Rewind:
The year in sports

PHOTO:  Drew Bayless fights to get free from a Glencoe opponent.

By Sean Patterson

It's still early, but already the Canby High School wrestling squad is showing signs it will be a team to be reckoned with when the district and state tournaments roll around next month.

The Cougars, unranked before the season began, are now ranked 10th in the latest Class 4A poll - and their performance at a home tournament Friday should only help to further validate that ranking. Canby crushed all three guests en route to winning the sixth annual Larry Owings Invitational at CHS, blowing out Glencoe 39-13, blasting Sandy 59-12 and handling Oregon City 49-13 to easily take the title. 
In all, the team sported nine varsity champions and 11 second-varsity champs in amassing a meet-high 84.5 points. Glencoe finished with 47.5 points, followed by Oregon City (36.5) and Sandy (20.5). 

"I guess when people ask us how the season is going, we have to say 'pretty good,'" said Dan Nugent with perhaps the understatement of the season. "(You can't) get any better than 12-0 in dual meets. If anything, this tournament showed our depth.

We basically dominated at both levels." Indeed the Cougars did. They got varsity titles from Lucas Hambleton (112-pound class), Drew Bayless (119), Johnny Lugo (125), Garret Miyake (130), Dusty Price (140), Pete Savory (145), Chris Wilson (171), Steve Schrader (215) and Rath Cyrus (275).

Meanwhile, both Ben Kraxberger (152) and Jared Wilson (160) were second in their respective weights. Among the highlights were Hambleton's defeat of ranked Cameron Saffer of Oregon City (3-1), Schrader's 4-2 overtime win over Bear Cupron of Glencoe, and Miyake's last-second 8-6 win over Max Murison of Glencoe. Both Miyake and Price moved to 12-0 with their efforts, the latter capping his tournament with an 11-0 shutout of seventh-ranked Slade Taylor of Oregon City.

Meanwhile, Bayless extended his winning streak to six matches and captured his first varsity tournament title. "Several of our guys are proving that hard work pays off," Nugent said.

"I'm really happy with (Johnny) Lugo, who, in only his second year of wrestling, is taking down every opponent with a great low ankle attack. ''Savory also looked sharp, using his great single-leg attack to get seven takedowns in his three wins.

And Chris Wilson improved to 11-1 and got one of the biggest wins of the day - a 9-8 decision against undefeated and ranked Ross Stadelman of Glencoe.'' As a bonus, Canby got second-varsity titles from Eric Steyskal (103), Casi Schaber (112), Lance Stewart (119), Brock Ellis (125), Jess Hartsock (140), Aaron Porter (275), Josh Gustafson (145), Andre Devita (152), Marc Koch (160), Travis Burke (171) and Emiliano Vargas (215).

The 3-0 sweep came only a day after Canby outclassed Tualatin 51-18 to improve to 2-0 in Pacific-8 Conference duals. The host Cougars won all but three matches and got pins from Hambleton at 112, Keith Callaway at 135, Price at 140, Kraxberger at 145 and Schrader at 215. Also winning were Chris Wilson, who earned a technical fall at 189 (17-1), and Miyake, who had little trouble with Pedro Carbajal at 130 (16-3).

In closer decisions, Bayless edged Ike Steele 4-3 at 119, Lugo got by Nate Clairmont 4-2 at 125, Jeff Wilson outlasted Eddie Hipp 13-8 at 171 and Cyrus beat Dan Hanviohith 4-1 at 275. This week, the Cougars are at Tigard Thursday night for a 7 p.m. dual and in Milwaukie Saturday for an eight-team invitational that begins at 10 a.m.

CHS girls remain
unbeaten in pool

By Sean Patterson

Fighting off illness and the affects of a long holiday layoff, Canby's girls resumed their quest for a Pacific-8 Conference dual-meet swimming title with a resounding defeat of Tigard in the first meet of the new year last Thursday.

The Cougars, still unbeaten in league at 3-0, won six events and got a double-win performance from Lisa Champ, who went 25.31 seconds in the
50-yard freestyle and 1:01.65 in the 100 backstroke.

Kelsey Kraft also won an individual event, taking the 100 breaststroke in 1:18.12, and both she and Champ were key as Canby won all three relays en
route to a 109-60 road victory.

"Once again, it was our depth that made the difference," said head coach David Biskar, back from a trip to South America. "We won six events and in three others we went 2-3-4.

And that was with a number of sick kids. We've
got some kind of flu bug going around, and many of the kids weren't feeling well at all."

That was apparent in some races, as Canby athletes ran out of gas toward the end of their heats. But, in this case, it didn't matter.

The CHS boys weren't as fortunate, losing 102-65 despite individual wins by John Lyon, Erin Koch and Corey O'Brien. That dropped Canby's Pac-8 record to 1-2.

Ultimately, the girls dual-meet title will most likely come down to Canby's Jan. 27 home meet with McMinnville. The Cougars have never won a Pac-8 crown, but the way they are swimming of late, this could be the year.

"These next three weeks are the meat of our season, and the kids understand what it's going to take to win it," Biskar said. "The key for us all  year has been our depth. We may not win every race, but we get a lot of seconds, thirds and fourths."

Case in point: Anderson didn't win her two races Thursday, but she managed to get second in both, going 2:06.46 in the 200 freestyle and 57.60 in the
100 free.

Likewise, an ill Lateefa Hoover was runner-up in both her events, clocking a 2:33.43 in the 200 individual medley and a 1:05.56 in the 100 butterfly.

Second-place swims also came from Kari Rittenbach in the 500 free (5:55.13), Lindsey McEvoy in the 50 free (28.77) and Dessa Bingley in the 100 breaststroke (1:20.77). Thirds came compliments of Anna Koch and Michelle Maier in the 50 free and 100 breast, respectively.

The boys meet wasn't close, but Lyon had one of his better days in winning the 50 freestyle (23.65) and getting second in the 500 free (5:00.90). His
500 time was a personal best and moved him closer to that elusive five-minute barrier.

Meanwhile, Koch took the 100 freestyle in 53.14 seconds and the 200 freestyle relay of Koch, Robert Street, O'Brien and Lyon won in 1:39.95.

Also, O'Brien won his first high school race when he touched the wall in 59.66 seconds in the 100 butterfly. He was also second in the 200 free in
2:01.90.

Other quality swims came from Street, runner-up in the 100 breast (1:11.48), and the foursome of Kevin Larkins, Jeremiah Vosler, Ben Sigler and Mitchell Ferschweiler, all of whom posted strong individual times.

The Cougars are back in action this Thursday when they travel to Forest Grove for a 4 p.m. competition.

CHS breaks loose, overwhelms Dallas 52-29

By Sean Patterson
   
It took a little time, but once Canby found its scoring touch there was simply no stopping the Cougars Thursday night.

The girls, trailing Dallas 14-13 at halftime, outscored their guests 23-5 in the third quarter to collect their first Pacific-8 Conference basketball victory of the season, a 52-29 tilt at Canby High School.

Canby put down the hammer in the final minute of the third quarter, as Laura Ivancie connected for a three-pointer and Katie Skinner followed with a basket to make it 36-19 with one quarter to play.

Ivancie continued to take charge in the opening moments of the fourth, scoring two baskets and adding two free throws to make it 44-19 with just over two minutes gone. Dallas finally broke its scoring drought with a basket with 5:15 to play, but by then the game was out of hand.

Ivancie scored all of her game-high 17 points in the second half as the Cougars improved to 1-3 in league, 8-5 on the season.

"We were struggling for a while there early on, but we were able to find our rhythm in the second half," Canby head coach Ray Fields said. "We managed to get a number of steals off our press and open up some easy scoring chances. It was good to see because this was a game we had to have.

"A win was almost a necessity after Canby had opened the league season 0-3. And with two tough road games due this week, the girls could ill afford to drop a home contest to an opponent they are capable of beating.

Canby took the floor again Tuesday night in McMinnville and will hit the road again Friday for a game at Silverton. Thursday, the Cougars ended any doubts when they took command in the third period. Ivancie scored seven points in the quarter while both Alex Gex and Chris Beck collected five apiece.

For the game, Gex and Beck both finished with nine points, and Katy Rock had eight. Gex also came down with seven rebounds while teammates Beck and Kacy Goettel each grabbed six.

Against Newberg two nights earlier, Ivancie scored 16 of her 18 points in the first half, but Canby didn't shoot well as a team in a 50-36 road loss.

Point guard Beck, who had 10 points, was the only other CHS player to have the scoring touch that night, as she and Ivancie accounted for more than three-quarters of the team's point total.

The game was still close at halftime, but Newberg took control with a 14-4 spurt in the third period and never allowed Canby to pull closer than nine or 10 points the rest of the way.

"That was the first time we saw a zone, and we struggled with it," Fields said. On a positive note, Canby's junior varsity team won both its games to improve its Pac-8 record to 2-2.

Roberts, freshman lead way for Huskies at Junction City tourney

By Sean Patterson

North Marion's Jason Roberts continued his mastery at 130 pounds and a handful of eager freshmen proved they deserved varsity letters at a four-team wrestling tournament Saturday at Junction City High School.

Roberts has been a man on a mission this season, compiling a 15-0 record and winning the majority of his matches in dominating fashion. Saturday, the 130-pounder capped a 3-0 day with a 13-2 blowout of Stayton's Rodney Favrow to capture the Huskies' only individual championship of the tournament.

"He's been wrestling well from the start and shows no signs of letting up," North Marion head coach Mike Robinson said. "As a team, we were without four or five key guys for various reasons, giving a few of our freshmen a chance to prove what they've got.

We basically took a skeleton crew over there." With a full lineup, the Huskies probably overtake Capital Conference foe Stayton in the team race. As it was, they were third with 74 points, behind host Junction City (143) and the Eagles (83). Toledo was fourth with 50 points.

The event went with an eight-man bracketed format, giving the school's a taste of what district and state will be like. And, despite being depleted, the Huskies held their own.

In addition to Roberts' winning effort, Kyle Russell (119), Zach Martushev (135), Clayton McKeon (160) and Justin Willis (171) each placed second in their respective weight classes.

Two freshmen, Nick Adams (140) and Orin Newkirk (145), also won two of their three matches. Of everyone, McKeon and Russell came the closest to titles, the former dropping only a 6-5 decision to Junction City's Jake Nichols in the finals and the latter losing an overtime match by a 12-10 count.

Robinson was also pleased with Willis, who moved to 12-3 on the season and lost only to Austin Lawrence of Stayton, 17-8. Also contributing were freshman Brian McLean at 125; John Smith, who reached the consolation finals at 130; and Derek Doubrava, third at 189.

"It was a good outing for us, especially for our younger guys," Robinson said. "This gave them a chance to contribute at the varsity level and deservedly earn their letters. But Stayton is a team we feel we can beat with our full lineup.

We'll look forward to meeting up with them in league." Unfortunately, the Huskies had little luck in their Capital Conference dual with Sweet Home last Thursday in Sweet Home.

In fact, the visitors got only three wins - from Roberts (130), Martushev (135) and Willis (171) - in falling 64-12. That puts North Marion at 1-1 in league duals heading into this Thursday's matchup with Molalla at home.