crossed another off her
list — shot put, breaking her
previous personal best by
more than three feet at the
Regis Twilight Invitational
on Friday.
“I threw 33-4 ¼,” Clark
said. “It was very exciting
and thrilling that I could
t h r ow i t t h a t f a r a n d
bumped me up to second
place in districts. Two down
and one more to go. I real-
ize that if I work really hard
before districts on discus
that I could possibly beat
the school record. If not, I
am still very blessed to
break two records and it is
a big accomplishment for
me.”
But Clark’s attention has
also turned to districts,
where she enters ranked
second in both the javelin
and shot put.
“I need to not have any
distractions and realize I
could go to state in two
events and just work as hard
as I can,” Clark said. “This is
a really big deal for me and I
need to not let this chance
slip away. I will never get this
opportunity again.”
E v a n s
s a i d .
“ S h e’s
arranged
to race
over from
OHSET to
the dis-
trict meet
Clark
to do the
prelims in the hurdles. We
fully expect her to make it
to state in the hurdles and it
would be awesome if she
did.”
Senior Sarah Clark is
ranked second in the
javelin and shot put, and
freshman Tiffany Clark is
ranked fourth in the triple
jump.
The biggest question
mark on the girls side could
be the 4 x 100 relay team of
Anna McGill, Hannah Hal-
lock, Shylar Halverson and
Kieley Griffin. The quartet
also plays softball, which
has made practicing hand-
offs difficult, Evans said.
The relay team enters
ranked third in the district.
“If they can get down to
55 seconds, that would be
really close to getting them
to state in our league,”
Evans said. “It will be a real-
ly interest-
ing race if
they can
get their
handoffs
just right.”
Senior
K i r k
Fairchild
Fairchild
may rep-
resent the boys team’s best
chance at qualifying for
state. Fairchild is ranked
third in the triple jump and
high jump.
“He’s been stuck at 37
feet (in the triple jump),”
Evans said. “He’s working
hard at that, and we expect
him to pull out a big PR. It
just hasn’t happened yet.”
Junior Jacob Pope is
ranked in the top 10 in the
javelin, discus and shot put.
“We’ve ran the hurdles,
jumped the jumps and
thrown the throws so much,
it’s about fine tuning now,”
Evans said. “I want them to
enjoy the moment and to
not put pressure on them-
selves. I want the runners to
run with courage and for
everyone to dig deep and
let their training that
they’ve done show and put
it all together.”
Curtis: Junior looks for a top 15 finish at state
Continued from Page 11A
Those mistakes, whether hitting
into a bunker, out of bounds or
into the water or missing a make-
able putt are what defines a player,
Curtis said.
“We have those humbling mo-
ments of going into all the hazards
and learning to play smarter,” Cur-
tis said. “There’s always things you
learn from every round. That’s
what I told our new girls. You’re
going to make a ton of mistakes.
There’s a lot of information I
learned from making mistakes.”
Curtis finished tied for 26th at
state in 2015. She said she hopes to
place in the top 15 this year.
“(I’ll work on) my short game,”
Curtis said. “Chipping is where I
lost a lot of strokes during the last
tournament.”
More importantly, she wants to
take in the experience.
“I just want to beat myself, have
fun with it and stay calm,” Curtis
said. “The tournament is just dead
quiet and it feels intimidating at
first. I want to find the peace in
that and relax.”
What will help is a surprising
amount of encouragement from
the players she’ll be competing
against.
“Everyone is so nice,” Curtis
said. “It’s more of a feeling of I
want us all to do well, but I want
myself to do a little bit better. It’s
not that I want them to shank it
into a hazard. I want to do my best
to beat them.”
As Curtis attempts to best her
performance last year, she’ll also
be doing what she can to take in a
special moment.
“I love being out there,” Curtis
said. “It’s probably my favorite
feeling. When they say in school to
go to your happy place, that’s defi-
nitely mine — spending a morning
out on the course.”
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file
Dallas junior Kailee Curtis qualified for state for the second time.