Photo by Sean Patterson
A district championship by 215-pounder Steve Schrader (right) helped the Cougars claim second place at the Pacific-9 Conference district wrestling championships last Friday and Saturday in Tigard. Schrader, pictured here winning his semifinals match against McMinnville's Garrett Gillas, was one of four CHS wrestlers to win individual titles. The other champions were Ian Gadberry, Garret Miyake and Scott Doman.
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
A different outcome in one or two matches, and the Pacific-9
Conference district wrestling championship goes to Canby High School rather than Newberg.
Last Friday and Saturday's tournament in Tigard was that close. The Cougars, coming off
perhaps their best regular season ever, gave the Tigers all they could handle before
ultimately coming up short by just nine points, 341.5 to 332.5.
It was obviously a disappointment to the Cougars, who have never won a Pac-9 title since
the league's formation in 1994-95, but the tournament was anything but a wash for Canby.
On the bright side, 10 CHS wrestlers qualified for this week's Class 4A state tournament
at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, and four of them advance to the big event as
district champions.
"We came as close as we've ever come to knocking them off, so I guess you could say
that was a positive thing for us," Canby head coach Dan Nugent said of the tight
district meet, contested at Tigard High School.
''You could look back on it and pick out 30 different situations that, had they gone
differently, would have changed the outcome. But you have to accept what happened and move
on. You shake the other guys' hands and look ahead to state.''
The state tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and Friday and runs all day both days.
The championship semifinal round is Friday night from 7 to 9:10 p.m., and the finals are
Saturday night from 6:30 to 9:50 p.m.
Also on Saturday, consolation quarterfinals, semifinals and finals run from 11 a.m. to
3:10 p.m.
Canby goes in as one of seven or eight teams who have a realistic chance to win it.
"It's pretty wide open, with the likes of Crater, Oregon City, Hermiston, Newberg,
Eagle Point, West Linn and us all having legitimate shots," Nugent said. "The
top four teams win a trophy, and I'd like to think we've got a great shot at getting
one."
Canby, boasting a 20-1 dual-meet record and a 7-0 Pac-9 mark, had hoped to cap off the
regular season with a district title. But Newberg had other ideas.
To their credit, though, several Canby athletes lived up to their lofty reputations, and a
few others pulled out some unlikely placements.
As expected, top-seeded Ian Gadberry and Garret Miyake won their 119-pound and 130-pound
brackets, respectively. The former extended his season record to 36-0 with three
convincing victories, capping the march with an 8-0 shutout of Forest Grove's Taylor
Graham in Saturday's finals.
Miyake, meanwhile, improved to 35-1 by recording a fall, a 15-6 decision in the semifinals
and a 3-1 victory in the finals against Jared Norman of Newberg.
Canby also picked up titles at 215 pounds, where No. 1 seed Steve Schrader outclassed
Tualatin's Dan Hanvichith 10-3 in the final, and at 275, where Scott Doman pulled out an
exciting 7-5 overtime defeat of Silverton's Israel Rodriguez.
Doman tied up the match when Rodriguez was penalized a point for fleeing the mat in the
final seconds of regulation. The Canby wrestler then won it with a takedown with 20
seconds to go in overtime.
"Scott has meant a lot to us, and a lot of the credit for his success goes to the
Woodburn program," Nugent said of his heavyweight, who transferred from Woodburn to
Canby this year.
Also earning a top-three placement, and thereby qualifying for state, were runner-up
placers Stephen Schantin (112), Jared Wilson (160) and Jeff Wilson (171).
Schantin, a freshman, recorded three falls before finally getting beat 20-5 by Newberg's
Eric Stevenson in the finals, and Jared Wilson managed a fall and 8-6 semifinals win
before losing to the Tigers' Anthony Weber, ranked No. 1 in the state, by a 20-9 count in
the finals.
Jeff Wilson was also dominant, winning by a fall and 16-6 and 12-5 scores, before he fell
7-3 to Dallas' Matt McGinnis.
Rounding out Canby's state-qualifying group were Lucas Hambleton (119), Pete Savory (152)
and Marc Koch (189), all of whom placed third in their respective weights.
Points also came from fourth-place finishers Joe Kuznetsov (103), Chris Kyllo (140) and
Ross Doman (152), fifth-placers Drew Bayless (125) and Josh Gustafson (160), and
sixth-place winner Lance Stewart (135).
Nugent was particularly proud of Kuznetsov, who earned a high placement despite not being
seeded in his bracket. "His effort was one of the big highlights of the tournament
for us," the coach said.
As teams, the Tigers and Cougars easily outclassed the competition. Dallas was a distant
third with 222.5 points, followed by Tigard with 176, McMinnville with 168, Silverton with
141, Tualatin with 139, Forest Grove with 110 and Woodburn with 45.5.
As a bonus, Canby's Nugent was selected the league's co-coach of the year, sharing it with
Newberg's Neil Russo and McMinnville's H.D. Weddel.
Loss deals
big blow to
Canby playoff hopes
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
Canby hopes of reaching the Class 4A state boys basketball playoffs took a
big blow with the team's 60-47 loss to Silverton last Friday at Silverton High School.
In a game that was actually much closer than the final would indicate, the Foxes outscored
their guests 14-3 in the last three minutes to secure a victory that kept their faint
playoff hopes alive.
Realistically, though, neither the Foxes nor the Cougars have much of a chance of reaching
the state tournament. That's because Tigard, which occupies the fourth and final spot at
9-6, only has to defeat Woodburn (3-11) Tuesday night to advance.
The rest of the conference's state field is already set, with Tualatin (11-3), McMinnville
(11-3) and Dallas (9-5) locks to make the tournament.
Both Canby and Silverton stand at 7-7 in league with two games to play.
"That was really a game we had to have if we wanted to make the playoffs, but
Silverton was aggressive and got the better of play with the game on the line," Canby
head coach Dennis Burke said. "We definitely had our chances, but too many times we
didn't take advantage of what our defense was doing for us. We couldn't convert their
turnovers into points."
Canby's frustration reached its peak in the third quarter, when the Cougars forced seven
turnovers but rarely capitalized on the other end.
Then, with the game on the line in the final period, the Cougars' defense broke down and
allowed some easy baskets that helped turn a close game into a rout.
Canby (8-13) was down by only a point with three minutes to go when the Foxes broke things
open.
"They had some key offensive rebounds and we had to put them at the line toward the
end," Burke said. "And it didn't help that we had a terrible shooting night. We
hit only 17 of 56 shots as a team, and we were 6-for-33 from the perimeter."
Silverton post Eric Druliner scored 21 points to pace the Foxes, who also got a 14-point
outing from Mike Carr. Canby was led by Jon Warren and Todd Ricksger, who each finished
with 11 points.
Ricksger was about the only Canby player to shoot well from the field, making 5 of 7
shots, and Warren was hot from the outside, canning three three-pointers.
But Canby also hurt its chances by sending Silverton to the free-throw line 27 times,
where the Foxes made 19 of those chances. In contrast, Canby only made 9 of 12 free
throws.
The Cougars wrap up the regular season this week, hosting McMinnville Tuesday and
traveling to Forest Grove Thursday for a 7:15 p.m. contest.
Canby has to win both games and hope Tigard loses to Woodburn. Otherwise, Thursday's game
will be Canby's last for the 2000-01 season.
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
The North Marion boys suffered a huge setback
last Tuesday, dropping a 71-52 decision to the last-place Outlaws from Sisters in a
Capital Conference basketball matchup. The win was Sisters' first in conference play this
season.
The Outlaws were hot from the field early and often, running out to a 13-7 first-quarter
lead and a 34-20 halftime edge.
"They came out and shot the ball very well," assistant coach Hank Tautfest said.
"That made us have to play catch-up the rest of the way, and that is a tough place to
play."
Sisters outscored the Huskies 17-16 in the third quarter and 20-16 in the fourth to come
out with the lopsided victory.
The loss, coupled with last Friday's defeat against Central, put North Marion at 4-6 in
league. The team faced a tough test at home Tuesday against Stayton and will have an
equally tough road game Thursday in Molalla, which sits just one game behind the Huskies
at 3-7.
Josh Miller led the Huskies in scoring with 11 points Tuesday, followed by 10 points
apiece from Steve Miller and Ryan Krause. Adam Kraft added eight points.
Details of Friday's loss to the Panthers were featured in Saturday's edition of the
Herald.
Champ a
top-three
finisher in two races
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
She was arguably the best female swimmer ever to come through the Canby
High School swimming program, so it's only fitting that Lisa Champ go out on a high note
at the Class 4A championships last Friday and Saturday in Corvallis.
Champ, the owner of five CHS records, darted to a second place in the state 200-yard
freestyle race, clocking a time of 1 minute, 52.48 seconds, and she managed to get third
in the 100 free with a time of 52.40 seconds.
About the only down note was the fact she came within one one-hundredth of a second of
becoming Canby's first individual state winner. Edging her out in the 200 free was
district rival Julie McCauley of Tualatin, who touched the wall in 1:52.47.
"That's about as close as you can come to winning it without doing so," Canby
head coach David Biskar said of Champ's near title in the 200 free. "I always thought
she had a better shot at winning the 100, but she proved she can swim with the best of
them in the 200.
''She actually went into the 200 finals seeded sixth, but she swam a great race.''
Champ was also a model of consistency in the 100, as she took third in Friday's
preliminary heat and third in Saturday's finals at the Osborn Aquatic Center.
As a bonus, both her state swims were good for Canby High School records. "She is the
best female swimmer to ever come through this program, and she's far from finished in this
sport," Biskar said. "She wants to swim college and I'm sure she'll get that
opportunity. She's a great competitor."
The Canby senior also teamed with the 200 free relay group of Sarah Anderson, Kari
Rittenbach and Michelle Maier to get 13th in 1:44.58.
A pair of Canby boys also made the trip to Corvallis. Corey O'Brien, seeded 16th in the
200 individual medley, ended up 10th in that race, clocking in at 2:02.10. He was also
15th in the 100 butterfly.
Meanwhile, teammate Alex Laskey ended up 11th in the 100 breaststroke with a finals time
of 1:03.13. He had been seeded 15th in that event going in.
Final team results were not made available by press time.
The Cougars will honor their athletes with a postseason awards gathering this Thursday.
