The Silverton High wrestling squad had three wrestlers place and two more score points in an impressive performance at the Feb. 26 Class 5A state meet in Redmond.
The Foxes finished ninth in the team race with 63 points. Silverton was third among Mid-Willamette Conference teams (behind champion Crescent Valley and No. 5 Dallas). At the district meet the Foxes finished sixth.
“Our kids that qualified performed at a high level,” coach Jared Wilson told Our Town. “All of our kids performed at or above their seed at state, which is a pretty cool thing and means your team is scoring more points than most (not us) expected.”
Leading the way for the Foxes were Jacob Moore (120) and Brash Henderson (220), both of whom took third. Steven Powell advanced to the semifinals at 160 and eventually finished fifth, while Bo Zurcher (126) and
Joshua Jones (138) each won a match. Oscar Marks (145) also participated.
“I thought the kids competed hard, and their effort was tremendous,” Wilson said. “I was really proud of how each one of them battled. Being able to sneak in the top 10 as a team is great. We want to continue to work to build a consistent program, and it is good to see we are making progress.”
Kennedy, meanwhile, participated in the class 2A-1A meet at Culver. The Trojans finished 20th with 23 points, led by Adam Reyes, who finished third at 113. Briggs Snell and Julio Reyes also won matches. Trojans 113-pounder
Alex Geschwill, meanwhile, won one match in the girls competition, which
also was held at Culver.
Basketball: Silverton’s boys and girls squads still were playing in the Class 5A state tournaments in Corvallis at Our Town presstime. The two squads, both of which won Mid-Willamette Conference titles, dominated the all-league teams.
Boys coach Jamie McCarty, who led the Foxes to a 16-0 league record, was named coach of the year. Jordan McCarty,
Neil Efimov and Ryan Redman-Brown were named to the first team, with Joey Haugen and Austin Ratliff
earning honorable mention.
Foxes girls coach Tal Wold also was named coach of the year. Silverton finished 14-2 in league play, one game ahead of Crescent Valley and Corvallis. Kyleigh Brown and Paige Traeger were named to the all-MWC first team, with Lilly Horner and Lily Hayashida receiving honorable mention.
Kennedy, meanwhile, finished the season 20-8 and advanced to the Class 2A tournament in Pendleton. The Trojans and Western Christian were 13-3 in Tri-River play, trailing only 16-0 Salem Academy in what Kennedy coach Karl Schmidtman called “the toughest league in the state.”
All three teams advanced to Pendleton, with Western Christian ultimately outdueling Academy 54-53 in double overtime in the title game. Kennedy fell to Western Christian in a hard-fought 46-43 quarterfinal before bowing out with a 62-56 loss to Bonanza in consolation play the next morning.
“Unfortunately, the tournament did not go how we had hoped,” Schmidtman said, “but I am proud of the way our boys competed against Western Christian in our opening round game. It was a tight game that came right down to the wire, but unfortunately we came up a bit short. On the second day, we couldn’t quite get clicking the way we normally do and lost a close one to Bonanza.”
Riley Cantu scored 34 points in the two games and was named second team all-tournament. Earlier, Cantu was named player of the year in the Tri-River. Stephan Salinas was a second-team choice, Brett Boen made the 3rd team and Ethan Kleinschmit received honorable mention.
“Overall, I am very proud of this group of players and despite graduating some great players and leaders for our program I think we are set up nicely to make another run next season with our returning players,” Schmidtman said.
Equestrian: Silverton’s girls squad took second in the first North Valley district equestrian competition at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center in Albany. The Foxes scored 515 points and trailed only Canby (715) in the 10-team competition. Silverton will participate in district meets in March and April at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem before moving on to the May 12-15 state meet in Redmond.
Silverton won six individual events and also took part in two team wins during the competition. Samantha Griffin led the way with wins in barrels, individual flags and steer daubing. Morgan Cuff won in showmanship and hunt seat equitation and Alexis Ditchen took home first in figure 8.
Ditchen and Griffin were first in two-man birangle and team sorting.
Other individuals that finished in the top 5 included Sydney Rogosin (3rd, dressage), Cuff (3rd in working rancher; 3rd in individual flags), Hannah Russel (4th, western horsemanship), Sidney King (4th, working rancher; 3rd steer daubing), Ditchen (5th, barrels; 5th pole bending), Daniel Velasco (3rd, figure 8; 4th steer daubing).
Other teams nailing down top 5 spots included Russel, Griffin, Ditchen and Cuff (4th in team versatility and 2nd in Canadian flag race), Talus Miller, Abigail Anderson, Charlise Sperle and Velasco (4th in Canadian flag race), Cuff and Russel (5th in two-man birangle and King and Cuff (2nd in team sorting).
Softball: An “over the line” softball program for those 60 and over starts up again April 5 at the old high school softball field on James Street. This is the sixth year for the program.
Play is every Tuesday at 10 a.m., with teams put together among those who show up each week. No bases are run and teams pitch to their own batters. Bring your own glove, with bats and balls provided.
The program is loosely structured and players are not expected to show up every week. Those interested in participating should call Darrel Thomas at 503-580-5446.
Spring: A new high school season is upon us. The spring sports of golf, tennis, track and field, baseball and softball started practicing Feb. 28, with March 14 the first date for games or meets.
University of Portland to honor Silverton alum
Denny Bean, a former University of Portland baseball pitching standout who served as city attorney for Silverton for 25 years, will be honored Saturday, April 10 at a Portland baseball game.
Bean, a Mount Angel native, died Dec. 12 at the age of 79.
Bean’s grandson, Fletcher Moxness, 11, will throw out the first picture at the 1 p.m. April 10 contest between the Pilots and San Diego at Joe Etzel Field on the UP campus.
Bean, who also coached Little League in the Silverton area, graduated from UP with a business degree in 1964. He received his law degree from Willamette University and practiced law for 50 years.
The family welcomes anyone who knew and loved Denny to come to the game and help celebrate.
– James Day
Follow me on Twitter @jameshday
