Lonnie Park has done it all for the Canby youth football program - and last month he was honored for it.

By Sean Patterson

Lonnie Park is still at a loss to explain why he was recently chosen Canby Kids Inc.'s volunteer of the year.

Perhaps, then, it's only appropriate his contributions to the organization - and specifically, the Canby Junior Cougar football program - can be summed up in one word: Dedication.

There's no other word that better summarizes Park's commitment to the Junior Cougars the past five years. And last month, Canby Kids honored that longtime commitment.

"I'm still in shock over this - I never saw it coming because there were so many worthy people up for this award," said Park, the Junior Cougars' outgoing president. "All I can say is I feel honored. Each sport probably could have submitted 10 names worthy of this award, so this is nice."

The announcement came at Canby Kids' annual Super Bowl breakfast on Jan. 30. Park was not in attendance when the announcement was made, so he didn't actually learn about it until a few days later.

The award, named the Dave Dalley Award in honor of the city's longtime Canby Kids supporter, goes to just one of a select group of seven nominees - one each for each sport under the Canby Kids umbrella.

The fact Park won should come as little surprise to anyone who has been involved with the Junior Cougars. He's done virtually everything for the program the past five years, serving on the board, working as an equipment manager, coaching and, from 1998-2000, serving a two-year term as president.

Over that span, the program has seen unprecedented growth, going from an average of about 100 kids per season to between 150 and 170 participants.

That has allowed the program to expand to five teams - two at the third- and fourth-grade level and three at the fifth- and sixth-grade level.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Park has been instrumental in melding the youth program with that of the high school. In 1994, the youth began joining the high school at its annual summer camp, and a year later the junior program changed its name from the Generals to the Cougars, aligning itself with the Canby High School Cougars.

Since then, Park has seen a steady increase in parent participation and overall support.

"It was important, not just for us but for the high school, to get these kids learning the same offensive system," Park said. "We put a lot of emphasis on unifying the programs so that kids could go from one coach to another without a hard adjustment.

''It was also a high priority to get more parental involvement. Many of those people would in time become boosters, and so we'd be helping the high school in another capacity.

''The thing is, when you love the sport and spending time with kids, the time factor isn't that big an issue. You get to know 50 to 100 kids that you'll have friendships with forever.''

Park, 42, has had a boy, Calvin, progress through the system. He will be an eighth-grader at Ackerman Middle School in the fall, and Park, who coached the seventh-grade team last year, may possibly coach him again.

During his four-year coaching stint with the Junior Cougars, Park's teams made the Belt League playoffs three times. A highlight for the program came in 1996, when the Dave Burnett-coached fifth- and sixth-graders won a league championship.

While winning is obviously important, it isn't the ultimate goal of the Junior Cougar program.

"You see some of these fifth- and sixth-grade programs that have an "A" and a "B" squad," Park said. "Their "A" team is an all-star team made up exclusively of sixth-graders. We don't do that here. Here, we try to divide kids up evenly and give everyone a chance to play."

And, though he's moving on, Park sees no reason the Junior Cougars can't make greater strides in the future.

"I only see the program continuing to grow as we get more and more parental participation," he said. "As long as the emphasis is on teaching kids skills and teaching them to be good people, it should only get better."

Yet another convincing league win has given the Canby High School wrestling team a little momentum for this week's district tournament at Forest Grove High School.

The Cougars completed a 20-3 season and a 6-1 Pacific-8 Conference campaign with a 52-9 defeat of Silverton last Thursday night on the road.

Now it's time to find out how Canby measures up against the entire Pac-8 field, as district is set to get under way Friday at 11 a.m. Action

continues the following day with semifinal matches at 10 a.m., third- and fourth-place bouts at 5 p.m. and finals matches at about 7 p.m.

Those who finish among the top three in each weight qualify for state at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland Feb. 24-26.

As always, the Cougars have a number of individuals who are good candidates to make the cut. Among them are Garret Miyake, a state qualifier a year ago, and returning district placers Ben Kraxberger, Jeff Wilson, Chris Wilson, Ben Cazares, Drew Bayless, Dusty Price and Jared Wilson.

"We would like to take as many as 12 kids to state, which would be about as many as we've ever had," Canby head coach Dan Nugent said. "Newberg is probably a little bit ahead of all of us, so they would have to be the favorites to win it. But I like our chances to get a lot of guys to state.

We've got a pretty solid group this year."

Canby, rated sixth in the state in the Class 4A dual-meet rankings, is particularly strong in the middle and upper weights. At 125, Miyake is ranked ninth in the state and has compiled a 25-5 record.

Likewise, Jared Wilson is highly regarded at 160 (ranked seventh), where he has compiled a 22-9 mark. Other 20-match winners include Rath Cyrus at heavyweight (23-9), Kraxberger at 145 (22-10), Price at 135 (21-7), Johnny Lugo at 125/130 (20-13), Steve Schrader at 215 (22-8), Bayless at 119 (21-10), Jeff Wilson at 171 (25-6) and Chris Wilson at 189 (26-6).

Two others, freshman Lucas Hambleton (112) and senior Cazares (152), are 19-6 and 14-4, respectively.

Ultimately, though, how they fare will depend heavily on where they are seeded at Tuesday night's league meeting.

Nugent is optimistic his team will get its share of high seeds, but he didn't wish to speculate on just who would get seeded what.

The coach was also reluctant to make any predictions concerning wrestlers on other teams.

"We'll just go over there and do what we can to get as many to state as possible," he said. "And hopefully, that will mean a high team finish. While Newberg is the favorite, I also see Dallas, McMinnville and Forest Grove all posing a big challenge to us."

In the meantime, the Cougars can relish another 20-win season in wake of their overwhelming performance against Silverton last Thursday.

Canby won all but three matches and got perhaps its biggest victories in the upper weights, where Jeff Wilson pulled off a dramatic 10-9 victory over Bridger Sacher at 189 and Schrader earned a key fall at 215.

Canby's Rath Cyrus also resorted to dramatics, needing a last-second reversal to tie his match with Isreal Rodriquez before recording a takedown in overtime to win it.

The Cougars also got a pin at 119, where Bayless executed an inside knee pick to beat Sean Sterrenberg.

Convincing wins also came from Miyake, who earned a fall at 125, and Lugo, who won by a major decision (11-2) at 130.

Canby was given forfeits at 135 and 140, and after Kraxberger's close 8-7 loss to Andrew Sandoval at 145, Cazares recorded an 8-2 decision at 152. The Cougars later capped off the night with Hambleton's first-round pin at 119.

McMINNVILLE - In a meet of highs and lows, of dreams fulfilled and shattered, the Canby High School swim team qualified an impressive nine individuals for this weekend's Class 4A state meet.

Competing at the Pacific-8 Conference district championships Friday and Saturday, the Cougars held their own in both the girls and boys competitions, placing second as a team in the former and fourth in the latter in action from the McMinnville Aquatic Center.

As expected, Canby's Lisa Champ qualified for state in two individual events while also helping the 200-yard medley relay team defend its district title.

It also wasn't surprising to see Sarah Anderson make the cut in the 50 freestyle as a wild card, and John Lyon to do likewise in the 500 freestyle.

What came as a surprise was the state-qualifying efforts of two relays, as the boys 200 freestyle group made it as a wild card and the 400 freestyle girls team got there as a district champion.

"It was a typical meet in that we had our share of highs and lows," Canby coach David Biskar said. "But I'd say the positives far outweighed the negatives. We had kids swimming the best they've ever swam, and we ended up with nine qualifying for state. That's a pretty good showing if you ask me."

State is set for this Friday and Saturday at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. Action begins with Class 4A girls races at 2 p.m. and continues with the 4A boys meet at 7 p.m.

Saturday's finals are scheduled for 4 p.m. for everyone.

At district, Canby's Champ, Lateefa Hoover, Anderson and Kelsey Kraft opened Saturday's finals session with a bang, coming from behind to edge Tualatin and McMinnville in the 200 medley relay.

Canby was in third place with only Anderson's freestyle leg to go. But the junior quickly gained on Tualatin's Lauren Coker and McMinnville's Kristi Egan, finally overtaking them and touching the wall in 1:56.46. Tualatin was second in 1:57.14 and the Grizzlies third with a 1:57.33.

Moments later, Champ endured a rough go of things in the 200 free, finishing third in 1:59.47, but it was still fast enough to make state as a wild card.

Later, the Canby junior made sure she would reach state in the 100 free, clocking a 53.20 time to edge McMinnville's Katie Klein (53.67) for the district title.

"She didn't get off to her best start, in the medley and 200, but she really came on late in the meet," Biskar said of Champ. "She won the 100, then swam an incredible 52.3 split in the 400 free relay. She's such a competitor - she wasn't about to let a slow start get her down."

Champ's heroics helped Canby win the day's final race, the 400 freestyle relay, as she teamed with Kari Rittenbach, Anderson and Kraft to set a school record and edge McMinnville 3:48.16 to 3:48.60.

Anderson also turned in a strong performance to get second in the 50 free in 25.63, helping ease the pain of a disqualification in the 100 the day before.

"I was disappointed about that, because I've been training for that race all year," Anderson said. "But I'm happy with how the (medley) relay turned out.

I just had to put the 100 behind me and concentrate on what was left."

As a team, the CHS girls finished with 323 points, behind only McMinnville's 383. Tualatin was third with 285 and Newberg fourth with 278.

Leading the way for the boys was senior Lyon, who qualified for three events in succession. He set a personal best to place third in the 500 freestyle (4:52), then teamed with Corey O'Brien, Robert Street and Erin Koch in the 200 freestyle relay and got second (1:35.50).

Finally, he won the 100 backstroke in 56.19, establishing yet another personal record.

Lyon's efforts helped the Cougars score 215 points, putting them fourth behind McMinnville (368), Tualatin (264) and Tigard (306).

Other high boy placers included O'Brien, fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:06.77) and seventh in the 100 butterfly (57.98); Koch, sixth in the 100 fly (57.36) and third in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.74); and Street, who won the 500 freestyle consolation heat (5:27.75). Kevin Larkins, Sage Geiselman and Ben Sigler also scored for Canby.

For the girls, Rittenbach was third in the 500 free (5:45.92) and seventh in the 200 free (2:09.91); Michelle Maier was seventh in the 200 IM (2:30.18) and ninth in the 100 fly (1:09.30); Kraft wound up fifth in the 100 breast (1:16.21); Dessa Bingley got seventh in the 100 breast (1:17.55) and 14th in the 200 IM; and Hoover finished seventh in the 100 fly (1:07.92) despite fighting illness.

Canby also got a superb showing from Anna Koch, Lindsey McEvoy, Rittenbach and Hoover in the 200 free, as they placed third in 1:52.24.

Biskar was also pleased with the individual swims of Bridget Crorey, Jean-Marie Peterson and McEvoy.

By Sean Patterson

Two critical wins have given the Canby High School boys basketball team reason to believe it can reach the Class 4A playoffs for the fifth time in six years.

A 64-56 defeat of Silverton Friday night on the road lifted the Cougars to 6-5 in Pacific-8 Conference play with only three games left on the schedule. With that, the team is alone in fourth place, behind Tualatin (11-0), Dallas (10-1) and Tigard (7-4).

Now the task will be holding off McMinnville (5-6) and Forest Grove (4-7) in the race for the league's fourth and final postseason berth.

"We expected to be (in the hunt), and now we're playing like we belong in the playoffs," Canby head coach Dennis Burke said. "We were playing well around Christmas when we won three of four games at a Putnam tournament, then we went through a period where we struggled.

''Now, we're starting to gel again.''

And it couldn't have happened at a better time. The Cougars head into this week needing to win at least two of their last three to give themselves a good chance at making the cut.

Their stretch run began Tuesday night at home against Tigard, the school directly ahead of them. It continues with an away game Thursday at Tualatin and concludes Feb. 22 with a home game against Forest Grove.

Should Canby win all three, they would guarantee themselves third or fourth place.

Friday, Curt Bryant came alive for 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting as the Cougars dumped the Foxes on their home floor.

After falling behind 9-3 at the outset, Bryant and Brett Fuge sparked a comeback by combining for 19 of the team's 22 first-quarter points, helping the team forge a 22-21 lead.

Canby didn't look back after that, building a 37-28 edge by halftime and maintaining a double-digit lead most of the second half.

Along the way, the Cougars got a big lift from Ryan King, who scored six points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.

Tyler Stewart also played a key role, hitting three key fourth-quarter free throws and nailing a jumper with 1:50 left that made it an eight-point game.

Buck Stone was also steady, collecting six rebounds, five assists and four points.

"Ross (Crooks) was home sick, so it was up to our kids to step it up," Burke said.

Fuge finished with 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and two steals. As a team, Canby made 24 of 47 shots while Silverton connected on 23 of 59. Ryan Gengler led the Foxes with 16 points.

Three nights before, the Cougars survived a late McMinnville rally to hold off the Grizzlies 64-60 at McMinnville High School.

Canby led 30-20 at halftime and extended its lead to 44-30 heading into the final period, but McMinnville refused to go down without a fight.

The hosts scored 30 fourth-quarter points and pulled within three with five seconds to go. Fortunately for Canby, Jese Kirsch made a clutch free throw to make it a four-point, two-possession game, and it was over.

Crooks had the hot hand for Canby, making 8 of 12 shots for 21 points, while Fuge scored 12 points and Bryant chipped in 11.

"We got soft on defense and started fouling them," Burke said. "But overall, it was a great team effort. Both Bryant and Fuge were in foul trouble, but we didn't let that hurt us. We responded well to the adversity."

Thursday's game is set for a 7:15 p.m. start.