Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 12, 2017 12A
QUICK HITS
Rope Busters to
hold camp
DALLAS — The Rope
Busters will hold a jump
rope camp beginning
Monday at the LaCreole
Middle School gym.
T he camp will run
through July 21 from 9 to
11:30 a.m.
For more information:
Jim Dent, 503-623-8074.
Cross Creek
women’s club
results
DALLAS — Cross Creek
Women’s Club results for
July 3.
March play vs. par
Nine holes: 1 (tie), Car-
olyn Wall, Patti Stapish and
Jerri Rich; 4, Suzy Deschler.
Eighteen holes: 1, Loretta
Bishop; 2 (tie), Darlene Pow-
ers and Laurilee Hatcher.
Cross Creek
men’s club results
DALLAS — Cross Creek’s
men’s club results for July 4:
Low gross/low net
Gross: 1, Rocky Kygar, 38;
2, Bill Karjala, 39; 3, Jim
Schroeder, 40.
Net: 1, Eldon Rivers, 32; 2.
Wayne Baughman, 33; 3,
Don Seth, 36; 4 (tie), Bill
Bishop and Pat Farrell, 37.
Wolves name
scholar athletes
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon University saw 21
student-athletes earn Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence Faculty Athletic Repre-
sentative Scholar-Athlete
awards on Thursday.
The Wolves had 17 fe-
male athletes and four male
athletes earn recognition.
Female recipients: Rachel
Bayly (cross-country/track),
Jenna Compton (volleyball),
Jessica De La Melena (soc-
cer), Natalie DeLonge (bas-
ketball), Megan Drader
(track and field), Alecia
Falck (track and field), Mor-
gan Haskett (volleyball),
Breanne Ihara (soccer),
Grace Knapp (cross-coun-
try/track), Selene Konyn
(soccer), Virginia Link (cross-
country/track), Sara Mad-
den (track and field), Ali
Nelke (basketball), Dani
Payne (soccer), Machaela
Rapozo (soccer), Morgan
Roan (soccer) and Jamie
Smith (track and field).
Male recipients: Nawai
Ah Yen (baseball), Tyler
Jones (track and field),
Dustin Nading (cross-coun-
try / track ) and C aleb
Tingsad (football).
The award is given to
student-athletes who main-
tain a grade-point average
of 3.85 or higher.
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Curtis Campbell took over as director of athletics at Western Oregon University on July 5.
New AD learns on the fly
Campbell brings 17 years of experience to WOU
By Lukas Eggen
Campbell file
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Curtis
Campbell didn’t know much
about Oregon.
Born on the East Coast,
Campbell had only been as
far west as Illinois.
Yet, when Western Oregon
University began its search
for a new director of athlet-
ics, Campbell was interest-
ed.
“My wife and I have al-
ways wanted to live on the
West Coast because we
haven’t before,” Campbell
said. “We saw that as a new
opportunity and was some-
thing that was more intrigu-
ing about the position. I’ve
spent a lot of time in the
South and East. I saw living
on the West as a positive.”
What truly sold Campbell
was meeting with WOU
President Rex Fuller.
“I saw that the athletic
program was competitive,”
Campbell said. “It seemed to
have a good structure in
place. I was really impressed
• Curtis Campbell officially began as Western Oregon’s di-
rector of athletics on July 5.
• Curtis served as athletic director at Tuskegee University
in Alabama from 2013-17.
• He has also worked as an AD at Blackburn College and
Stillman College.
• Campbell’s first job in college athletics was at the Univer-
sity of Minnesota.
• Campbell was originally a social worker before deciding
to pursue working in college athletics.
with President Fuller and his
vision for athletics and for
the university. That was the
biggest selling point for me.
I thought that this is a place
I’d like to be to help with his
vision for athletics.”
Fuller came away equally
MONMOUTH-INDEPENDENCE MINI-MARATHON
Annual race attracts big crowd
The 2.6-mile fun run draws more than 400 participants
Polk Pedalers to
ride on Saturday
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
PERRYDALE — The Polk
Pedalers Bicycle Club will
hold its monthly ride Satur-
day at 8 a.m.
Riders will meet at Per-
rydale School for the club’s
annual breakfast round-
trip ride from Perrydale to
Amity (30 miles, easy).
All ages are welcome,
but children must be ac-
companied by adults. Hel-
mets required. There is no
cost to attend.
For more information:
503-623-6533.
Titus 3 golf tourney
set for Saturday
DALLAS — The Titus 3
golf tournament will take
place Saturday at 9 a.m. at
the Dallas Golf Club, 11875
Orrs Corner Rd., Dallas.
The tournament sup-
ports Titus 3, a nonprofit
women’s restoration home.
Registration begins at 8
a.m. with play beginning at
9 a.m. Lunch and awards
will follow at around 1 p.m.
with a helicopter ball drop
at 3 p.m. Cost is $75 per
golfer or $25 for lunch
only.
For more information:
Jody McGowan, 503-932-
2167.
www.polkio.com
impressed and, on July 5,
Campbell officially began
his tenure as athletic direc-
tor.
—
For a while, it appeared
Campbell’s career was head-
ed in a different direction.
“My undergraduate de-
gree was in social work,” he
said. “I did that for probably
about 10 years, but I knew
that I needed to get a mas-
ter’s degree in order to get
where I wanted to go.”
It was rewarding work —
but difficult.
“Anyone who has done
any research in social work
knows you can get caught
up and burnt out because
you see the plight of a lot of
people, and it can be very
taxing,” Campbell said. “I
started thinking, ‘Where do I
want to specialize in?’”
It didn’t take long for
Campbell to decide.
See CAMPBELL, Page 13A
STEPHANIE BLAIR/Itemizer-Observer
More than 400 runners and walkers took part in the Mini-Marathon on July 4.
MONMOUTH/INDEPEN-
DENCE — The crowd
roared. Runners and walkers
charged toward the finish in
a blaze of glory.
A scene like this could
only mean one thing — it
was Mini-Marathon time.
The Monmouth-Indepen-
dence Mini-Marathon drew
more than 400 runners and
walkers on July 4.
“Everything went well,”
organizer Terry Cable said.
“We had great support and
had more than 400 partici-
pants. It was a pretty neat
event.”
Cable’s morning was a
busy one, beginning around
5 a.m.
“I helped get the race
started (in Monmouth),”
Cable said. “Then, I got in
my car and hustled down
south of Monmouth to come
in the back side of Inde-
pendence to help at the fin-
ish line.”
Cable serves as the lead
organizer, but he said he’s far
from the only person who
makes this event a success
each year.
“It’s a great event and is
really a function of all the
support I get,” Cable said.
“The Central Lions Club, the
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
Inside
• See results from the
Mini-Marathon on Page
13A.
Willamette Valley Road Run-
ners, and Monmouth Fitness
Club, and Anytime Fitness
are critical in putting this to-
gether.”
The two fitness clubs
played a particularly big role
helping at the start and fin-
ish lines, Cable said.
About the only thing that
didn’t go as planned had to
do with issues with the re-
sults — which may have
caused a few names being
dropped on official times
online, Cable said.
Despite the hiccups,
Cable said he was pleased
with the event overall.
“It covers all different run-
ner skill levels, if you will,”
he said. “We have people
who just want to walk down
the parade route and feel
good about a fitness activity
to some pretty elite runners
who show up. It’s a neat
event for beginners to some
fairly advanced runners.
With the advanced timing,
people can see how they
compared to last year, or to
others in their age group or
overall. That’s what makes it
fun.”
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