Thurston’s baseball team handed out its state championship rings at halftime of the Colts’ football game Sept. 8. Head coach Dennis Minium and the Colts took home the program’s second state title (2009) with a 2-1 walk-off extra-inning win over West Albany on June 3.
Billies legend passes away
■ Russ Francis, a Super Bowl champion tight end with the San Francisco 49ers, University of Oregon track and football athlete, and Pleasant Hill High School alum, died Oct. 1 at the age of 70 in a plane crash in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Francis set the national high school record for the javelin as a senior at Pleasant Hill in 1971 at 259 feet, 9 inches (79.17 m). The record stood nationally until 1988, and still stands to this day at Pleasant Hill.
Boys volleyball an ‘emerging sport’
■ The Oregon School Activites Association (OSAA) delegate assembly voted last week to approve boys volleyball as an emerging activity. In the spring of 2023, boys volleyball completed a club season with 32 high school teams, surpassing the threshold of 25 needed to be considered as an emerging activity.
“We’ll probably put a committee together to work with them and figure out the details and minutiae around it,” OSAA executive director Peter Weber said in an interview with OSAA writer Jerry Ulmer. “We’ll see if the growth and interest is there.”
Boys volleyball is the first sport to earn the title of “emerging sport” since the OSAA adopted the policy a few years ago, and needs at least 50 schools to field teams before it can become fully sanctioned.
Creswell was the only area school to compete during the club season this year.
Springfield cheerleaders HOF
■ The Springfield cheerleading teams from 1999-2002 will be inducted into the Springfield High School Hall of Fame on Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. in the Springfield Gym. The teams are being inducted for “outstanding contributions to the heritage and tradition of the Miller program.” There also will be an introduction at the Oct. 27 football game.
Conference Call
Weekly tidbits from around our area teams’ conferences:
Chase hits 100 against Junction City
■ Marist girls soccer standout Cloe Chase scored 4 goals and added 2 assists in an 8-0 win over Junction City last week to move to 101 career goals, 35 on the season. She became only the 15th athlete in Oregon history to hit the 100 career-goal mark.
Marshfield volleyball gets its revenge
■ No. 1 Marshfield volleyball had lost only one match all season in Class 4A competitions – a 3-2 loss at No. 2 Marist on Sept. 26. Last week the two teams faced off again, this time at Marshfield, and Marshfield got its revenge with a 3-0 sweep: 25-7, 25-18, 25-7.
