There are certain things in the sports calendar you can always count on. Silverton swimming is one of them. The Aqua Foxes, in their ninth year under coach Lucky Rogers, will fill the pool with swimmers, assemble crackerjack relay squads and try to wash away competitors with depth.
This season Rogers has 62 swimmers in the Silverton Community Pool and told Our Town, “we have a lot of newbies and we are learning how to work hard in the pool to get better. It is what we do every year. It will be fun to watch it unfold.”
Rogers has some key pieces returning, both on the boys and girls sides, and has platoons of swimmers available for the relays. Nolan Horner took 4th at state in the 50 and 100 free a year ago and he will team up with Carter Daniel and Joey Walker on many of the relays. Evie Smith, Cordelia Bay and Khylee Smith will do the same for the girls. Rogers also has high hopes for butterfly ace Brody Hollis and versatile girls swimmers Lily Miller, Emali Allen, Kailea Buckley and Ella Mantle.
Rogers has Crescent Valley and West Albany leading the Mid-Willamette Conference parade, noting that “they both have a lot of club kids and it is really hard for us to keep up with them.”
Come state meet time in late February look for the Aqua Foxes to qualify multiple relay teams and stir up as many points as possible.
Football Auction: The Silverton football program is hosting an online fundraising auction with the goal of raising $7,500 to buy new equipment for the team. Go to https://event.auctria.com/9975e1c6-4623-442b-b8cd-6c2e9614d0db/ for more information on the event, which closes at midnight on Thursday, Dec. 21.
Coach Dan Lever reported that at Our Town’s presstime the auction has passed the $1,600 mark. Key acquisitions the program is hoping to make include new helmets, shoulder pads and money for team meals, awards and Hudl videos. The biggest item is an offensive and defensive line chute. For more information contact lever at [email protected].
Hoops: Silverton’s boys are 2-0 in nonleague play and the girls are 1-1 as the season starts its long grind to March. The squads opened Mid-Willamette play on Tuesday after Our Town’s presstime against Woodburn.
Hopes are high. Jamie McCarty, who lost just one league game while coaching the boys from 2018-22, is back on the bench, while second-year girls coach Alyssa Ogle has Portland State-bound senior Kyleigh Brown back from a team that finished 22-6 and took 4th at the 2023 Class 5A tournament at Gill Coliseum.
Both teams are set to play in the prestigious Capitol City Classic, organized by Wilsonville coach Chris Roche. The boys open at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, at Cone Field House at Willamette University against Tualatin, while the girls tangle with Wilsonville at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18 at Corban University’s C.E. Jeffers Sports Center. Follow the tournament at capitolcityclassic.com.
Girls Soccer: Still catching up on some all-league squads from the fall. In girls soccer, where Silverton finished 8-6-2 overall and took third in the challenging Mid-Willamette Conference, the Foxes claimed eight spots on the all-star team selected by conference coaches. Forward Marley Wertz, defender Kailea Buckley and goalkeeper Ella Lulich were named to the first team. Midfielder Allison Mansur and defenders Gemma Mulick and Sydney King were placed on the second team and defenders Elise Doyle and Addison Smith received honorable mention.
Alumni watch: Ex-Foxes running standout Jori Paradis finished a sterling senior cross country season at Concordia of Irvine by being named PacWest Conference women’s runner of the year. Paradis, who also starred in basketball at Silverton, captured the PacWest championship on Oct. 21 in Fresno and moved on to take 10th in the Nov. 4 NCAA Division II regionals at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.
Paradis led the Golden Eagles to second place in the conference meet, their highest finish ever. Expect more headlines from Paradis as she moves into the indoor and outdoor track and field campaigns.
