Courtesy photo

By Sean Patterson
of the Herald

Canby's Megan Schuh rated a perfect 10 in leading the Canby Gators to victory at the Mike Morris Memorial Invitational swim meet in Eugene June 23-25. The Morris Memorial, sponsored by J.D. Pence Aquatic Supply, is traditionally a meet the Gators attend. Canby has placed high in the past, but this year jumped to the top thanks to the heroic swimming of Schuh and teammates James Adams and Casey O'Brien.

Canby took the title by more than 100 points. It's not often a swimmer wins all of their events in a meet, but Schuh did just that by winning all 10 of her races in convincing fashion.

Not surprisingly, she won the high points award for her 8-and-under bracket with a total of 70 points.

She beat the state-qualifying standard in five of her events, taking the gold in the 100-yard breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 50 freestyle, 50 back, 50 breast, 200 free, 100 free, 50 fly and 200 individual medley.

Schuh also took over eight seconds off her 100 back time (1:46.65), nine seconds off her 100 free (1:32.09), and a whopping 36 seconds off her 200 IM (3:50.55).

She is expected to be one of the top seeds at the upcoming 10-and-under state championships in Coos Bay this weekend. In a tight race with Schuh for the "points championship," James Adams pushed hard to finish with 67 points - enough to win the points honor for 17-and-over boys.

Adams was also a convincing winner in many of his events, taking gold seven times, silver twice and the bronze twice. He met the state requirement in nine of his events.

Meanwhile, Casey O'Brien was also piling up the points, scoring 44 points with a combination of two firsts, three seconds and two thirds. His wins came in the 100 breaststroke and 400 IM.

Winning the 400 was quite a feat considering it was the first time he had raced that distance. O'Brien's points were good enough for second in the Boys 13-14 category.

Not to be outdone, Casey's older brother Corey pulled in 40 points with three firsts and three thirds. O'Brien qualified for two state events while pulling first in the 100 fly, 400 IM and 200 fly.

Dean Mischell also made the list of winners in taking the Boys 10-and-under 200 free with a time of 2:53.29, a drop of nearly seven seconds from his previous best.

He also placed second in three events and third in three events, meeting the state-qualifying mark in three swims. The other winning swimmer for Canby was Spencer Polack, who took first in the Boys 10-and-under 100 butterfly with a time of 1:45.87.

Another Gator swimmer enjoying a successful outing was Alex Laskey, who had three second-place finishes (100 breast, 200 IM and 200 breast). Laskey also took fourth in the 800 free by taking 68 seconds off his time to finish at 10:48.40.

Robert Street also looked sharp, placing third in the 800 free (10:28.45, -8 seconds) and fourth in three events and fifth in two others. Street took 17 seconds off his 400 IM time to finish at 5:45.61.

Jacob Keil continued the run of good swims by placing second in the 100 back (1:17.32) and third in six events. He qualified for state in eight events.

The Koenig brothers, Laurance and Chas, added to the team total with several high finishes. Laurance met the state standard in four events, placing second in the 100 and 200 free and third in five other events. And Chas had a third in the 100 fly and a fourth in the 200 breast.

Joshua Garcia was also among the placers with a fourth-place showing in the 100 breast and three fifth-place finishes. Another highlight for the Gators came when Matthew Schuh won the Marta Hogard Inspirational Trophy for his dedication to sport and teammates.

He also added topping to that honor by dropping 35 seconds in his 200 breaststroke (4:36.21). Other strong efforts came from Nicole Schuh, who set a personal best of 46.29 in the 50 breast; Rachel Polack, who dropped 27 seconds in the 100 fly; and David Pete, who finished second in the 100 fly and third in the 400 IM.

Improvement also came from Saba Negley, who took seven seconds off her 200 IM mark; Karri-Ann Benthin, who had seven best times and dropped 11 seconds in the 50 fly; and Jenny Hertzberg, who dropped 13 seconds in the 100 back (1:34.29).

Hannah Garcia finished fifth in the 50 breast and dropped nine seconds in the 200 free, while James Dean dropped 16 seconds in the 50 breast (1:11.92).

Finally, Amy Burnham placed third in the 50 breast, Salena Cooper took fifth in the 800 free, and Erin Dean got fifth in the 200 IM while qualifying for state in the 100 fly. Shauna Cooper was fifth in both the 100 fly and 200 free, meeting the state mark in the former.

In relay action, the Gators boasted two first-place finishes, one second and two thirds. The first place teams were Corey O'Brien, Laskey, Adams and Laurance Koenig in the 200 medley, and O'Brien, Koenig, Street and Adams in the 400 freestyle. Also, the boys 12-and-under team of Garcia, Mischell, Keil, and Lucas Gabriel took second in the 200 medley.

The girls 12-and-under teams split up between Polack, Erin Dean, Hertzberg, Benthin and Nicole Schuh managed two third-place finishes.

Canby won the meet with 514.50 points, followed by Corvallis (407.50), Eugene City (388), Eugene YMCA (318) and Salem (288.50). A total of 18 teams were at the meet.

Canby gained a little momentum for the upcoming Area 7 district tournament, picking up an impressive 6-3 win over league rival Tualatin in an American Legion AAA matchup Sunday at Canby High School.

Josh Cushing went the distance on the mound, allowing seven hits, striking out six and not walking a batter, as the team improved to 15-12 on the summer and 7-2 in league.

Canby still had four games to play - a Monday date with North Marion, a doubleheader at Wilson on Wednesday and a visit to David Douglas Thursday - before district tournament play opens Friday at North Marion.

The top four district finishers this weekend qualify for the best-of-three playoff round that begins the following week and will determine state berths.

"As long as our pitching holds up, we'll be fine," head coach Marty Hunter said. "This is a tough time of year for a lot of teams because you're playing so many games. That can wear out a pitching staff.

''We're in good shape with the bats - we've been swinging them good all summer. We just need to make plays and get good outings from a lot of different guys on the mound.''

Canby got one such outing on Sunday, as Cushing kept Tualatin in check while Nate Dawson delivered a key two-run single in the first inning that set the tone.

Marcos Quintero drove in a third run with a sacrifice fly, and an inning later, Canby made it 5-1 when Garret Miyake singled in a run and Cushing scored another on a fielder's choice.

The hosts picked up their final run on a Jess Driggers RBI single in the third.

The day before, Canby dropped a 13-8 decision to Westview despite the multi-hit performances of Cushing, Brett Fuge and Blake DuPont. Ross Crooks also had a big hit - a two-run triple in the fifth - and Fuge accounted for the final two runs with a double in the seventh.

"That was just a case of our inability to shut them down," Hunter said. Steve Young was the main man at the plate for Canby in a 6-5 loss to Centennial last Thursday on the road. Young had three hits on the day and belted a two-run home run in the third.

Unfortunately, Canby couldn't get the win. Trailing 5-3 in the fifth, the team rallied for two runs when Fuge walked, Young singled and Quintero followed with a clutch two-run single.

But Centennial answered with a single run in the last of the fifth, then shut Canby down over the final two innings.

Before that, the squad got solid outings from pitchers from Marco Zamora and Cushing in a 4-2 defeat of Dallas last Wednesday in Dallas.

Cushing got the win in relief and Canby rallied for two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings. Trailing 2-0 going to the fifth, Driggers walked and Zamora tripled him in to cut the deficit in half.

Moments later, Crooks lofted a sacrifice fly to tie things up. The visitors then won it in the sixth, thanks to a little charity.

After Quintero walked and Driggers reached on an error, Young singled to load the bases for Zamora, whose grounder to third was overthrown at the plate.

Dallas gave away another run when it mishandled a Crooks grounder.

This week, the team is home for a doubleheader with Wilson beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Thursday's game at David Douglas is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start. Hunter had yet to receive the schedule for this weekend's eight-team district tournament.

A clutch RBI single in the final inning of the final game lifted the Canby American Legion A baseball team to a 7-6 victory over Gresham in the finals of a Beaverton Invitational tournament July 2-4.

Scott Sweet's liner to right scored Matt Oss with the winning run with one out in the seventh inning Tuesday, giving Canby a perfect 3-0 record for the tournament.

The late heroics made a winner of pitcher Tyler Christler, who went the distance in recording the team's third complete game in as many tries.

Offensively, both Christler and Jason McCall had a pair of hits. Previously, Canby defeated Wilson 6-0 on Sunday behind the pitching of Jeff Coyle and the four-hit, three-RBI performance of Grant Kruft.

In the second game, contested Monday, Sweet threw a complete game and got offensive support from Oss and Coyle, who both had three hits, in a 9-4 defeat of Parkrose.

"It was an encouraging tournament for us," said head coach Tom Scott. "We've been playing well lately and have really had a good summer."

As a bonus, Canby had two players honored in the eight-team tournament, as Coyle was named the event's top pitcher and Kruft earned the Mr. Hustle Award.

Canby later improved to 18-5 on the season with a win Thursday. The team is gearing up for state in Eugene the last weekend in July.