Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 10, 2016 9A
Dallas volleyball camp
SPORTS BRIEFS
Fall sports season begins on Monday
POLK COUNTY — The high school sports season will hold first day of official practices on Mon-
day. All student-athletes must have registration forms turned in prior to competing.
Sports physicals are required every two years.
WOU women’s basketball earns academic honors
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Left: Jayden Chancery attempts to catch a volleyball during a drill at Dallas High
School’s youth volleyball camp on Monday afternoon.
The camp, aimed at children entering grades 1-8, runs through Friday.
Right: Camp participants take part in a drill on Monday.
Bottom: Dallas volleyball coach Shana Lavier gives some tips during Dallas’ youth
volleyball camp.
MONMOUTH — Western Oregon’s women’s basketball team was honored by the Women’s Bas-
ketball Coaches Association after being named to the 2015-16 Academic Top-25 Team Honor Roll.
The Wolves ranked 21st in Division II and were the highest ranked team from the Great North-
west Athletic Conference.
Among all divisions of the WBCA (Division I, II and III; NAIA), Western Oregon ranked 46th.
"What's really impressive about this recognition is that they are able to achieve at such a high
level in a fast-paced quarter system," Howard-Carpenter added. "Our travel during the winter quar-
ter is challenging, to say the very least, but they make academics a priority and find a way to excel
despite missing class."
Ali Nelke topped the team’s GPA list with a 4.0 mark. Natalie DeLonge and Jordan Mottershaw
had a 3.93 GPA and Launia Davis recorded a 3.92 GPA.
Bike: Group gave sisters hope for the future
Continued from Page 8A
“I realized that, although I
couldn’t stop what was hap-
pening to her, what I could
do was raise money to help
fight MS.”
Shannon hadn’t heard of
Bike MS prior to 2013, but
she quickly grew to love it.
“Every time I took a train-
ing ride or received a dona-
tion, I felt I was helping my
sister and everyone else with
this disease,” she said. “I was
finally doing something to
help.”
Shannon was ready to
participate in Bike MS for
the first time in August of
2013. She assumed she
would show up, ride the 35-
mile route, and head home.
She was placed on Team
Roadkill, but didn’t know
any of the members.
“It’s an amazing experi-
e n c e ,” S h a n n o n s a i d .
“Every year, I am inspired
by the people who partici-
pate in this event. Recon-
necting with this commu-
nity of people who are so
positive and self-effacing,
every year I feel recharged
by being around these peo-
ple. The team I had been
assigned to (in 2013) —
Team Roadkill — treated
me like I had been a part of
their group for years.”
Nora, only six weeks after
being discharged from the
hospital in 2013, showed up
to Bike MS in a wheelchair.
“On the drive, I struggled
with anxiety,” she wrote in a
blog post. “After a month
and a half in the hospital, I
saw myself as a victim of cir-
cumstance — a near-invalid
patient with an incurable
neurodegenerative disease. I
assumed my life was only
going to get worse from that
point on. ‘Why am I doing
this?’ I thought to myself. ‘I
want as far away from MS,
and anyone who has any-
thing to do with it, as possi-
ble.’”
She arrived to find bright
colors, energetic music and
people who weren’t letting
MS define them.
“MS is a terrible disease
and can be cruel and re-
ductive, but the people
who live with it every day
are some of the best folk
I’ve met in (all my) years,”
Nora wrote. “They are gen-
erous, encouraging, and so
incredibly welcoming. So
many went out of their way
to introduce themselves
and to make sure I felt in-
cluded in the weekend’s
festivities. I felt empowered
and reinvigorated just by
being in their presence. …
These people, I quickly re-
alized, were not victims.
These were warriors, sur-
vivors and they were any-
thing but defeated. By the
end of the weekend, I was
no longer a victim — I’d be-
come a warrior, too. I
learned that this disease
can be fought, and my new
friends were my comrades
in arms. Best of all, I was
no longer alone in my fight.
I had found my communi-
ty.”
Shannon has taken part in
Bike MS every year since she
started — and was even
joined by Nora for a bike
ride in 2014.
Her goal remains simple.
“The research towards
new medications and poten-
tially a cure is advancing rap-
idly,” Shannon said. “The
more participants we get; the
more money we will raise to
keep that research going.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNON SNAIR/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Shannon Snair participates in Bike MS every year. She
first started riding in the event in 2013.
Course: Trail offers variety of workouts to try
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Once completed, Independence will offer a variety of workouts to try during a run or a walk on the trail.
Continued from Page 8A
He reached out to a small
group in the community to
figure out what they want-
ed to see in the fitness
course.
“I specifically worked with
the folks at Crossfit Kiowa,
PT Northwest and Inde-
pendence Curves to refine
ideas for the course, and are
still working with them to
get the course completed,”
Hedlund said.
That feedback continues
to help Hedlund as the proj-
ect nears its completion.
“I would love to say it
will be done by the end of
August, but it has been a
project that has taken con-
siderably longer than I had
anticipated on both the
construction as well as the
administrative portion of
the project,” Hedlund said.
Once completed, the trail
will offer a workout that can
change each time you try it,
and Hedlund can’t wait for
the community to see the
finished project.
“I would have to say that
probably my favorite part
isn’t even out there yet, and
it would be the tire flip sta-
tion,” he said. “I’m not sure
what it is, but grabbing a
hold of a big tractor tire and
flipping it over is just fun.”
Hedlund’s hope is the
course can be part of a big-
ger movement to make In-
dependence — and Polk
County — a more attractive
place to live.
“I think it’s important to
the city to showcase what we
have to offer and to make
our city and the surrounding
c o m m u n i t i e s a b e t t e r,
healthier place to live and
work,” Hedlund said.
The goal is to get people
out more and finding ways
to get them to become more
active than before.
“I hope this course gets
people of all ages and abili-
ties out and enjoying fit-
ness,” he said. “I know that
for me, running on a tread-
mill or using an elliptical is
one of the worst fitness ex-
periences imaginable. ... You
can do as many or as few of
the stations as you want and
you can run around it as
many times as you want,
while mixing up the stations
to keep your workout inter-
esting.”
