“Could be a big year next year,” Silverton High swim coach Lucky Rogers said.
You can’t blame Rogers for looking ahead to next season because this one was pretty special for the Foxes. Silverton’s boys and girls squads both lost just one dual meet and the two teams both finished second in the Mid-Willamette Conference district meet.
The Foxes sent five relay teams and two individuals to the Feb. 17-18 OSAA Class 5A state championships and everybody involved finished 10th or better, led by the boys 200 medley relay squad, which took fifth. It was the first relay medal for the Foxes in school history.
Jason Orr, Ross Mackinnon, Jaiden Davis and Blake Doerfler swam 1:48.87, with Doerfler’s scorching 23.86 anchor leg running down Redmond in the stretch to take fifth. Here’s how the meet went:
Boys – 100 back: Orr finished eighth by swimming 58.70; 200 free relay: Davis, Doerfler, Mackinnon and Orr finished eighth in 1:36.59.
Girls – 200 free relay: Jillian Bliss, Samantha Zurcher, Maddie Broyhill and Marie Tolmachoff took seventh in 1:49.25; 100 breast: Tolmachoff swam 1:12.34 to finish eighth; 200 medley relay: Zurcher, Tolmachoff, Maggie Kelley and Broyhill took 10th in 2:04.32; 400 free relay: Emily Dillon, Kelley, Bliss and Jayla Toland finished 10th in the prelims in 4:06.72.
“I could not have asked for anything more,” Rogers said. “We worked very hard and finished right where I hoped we would. As far as state goes, we did not have our best swims, but we did have good swims. No complaints from me.”
Another reason Rogers is confident about next year? Zurcher, Tolmachoff, Kelley, Broyhill, Toland and Doerfler are freshmen, and Orr and Mackinnon are juniors.
Bowling: The Silverton boys and girls squads both finished second in district competition at AMF Firebird Lanes in Salem. They competed in the state meet in Feb. 25 – 26 after Our Town’s presstime.
The girls squad defeated McKay 258-254 in the two-game semifinals but fell 278-259 in the finals against McNary. Foxes bowlers Madi Burton ranked second, Korina Chadwick third, Autumn Belville fourth and Maggie Buckholz 10th among the 34 who participated. Also bowling for Silverton were Grace Wallsinger and Abby Duda.
The boys Silver squad defeated McNary 378-337 in the semifinals before falling to McKay 367-297 in the championship match. Rigo Rios was the top individual for Silverton, finishing sixth among the 72 boys participants. Also bowling for the Foxes were Jace Kincaid, Ryan Galvez, Colby Kemp and Lance Brown. The Foxes Black squad finished 10th. Participating were Keoki Kanahele, Tim Cobb, Chayse Lanier, Jesse Kirk and Koa Yoast.
The teams are coached by Andrew Zwicker, Joe Norris and Lucas Cobb. The squads train at Silver Creek Lanes.
Wrestling: The Foxes sent five athletes to the OSAA Class 5A state meet in Portland, which occurred Feb. 24 and 25 after Our Town’s presstime.
Scoring Mid-Willamette Conference district championships for Silverton were Kaden Kuenzi (106) and Jacob Whitehead (113), while Robert Guenther (120) and Tristan Lanier (126) were runners-up. Also head to state was unseeded 285-pound Zachary Milstead, who battled through the consolation rounds to take third.
Foxes coach Keegan Davis said it was “no coincidence” that his four wrestlers in the lower weights had such combined success.
“Kaden, Jacob, Robert and Tristan have all had a great impact on each other,” Davis said. “They push and motivate one another to be better every day.”
Davis said Milstead learned a lot from facing his district opponents during the dual meet season and “came out much more confident, forcing his opponents to make mistakes and then capitalizing on them.”
The Foxes scored 219 points and finished sixth as a team. Dallas won the district title with 362. In addition to the state qualifiers Manuel Fernandez (285), Matthew Schonbachler (138) and Hayden Roth (182) took fifth for the Foxes and Chaz White was sixth at 138.
Silverton had two girls on the squad this season, Madison Shockley and Hailee Burton, with Shockley advancing to state at 113 pounds. Davis said he hopes to field a full girls squad next season.
Girls basketball: Kennedy is one game away from returning to Pendleton to defend its Class 2A state championships. The No. 3 Trojans, who won the regular season Tri-River Conference title but fell to Western Mennonite in the league playoffs, hosted No. 14 Vernonia on Feb. 24 after Our Town’s presstime with the winner advancing to the March 2 quarterfinals.
Silverton ranked No. 3 in Class 5A, already has earned a first-round bye in the playoffs and will host a game March 4. The Foxes took on No. 2 Corvallis on Feb. 24 after Our Town’s presstime for the Mid-Willamette title.
Boys basketball: Silverton scored its biggest win of the season Feb. 21, taking a 74-57 victory against first-place Crescent Valley to improve to 6-7 in the Mid-Willamette heading into Friday’s regular-season finale against Corvallis. The Foxes earned the fifth-seed in the playoffs and were headed toward a possible matchup against Eagle Point on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
