Polk County
Sports
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
Baseball: Central at
Lebanon (DH), 3 p.m. Cor-
vallis at Dallas, 4:30 p.m.
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference Championship
(at Portland): Western Ore-
gon vs. Montana State,
Billings, 7 p.m.
Boys tennis: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Cham-
pionships (at Timberhill
Tennis Club, Corvallis), 8
a.m.
Girls tennis: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Cham-
pionships (at Timberhill
Tennis Club, Corvallis), 1
p.m.
Softball: Central at Cor-
vallis (DH), 3 p.m.
THURSDAY, MAY 11
Baseball: Perrydale at
Central Linn, 4:30 p.m.
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference Championship
(at Portland): Western Ore-
gon vs. TBA, TBA.
Boys tennis: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Cham-
pionships (at Timberhill
Tennis Club, Corvallis.
Consolation matches at
C r e s c e n t Va l l e y H i g h
School), 8 a.m.
Girls tennis: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Cham-
pionships (at Timberhill
Tennis Club, Corvallis. Con-
solation matches at Cres-
cent Valley High School), 1
p.m.
Softball: Lebanon at Dal-
las, 4:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, MAY 12
Baseball: Great North-
west Athletic Conference
Championship (at Port-
land): TBA vs. TBA, noon.
Boys tennis: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Cham-
pionships (at Timberhill
Tennis Club, Corvallis), 1
p.m.
Girls tennis: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Cham-
pionships (at Timberhill
Tennis Club, Corvallis), 1
p.m.
Softball: South Albany
at Dallas, 4:30 p.m.
Track and field: Cen-
tral, Dallas at Mid-
Willamette Conference
District Championships (at
Lebanon High School),
3:30 p.m. Falls City, Perry-
dale at Special District 1
Championships (at Port-
land Christian), TBA. West-
ern Oregon at Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence Outdoor Champi-
onships (at Monmouth),
TBA.
SATURDAY, MAY 13
Baseball: Central at
Scappoose, 1:30 p.m.
Track and field: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Champi-
onships (at Lebanon High
School), 10 a.m. Falls City,
Perrydale at Special District
1 Championships (at Port-
land Christian), 11 a.m. West-
ern Oregon at Great North-
west Athletic Conference
Outdoor Championships (at
Monmouth), TBA.
MONDAY, MAY 15
Girls golf: Central, Dallas
at State Golf Championships
(at Emerald Valley, Eugene),
TBA.
TUESDAY, MAY 16
Baseball: Regis at Perry-
dale, 4:30 p.m.
Girls golf: Central, Dallas
at State Golf Championships
(at Emerald Valley, Eugene),
TBA.
Softball: Gladstone at
Central, 4:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
Softball: Dallas at Tu-
alatin, 5 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
District golf
results
Results from the dis-
trict golf tournament,
held Monday and Tuesday
after press time, will be
posted online at
www.polkio.com as they
become available.
Follow the Itemizer-Ob-
server on Twitter
@PolkIOSports to stay up
to date with scores.
www.polkio.com
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 10, 2017 11A
PREP TENNIS
PREP TENNIS
Finding a connection
Panthers
face tough
draw
Doubles pair picks up steam
By Lukas Eggen
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When Josh
Dudley and Zac Price first
started playing together this
season, things were a bit
rough around the edges.
“We were disconnect-
ed,” Dudley said. “We
struggled with coordina-
tion and when to switch.
Sometimes the ball would
go over one of our heads
and we would both be in
the same area.”
Often times Price, who
had tennis experience, but
hadn’t played for the Drag-
ons before this spring,
would rely on Dudley.
“I relied on Josh more in
the beginning of the sea-
son,” Price said. “But now, I
can say to him, I got this
one.”
Things were a bit
smoother on May 3. Price
and Dudley defeated Silver-
ton 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 and are
seeded fifth entering the
Mid-Willamette Conference
district championships
Wednesday (today) through
Friday.
“We worked on funda-
mentals,” Price said. “We
worked on placing our
shots and to know that you
don’t always have to go for
the big shot.”
In recent weeks, the two
have seemingly found their
stride.
“Our play is totally differ-
ent,” Dudley said. “We’re
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral boys tennis coach Patti
Youngren knows each of her
players has a tough road
ahead at the Mid-Willamette
Conference district champi-
onships.
But the
Panthers
are ready to
come out
swinging.
There
will be a
f
e
w
changes in
Polanco
C e n t r a l ’s
lineup.
C h r i s
Polanco
will switch
from sin-
gles to dou-
bles and
join forces
with Justin
Smith
Landers.
“Chris re-
ally im-
proved a lot
this year,
but under-
stands he is
no match
for the club
p l a y e r s ,”
Yo u n g r e n
Huerta
s a i d . “He
will step
over to play
doubles. It’s
a different
game, but
Chris has
acquired
many shots
this year, so
Hamar
he will do
well.”
Nathaniel Miller, Landers’
partner throughout much of
the season, has chosen not to
play, Youngren said.
Youngren also hopes to see
a strong tournament from
Cade Magill and Jorge Her-
nandez-Soto.
“Cade has won more
games than anyone on the
team,” she said. “Jorge has
played pretty scrappy and
can stay in points.”
Joel Robison may have the
most difficult path, opening
against Crescent Valley’s
Bojan Soskic. Soskic is seeded
second.
The girls will face a tough
road in districts.
None of the singles or
doubles players are seeded,
but singles players like
Diana Huerta, Julia Hamar
and Kylie Smith or the dou-
bles pairs like Annika Rid-
dell and Katelyn Trevino
could surprise.
See TENNIS, Page 12A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Josh Dudley and Zac Price are seeded fifth at the district tennis championships.
Road To State
Who: Dallas and Central boys and girls tennis.
What: Mid-Willamette Conference championships.
When: Wednesday, 8 a.m. (boys), 1 p.m. (girls); Thursday,
8 a.m. (boys), 1 p.m. (girls) and Friday, 1 p.m.
Where: Timberhill Tennis Club, Corvallis.
What’s at stake: The top four finishers in singles and dou-
bles play advance to the state championship later this month.
being more aggressive.”
They will need that ag-
gressiveness at districts. The
top four pairs advance to
state.
Dudley and Price open
the tournament against
South Albany and a possible
matchup
with the
first- and
four th
ranked
doubles
pairs later
in
the
tourna-
Blair
ment.
It will be a grueling few
days, but Dudley and Price
think they know what it will
take to be successful.
See DALLAS, Page 12A
PREP TRACK AND FIELD
Less is more as athletes
sprint to districts
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral track and field coach Eli
Cirino has a different mes-
sage for his
t e a m
ahead of
the Mid-
Willamette
Conference
district
track and
field cham-
pionships
Meyer
Friday and
Saturday at Lebanon High
School — it’s time to get self-
ish.
“We did-
n’t feel like
we had a
g r e a t
chance to
win the
meet, so
w e’r e f o -
cusing on
Hartford
getting our
athletes the best possible
chance to perform well in
their top event,” Cirino
said. “Hopefully we can ad-
vance a few to state, and we
felt like competing in too
many events would dimin-
ish their opportunity to get
through.”
See CENTRAL, Page 12A
MWC Track and Field
Championships
What: Mid-Willamette Conference track and field cham-
pionships.
When: Friday, 3:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.
Where: Lebanon High School.
Admission: Adults, $6; students, $4.
Who: Athletes from Central, Dallas, Corvallis, Crescent
Valley, Lebanon, Silverton, South Albany and Woodburn
high schools.
What’s at stake: Winners and second-place finishers from
each event at the district meet automatically qualify for the
Class 5A state track and field championships, May 19-20 at
Hayward Field in Eugene.
Any athlete meeting a predetermined qualifying standard
may also qualify for state, regardless of number.
For results, follow the I-O on Twitter @PolkIOSports and
visit www.polkio.com.
SD1 PREP TRACK AND FIELD
Deters, Lux eye state berths in field events
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY/ PERRYDALE
— Falls City and Perrydale’s
track and field teams are
ready to invade Portland.
The district meet could
signal the emergence of a
new force in 1A track and
field.
Freshman Amity Deters is
ranked among the top four
in the long jump, triple
jump, high jump and the
300-meter hurdles.
“She has a legitimate
chance to go to state in four
events,” Pirates coach Brian
Evans said. “She’s ranked
highest in the 300 hurdles
and high jump, but if we can
get her second phase down
in the triple jump, she could
do really well in that event.
In the long jump, she’s sit-
ting in fourth, but she’s ath-
letic enough to pull out a big
PR and make it to state.”
The only thing holding
SD1 Track and Field Championships
What: Special District 1 track and field championships.
When: Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.
Where: Portland Christian.
Who: Athletes from Falls City, Perrydale, C.S. Lewis, Crosshill
Christian, Damascus Christian, Jewell, North Clackamas Chris-
tian, Open Door Christian, Oregon School for the Deaf, Port-
land Waldorf, Southwest Christian, St. Stephen’s Academy,
Valor Christian School and Willamette Valley Christian.
What’s at stake: Winners and second-place finishers from
each event at the district meet automatically qualify for the
Class 1A state track and field championships, May 18-19 at
Hayward Field in Eugene. Any athlete meeting a predeter-
mined qualifying standard may also qualify for state, regardless
of number.
her back in recent weeks has
been shin splints, Evans
said.
Some of Deters’ stiffest
competition in the jumps
could come from teammate
Alyssa Lux.
“She has the potential to
make it to state in all three
jumps with the long and
triple jumps being her best
events,” Evans said. “Her
fourth event is the javelin.
She has improved her dis-
tance in each meet. I can see
her being the district cham-
pion next year. I’m just not
sure we have enough time to
improve her technique, but
she could be a dark horse in
that event.”
For the boys, Jacob Pope
is ranked in the top five in
the discus and javelin.
Moving up the ranking
and qualifying for state is
well within
r e a c h ,
Evans said.
“We are
fine tuning
his tech-
nique and
w e re a l l y
hope that
Deters
as a senior,
he can pop
off some
b
i
g
t h row s,”
Evans said.
Abigail
Bibler also
has
a
chance at
Pope
state in the
shot put, but would require
a personal record, Evans
said.
“Our focus now is repeti-
tion and fine tuning, en-
couraging the kids to believe
in themselves and their
training and not to worry
about their opponent but to
just focus on the task at
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
hand and
have fun
and make
a memo-
ry,” Evans
said.
—
F a l l s
City track
Labrado
and field
c o a c h
Ronnie
Simmons
wasn’t shy
about ex-
pectations
coming
into the
2017 sea-
son. He’s Hendrickson
excited about how the
Mountaineers have devel-
oped throughout the spring.
Junior Jeremy Labrado
may be primed for a big
meet.
Labrado is ranked second
in the league in the high
jump and triple jump.
See TRACK, Page 12A
www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports