Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 3, 2016 11A
QUICK HITS
Central to host
sports physicals
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral High School will hold
sports physicals Aug. 9
from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Physicals will take place
at the Panther Pit. Cost is
$10.
DHS, CHS fall
sports registration
coming
POLK COUNTY — Regis-
tration for the high school
fall sports season will take
place Aug. 8-11 at Dallas
and Central high schools.
Those who are not reg-
istered by Aug. 11 will not
be able to practice on
Aug. 15, the first day of of-
ficial practices.
Cost in Dallas is $150
for all sports. Those quali-
fying for free lunch must
provide a letter from the
district office. Cost will
then be reduced to $35.
Paperwork is available
online
at
www.sites.google.com/a/d
sd2.org/dallas-high-
school-athletics/ and will
be in the athletic office
starting Aug. 8.
At Central, registration
will be held from 6 to 8
p.m. Aug. 8-11 at the ath-
letic office.
Cost is $50. Forms will
be available at the office.
Having some fun in the sun
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Racers take off at the start of the Summerfest Fun Run on Saturday morning. Runners and walkers took part in the 5-kilometer race.
Bike MS returns
to WOU Friday
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dashiell McNett-Barth gets a little help preparing for the start of the Kids Triathlon.
MONMOUTH — Bike
MS will set up camp at
Western Oregon Universi-
ty Friday through Sunday.
The charity ride offers a
variety of distances for cy-
clists from 18 to 100 miles.
Money raised from the
event goes toward help-
ing people affected by
multiple sclerosis live the
best lives possible.
It’s not to late to regis-
ter to ride, volunteer or
donate.
For more information:
www.main.na-
tionalmssociety.org/site/T
R/Bike/ORCBikeEvents?pg
=entry&fr_id=27007.
Cross Creek
men’s club results
DALLAS — Cross
Creek’s men’s club results
for July 24:
Progressive Tees Tour-
nament
Gross: 1, Joe Johnson,
74; 2, Wayne Weathers, 77.
Net: 1, John Mangini,
66; 2, Bob Bennett, 67; 3
(tie), Randy Wiley, Wayne
Baughman and Lynn Hurt,
68.
July 26
Low gross/low net
Gross: 1, Lee Gamaney,
37; 2 (tie), Rich Dominick
and Kevin O’Brien, 38.
Net: 1, Jim Schroeder,
30; 2, John Hopkins, 32; 3,
Bob Sprinkle, 33; 4, John
Mangini, 34.
Golf scramble set
for Thursday
DALLAS — Western
Oregon will host the
Wolves on the Green golf
scramble for women’s ath-
letics Thursday at noon at
Cross Creek Golf Course.
Cost is $75 each or $300
per team and includes din-
ner. Money raised will help
create championship ex-
periences for student-ath-
letes. For more informa-
tion: 503-838-8449.
www.polkio.com
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Grayson Keene races to the finish at the Dallas Aquatic
Center’s Kids Triathlon on Friday morning.
A trio of runners sprints toward the finish
line at the Summerfest Fun Run Saturday.
Ivy Nicolas gets ready to start the Kids
Triathlon at the Dallas Aquatic Center.
DALLAS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS
Condition of high school
track up for debate
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When Dallas
track and field coach Bill
Masei began the 2016 sea-
son, he looked for a way to
cut down on the number of
injuries — specifically shin
splints. That included giving
athletes an extra day of rest
and staying off the high
school’s track as much as
possible.
Dallas School District Fa-
cilities Manager Kevin Mon-
tague said the track isn’t the
culprit and still has “several”
years of life left.
“I don’t deal with feelings,
I deal with data,” Montague
said. “The data simply does
not support the theory that
we need to replace the track
at this point. Any evidence
like shin splints, it’s purely
anecdotal. You can’t draw
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file
The track at Dallas High School was installed in 2004
the correlation from a scien-
tific perspective and say the
track was the cause when a
majority of shin splints can
be reduced by additional
stretching and exercises.”
Montague said the district
had representatives from
Beynon Sports Surfaces ex-
amine the track in 2015 and
again on July 26. In a letter
from 2015, Gary Logsdon,
vice-president of sales for
Beynon Sports Surfaces, said
the track showed no signifi-
cant signs of wear.
Logsdon said the compa-
ny tells people 10 to 12 years
is the time frame for resur-
facing. Dallas’ track was
originally installed in 2004,
making it 12 years old, but
Montague said that number
is more of a guideline than a
hard deadline.
See TRACK, Page 12A
Dirtbags fall in
state tournament
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
KEIZER — Offensive ex-
plosions and a dash of con-
troversy highlighted the
DeMarini Dirtbags’ run in
the American Legion AAA
state tour-
nament in
Keizer.
T h e
Dirtbags
advanced
to day
four of
five of the
double
Weaver
elimina-
tion tournament.
The squad opened the
championship with a 16-3
win over the Bi-Mar t
Challengers on July 27
that saw the Dirtbags
jump out to a big lead
early thanks in part to a
three-run home run from
Sam Swenson.
The bats went silent on
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
Mendazona
bracket.
The Dirtbags stayed
alive by blowing past Ad-
vanced Metals (of Gre-
sham) 17-6 on Friday, but
the team’s run for a state
title came to an end on
Saturday after a 4-3 loss to
the Medford Mustangs.
The Dirtbags trailed 4-1
earlier in the game, but
pulled to within one run
with runners on first and
second and two outs.
The potential game-tying
runner was thrown out at
home plate to end the
team’s season in a close
call.
See DIRTBAGS, Page 12A
www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports
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I n t e r e s t e d i n a d v e r t i s i n g ?
C a l l 5 0 3 - 6 2 3 - 2 3 7 3
day two,
as the
Dirtbags
fell to the
Withnell
Dodgers
7 - 1 ,
bumping
them to
the loser’s