PHOTO:  Michelle Maier swims the butterfly leg of the 200-yard medley relay Thursday against McMinnville..

By Sean Patterson

Though the final score won't show it, Thursday's swimming dual with McMinnville was a meet to remember for several members of Canby High School's swim team.

Several team members posted personal or season's best times in the meet, helping ease the blow of losing both the boys and girls competition to the deep and always-talented Grizzlies.

The CHS boys were particularly sharp, as it seems everyone in the lineup had at least one best time.

"It was probably the best meet we've ever had," gushed Canby head coach David Biskar. "Everyone had a great meet and, had we had a couple of our girls healthy, it would have been a lot closer.

''Let's just say that if we swim this well at district, we've got a good shot at a title.''

Unfortunately, fast times didn't necessarily translate into victories against Pac-8 power McMinnville. The CHS boys lost 99-71, falling to 2-3 in league, while the Canby girls endured their first conference defeat of the season, 94-76.

On a positive note, Canby's Lisa Champ won two events and set her high school in-season best in the 100-yard freestyle, clocking in at 53.60 seconds.

Champ also won the 100 backstroke in 1:02.69 and was a member of the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.

Other individual girl winners were Sarah Anderson, who went 2:08.08 in the 200 freestyle, and Kari Rittenbach, who darted the 500 freestyle in 5:50.06 - some five seconds faster than her previous best time.

In the relay wins, Anderson, Michelle Maier, Rittenbach and Champ teamed up in the 400 freestyle (3:53.18), while the group of Champ, Kelsey Kraft, Maier and Anderson did the honors in the 200 medley (1:58.73).

"I'm not sure the other teams won't just concede that race to us at district - we've been that good in it all year," Biskar said of the 200 medley team. The girls were without scoring regular Lateefa Hoover, who was sidelined with the flu.

Other placers included Anna Koch, third in the 200 free (2:20.54); Anderson, runner-up in the 50 free (26.32); Jean-Marie Peterson, second in the 100 back in a best time (1:10.86); and Maier, second in the 200 individual medley in a personal-best mark (2:25.76) and third in the 100 butterfly (1:08.51).

Kraft also got a second despite a wrist injury, going 1:15.86 in the 100 breast, and Bridget Crorey got third in the 500 free (6:27.94). The 200 freestyle relay team of Kraft, Koch, Lindsey McEvoy and Rittenbach was second in 1:54.15.

Improvement was the name of the game for the Canby boys, as John Lyon, Erin Koch, Robert Street and others posted personal bests.

Lyon's 50.46-second time in the 100 freestyle was good for a win and a personal record, and his sub-50 split in the 400 free relay helped the Cougars get second in 3:31.90. The Canby junior was also second in the 200 IM with a p.r. of 2:05.42.

Koch was also on, winning both the 50 free (24.23) and the 100 butterfly (57.52), the latter in a best time.

As for Street, he obliterated his old mark in the 500 free by eight seconds, clocking in at 5:25.57 for second.

Two races came down to the wire, and unfortunately Canby was outtouched at the wall in both. In the first, Corey O'Brien went 1:59.93 for second in the 200 freestyle. Later, Street lost the 100 breaststroke by a mere one one-hundredths of a second, in 1:11.18.

Yet another personal time fell in the 100 backstroke, where O'Brien was first in 1:02.08.

In the relays, the 200 medley team of Lyon, Street, Koch and O'Brien won in 1:49.17, while the 200 free team of Sage Geiselman, Ben Sigler, Jeremiah Vosler and Kevin Larkins was third (1:52.15).

The Cougars are back in action Thursday at home against Dallas and will be in McMinnville next week, Feb. 11-12, for the district meet.

By Sean Patterson

A disastrous third quarter cost the Canby High School boys basketball team a chance of ending its slide Friday, as Forest Grove overcame a three-point halftime deficit to hand the Cougars their third straight loss.

The Cougars were up 18-15 at halftime before the host Vikings went on a 16-4 tear in the third to take the lead for good.

The defeat was the second of the week and third in succession after Canby opened Pacific-8 Conference play with three wins in four games. Suddenly, the team finds itself at 3-4 and tied with Forest Grove for fifth place in the league standings.

"We got passive and didn't attack the basket," Canby head coach Dennis Burke said of his team's second-half letdown. "We had trouble with their zone, but it wasn't so much what they were doing. It was what we weren't doing. We stood around and settled for perimeter shots. We didn't create much of anything offensively."

As a result, Canby hit just 11 of 50 field goals - 22 percent - and got outscored 32-17 in the final two quarters.

The Cougars did have a few bright spots. Brett Fuge collected 10 rebounds, Buck Stone came through for 11 points and Joe Yoder finished with six points and eight rebounds without missing a shot.

But, collectively, the Cougars struggled with offensive execution. And, to complicate matters, Fuge and Ryan King were in foul trouble and senior post/wing Ross Crooks rolled an ankle, relegating him to the bench for much of the time.

Amazingly, the Cougars only committed two turnovers on 36 second-half possessions, but they managed to score on only seven of those possessions. "That just shows you how many shots we missed," Burke said.

On the flip side, Forest Grove made 7 of 13 shots in the third quarter to take control of the game. The Vikings iced it with a 16-13 tilt in the final period.

"We were missing five-footers, seven-footers, 10-footers," Burke said. "We had the shots - we just weren't making them."

In fact, the team made just one field goal (by King) in the pivotal third quarter. Mitch Meeuwsen scored 12 points to lead Forest Grove, while Stone's 11 paced the Cougars.

Earlier in the week, Canby endured a 64-43 loss to league-leading Tualatin (7-0). The Timberwolves' Paul Miller scored 18 points - 14 of them in the first half - and Tualatin pulled away in the final 10 minutes to turn a close game into a rout.

The Cougars pulled within six midway through the third period, but Tualatin quickly scored three baskets to get the lead to double digits. It was never close after that.

"They are a good team, but we hung right with them for two-and-a-half quarters," Burke said. "They've got some guys who can score, and we gave them too many looks in the paint."

Crooks and Fuge each had 11 points for Canby, and Stone made all three shots he took.

Despite their recent slide, Burke believes the Cougars are still very much alive in the race for a playoff spot.

"I believe that and I hope the kids believe that," he said. "We just need to put these behind us and concentrate on the task at hand. I still believe we're a pretty good basketball team."

The Cougars were at Newberg Tuesday and will be home for Dallas this Friday at 7:15 p.m.

By Sean Patterson

Canby again got a look at some of the state's best competition, and once again, the Cougars proved they belong among the state's elite.

In placing fifth in a loaded 12-team Hillsboro wrestling tournament Saturday, Canby demonstrated its team depth while also getting valuable matches against some of Class 4A's best programs.

"It was a tough, state-like tournament," Canby head coach Dan Nugent. "(Having) eight placers in this tournament is nothing to be ashamed of. The fact we scored 112 points as a team without any champions shows our overall team strength.

''As coaches, we always preach that you have to wrestle the best to be the best. Well, we definitely wrestled some of the best in the state today.'' Leading the way for Canby was 215-pounder Steve Schrader, who lived up to his second seeding by beating three quality opponents on his way to the finals. His biggest wins came over Luke Erwinski of Cascade (a pin in 1:56) and league rival Colin Davis of Newberg (a 4-2 decision in the semifinals).

Meanwhile, Benny Cazares enjoyed what Nugent called his best tournament showing of the season in winning four of his five 152-pound matches for third place. Along the way, he had two pins and a big 9-4 win over second-seeded Mario Rossi of Hillsboro in the third- and fourth-place match.

The Cougars also had three individuals place fourth in their weights, as Jared Wilson (160), Chris Wilson (171) and Rath Cyrus (275) each went 3-2. Chris Wilson, coming off the flu, beat fourth-seeded Shane Porterfield 10-5 in overtime, Levi Vandyke of Hermiston 5-0 and Ryan Langbehn of Hillsboro 9-3.

Jared Wilson's victories included a pin of Andrew Jenkins of West Linn and a 5-2 defeat of Sprague's Ross Landon. And Cyrus earned convincing wins over Victor Garcia of Marshfield (7-1) and Tim Strinz of Cascade (8-0).

Three other Canby wrestlers - Johnny Lugo (125), Ben Kraxberger (145) and Jeff Wilson (189) - also went 3-2 but settled for fifth place. Finally, Drew Bayless won one of his matches, beating Jeff Delorette of Cascade 5-4, and Garret Miyake wrestled up a weight (130 pounds) and failed to place in the tournament's toughest class, Nugent said.

Lucas Hambleton injured a shoulder in his first match and had to withdraw from the tournament, and Pete Savory was unable to attend because of illness.

As a team, the Cougars were fifth with their 112 points. Top-ranked Newberg won the meet with 204.5 points, edging No. 2 Crater by just two points. Sprague was third with 166 points and Hermiston fourth with 114.5. In getting fifth, the Cougars beat Hillsboro (109), West Linn (105.5), Marshfield (104.5), Oregon City (98.5), Cascade (88.5), Barlow (61) and Glencoe (50).

The team, now 17-3 in duals and 4-1 in Pacific-8 Conference matches following a loss to Newberg last Thursday, will host McMinnville Thursday at 7 p.m. The squad will also take part in a South Albany tournament Saturday. Details of Thursday's showdown with Newberg appeared in Saturday's edition of the Herald.

SECOND VARSITY RESULTS: Canby's Brock Ellis won three of four matches to get second at 125 pounds Saturday, while teammates Josh Gustafson (145) and Marc Koch (160) both went 4-1 and took third. The Cougars were sixth as a team.

North Marion dropped another Capital Conference high school wrestling match Thursday, but a handful of individuals continued to help their district seeding cause with key victories against Stayton.

Justin Willis, wrestling at 171 pounds, improved his conference mark to 5-0 with a first-round pin, giving him the inside track to a top seed in that class come district Feb. 18-19.

Likewise, Zach Martushev remained unbeaten in league with his 5-2 victory at 135 pounds and Jason Roberts followed suit with his 15-0 technical fall at 140. Martushev is now 5-0 in Capital action and Roberts 4-0.

"We've put ourselves in position to get some high seeds, so hopefully we can take care of business in our last match (against Woodburn Thursday) and get a few top spots," North Marion head coach Mike Robinson said. "We've got about three weeks before district, and the guys are aware of that. They're doing all they can to get ready for it."

Stayton won the team battle Thursday at North Marion High School, taking the match 47-30, as the Huskies dropped to 1-4 in league.

On a positive note, the Huskies should get a handful of high seeds at district, with Willis, Jason Ellingson (275), Martushev and Roberts all figuring to fall somewhere in the top two or three.

Ellingson helped his chances with a fall in 3:24 Thursday, prompting Robinson to say, "He'll probably get the second or third (seed), depending on what he does against Woodburn."

North Marion's other winners last week were Kyle Russell, a 13-3 winner at 119, and Andrew McBride, who was given a forfeit a 112.

More recently, the team traveled to Clatskanie for a four-team tournament Saturday, and though they placed last among the teams, the Huskies had three individual champions and three runners-up.

Russell (119), Roberts (135) and Willis (171) all won their weights, while Andrew McLaren (189), Dallas Branum (215) and Ellingson (275) were all second in their respective classes.

The Huskies took only 12 wrestlers to the competition and had to forfeit four varsity classes, hurting the squad's chances of placing high as a team.

North Marion closes out its Capital Conference season at Woodburn on Thursday beginning with junior varsity matches at 6 p.m. The team is also scheduled to take on Sisters and Jefferson next week, however the Outlaws don't field a complete team.