By James Day
The Silverton High School girls basketball program is under new management.
Foxes athletic director Greg Kaatz has announced that Tal Wold will coach Silverton starting in the 2013-14 season. Wold, a teacher at Robert Frost School, has coached the Foxes’ freshman boys team the past two seasons. He takes over for Garron Lamoreau, who resigned earlier this spring after five seasons.
Wold, is perhaps best known in the region for his four-year run at Stayton High from 2008-2011. The Eagles advanced to the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals in his first season and never missed the state tournament during his tenure.
Wold also has coached at Crescent Valley in Corvallis, at Warner Pacific College in Portland, and at Black Hills High in Olympia, Wash.
“Coach Wold comes very highly recommended as both an educator in the classroom and a coach on the court,” Kaatz said. “He provides strong leadership to his student-athletes while creating a competitive environment with opportunities to succeed every day.”
Wold, his wife Taryn and daughter Harper live in Stayton.
The Foxes were 10-15 overall and 5-9 in the Mid-Willamette Conference last season. Silverton downed Eagle Point 67-56 in a Class 5A play-in game before falling 63-23 to Springfield in the first round of the state playoffs.
Oregon State University has opened spring football practice, with Sean Mannion battling it out with Cody Vaz for the starting quarterback position. Beavers coach Mike Riley has said that he won’t make a decision on a starter for the 2013 season until fall camp. Mannion is the son of Silverton High football coach John Mannion.
OSU will play its spring game April 26 at 7 p.m. at Reser Stadium. The game will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.
Defending OSAA Class 2A-1A baseball champion Kennedy is off to a 10-3 start and is 3-0 in Special District 2, tied with Country Christian for the early lead. The Trojans traveled to Central Linn on Friday, after Our Town’s presstime and will host Country Christian Wednesday (note this refers to 4-17). Kennedy is ranked No. 7 by the OSAA, four spots behind district rival East Linn Christian, which is 2-1 in league play. The Trojans beat the Eagles 4-3 on April 9.
The Silverton baseball team, meanwhile, is 1-10 overall and 1-6 in the Mid-Willamette.
In softball, Silverton is 6-5 overall and 3-3 in the Mid-Willamette. Kennedy is 6-2 overall and 1-1 in Special District 3.
The OSAA classification committee met March 18 in Wilsonville and discussed its most recent proposal for the reclassification and redistricting that will take effect in the fall of 2014.
Silverton remains in Class 5A in the Mid-Willamette Conference with Corvallis, Crescent Valley, Lebanon, Dallas, Woodburn and South Albany. West Albany would move to Class 6A if this proposal is eventually adopted.
Kennedy, meanwhile, would stay in the Class 2A Tri-River Conference, which also would include Central Linn, East Linn Christian, Monroe, Regis, Santiam, Sheridan and Western Mennonite. Sheridan and Monroe would be new to the Tri-River, with Waldport and Culver leaving the league, which would ease the travel burden.
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