The Silverton High girls volleyball squad scored one of the biggest wins in recent program history on Sept. 20, taking down defending Class 5A champion West Albany by a 3-1 score.
The win by the visiting Foxes in their first year under coach Reilly Rosecrans, moved Silverton to No. 2 in the Class 5A rankings and to 5-0 in Mid-Willamette Conference play. Silverton was tied for first place with No. 5 Crescent Valley at Our Town’s presstime.
Soccer: The Kennedy boys team has won the first two matches in school history on the way to a 2-2 nonleague mark under first-year coach Miguel Ramirez Valverde. JFK has downed Portland Christian and Willamette Valley Christian. The Trojans played in a cooperative venture with Salem Academy a year ago. Kennedy is ranked 18th in Class 3A-2A-1A heading into Special District 2 play.
Both Silverton squads, meanwhile, are looking for their first wins of the season. The girls were 0-3-2 heading into Mid-Willamette play, while the boys were 0-4-2.
Cross Country: Silverton and Kennedy hosted more than 25 other schools and approximately 400 runners on Sept. 14, in the annual Silver Falls Oktoberfest Invitational run on a pleasant afternoon at Silver Falls State Park.
Valley Catholic won the boys title, followed by South Albany, Santiam Christian and Silverton. Zander Campbell of South Albany won top honors, finishing the five-kilometer course in 15:55.5. Silverton’s JD Arthur was eighth in 17:19.5 and teammate Quinton Powell was ninth in 17:20.1.
The Foxes put six runners in the top 30 of the girls race and finished second behind Valley Catholic. Kennedy took fourth. Jaya Simmons of VC won the race in 18:47.8, while Kennedy’s Yulissa Chavez Cortes was 13th (22:14.2) and Hannah Bashor of Silverton was 18th (22:43.4).
Valley Catholic also won the JV girls race, with Silverton taking fourth. Nathaniel Laughton of the Foxes was 24th in 14:47.3 for the 3,400 meters. Silverton won the JV girls competition, putting nine runners in the top 12. The top two for the Foxes were third-place Adeline Kuenzi (14:59.9) and fourth-place Joanne Noordam (15:21.4).
Football Records: Two kind readers advised me that Noah Dahl in 2015 also turned in a five-touchdown performance for the Silverton football team. The issue came up because Jackson Pfeifer of this year’s Foxes scored five times in a 40-29 season-opening win at Dallas. Dahl, with three rushing TDs, an interception and a fumble return, did it in the first half of a game vs. Marist Catholic. The issue is now moot because Pfeifer scored six times on Sept. 16 at Central. Any other six TD games that folks are aware of?
Gymnastics: Silverton Gymnastics Academy has been honored as the USA Gymnastics 2022 Xcel Club of the Year for the state of Oregon.
The club brought home 10 gold medals and a slew of silvers and bronzes from the USA Gymnastics Region 2 meet April 29 to May 1 in Monroe, Washington, a meet that brought together athletes from 81 clubs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii.
“We are so excited and we could not have achieved this honor without our amazing athletes who put in some seriously focused training with the limited amount of time that they are in the gym, super parents who exhibit superior sportsmanship, as well as our amazing coaching staff who go above and beyond to make it all happen,” said Celia Storey, head coach and owner of the club.
OSAA Update: The Oregon School Activities Association has returned the state wrestling tournament to the Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Last season the tournaments were staged at a number of different sites because of COVID. The all-classes wrestling championships will be Feb. 23-25, 2023.
The OSAA also has instituted a major change for boys and girls basketball. Starting with the 2023-24 season all varsity games will be conducted with a 35-second shot clock.
Kennedy, meanwhile, is on the list of OSAA schools that have a streak going in terms of not experiencing a player or coach ejection. The Trojans have gone two consecutive school years without an ejection.
Running: Nearly 300 runners participated in the 5-kilometer and 10K Oktoberfest races on Sept. 18. Wolfgang Seifer, 24, won the 5K in 19:35.6. Pamela Larkin, 25, took seventh overall and was the first female finisher in 24:41.8. Andrew Marks, 29, crossed the line first in the 10K in 40:01.19. Caitlin McMillon, 27, finished sixth overall and was the first woman in 45:33.7.
