By James Day
Silverton High has returned to competitive cheerleading. The Foxes took second at a meet at Lakeridge, the first such participation by the school in approximately a decade.
Stacey Spears, who has more than a decade of experience with the Future Foxes, is coaching the squad, which continues to have a cheer presence on the sidelines at football games. A total of 25 members are on hand at McGinnis Field for football, with 12 participating in competition cheer.
On the competition squad are senior Brianna Koster; juniors Samantha Saunders, Brooklyn Smith and Nova Graham; sophomores Chloe Koster, Macie Cox and Saylor Graham; and freshmen Jordyn Spears, Neeva Gigena, Saydee Kuenzi, Reese Miller and Mahaylah Richardson. Coach Spears is assisted by Gianna Moreno.
“Things this season have been interesting to say the least,” Coach Spears told Our Town, “but the girls have overcome and worked even harder to make it is what it is today.”
Fishing: Javan Austin, a 16-year-old Silverton resident, reeled in the biggest fish of his young life on Sunday, Jan 21.
Austin, who was out in a boat with friend Noah Lampa, caught a rainbow trout that weight 6 ¾ pounds and was 24 inches long. He used a spinner with stock line on a spinning reel he received for Christmas. Unfortunately the holiday gift did not include a net and Noah had to “bear hug” the fish into the boat at the end of the ten minutes it took Javan to land it.
It was the largest fish that Javan has caught by more than four pounds, reports his mother, Heather, who added that “it was the best day for both boys.”
Wrestling: Silverton participates in the Mid-Willamette conference district championships Feb. 16-17 at the Salem Armory. The Foxes went 7-2 in dual meets and coach Jared Wilson told Our Town “we have a lot of new kids to the sport and I feel they have come a long way. Our experienced kids have done a good job showing them how to do things the right way. They have worked hard as a team, and I look forward to watching them compete and finish the season successfully.”
Brash Henderson (27-1), Bo Zurcher (28-3), Kingston Meadors (23-4) and are talking sterling records into the boys bracket as well as standout girls wrestler McKayla Bonham (16-2). Other athletes that Wilson is looking to score points are Dalton Ritchie (boys) and Ella Lulich (girls).
“They all have opportunities to complete for district titles,” Wilson said. “Our district is deep/tough, and they will all have to wrestle focused and determined to achieve their goals.”
Boys Basketball: Kennedy took third place in Class 2A a year ago with a rotation that was essentially all seniors. But in a tribute to coach Karl Schmidtman and his new corps of athletes the Trojans are looking like a threat to return to Pendleton for the state tournament. At Our Town’s presstime the Trojans were 18-6 overall, 11-4 in the brutally tough Tri-River Conference and ranked 6th in Class 2A.
Schmidtman’s three returnees, Brody Kleinschmit, Cole Vogel and Jaydon Estrada, all obviously learned a lot from the 2022-23 team and have been team leaders. All-around athletes Jeremiah Traeger and Elijah Traeger joined the team as seniors and freshman sharpshooter Brandon Sucich looks to have a bright future.
On Monday, Feb. 12 the Trojans were scheduled to participate in the Tri-River playoffs, which should be a meat-grinder, with No. 1 Western Christian, No. 2 Regis, No. 7 Willamina and No. 11 Colton also in the mix. The TRC sent six teams to the round of 16 a year ago and five to Pendleton (where Salem Academy, Western Christian and Kennedy took the top three trophies).
Alumni Watch: Sean Mannion, the son of former Foxes football coach John Mannion, has retired from the NFL and has taken a job as an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers. The younger Mannion was a record-setting quarterback at Oregon State before being drafted in the third round of the NFL draft. Mannion played for the Rams, Vikings and Seahawks. He played for his father in high school in Pleasanton, California. The elder Mannion coached at Silverton from 2010-17, his teams advancing to the 5A title game in 2014 and reaching the semifinals two other times.
