Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 5, 2016 13A
PREP CROSS-COUNTRY
Running leads to self discovery for Meyer
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE —
There’s a nickname Central
senior Zachary Meyer has
gotten from his cross-coun-
try teammates — one that
may not sound all too flatter-
ing at first.
“Dictator Zachary, be-
cause I lead our drills,” Meyer
said. “I think that the name
comes from a joking heart
rather than a resentful one.
My actions and words are for
the good of the team rather
than selfish gain.”
Meyer, one of the team’s
captains, has emerged as the
Panthers’ fastest runner so
far this season. But he’s got
his eyes set on a bigger prize.
—
Meyer never had plans to
become a distance runner. In
seventh grade, he was forced
to pick a sport and wound up
on the cross-country team.
That choice had far greater
impacts than he ever
thought.
“I have found in running
what I hope everyone finds
in life — purpose, friendship,
passion and a feeling of self-
worth,” Meyer said. “Some-
thing about pushing yourself
to the absolute limit physi-
cally and mentally strikes a
chord in my brain, and I truly
believe this sport has made
me a better person.”
Among that includes be-
coming someone the team
can look up to.
“Being a part of the team
has brought out the leader
inside of me,” Meyer said.
“I’ve learned to have empa-
thy for others, to lead by ex-
ample rather than just tell
others what they should be
doing. In addition, cross-
country has led me to give
my best effort in everything I
do and really stand up for
what I believe in.”
Meyer hopes to lead the
Panthers to the state cross-
country meet in November.
The boys finished third at
the Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence District preview meet
on Sept. 21.
Central’s top six runners
(Meyer, Matt Raines, Jaydon
Aydelotte, Caedmon Whisen-
hunt, Jonathon Brown and
Maynard Dewitt) were sepa-
rated by 35 seconds.
“That’s by far the smallest
spread in the league,” coach
Eli Cirino said. “They have a
good sense of pace and a
good idea on where they
should be.”
The top three teams from
the MWC championship on
Oct. 26 advance to state.
But with Lebanon finish-
ing just six points behind, the
Panthers have little room for
error.
“It got them excited, but
they know they have work to
do,” Cirino said. “We know
that if we take too much time
off, we’re going to get
spanked a little bit.”
At the Harrier Classic on
Saturday, Central placed 11th
in the team standings. Fellow
MWC teams Lebanon, Silver-
ton and Woodburn finished
12th, 13th and 14th.
“It is so easy for a team
that is seen as the underdog
to have one good day and
take third place to qualify for
state, so we have to keep our
hearts in the sport and not
get comfortable with our po-
sition, no matter how good it
may be,” Meyer said.
The boys aren’t the only
team with state aspirations.
The girls also placed third at
the district preview meet.
Bailie Hartford is the girls
team’s top runner, but others
are emerging.
“We’re starting to get our
five, six and seven runners
(Naomi Vega, Annie Taylor
and Aliza Camero) to close
the gap between our two,
three and four runners (Beat-
riz Trujillo, Bethanie Altami-
rano and Diana Nye),” Cirino
said.
Central, which will com-
pete at the Ash Creek Invita-
tional No. 2 on Saturday, will
begin to turn its attention to
getting runners ready to peak
at districts.
For Meyer it will be the
final stretch of his cross-
country career.
“It is very surprising to see
where running has taken me
over the years,” Meyer said.
He hopes it takes him one
more place this November —
the state meet.
ELI CIRINO/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Central senior Zachary Meyer takes off at the start of the
Harrier Classic on Saturday.
WOU: Wolves
Football falls to Azusa Pacific show progress
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s football team
gained 424 yards, but failed
to score any points on of-
fense as the Wolves fell to
Azusa Pa-
cific 31-2
on Satur-
day.
W O U ’s
l o n e
points
came in
the fourth
Swartzlender w h e n
George
Swartzlender and Austin
Spencer tackled APU run-
ning back Chris Soloman in
the end
zone for a
safety.
We s t -
ern Ore-
gon quar-
terback
Phillip
Fenumiai
Spencer
threw for
307 yards and two intercep-
tions in the loss.
Fenumiai also had 20
rushes for 72 yards.
Receiver Paul Revis fin-
ished the game with nine
catches for 106 yards. Keoni
Piceno had seven recep-
tions for 94 yards.
The Wolves (2-3 overall,
1-2 Great Northwest Athlet-
ic Conference) host Simon
Fraser Saturday at 1 p.m.
Western Oregon entered the
week in a tie for third place
in the GNAC standings.
Simon Fraser has yet to
win a game this season and
enters Saturday’s matchup
with an 0-5 mark overall.
MEN’S XC PLACES FIFTH:
Western Oregon’s men’s cross-
country team placed fifth at
the Charles Bowles Invitational
in Salem on Saturday. Sopho-
more Dustin Nading took
eighth overall in the 8,000-
meter race, finishing with a
time of 25 minutes, 8.8 sec-
onds.
The women’s team fin-
ished ninth in the team
standings. Kennedy Rufener
took 16th in the 5,000-meter
race with a time of 18:26.0.
The Wolves will host the Ash
Creek Invitational No. 2 Fri-
day at 5 p.m.
SOCCER DROPS T WO:
Western Oregon’s women’s soc-
cer team dropped a pair of con-
ference matches last week. The
Wolves lost to Central Washing-
ton 4-1 on Thursday and Simon
Fraser 6-0 on Saturday. Fresh-
man Kaili Brundage scored
WOU’s lone goal against Cen-
tral Washington on Thursday, in
the 62nd minute. Western Ore-
gon (4-6 overall, 1-4 GNAC)
plays at Saint Martin’s Thursday
at 2 p.m. before hosting Central
Washington Sunday at noon.
Continued from Page 11A
“I tell the girls it’s going to
get harder before it gets easi-
er on, and off the court,” Co-
lasurdo said. “It’s normal to
come to campus and be a lit-
tle overwhelmed at first. On
the court, when you learn
something new, it’s hard at
first but once you master it,
it’ll become easier and you’ll
become better.”
Western Oregon is 1-2 in
conference play and has lost
three of its last four matches.
Even as the team has
struggled to find wins,
matches like Saturday offer
glimpses that WOU hints to
a future where the Wolves
can howl once again.
“We showed ( Western
Washington) what we’re real-
ly made of,” Colasurdo said.
“It’s all about confidence,
belief and hard work. You
have to believe that you can
do it, have confidence that
you can, and be willing to
outwork people. When we
have that, we are a force to
be reckoned with. I’m excit-
ed to see where this team
goes.”
FALLS CITY ROUNDUP
Volleyball earns victory
Itemizer-Observer staff report
FALLS CITY — Falls City’s
volleyball team earned a 25-
11, 25-8, 25-12 win over C.S.
Lewis on Thursday.
“The girls were working
well as a team and covering
out-of-system plays,” coach
Roxi Barnhart said. “We are
seeing progress as far as
communication and trust-
ing teammates to work their
zones. A few of our hitters
had significant additions to
score Sairah Ziola, Anna
Lammers and Madelyn Hen-
drickson.”
The Mountaineers (4-3
overall, 3-3 Casco League)
host Perrydale on Thursday
a n d W i l l a m e t t e Va l l e y
Christian on Tuesday. Both
matches will begin at 5:30
p.m.
FOOTBALL FALLS TO LOW-
ELL: Falls City’s football team
lost to Lowell 44-20 on Friday.
The Mountaineers (2-3 overall,
2-0 Special District 3) play at
Alsea on Friday.
Close knit community needs it’s local paper
In Chelsea Metcalfe’s opinion, the Polk County Itemizer-
Observer is “the best place to get the word out about our
events and programs.”
Metcalfe, Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce’s executive
director, recommends the I-O to chamber member busi-
nesses.
“Pricing is reasonable … especially when it comes to some
of the special projects (the I-O) does, like Explore Polk
County, Who’s Who, the phone book, and then specific guides
like the medical directory,” she said.
Reasonably priced and effective advertising isn’t the only reason Metcalfe likes
her local newspaper.
Of the I-O’s special sections, the annual Summerfest preview is her favorite,
naturally. She added Explore Polk County — an annual tourism guide published
each May — is high on her list, too. She said it “has been fantastically put to-
gether over the last couple of years in particular.”
Metcalfe said she always finds time to read the weekly edition to keep up with
what is going on in her community.
“The local ‘heart’ stories are fantastic,” she said. “Being a very close knit com-
munity, it is always fun to read about someone doing something extraordinary.”
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