By James Day
The Silverton High School dance and drill team is always in the hunt for statewide honors. The Foxes, who won OSAA titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000, had finished in the top five for six consecutive years heading into this year’s competition at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
March 20 they broke back through to the top, winning the Class 5A small school title. The Foxes, who fielded a team with just one senior, Renae Stratton, scored 79.61 points, 2.33 ahead of runner-up Hermiston.
“We knew going in to this year that we had a talented group of dancers, but the reality is, sometimes that’s not enough,” Silverton coach Paula Magee told Our Town. “You have to have the right piece of music, great choreography and the girls have to be able to relate to it so that they can share the story with the audience, and of course the judges.”
This is the fourth state title for Magee, who celebrated her 20th year with the program this season. Magee noted that assistant coaches Emily Sword and Alex Reese “both grew up dancing at the studio I own (Silverton Ballet) and were both on the Silverton dance team in high school. So it was really special to win state with them!”
Particularly gratifying to Magee was how well the squad performed under the pressure of state competition.
“The girls had a remarkable first round at state, but they really took it up a notch for second round the next day,” Magee said. “Their scores improved on Thursday while their competitors went down slightly. They peaked at just the right time!”
But no champion gets there without facing obstacles.
“There’s always drama when you have a team of all high school girls that spends SO much time together,” Magee said. “They become like sisters who love each other one day and hate each other the next. So the focus for the last few weeks going into state was ‘dancing as one.’ They definitely accomplished that! They had a common goal and that united them.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy High also has good news to celebrate. Kevin Moffatt, who is in his ninth year as baseball coach and athletic director, has been named Class 2A AD of the year by the Oregon Athletic Directors Association.
Moffatt, 39, will receive the award April 14 at the association’s annual conference at Sunriver.
“It’s a great award, really a nice honor,” Moffatt told Our Town. “But the only way for me to get this honor is if you have a great coaching staff. We’re really fortunate to have good coaches. They do all the legwork.”
Moffatt also noted that the school has had strong continuity in its staff, with track and field and cross country coach Steve Ritchie and softball coach Walt Simmons being in place for more than a decade.
THE MOFFATT FILE
Kevin Moffatt, Kennedy High athletic director
Age: 39
Hometown:
Lewistown, Mont.
Residence:
Silverton, Ore.
Education:
Blue Mountain
Community College
(Pendleton) and Willamette University
(graduated in psychology)
Recent honors:
2014 OADA athletic director of year
for Class 2A; coached Kennedy to
2012 2A baseball title.
“Coaching is so demanding these days,” Moffatt said. “It’s tough to keep people. A lot of things go into coaching that weren’t there 10 to 15 years ago. We have good people. Wins and losses are great, but it’s more important to have good people teaching the right lessons and doing the right thing.”
Moffatt also praised the assistance his program has received townwide.
“The community is good about supporting our schools,” he said. “People step up when needed.”
Moffatt cited examples such as boosters raising money to keep sports going at the middle school and a recent field work day that was heavily attended.
“We had tons of parents there,” he said. “It’s not hard to get volunteers here. That makes it go I think. People are always willing to step up.”
Moffatt and his coaches also make sure that athletes are doing the job in the classroom. Every Kennedy team last season averaged a 3.0 grade point average or above and this season’s girls basketball team had a 3.93 cumulative GPA, the best in Oregon.
“If kids aren’t passing classes they have to go to study hall,” Moffatt said, while noting that Kennedy’s academic requirements are stricter than those of the OSAA. “Our coaches do a good job of stressing (academics).”
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