Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 1, 2017 13A
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1
Boys basketball: Toledo
at Perrydale, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Central
at Silverton, 7 p.m. Lebanon
at Dallas, 7 p.m. Toledo at
Perrydale, 5:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Central at
Lebanon, 6 p.m. Dallas at
Woodburn, 6 p.m.
Collins breaking out
By Lukas Eggen
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8
Boys basketball: Dallas
at Milwaukie, 7:15 p.m.
Girls basketball: Cres-
cent Valley at Central, 7 p.m.
Dallas at Corvallis, 7 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Dallas wrestlers
excel at tourney
SALEM — The Dallas
Mat Club’s middle school
wrestlers competed at the
Oregon Kids Folkstyle
Championships in Salem
on Saturday and Sunday.
Haydn Millard (cadet
94) placed first for Dallas.
Ashton Brecht (cadet 285)
also finished first. Dillon
Stuhr (cadet 120) and
Kadin Thorsted (cadet
132) placed fourth.
WOU track and
field earns honor
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s track and field
team was named the Red
Lion/Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference Team of
the Week on Monday.
WOU set five school
records at the University of
Washington Invitational in
Seattle and set two GNAC
records.
Junior David Ribich
broke the GNAC mark in
the men’s mile with a time
of 4 minutes, 2.30 seconds.
The distance medley
relay team of Ribich, Dustin
Nading, AJ Holmberg and
Josh Dempsey also set a
new conference mark in
9:45.45.
Ribich was named the
GNAC Male Track and Field
Player of the Week for his
performance in Seattle.
It’s the second week in a
row Ribich earned the
honor.
Ribich was also named
the U.S. Track and Field and
Cross-country Coaches As-
sociation’s male athlete of
the week for Division II on
Tuesday.
For more information:
ww.wouwolves.com.
www.polkio.com
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The roar of the crowd. The unified chants.
The infection energy that can turn even the quietest fan
loud.
The rumble from the stands can
cause issues for any team by making it
harder for players to communicate.
The crowd noise presents a little big-
ger challenge for Dallas senior basket-
ball player Jake Collins.
Collins was born with severe-to-pro-
found hearing loss.
Playing a sport where communica-
tion is key, a hearing impairment may
Collins
seem detrimental to finding success —
but Collins doesn’t let it hold him back.
“I’ve never let my hearing stand in the way of any-
thing,” Collins said.
—
From a young age, Collins never looked at his hearing
impairment as a setback.
With his hearing aids, Collins said in most circum-
stances he can hear at normal levels.
Over time he found ways to complement them and
moved on with his life.
See COLLINS, Page 14A
FRIDAY, FEB. 3
Boys basketball: Central
at South Albany, 7 p.m.
Crescent Valley at Dallas, 7
p.m.
Girls basketball: South
Albany at Central, 7 p.m.
Dallas at Crescent Valley, 7
p.m.
Wrestling: Central at
Junction City High School
Duals, TBA.
TUESDAY, Feb. 7
Boys basketball: Central
at Crescent Valley, 7 p.m.
Corvallis at Dallas, 7 p.m.
Willamette Valley Christian
at Falls City, 7 p.m. Damas-
cus Christian at Perrydale, 7
p.m.
Girls basketball:
Willamette Valley Christian
at Falls City, 5:30 p.m. Dam-
ascus Christian at Perrydale,
Feb. 7.
Taking it
one goal
at a time
Senior making noise for Dallas
THURSDAY, FEB. 2
Boys basketball: Falls
City at Livingstone Adven-
tist, 7 p.m. Jewell at Perry-
dale, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Falls
City at Livingstone Adven-
tist, 5:30 p.m. Jewell at Per-
rydale, 5:30 p.m.
Men’s basketball: Saint
Martin’s at Western Oregon,
7 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at Alaska
Fairbanks, 6:30 p.m.
Wrestling: South Albany
at Dallas, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEB. 4
Boys basketball: Perry-
dale at Mapleton, 2:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Perry-
dale at Mapleton, 1 p.m.
Men’s basketball: Seat-
tle Pacific at Western Ore-
gon, 5 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at Alaska
Anchorage, noon.
Wrestling: Dallas at Tod
Surmon Tournament, TBA.
COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
DALLAS BOYS BASKETBALL
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas senior Jake Collins is one of the Dragons’ best defenders.
MONMOUTH — Before
each women’s basketball
game, Western Oregon
sophomore Ali Nelke takes
a Sharpie to her wrist and
writes a goal.
“Be -
fore each
game in
h i g h
school,
my team
would
pick a
goal or
mindset
Nelke
for that
game and we would all
write the initials of it on
our wrist,” she said. “I have
continued the tradition
because it keeps me fo-
cused, especially on one of
my most recent goals.”
Lately, she has been
writing M.T.D. — make
them defend.
See GOAL, Page 15A
CENTRAL WRESTLING
Crow ready for his final act at Central
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral senior wrestler Sam
Crow isn’t sure how many
times he’s replayed the
match in his head — but it’s
been a lot.
As a junior, Crow ap-
peared headed for a spot in
the finals in the 195-pound
class at the Mid-Willamette
Conference district
wrestling championships
when he was upset in the
semifinals.
Crow would finish third,
but the loss stung.
“It said third on my
sleeve, but I knew it proba-
bly should have said first,”
Crow said. “I think about
that match all the time.”
It was a reminder that if
you’re not at your best at all
times, anything can happen
out there on the mat.
The senior is hoping for a
happier ending this season
— though he knows a path
to a district title may come
down to beating Dallas sen-
ior wrestler Tanner Earhart.
“The big focus right now
Wrestling
• Central’s wrestling
team finished sixth at the
Robert Paul Invitational on
Saturday.
• Noah Worthington (106
pounds) and David Negrete
(220) finished first. Sam
Crow (195) placed second
and Luis Martinez (106) fin-
ished fourth.
• Central travels to
Lebanon
Wednesday
(today) and will compete at
the Junction City Duals on
Friday.
is on Tanner (Earhart),”
Crow said. “I’ve lost to him
twice already in two very
close matches that were
winnable. That’s where the
focus is right now.”
Crow, who finished sec-
ond at the Robert Paul Invi-
tational on Saturday, is fine
tuning ahead of the district
championships Feb. 10-11.
As Crow prepares for his
final run at districts — and
hopefully state — he’s been
recharged and ready to go —
though the reason may sur-
prise.
NEAL OLSON/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Central senior Sam Crow hopes to win a district title.
Crow missed nine match-
es while snowboarding at
Mt. Hood during much of
Central’s winter break.
At first glance, it may
seem like a strange choice,
but for Crow, who also
played on the Panthers’
football team last fall, it was
a much-needed chance to
relax.
See CROW, Page 14A
Oregon faces dwindling referee numbers
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
Get involved
POLK COUNTY — Throughout
the state of Oregon and across all
sports at the high school levels, find-
ing enough referees is proving to be
a big challenge.
“It’s all across the country, not just
Oregon,” Jack Folliard, executive di-
rector of the Oregon Athletic Offi-
cials Association, said.
Oregon has seen its pool of refer-
ees decrease significantly.
Folliard said during the 2010-11
school year, there were 3,407 indi-
vidual officials. Last school year, that
number shrunk to 2,866 — a decline
that has affected sports across the
board.
Folliard said ideally the number of
referees across all sports would be
3,500-4,000.
“We always have a specific
amount of attrition each year,” Fol-
liard said. “The difference is we’re
not filling the bucket so to speak.”
Folliard said it’s hard to pinpoint
just what has caused the decline —
though he does have his theories on
what may be contributing to it.
“Society has changed,” he said. “I
think people are much more active
with families and other things. Refs
• Anyone over the age of 18 can
become a referee.
• Oregon Athletic Officials Asso-
ciation Executive Director Jack Fol-
liard said interested parties should
check at least one to two months
ahead of time of the sports season
they want to ref to begin the regis-
tration process.
• For more information: www.-
oreofficials.org.
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Oregon has seen a decline in referees across all sports, according to
Oregon Athletic Officials Association executive director Jack Folliard.
have to start at the freshman level.
That means mostly 4 p.m. games, so
they’d have to get off work earlier.
Another reason, frankly, is I think
there’s more abuse of officials by
parents and fans. It’s not over-
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
whelming, but it’s certainly out
there.”
There will always be enough refs
to cover varsity games, Folliard said,
but it’s the earlier games that see the
biggest strain.
“If you think about basketball for
example, there’s a varsity game of
course,” Folliard said. “But there’s
also a junior varsity game. Some
schools have two JV squads and a
freshman team. You can have two or
three sub varsity games in one
night.”
Dallas athletic director Tim Lar-
son said they have not had to cancel
games due to a shortage of available
refs, but have had to stack soccer
matches or move to a different day.
See REFS, Page 14A
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