By James Day
The Kennedy High school girls track and field team finished tied for sixth May 22 at the OSAA Class 2A championships at Hayward Field in Eugene.
The Trojans, last year’s champions, scored 38 points, tied with Grant Union after two days of competition. Union won the girls title with 62 points, six more than East Linn Christian.
Trojans standout Loghan Sprauer, who won state titles in the 100, 200 and 400 last year, came into this year’s meet at about 70 percent efficiency because of a leg injury. She took fourth in the 100 and seventh in the 200 but also led Kennedy to a stirring victory in the 4×100 relay.
Sprauer took the baton for the anchor leg in third place but she led the Trojans to the tape in 51.78. 0.04 ahead of East Linn Christian and 0.36 seconds ahead of third-place Imbler.
“That was awesome,” Sprauer said. “I wanted to win something that included the whole team. It was amazing, the highlight of my day.”
Sprauer was joined on the championship relay team by Amelia Grosjacques, Taylor Brown and Sarah Therkelsen.
It was the first 4×100 girls relay win at state for veteran Kennedy Coach Steve Ritchie. “It’s very exciting for us,” Ritchie said. “Our coaches did a great job of working with them.”
In other state meet highlights for Kennedy: Trojans freshman Kaylin Cantu had a solid first state meet, taking third in the 1,500 and fifth in the 800. Grosjacques took fifth in the 100 hurdles, Brown was eighth in the high jump and Lakin Susee was sixth in the high jump and Lauren Stokley finished sixth in the 3,000. Adrian Parra was third in the 3,000 for the boys team, which also battled some tough injury luck. Sophomore Bishop Mitchell, district champion in the 100 and long jump, injured his leg in his first long jump attempt and had to withdraw from competition
Silverton Foxes’ girls track team took seventh place in the 5A state meet with 32.5 points. Silverton was led by senior Cheyenne Partlow, who won the shot put with a toss of 39-8. Teammate senior Megan Traeger finished sixth.
Other highlights for the Foxes are: Allyson Ridling finished third in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the 300 hurdles. Maddie Fuhrman took fourth in the 800 and sixth in the 3,000.
The Foxes’ 4×400 relay team of Ridling, Fuhrman, Hailey Satyna and Desiree Sinn placed seventh. Leah Doeden took eighth in the high jump.
Silverton’s boys team finished 14th with 19 points, led by Travis Sinn (4th, 400), Lucas Wilson (4th, high jump), Shon Ackermann (5th, high jump), Brock Rogers (6th, 110 hurdles) and Spencer Hatley (6th, pole vault).
Softball update: The Silverton softball team became the fourth Foxes squad to win a Mid-Willamette Conference title this school year while sweeping the major league awards. Football and boys and girls basketball produced the same results earlier. Silverton softball finished 18-3 in the MWC and is ranked sixth by the OSAA heading into the May 27 home playoff game vs. Crater.
Foxes coach Ralph Cortez is Coach of the Year in the MWC with Alex Molloy winning pitcher of the year honors and catcher Kayla Stocker taking home the defensive honor. Silverton’s Maggie Buckholz shared offensive honors with Yasmine El-Hato of Dallas.
It was the fourth league title for Cortez, who has led the Foxes since 2002, including a runner-up finish in the 2012 state tournament. “We have had some amazing athletes in the past come through our softball program and have taken home some of these awards, but not a sweep like this,” Cortez said. “Getting all those awards is a tribute to our program and all the hard work the players and coaches put in is paying dividends in many ways on the field and off the field.”
In addition to the major awards Silverton outfielder Maggie Roth made the all-MWC first team, third baseman Megan Mannion and first baseman Jessica Horsey made the second team and outfielders Isabella Meraz and Katelyn Hickam and second baseman Daisy Hernandez received honorable mention.
Kennedy took second in Special Disrict 2 and will visit North Douglas on May 27 in the Class 2A tournament.
Baseball: Silverton advanced to the Class 5A playoffs with a 5-4 win May 22 vs. Ashland. The Foxes, in its first season under coach James Rise, visited Liberty of Hillsboro in the round of 16 on May 27. The Foxes placed two players on the all-MWC first team, designated hitter Anders Green and shortstop Dustin Meyer. Right fielder Tyler Hickam was second-team, and catcher Will Ward, third baseman Grant Roth, left fielder Kirk Martinson and pitcher Mason Pearson earned honorable mention.
Kennedy finished second in the Tri-River with a 10-4 record and went on the road May 27 for a round of 16 Class 2A playoff game against the Pilot Rock-Nixyaawii cooperative team.
State golf: Silverton senior Michael Kuenzi finished tied for ninth in the Class 5A state championships at Emerald Valley in Creswell. Kuenzi finished 4-over-par at 158, opening with an 82 and shooting a 76 on the second day.
Hospital run: Michael Traeger, 28, won the Silverton Health 5K on May 8 by 41 seconds. Traeger of Silverton ran the course in 17:49. Nicole Guyer finished 19th overall and was the top woman runner in 23:48. Jackson Pfeifer, 10, won the kids’ 1-mile run in 8:49, with Lauren Ortega, 9, the top girls finisher (fifth overall, 9:30). Nearly 400 runners and walkers participated.
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