On the scoreboard that matters most athletes at Silverton and Kennedy turned into some superlative academic results for the 2018-19 school year.
The Foxes featured 21 sports and activity teams that averaged a 3.2 grade point average or better. The top performer by GPA was girls cross country, with a 3.92 that earned Silverton the seventh spot in Class 5A. The top-ranked team was girls basketball, which was second with a 3.87.
Here, in rank order, is a list of the other top 10 teams: choir (tie 3rd, 3.49), baseball (tie 4th, 3.48), boys track and field (tie 5th, 3.52), football (5th, 3.21), girls track and field (6th, 3.73), boys basketball (7th, 3.42), boys soccer (7th, 3.33), girls tennis (tie 7th, 3.74), girls swimming (8th, 3.65), boys golf (8th, 3.36), band (8th, 3.51) and boys tennis (8th, 3.62).
Also scoring well above 3.0 but finishing outside the top 10 were volleyball (3.61), softball (3.59), dance and drill (3.57), girls soccer (3.5), boys cross country (3.41), speech (3.38) and boys swimming (3.36).
Kennedy, meanwhile, had two squads place first, girls basketball with a 3.91 and boys swimming with a 3.81. Overall the Trojans had 11 teams at 3.0 or above. In order of rank they were: volleyball (2nd, 3.85), softball (2nd, 3.83), baseball (2nd, 3.61), boys track and field (3rd, 3.33), band (4th, 3.05), boys basketball (tie 5th, 3.49), girls track and field (6th, 3.62), girls cross country (tie 10th, 3.67). ), girls swimming (tie 12th, 3.6),
Bowling: Silverton’s Madi Burton traveled to Dallas, Texas, to compete in the Junior Gold national tournament. Burton advanced via her performance in the state tournament.
Burton competed in the U20 division because the Junior Gold does not have the U17 category that Oregon uses. Competing against many more experienced bowlers Burton finished 501st out of 855 entrants. Burton averaged 166.75 and closed the tournament with her best game, a 226.Nearly 4,000 American and international bowlers participated.
Bowling runs in the family. Burton’s grandmother, Darline Vanderbeck, was a league bowler and bowling instructor in Silverton in the 1960s.
Trap shooting: Silverton’s first-year squad sent two athletes to a national tournament in Mason, Michigan.
Chris Shepherd finished 339th out of 1,274 shooters, He qualified for the finals and hit 97 out of 100 targets in the preliminary round. He was 88 for 100 in the finals. Cameron Phillips also participated, hitting 93 out of 100 in qualifying and wound up 507th. Phillips finished just one target short of the finals cutoff mark.
“All told the season was a success and we’ve got a solid foundation going into the 2019 spring league season,” Foxes coach Kevin Palmer told Our Town.
Softball: A 14B softball team coached by Silverton’s Ralph Cortez has advanced to the western nationals, which run July 29 through Aug. 4 at Wallace Marine Park in Salem. The squad is comprised of players from Silverton and Mount Angel. Our Town will have an update on how the squad performed in our Aug. 15 edition.
Fall update: High school athletes in football, soccer, cross country, volleyball and cheer can begin conditioning drills Monday, Aug. 6. The long-range forecast shows it will be 84 degrees that day. First formal practices are set for Aug. 13, with Aug. 23 the first contest/jamboree date. The first football clashes are Aug. 31, with Silverton opening league play with a 7 p.m. home game vs. Central. Kennedy, meanwhile, opens its nonleague slate with a 7:30 p.m. against Blanchet Catholic at McCulloch Stadium in Salem.
Here comes fall everyone!
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