Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 29, 2017 12A
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Baseball splits doubleheader with Saint Martin’s
Itemizer-Observer staff report
RAVENSDALE, Wash. —
Western Oregon split a dou-
bleheader with Saint Mar-
tin’s on Saturday.
The Wolves won the
opening game 8-1 before
dropping the second
matchup 2-1 in eight in-
nings.
In the first game, pitcher
Brady Miller picked up the
win, throwing seven shutout
innings.
Brock Pradere had three
hits, including two doubles,
a n d G a r re t t A n d e r s o n
recorded two hits, including
a triple.
In game two, the teams
were tied at one until Saint
Martin’s scored the winning
run on an RBI single.
A doubleheader on Sun-
day was postponed due to
weather. Makeup dates were
not available as of press
time.
Western Oregon will play
at Northwest Nazarene for a
pair of doubleheaders on
Friday and Saturday, weath-
er permitting.
SOFTBALL FALLS TO CEN-
TRAL WASHINGTON: Western
Oregon’s softball team lost a
doubleheader to Central Wash-
ington on Saturday 4-3 and 7-
6. WOU lost
despite
recording 19
hits over the
two games,
including
solo home
runs from
Chandler
Bishop, Zoe
Clark
Clark and
Cheyanne Rimer in the second
game.
A doubleheader against
Saint Martin’s on Sunday was
postponed due to weather. No
makeup dates have been an-
nounced.
The Wolves will compete at
the Tournament of Champions
on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
in Turlock, Calif., weather per-
mitting.
R E L AY T E A M S E T S
SCHOOL RECORD: Western
Oregon’s track and field team
saw a school record fall at the
Willamette Invitational on Sat-
urday.
The women’s 4 x 400-meter
relay team of Grayson Burke,
Megan Rose, Suzanne Van De
Grift and Olivia Woods took
first in a time of 3 minutes,
49.01 seconds, setting a new
school mark.
Nicole Maurmann won the
1,500 in 4:40.60.
AJ Holmberg won the men’s
800 in 1:53.02.
We s te r n
Oregon will
send ath-
letes to com-
pete in the
San Francis-
co State Dis-
tance Carni-
val on Friday
and Satur-
Maurmann
day, and the
Stanford Invitational on Friday
and Saturday.
OMLID NAMED SECOND
TEAM ALL-REGION: Western
Oregon men’s basketball player
Tanner Omlid was named sec-
ond team National Association
of Basketball Coaches West Re-
gion All-District.
O m l i d
competed
his junior
campaign
finishing in
the top 12
of all five
major statis-
tical cate -
gories in the
Omlid
Great North-
west Athletic Conference, av-
eraging 15.6 points, 7.6 re-
bounds, 3.4 assists, 3.1 steals,
and 1.5 blocks per game.
Omlid set a GNAC record
with 11 steals against Seattle
Pacific on Feb. 4 as part of the
school’s first triple-double
since 2004.
Leap: Henke breaks triple jump mark set in 2011
Continued from Page 11A
She’s out to make her
mark this spring.
Henke will once again
compete in a variety of
events, but it’s the triple
jump that she hopes to take
the biggest leap forward in.
“I love the feeling you get
when you know you’ve stuck
a landing, or you know you
hit a certain mark,” Henke
said. “I would love to see my
triple jump be my strongest.”
She figured that seeing a
marked improvement would
take time, especially since
she had barely even resumed
training for the triple jump
before the season began.
But on March 15, nothing
couldn’t stop Henke from
cracking a school record.
“She wasn’t bogged down
by repetition or the process,”
Cirino said. “There was zero
pressure and she was feeling
healthy. It was a perfect sce-
nario for a great effort.”
Getting the school record
was a surprise. Now the truly
difficult part begins — im-
proving on it.
“A 35-foot jump puts you
on the map for smaller col-
leges,” Cirino said. “In one
moment, that can change
your life and open some
doors. That’s exciting, but if
she doesn’t duplicate or sur-
pass that result now, she’ll
be frustrated. She inadver-
PERRYDALE ROUNDUP
Pirates track and field teams
compete at Grizzly Bear Open
Itemizer-Observer staff report
McMINNVILLE — Perry-
dale’s track and field team
competed at the Grizzly
Bear Open Thursday in
McMinnville.
Amity Deters led all Pirate
finishers, placing second in
the girls high jump with a
mark of 4 feet, 8 inches. She
also took seventh in the 300-
meter hurdles in 54.96 sec-
onds and 11th in the long
jump.
Abigail Bibler finished
eighth in the shot put with a
throw of 28-09.
Jacob Pope led the boys
with a ninth-place finish in
the discus with a throw of
95-4. He also placed 11th in
the javelin (118-6). Joshua
Crawford took 14th in the
300 hurdles (51.96).
Perrydale will compete at
the Canby All Comers meet
Wednesday (today) at noon.
FALLS CITY TRACK AND FIELD
Falls City heads to Sherwood
Itemizer-Observer staff report
S H E R W O O D — Fa l l s
City’s track and field team
competed with the junior
varsity at Sherwood on
March 22.
Amara Houghtaling won
the girls 100-meter run in
14.17 seconds. Brittney Potts
placed first in the 400 in
1:11.77 and the high jump
with a mark of 4 feet, 6 inch-
es.
Kendel
Gonzales
won the
3,000 in
12:57.63.
T h e
4x100 relay
team of
Natalie
Houghtaling B a t i e ,
Madelyn Hendrickson, Potts
and Houghtaling also placed
first in 55.87.
tently created some pressure
for herself. She’s one of the
top jumpers in the league
and state now, and she has
to perform.”
To do that will require a
mix of refining her form —
specifically on her landing
and making sure each phase
goes smoothly — and hav-
ing mental focus — even
when it can be difficult to re-
main positive all the time.
“It kind of hurts some-
times,” Henke said. “If you
do it wrong or you practice
too much, your joints hurt.
The day after a meet, I’m
usually pretty sore. It takes a
lot of concentration. It’s
more than just jumping into
a pile of sand. If your head’s
not in it, you won’t do well.”
Henke’s performance in
the triple jump sets her up
to be a top contender for a
district title.
Cirino said he plans to fill
in the lineup and see where
others will fit in best.
“We have some kids who
we don’t know if they will be
runners or throwers or
jumpers,” Cirino said. “We
want to get them some ex-
perience in events and hope
they gravitate toward the
ones they are best at.”
For now, Henke and the
Panthers hope that this is
just the beginning of a
strong spring.
Blair: Senior needs
to find consistency
Continued from Page 11A
“You got to learn to keep
your cool,” Blair said.
“Sometimes it’s hard, espe-
cially if you have a shot and
if you hit it, you’re winning
the point. When you don’t
hit that shot, it can get frus-
trating especially when you
try to hit it three times in a
row and you miss. You have
to keep breathing and smil-
ing, if possible.”
Blair is confident the un-
forced errors will decrease
once he gets more practice
on the court.
Lately that has been diffi-
cult. Dallas’ scheduled
matches on Tuesday, Thurs-
day and Friday were all
postponed due to weather.
The weather has forced
nearly all practices indoors
to the gym.
The key is staying fo-
cused and not letting the
weather become a distrac-
tion from improving.
“We do a lot of condition-
ing. A lot of it,” Blair said,
smiling. “It’s annoying how
much we do. But we do a lot
of volleying and overhead
stuff. That has helped me a
lot. I wasn’t hitting those as
well at the start of the sea-
son.”
Blair has laid the ground-
work for a successful sea-
son.
“It’s all about learning ex-
periences right now,” he
said. “If I do something
good, I can take that and
use it later on. If I do some-
thing bad, I can figure out
what went wrong.”
Jeremy Labrado led the
boys with a first-place finish
in the boys triple jump with
a leap of 35-9½. Nathan
Kempfer won the 800 in
2:20.90, and the 4x100 relay
team of Austin Burgess,
Labrado, Kempfer and Char-
lie Gilson also placed first in
48.45. The Mountaineers will
compete at the Canby All
Comers meet Wednesday
(today) at noon.
CENTRAL ROUNDUP
Baseball falls to Corvallis
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral’s baseball team lost to
Corvallis 9-5 on Thursday in
its Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence opener.
The remaining two games
were canceled due to weath-
er. No makeup dates have
been announced.
Central will play a double-
header at The Dalles Friday
at 2 p.m. before resuming
league play at Silverton
Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
SOFTBALL SPLITS GAMES
AT NEWPORT: Central’s soft-
ball team split its opening two
games at the Battle at the
Beach at Newport on Monday.
The Panthers defeated New-
port 15-3 before losing to
Banks 14-5.
Central also lost to Silverton
8-7 on Thursday.
Central played Pleasant Hill
and Taft Tuesday after press
time. The Panthers will play at
Lebanon Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
before hosting Dallas on April 5
at 4:30 p.m.
TENNIS MATCHES POST-
P O N E D : Ce n t r a l ’s t e n n i s
matches against Woodburn
and South Albany were post-
poned because of weather
conditions. The boys team
started matches against both
teams until rain forced a stop-
page of play. Matches will be
made up during the teams’
next meetings against Wood-
burn and South Albany.
Central’s boys will play at
Crescent Valley Tuesday at 4
p.m. The girls will host Crescent
Valley Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Waiting to serve
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas’ Josh Dudley, right, and Zac Price prepare to serve against Woodburn on
March 22. The doubles pair earned a two-set victory.
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Caedmon Blair returns a shot on March 22 against Woodburn.
DALLAS ROUNDUP
Baseball sweeps Woodburn
Itemizer-Observer staff report
WOODBURN — The
weather caused changes to
venues, but Dallas’ baseball
team opened Mid-
Willamette Conference play
with a sweep of Woodburn.
The Dragons defeated the
Bulldogs 15-5 and 12-2 on
March 22 and 12-6 on Sat-
urday.
Dallas also opened the
Newport Tournament with
a pair of victories on Mon-
day. The Dragons defeated
Philomath 10-9 and Sius-
law/Mapleton 13-2.
Dallas was scheduled to
play Sweet Home Tuesday
after press time.
The Dragons will host
Lebanon Tuesday at 4:30
p.m. before playing at
Lebanon on April 5 at 4:30
p.m.
SOFTBALL DOMINATES
CRESCENT VALLEY: Dallas’
softball team rolled to a 26-1
victory over Crescent Valley on
Thursday.
The Dragons lost their first
two games of the North Med-
ford Spring Break Tournament
on Monday, falling to Moun-
tain View 4-3 and Henley 9-7.
Dallas played Sprague and
Grants Pass Tuesday after
press time.
The Dragons will host Sil-
verton Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
before playing at Central on
April 5 at 4:30 p.m.
TRACK AND FIELD COM-
PETES AT SILVERTON: Dallas’
track and field team competed
at Silverton on Thursday. Team
scores weren’t kept.
Aaron White helped lead
the boys, taking first in the
long jump (19 feet, 11¾ inch-
es) and triple jump (40-8¼).
Jacob Deming won the
pole vault with a throw of 13-
6; Trevor Cross placed first in
the 1,500-meter run in 4 min-
utes, 13.94 seconds; and Cody
Webb won the 100 in 11.32.
Jenifer Webb won the girls
100 hurdles in 16.99. Amelia
Burgess won the discus with a
throw of 95-0; and Kayley
Sayer won the triple jump
with a leap of 31-7¼.
Dallas will compete at
Canby Wednesday (today) at
noon and will travel to Cres-
cent Valley on April 5.
GIRLS TENNIS DEFEATS
WOODBURN: Dallas’ girls ten-
nis team defeated Woodburn
8-0 on March 22. Addie
Gillette, Lynn Gumpinger,
Makayli Laizure and Molly Pef-
fley swept the singles match-
es, while Amanda Schafer and
Megan Ronco, Kloe Totten and
Emma Cromwell, Morgan
Bateman and Payton Fast; and
Rebekah Rocak and Maddie
Kennedy swept the doubles
matches.
Dallas will play at North
Marion on Monday before
hosting Silverton Tuesday at 4
p.m.