This week’s High School Sports Zone capsules contain: The Main Event, boys and girls basketball previews, a conference call, results/schedules, and recaps from last week’s basketball, swimming, and wrestling competitions.
THE MAIN EVENT: WRESTLING
ALL-CLASS STATE TOURNAMENT
■ What2Know: 2024 state wrestling championships, Feb. 22-24 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 1401 N. Wheeler Ave., Portland. … Tickets: tinyurl.com/2024SWC. … Fan info: osaa.org/docs/wre/wrspecinfo.pdf.
■ Who2Watch4: The Thurston Colts are the key story at the wrestling state championships after finishing second in both the boys and girls competition last season. This year, the Colts have the most qualifiers for both competitions: 22 boys in the 5A championship and 11 girls in the 6A/5A championship. District champs Rubie Winterburn (100 pounds) and Kristal Zamora (140) lead the girls, and league champs Michael Salas Sanchez (106), Sean Regas (132), and Colton Annis (144) lead the boys. In the smaller-school competitions, Cottage Grove qualified one girl and four boys, Creswell qualified two boys and two girls, and Pleasant Hill qualified six boys.
WEEKLY PREVIEWS
BOYS BASKETBALL
COTTAGE GROVE: 8-14, ranked #17
■ Tipping off: Cottage Grove must sit and wait to see if it makes a play-in game for the Class 4A postseason. As of now, the Lions hold the final play-in spot and would travel to No. 6 North Marion for a play-in game, but that could change before the rankings freeze late Tuesday night.
CRESWELL: 14-11, ranked #16
■ Tipping off: First-team all-league junior Tyler Whitson and the Bulldogs enter the postseason as the No. 14 seed and host No. 19 Yamhill-Carlton on Tuesday night – after The Chronicle’s print deadline. With a victory Tuesday, Creswell would travel to No. 3 De La Salle North Catholic on Friday for a round of 16 matchup.
PLEASANT HILL: 20-4, ranked #4
■ Tipping off: Pleasant Hill’s loss to Harrisburg in the conference title game proved costly as the Billies fell to the No. 9 seed in the playoffs despite being ranked No. 4. Back-to-back conference player of the year Gavin Inglish and the Billies must now travel 165 miles northwest to face No. 8 Neah-Kah-Nie on Friday with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
SPRINGFIELD: 5-16, ranked #26
■ Tipping off: Springfield closes out its season Friday at Eagle Point, a team the Millers lost 50-49 against earlier this season. The game will be the final one for Springfield’s eight seniors on the roster, including starters Zack Sherman, Bryden Johnson, Davonte Peterson, and Tanner Colter.
THURSTON: 14-7, ranked #14
■ Tipping off: The Colts close out the regular season with a game Friday against No. 8 Crater and a matchup next Tuesday against Eagle Point. The game against Crater will determine the No. 2 team out of the Midwestern League. The Colts won at Crater 61-57 in overtime earlier this season behind 22 points from Nate Stiffler.
– All records/rankings as of Tuesday morning
GIRLS BASKETBALL
COTTAGE GROVE: 13-11, ranked #18
■ Tipping off: The Lions have a fourth-place Sky-Em League game at North Bend on Tuesday. As of printing, Cottage Grove is the last team in for the Class 4A Play-in, and would likely travel to No. 6 Cascade for a chance to make the playoffs.
CRESWELL: 19-7, ranked #10
■ Tipping off: Dakota Carson and the Bulldogs host the No. 10-seeded Coquille Red Devils in the round of 16 on Saturday. Despite being ranked No. 10, the Bulldogs earned the 7th seed in the postseason because of their win over Pleasant Hill last week. Coquille is ranked ahead of Creswell in the normal rankings, so the game should be one of the better second-round matchups.
Cottage Grove: 14-11, ranked #18
■ Tipping off: The Lions have a fourth-place Sky-Em League game at North Bend on Tuesday. As of printing, Cottage Grove is the last team in for the Class 4A Play-in, and would likely travel to No. 6 Cascade for a chance to make the playoffs.
PLEASANT HILL: 17-6, ranked #6
■ Tipping off: Pleasant Hill earned the No. 6 seed in the postseason and will host 11th-seeded Nyssa on Saturday. Nyssa is ranked No. 9 overall, and the Billies will need good offensive performances from Claire Crawford and Karsyn Stapleton after mustering only 22 points as a team on Saturday in a loss to Creswell – a game Crawford didn’t play in.
SPRINGFIELD: 15-8, ranked #6
■ Tipping off: The Millers close out the regular season at Eagle Point on Friday. While coach Joe Williamson and the Millers failed to repeat as Midwestern League champions, Springfield looks to build momentum in the final week before heading into its state title defense.
Thurston: 7-14, ranked #25
■ Tipping off: The Colts host No. 2 Crater and Eagle Point as their season comes to a close. Thurston will miss the postseason for the second straight season and graduates its best player in senior Bailey Tovey.
WEEKLY RECAPS
BOYS BASKETBALL
■Cottage Grove went 0-3 in the Sky-Em League last week, falling to North Bend 50-36, No. 9 Marshfield 74-37, and No. 7 Marist Catholic 72-43 to finish the league season at 1-7. Cole Kishen led the way against North Bend with a game-high 21 points.
■Springfield’s only game of the week was a senior night game last Tuesday against Churchill. The Millers fell 47-41 against the Lancers, falling to 2-8 in the Midwestern League.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
■Cottage Grove took down Junction City on Monday 42-41 to keep its play-in hopes alive. The Lions fell to JC twice already this season, but got their revenge thanks to 17 points from sophomore Mariah Bailey.
■Springfield handled Churchill 77-28 in a Midwestern League game last Tuesday before hosting Class 6A No. 1 Clackamas on Thursday – falling to the defending 6A champs 74-42. Clackamas’ Jazzy Davidson, ESPN’s No. 2 recruit in the class of 2025, had 26 points on the night, while Danaeja Romero-Ah Sam led Springfield with 19.
■Thurston had an 0-2 week in league play, falling at North Eugene 53-35 and Eagle Point 65-37.
STATE SWIMMING RECAPS
■ Cottage Grove had successful showings from its two league champions at the state championships. Freshman Avery Bengtson took home a state title in the Girls 100 backstroke and finished third in the 100 butterfly. On the boys side, Hayes Valley took home third place in the 100 backstroke.
■ Springfield junior Anh Roemen had a solid weekend at the state championships, earning sixth in the Girls 100 freestyle and ninth in the 200 freestyle.
■ Thurston boys finished eighth at the state championships behind freshman Brody Wyatt, who earned second in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 100 freestyle.
DISTRICT / LEAGUE WRESTLING RECAPS
■ Cottage Grove, Creswell, and Pleasant Hill girls all competed at the Girls 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 2 at Cottage Grove. Creswell was the top finisher, earning 7th place overall behind Chantell Noffsinger (145 pounds) in second and Jennalyn Kruger (135) in third. Cottage Grove finished 22nd overall as Madison Holder (130) placed third. Pleasant Hill tied for 37th as Camille Hicks (130) made the round of 16.
■ Springfield and Thurston boys traveled to Eagle Point for the 5A Midwestern League championships, with Thurston earning its fifth straight league title and Springfield coming in seventh. Thurston beat Crater for the second year in a row thanks to three individual champions: Michael Salas Sanchez (106 pounds), Sean Regas (132), and Colton Annis (144). Isaac Carlsen (165) in sixth place was the top finisher for Springfield.
CONFERENCE CALL
Weekly notes from around our area teams’ conferences:
Sweet Home girls earn district wrestling title
■ The Sweet Home girls wrestling team won the 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 2 title at Cottage Grove last weekend, beating second-place Oakridge by 86 points. Sweet Home had two individual winners at the meet: Riley Watkins (120 pounds) and Bailey Chafin (125).
Crater girls clinch Midwestern League
■ Led by possible league and state player of the year in junior Sage Winslow, the No. 2-ranked Crater Comets locked up the MWL title with an 84-23 win over Churchill last week. Crater has two games remaining but owns the tiebreaker over Springfield even if the Comets were to lose both games.
RESULTS/SCHEDULES
RESULTS
BOYS BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Feb. 13
■ North Bend 50, Cottage Grove 36
■ Creswell 61, Siuslaw 36
■ Pleasant Hill 77, La Pine 53
■ Churchill 47, Springfield 41
■ North Eugene 60, Thurston 53
Thursday, Feb. 15
■ Marshfield 74, Cottage Grove 37
Friday, Feb. 16
■ Thurston 58, Eagle Point 49
Saturday, Feb. 17
■ Marist 72, Cottage Grove 43
■ Creswell 54, Sisters 40
■ Harrisburg 38, Pleasant Hill 32
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Feb. 13
■ North Bend 58, Cottage Grove 48
■ Creswell 68, Siuslaw 20
■ Pleasant Hill 51, La Pine 14
■ Springfield 77, Churchill 28
■ North Eugene 53, Thurston 35
Thursday, Feb. 15
■ Marshfield 44, Cottage Grove 26
■ Clackamas 74, Springfield 42
Friday, Feb. 16
■ Creswell 52, Sisters 41
■ Eagle Point 65, Thurston 37
Saturday, Feb. 17
■ Creswell 32, Pleasant Hill 22
■ Marist 49, Cottage Grove 28
Monday, Feb. 19
■ Cottage Grove 42, Junction City 41
SCHEDULES
BOYS BASKETBALL
Friday, Feb. 23
■ (14) Creswell at (3) De La Salle North Catholic, TBD
■ Springfield at Eagle Point, 5:30 p.m.
■ (9) Pleasant Hill at (8) Neah-Kah-Nie, 6 p.m.
■ Crater at Thurston, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 27
■ Eagle Point at Thurston, 7 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Friday, Feb. 23
■ Crater at Thurston, 4 p.m.
■ Springfield at Eagle Point, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 24
■ (11) Nyssa at (6) Pleasant Hill, noon
■ (10) Coquille at (7) Creswell, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 27
■ Eagle Point at Thurston, 5:30 p.m.
WRESTLING
Thursday, Feb. 22
■ Cottage Grove, Creswell, Pleasant Hill at 1A-4A state championships, noon
Friday, Feb. 23
■ Thurston at 6A/5A state championships, 8 a.m.
■ Cottage Grove, Creswell, Pleasant Hill at 1A-4A state championships, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 24
■ Thurston at 6A/5A state championships, 9 a.m.
Note: All wrestling matches at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland.
