Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 12, 2017 13A
Campbell: First time living on the West Coast
Continued from Page 12A
“I thought back to the
places I enjoyed the most,”
he said. “I love being on a
college campus. I enjoy the
environment being on a
campus. I wanted to work in
higher education. Then, it
was a matter of what area do
you want to work in? I al-
ways liked athletics and
thought it would be a good
place to work.”
Campbell earned his mas-
ter’s degree in student affairs
administration.
Upon graduating, he re-
ceived a job offer — just not
the one he was looking for.
“My first job as a full-time
professional was as a resi-
dence director at Virginia
Tech,” Campbell said. “I kept
sending out resumes and
applying for athletic jobs.”
Campbell would get his
shot working with an ath-
letics department at the
University of Minnesota in
2000.
“It was my first job (in col-
lege athletics), so I was real
excited,” Campbell said. “To
start out with a program that
had around 750 student-
athletes, it was a great op-
portunity.”
At the time, Minnesota
had two separate athletic
departments for men’s and
women’s sports.
Campbell, who worked in
the Academic Counseling
and Student Services sec-
tion, was one of two units
that worked with both de-
partments.
“I didn’t realize how
unique that was at the time,”
he said. “But it was a great
place to learn, a great place
to see how they do things at
that level. It prepared me for
when the time came for me
to look at other opportuni-
ties.”
Since then, he has served
as athletic director at nu-
merous locations, most re-
cently at Tuskegee Universi-
ty in Alabama.
Now, he’s ready for a new
challenge in Monmouth.
—
Campbell’s goals are sim-
ple.
“I feel that we have two
primary responsibilities in
athletics,” he said. “We want
to graduate students and
win championships. Every-
thing we do here should be
working toward one of those
goals.”
Achieving those goals re-
quires a unified front,
Campbell said.
For now, he’s learning the
department’s strengths and
weaknesses and plans to
meet with every coach and
staff member within the de-
partment on an individual
basis.
“You never want to come
in and make a lot of changes
right off the bat,” Campbell
said. “Through these sit-
downs, I will find out about
their area and what’s going
on. If I hear a consistent
thing from each of the
coaches that something
doesn’t work, for example,
you can see that something
is broken and, through these
meetings, I can figure out
what should be priority
one.”
Once he does that, the
focus will shift toward creat-
ing and executing plans to
address those priorities.
“I’m excited to be here
and I look forward to meet-
ing the alums, the fans in
the community, and anyone
who is willing to help our
program,” he said. “I plan to
go out and get in front of as
many people as I can to tell
the story of WOU athletics
and get support for our pro-
grams.”
DALLAS ATHLETICS
Larson supports field turf project
Dallas athletic director excited about potential new turf field
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Efforts are un-
derway by the Dallas Boost-
er Club to raise money to in-
stall a turf field at Dallas
High School.
The club, and turf advisor
Bill McNutt, have touted ad-
vantages — mainly being
able to hold significantly
more events on the field
throughout the year — to try
and raise an estimated
$850,000 in money and in-
kind labor for the project.
The Dallas School Board
voted to install a new track
when the turf field is in-
stalled.
Dallas athletic director
Tim Larson said he is excited
about that prospect of hold-
ing a higher number of
events throughout the year,
but he also sees another po-
tential benefit.
“The grass field looks
great due to the efforts of
the district maintenance
team and has come a long
way as compare to years
past,” Larson said. “But as
soon as the rains come, the
field gets real soft and
muddy. When that happens,
it turns amazing athletes
into average players. Look
at what happened when we
played against Corvallis on
our field (a 2-0 win in rainy
and muddy conditions)
compared to our playoff
game we hosted at Central
on the turf field (a 50-14
victory). It was a night-and-
day difference in perform-
ance.”
District Facilities Director
Kevin Montague declined to
comment on the project di-
rectly.
“I will say my job is to en-
sure whatever projects we
do in the district are done
correctly and comply with
all the necessary codes and
regulations to ensure the
best value for district stake-
holders,” Montague said.
“This is a standard which
applies to all the current
projects we have going on,
as well as any upcoming
projects, whether done in-
house, contracted out or by
volunteers, and is the per-
spective I apply to every
project.”
There would be a cost as-
sociated with upkeep of the
turf field.
A turf field would come
with an estimated cost of
$5,200 each time mainte-
nance is provided.
The school and district
would not have to perform
any maintenance, McNutt
said.
It would not require down
months to allow for grass re-
generation.
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer file
Dallas’ football team hosted a playoff game at Central
High School in 2016.
PREP ATHLETICS
Committee reveals new classification draft
Itemizer-Observer staff report
WILSONVILLE — The
OSAA released its latest draft
for a new classification sys-
tem on June 20.
The current draft, No. 18,
features a six-classification
system.
Dallas and Central
would remain in 5A in the
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence along with current
league members Corvallis,
Crescent Valley, Lebanon,
Silverton and South Al-
bany.
North Salem would join
the league.
Falls City and Perrydale
would remain in 1A in the
Casco League and be
j o i n e d by C . S . L e w i s ,
Crosshill Christian, Jewell,
Kings Valley, Livingstone
Adventist, Oregon School
for the Deaf, St. Paul, Veri-
tas and Willamette Valley
Christian.
There would be 23
teams in Class 5A and the
OSAA stated it would be
looking to increase the
number of teams but will
wait until new ADM fig-
ures are received to deter-
mine how best to accom-
plish that goal.
The OSAA will hold two
future classification and dis-
tricting committee meetings
in Wilsonville on Aug. 28 and
Sept. 25.
The committee will
make a final recommenda-
tion to the executive board
on Oct. 16.
The committee previously
considered a five classifica-
tion system, but has since
tabled the idea.
Once the reclassification
is approved, the new system
would take place starting in
the 2018-19 school year.
Mini-Marathon results
Mini-Marathon Results
Tuesday, July 4
2.6-mile race
Runners
Overall (top 10)
1, Zane West, 14:04; 2, Gavin
Grass, 14:55; 3, Myk Rose, 15:05;
4, Toby Primbs, 15:10; 5. Dam
Meireis, 15:17; 6, David Del-
more, 15:22; 7, Hunter Bens-
man, 15:39; 8, Jaydon Aydelotte,
15:51; 9, James Julian, 15:51; 10,
Josh Peterson, 15:53.
Walkers
Overall (top 10)
1, Christian Carrillo, 17:53; 2,
Erica Burger, 22:17; 3, Reilly Glat-
ter, 22:24; 4, Jack Chapman,
32:32; 5, Travis Chapman, 32:36;
6, Fenny Roberts, 33:00; 7, Beth
Giddens, 33:13; 8, Anita Mc-
Clanahan, 34:31; 9, Felipe
Richards, 35:13; 10, Iva Grenya,
35:53.
Awards were handed out
to age groups in male and
female divisions. A break-
down of age category win-
ners were not available as of
press time.
Full results available on-
line at www.runsignup.
com/Race/OR/Monmouth
/4thofJulyMiniMarathon.
STEPHANIE BLAIR/Itemizer-Observer
The Monmouth-Independence Mini-Marathon attracted hundreds of runners and walkers on July 4.