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Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Phone: (503)829-2301
Molalla Pioneer
14
Winter sports
Climbing the ranks year by year
2013/14 season preview.
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T
T
he Colton Vikings’
boys basketball
team has a hole to
fill after graduating point
guard Jerod Jones.
“Replacing him will be a
challenge,” Coach Brandon
Kishpaugh said.
Luckily for Kishpaugh,
he’s got a solid lineup of
returners, including four sen-
iors who Kishpaugh has
coached since he took over
as head coach four years ago.
Dane Norton, Kevin Flores,
Drexler Hall and Rhedyn
Stanczyk all return to the
court this year.
“They all work extremely
hard,” Kishpaugh said,
adding that it’s been fun to
see them grow with the bas-
ketball program over the last
four years. “Drexler took a
lot of lumps the first couple
years,” Kishapaugh said.
“[Hall and Flores] will prob-
ably be the leaders on the
court … Rhedyn Stanczyk
will be a major factor on
defense, pressuring the ball.”
The team’s goal this year
is to continue climbing up
the league rankings. Last sea-
son they finished fifth. This
season Kishpaugh is shooting
for fourth or higher, a realis-
tic goal in a tough league.
Along with the four pack
of seniors, Kishpaugh has
several other players he’s
expecting big things from.
“There are about seven
guys I’m expecting a lot out
of,” he said. “They played
significant minutes last year.”
Particularly, junior Harper
James should help bridge the
gap between the seniors and
the sophomores, offering
leadership
“He’s a gym rat,”
Kishpaugh said. “He’s grown
several inches in the last year
and a half or so.”
The Vikings have a lot of
opportunity to test them-
selves early on. Kishpaugh is
especially looking forward to
playing Estacada and going
to the Amity Tournment.
“Estacada will be a good
test for us early,” he said.
“[And Amity] will be good
measuring stick at the end of
preseason to see how we’re
doing.”
Colton Vikings
Coach Brandon Kishpaugh
Key losses:
Jerod Jones.
Key returners:
Dane
Norton, Anthony Basargin,
Kevin Flores and Drexler
Hall.
Last year:
Fifth in league.
3-11 in league, 9-14 over-
all.
C
ountry Christian’s
boys basketball
team has the poten-
tial to take first in the Casco
League for the tenth time in a
row. The Cougars lost two
key players in Levi
Lewandowski and Mitchel
Cunningham, but they still
return plenty of talent.
“[Cunningham and
Lewandowski] got a lot of
play time in last year,” Coach
Doug Nofziger said.
“They’re two key pieces that
we’ll be missing.”
Nofziger said he’ll also
miss Zachary Farner’s
strength and height. “He
could rebound really well,”
Nofziger said.
As for the team composi-
tion overall, “it’s kind of a
weird year,” Nofziger said.
The Cougars have a few sen-
iors who haven’t played in a
couple years joining the
team. They have only one
returning senior, Cooper
Nofziger, who started last
year.
“He’s just one of those
guys that did a lot of the dirty
work,” Coach Nofziger said.
Last year, the team strug-
gled to find a clear, vocal
leader, Coach Nofziger said.
This year, he expects Cooper
to step into a much-needed
leadership role.
Country Christian
Cougars
Coach Doug Nofziger
Key losses:
Levi
Lewandowski and Mitchel
Cunningham.
Key returners:
Luke
Carter, Jordan Syphard,
Ben Grandle, Mitchell
Sandberg, Avery Nofziger
and Cooper Nofziger.
Last year:
First in league.
Made it to the quarterfinals
in state. 11-1 in league,
20-9 overall.
Cougars look for tenth league title
M
olalla’s boys bas-
ketball team has
a rough road
ahead. They lost nine players
to graduation, and Lane Hull,
who played last season as a
sophomore and was expected
to return this year, transferred
to Wilsonville.
The team is young, com-
prised mostly of sophomores
and juniors. The Indians do
have three seniors playing for
them this year, but only one
with experience: Tyler
Gengler.
Gengler is helping some of
the younger and less experi-
enced players. “It’s good
experience to be a leader,” he
said.
As for the pressure of
being the most experienced
player on the team, Gengler
said he’s not thinking about
that too much. “I just want to
work hard and get better as a
team,” he said.
In preseason, the Indians
are on the road a lot. “It
would be nice to get W’s,”
Coach Tyler Kelleher said,
“but there’ll be no gimmes
… As always, the big goal is
the league championship.”
To reach that goal,
Kelleher is staying focused
on the present. “We just want
to go to battle every night,”
he said.
In practice last week,
Kelleher iterated to the
Indians that basketball is a
tough game, both physically
and mentally.
The boys looked good on
the court, hustling for
rebounds, listening to the
coaches and to each other. If
they keep their wits and
maintain their determination
through preseason, they
could overcome the experi-
ence gap and do well in
league.
Swimming
M
ore swimmers
and two years of
experience will
help Molalla in the water this
year.
“The swim team has had
two years of building a
decent base,” said Coach
Melissa Georgesen, who is in
her third year of coaching the
Indians. “This week I have
had 24 students express inter-
est in being on our team. I
am excited for larger num-
bers to help our chances at
larger meets, especially dis-
tricts in February … Our
focus is on developing speed
across the board, allowing
individuals to meet their
goals and for the team to
place higher at meets.”
She’s hoping three key
returners will help reach
those goals.
“The students who have
returned look pretty good for
their first few swims,”
Georgesen said. “The week
has been filled with stretch-
ing their swimming muscles
and getting back to the grind
of swimming daily.”
On the boys side,
Georgesen has her eyes set
on Stuart Moore.
“Moore is a returning
sophomore who shows much
promise in any event he
chooses,” Georgesen said.
“His focus will likely remain
on the 500 Freestyle and the
200 Individual Medley.
Moore placed high at
Districts last season in the
200 IM.”
The two key returners for
the girls are Kayla Watkins
and Megan Penni.
“Penni and Watkins are
returning seniors who have
been on the team since they
were freshmen,” Georgesen
said. “Each of the girls spe-
cializes in Freestyle, with
Penni focusing on the 200
Freestyle and the 100
Freestyle and Watkins on the
100 Freestyle and the 50
Freestyle. Each of them will
remain on the Freestyle
Relays, helping the girls team
attain points. I am excited to
see what their senior year
brings.”
Molalla hosts four home
meets this year. The first is
on Dec. 18 and the following
three are in January. All of
them are at 4 p.m.
“It would mean so much to
the team if community mem-
bers showed up and cheered
them on,” Georgesen said.
Molalla Indians
Coach Melissa Georgesen
Key losses:
Leah
Halderman, Kylie Oster
and Raechel Shaw.
Key returners:
Stuart
Moore, Kayla Watkins and
Megan Penni.
Boom for Molalla’s swim team
Cory Mimms
Molalla Pioneer
Boys basketball
Photo by Cory Mimms
Molalla’s boys basketball team on the court. They’re ramping
up for their first preseason games.
Molalla Indians
Coach Tyler Kelleher
Key Losses:
Ryan Potter
and Bradley Hagaman.
Key returners:
Tyler
Gengler.
Last year:
Second in
league. 7-3 in league, 15-9
overall.
Indians down
ten players
Photo by Cory Mimms
Ben Grandle taking the ball to the hoop.
READ:
COUGARS, Page 16
