By James Day
Michael Traeger of Silverton captured the Homer’s Classic 8K covered bridge run in 28:47.2 on Sunday under stellar running conditions with a cover of clouds and the temperature about 70 degrees.
Traeger, 28, finished about 25 seconds ahead of runner-up Steven Schaefer, a Portland resident and former Silverton High School athlete. Schaefer ran 29:12.7. Michael Snyder, 45, of Portland was third in 29:32.3. Traeger was second in last year’s event.
Kennedy High athletes Adrian Parra and Noe Jines finished strong, with Parra taking fifth in 30:37.9 and Jines sixth in 30:45.5. A little farther back in the pack were two remarkable age-group runners from Salem. Wilson Herrera, 8, finished 48th in 45:03.6 and his 6-year old brother JJ was right behind in 49th in 45:07.8.
Anna Denn was 11th overall in 31:40 and took home the trophy for top women’s finisher. Denn, like men’s winner Traeger, was the runnerup in 2014. Kennedy runner Kaylin Cantu was second among women in 35:31.7 and Alejandra Lopez placed third in 36:16.4. Cantu was 16th overall and Lopez was 18th.
Hosea Catterall of Silverton took the 2-mile title with a run of 10:57.8. Catterall finished about nine seconds ahead of runner-up Wolf Seifer of Salem, who ran 11:06.4.
Eispeth Liermann of Silverton finished 12th overall in 19:34.8 and was the top female finisher.
The 2-mile event also featured some strong age-group runners. Silverton’s Kanoa Buckley, 6, was 16th overall in 20:31.6 and his sister, Kailea, was 17th in a21:29 and second overall among female runners. The event attracted nearly 170 participants, with proceeds benefiting youth running programs in Mount Angel and Silverton. See www.racenorthwest.com for complete results.
Little League: The Mount Angel Little League 9-10 baseball all-stars came within one game of a state title.
Mount Angel, the District 7 champions, finished second in its pool in the state event, hosted by Hermiston. Mount Angel took down the previously undefeated Medford Nats 18-5 in the semifinals to advance to the July 29 title game but fell to La Grande 10-3. Mount Angel had lost its opener in pool play, 14-0, to North Bend but rallied into the semifinals behind a 12-2 win vs. Hollywood/Rose City of Portland and a 13-3 victory against Tigard.
Members of the team included: Brian Beyer, Charlie Beyer, Luke Beyer, Brett Boen, Riley Cantu, Andrew Cuff, Matthew Hopkins, Brody Kleinschmit, Ethan Kleinschmit, Ryan Redman-Brown, Julian Rios, William Schaecher and Cameron Traeger. The manager was Ryan Kleinschmit, with assistance from Bon Beyer and Shayne Kleinschmit.
The team was honored Aug. 4 in Mount Angel. The boys were delivered to Garfield Street on a fire truck, lights flashing and sirens roaring. Their arrival kicked off National Night Out for the town. About 200 community members were there to applaud.
Volleyball: Jessica Schmidtman is the new volleyball coach at Kennedy High. Schmidtman, who has been an assistant with the program for the past seven years, replaces Staci Sprauer, who led the Trojans to the Class 2A state tournament the past three seasons, with a high finish of fourth in 2013.
“Coach Schmidtman will do an outstanding job,” Kennedy athletic director Kevin Moffatt said. “She has been an assistant for the past seven years so she understands the ins and outs of the program. The kids all have great respect for her, she is knowledgeable about the sport, and she is a great teacher. Couple that with her competitive nature and desire for excellence and I think we have an outstanding hire for our head volleyball job.”
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