Sports Year in Review 2024

Willamina’s Brewer earns state wrestling title, boys take second

Zoe Brewer capped off her nearly perfect wrestling season on Feb. 23 with a near flawless three match run at the 4A/3A/2A/1A state championships at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

It was one for the record books, as the junior 100-pounder became the first girl wrestler in Willamina High School history to win a state championship.

Ranked No. 1 heading into the tournament, Brewer received a bye in the first round of the championship bracket. In the quarterfinals, she pinned La Pine’s Cortanie Hendry in 1:50, followed by a win by technical fall (17-0) against Philomath’s Ellie Morton and a major decision (11-2) against Knappa’s Kiya Roe to take the title.

Brewer was so locked into the competition, she didn’t even realize she had won it all.

“By the end of my finals match, I was like, ‘Wait, it’s actually over?’ When I looked up at the third round, I was like, ‘There’s no way it’s the third round, I thought it was the second round,’” Brewer told the News-Register. “It just felt like it was going by so fast. I didn’t really have a celebration or freak out because I was like wait, I should still be wrestling right now. It felt like I did it. We’d been talking about it for so long, and I finally did it and can get my name on the board”

She finished the season with only one loss, to North Salem’s Telsarina Walter in the Lady Dragon Invitational on Jan. 20.

Brewer wasn’t the only Bulldog grappler to bring home hardware.

The Willamina boys finished second overall with a score of 121.5 behind Toledo in the 2A/1A tournament. The Bulldogs had a plethora of wrestlers reach the semifinals, but only Kisor Savage broke through. After pinning Culver’s John Fosmark in 1:17 in the semifinals, Savage lost a razor thin 9-8 decision to Lowell’s Harley Hardison in the championship match.

Mac girls basketball climb state ranks before early departure

The McMinnville girls basketball team climbed the state ranks throughout the 2023-24 season, and by playoffs time in March, were ranked No. 3 in the state with a 21-3 record. The Grizzlies went 11-1 in the Pacific Conference, earning a share of the league title.

Led by a strong senior class and junior Macie Arzner, named Co-Player of the Year in the Pacific Conference, Mac overpowered Ida B. Wells in the first round in front of a raucous home crowd. After a quick start, the Grizzlies stumbled somewhat in the second quarter, and went into halftime down 22-21. The girls regrouped at the break, and put on a show in the second half, outscoring the visiting PIL team 41-10 in the final 16 minutes.

But hopes of competing at the Chiles Center in Portland were shut down by Grants Pass, who beat Mac on their home floor in the second round, 54-45. It was an uphill battle after going down 9-0 in the first three minutes. They continued to battle, and eight straight points by Arzner knotted the game early in the fourth quarter.

A three and pair of free throws by Grants Pass’s Brooke Anderson at the three-minute mark put the Cavers up 46-40, a margin Grants Pass sustained as McMinnville was forced to repeatedly foul. Mac was still in it and played that way, but the comeback was quelled by turnovers and empty possessions leading up to a frantic final 1:30 in which the Cavers were near-perfect from the line.

“I love all these girls, we’ve been playing together a long time,” said Maddie Gerhart, one of the seniors on the squad who went on to play at Bushnell University in Eugene. “I think we worked really hard, we did what we could, our shots didn’t fall and that happens sometimes.”

Warrior girls earn spot in 3A state basketball title game

The Amity girls basketball team danced as long as it could, making it to the championship game for the fifth time in program history, and their first since 2016.

But the Warriors’ journey ended with a 77-51 loss to a determined Corbett team that had lost in the final match the previous two seasons.

The difference was the shooting of Corbett sisters Ally and Lilly Schimel, who combined for 71 points and 14 3-pointers over the course of the game.

“We had a lot of fun, and I think we had a lot of laughs and smiles out there, even when we were down by 20 points. Which, that’s a hard thing to do, smile when you’re losing by 20 in the state championship game,” said Alyssa McMullen. “But we did it, and we had fun playing our last game of the season. We’ll be working hard to come back here.”

Amity finished the season 24-4, and went 11-1 in the PacWest Conference to earn a share of the league title with Jefferson, who they beat 71-39 to a league playoff game to earn the No. 3 spot in the playoffs. McMullen and Eliza Nisly were awarded first team all-league honors.

They cruised in their first two playoff games, beating Horizon Christian 65-37 and Nyssa 62-38.

The semifinal matchup against Sutherlin, however, was a battle. The Warriors were down 10 in the third quarter, but opened the fourth with a scoring streak to take their first lead of the game at 3-35. Amity held on in the end for a 46-44 victory.

Brosius returns to alma mater as new athletic director

Following a rocky (to say the least) 2023 for Linfield University athletics, the school, coaches and athletes got to celebrate in 2024 with the hiring of one of their most accomplished alumni.

The school announced on May 2 that Scott Brosius would take over as athletic director, and the three-time MLB World Series winner got to work a couple weeks later.

Brosius took over the role from interim athletic director Doug Hire after the latter’s retirement following the end of the school year. Hire himself took over after Garry Killgore was placed on leave and later reassigned to an administrative role. Killgore left the role soon after a $1.3 million lawsuit was filed against him, the school and former university president Miles Davis by former basketball coach Shanan Rosenberg.

“We’re looking forward, this is where we are now and this is our goal. It’s been some hard work early on and that’s fine,” Brosius told the News-Register in July. “That’s what this position is about. Me, personally, I’m thrilled to be back on campus and, like I said, I have not been able to stay away from this place. I hope we can rebuild some enthusiasm here in athletics about what we do.”

Brosius attended Linfield for three years and played baseball under coach Scott Carnahan before being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 1987.

Brosius would go on to play for the Athletics before being traded to the New York Yankees where he played in four World Series, winning three of them and being named a World Series MVP.

Brosius returned to his alma mater to announce his retirement in 2001 and earned his degree from the university shortly thereafter. In 2007, he was named the head baseball coach and coached until 2016, winning a national championship in 2013. Eventually, Brosius departed to be a position and hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners and later worked for USA Baseball in an administrative position.

Y-C, Willamina softball teams make runs to semifinal game

It’s hard to argue that Yamhill Carlton’s softball season was anything but successful. The Tigers finished the season 22-8, 11-3 in the 3A Special District 2. Yamhill Carlton picked up a win over eventual state champion South Umpqua, and other key wins over Dayton, Harrisburg/Monroe, St. Helens and a pair of victories over 4A semifinalist Astoria.

Y-C’s season came to a close May 28 in a 6-3 loss to Sounth Umpqua in the state semifinals match.

Of Willamina’s four losses on the season, three were to Weston-McEwen/Griswold, including a close 5-4 game in the 2A/1A state semifinals. The Bulldogs still got to celebrate a league championship and finished with a 25-4 record.

Grizzly teams finish season top of the pack on the diamond

Both the Grizzly baseball and softball teams were top of the Pac in 2024.

After starting league play 3-3, the baseball team turned on the jets and won 13 straight against Pacific Conference foes.

The league title came down to the final innings, as Mac swept Forest Grove and Sherwood dropped one to Liberty to give Mac another league championship.

The softball team also battled through an early season skid, losing three of four league contests in late April and early May. They won their last five games, closing with a 3-0 victory over Sherwood to win the Pacific Conference championship outright.

The Grizzlies entered the playoffs as the No. 10 overall seed, but lost to No. 25 McNary in the opening round in a 12-9 slugfest. The girl’s season finished at 18-10.

The baseball team fared a little better, getting an opening round 9-1 win at home against Willamette. The second round was not as kind to the Grizzlies, who fell 5-0 to Mountainside, capping Mac’s 21-8 season.

Delphian boys track and field win school’s first team title

The local 2024 track and field season was headlined by the area’s smallest school.

The Delphian Dragons boys team, led by senior Lucas Curry, won the 2A title with 68 points, marking the first team state championship in school history.

Curry snagged first in the 400, 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles, and anchored the first-place 4x400-meter relay team.

In other action at Hayward Field in May:

n Amity junior Kiyan Vrell handily won the javelin state title with a throw of 182 feet, nine feet longer than the second place throw.

That gold medal performance wasn’t even his high-water mark on the year. Vrell popped out a 190-foot throw at the Amity Invitational on Saturday, April 27. That was the fourth farthest throw of any javelin thrower in the state this year, trailing only Sherwood’s Drew Smith (197’9”), Tualatin’s Ethan Grimm (196’8”) and Lakeridge’s Cian Bryant (190’ and change).

In July, Vrell competed in the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships at Texas A&M, with teammate Jaxson Howard. Vrell placed 11th in the javelin in his age group (17-18), while Howard’s seventh-place hammer throw earned him All American honors.

n Willamina freshman Hadley Hughes brought home an individual state championship from the 2A level, with a personal best 34’11.75” golden throw in the shot put. Hughes also finished third in the javelin and sixth in the discus.

Linfield softball wins 44 straight, come up short in finals

After a thrilling series win at home in the D-III Super Regionals, the Linfield softball team made the long trek down to Marshall, Texas and played a quartet of games, earning wins against Tufts and Wisconsin-Oshkosh. But the journey ended after the Wildcats dropped a double header against Belhaven, 6-0 and 4-3.

The double elimination style of the bracket sent Linfield heading home, capping an enormously successful season in disappointing fashion.

Linfield went down in the books as third among all D-III softball squads. The 50-wins was the second most in program history behind the 2011 National Championship team’s 51. The Wildcats began the season with a 44-game winning streak, and was just the second team in collegiate softball history to register an unbeaten regular season, according to Linfield athletics website.

Linfield was led by the ace pitcher Tayah Kelley (32-4), who wrapped up her collegiate career with 113 wins, three All-America nods and as the Linfield record holder in every major pitching statistical category.

Pirates volleyball makes first trip to tourney in 20 years

Dayton volleyball earned a trip to the 3A state tournament for the first time in 20 years, beating rival Amity in the second round to reach the final eight.

At Marshfield High, however, the No. 4 Pirates’ success was halted by a tough No. 5 Burns team in a sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-20). Burns went on to lose in the championship game. Dayton’s season ended on a 3-0 sweep to Westside Christian in the consolation bracket.

Young Yamhill Carlton runners exceed expectations, take sixth

The emerging Yamhill Carlton boys cross country team had the best season of the century for the program.

The Tigers sent a team to state for the first time in 26 years, out-performing their season goal by finishing sixth at the 3A State Championship on Nov. 9 at Lane Community College in Eugene.

Junior Zayden Aspey led the Tigers with an eight place finish, followed by senior Louigi Etta (16th), sophomore Chase McMullen (55th), freshman Logan Guinn (61st), junior Lucas Partin (67th) and freshman Torsten Nordstrom (69th).

Mac boys soccer ends amazing season with heartbreaker

The howls of wind and rain were outmatched only by the huge crowd in attendance for the 6A boys state title game between McMinnville and Jesuit on Nov. 16 at Hillsboro Stadium.

It was the third trip to the state championship game in program history, and a rematch of the 2006 game when Mac beat Jesuit in a game decided by penalty kicks.

Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, this year it was Jesuit who won the penalty kick shoot-out after extra time.

Making the stinging loss even worse, the Grizzlies were minutes away from hoisting the first place trophy. The Grizzlies led the Jesuit Crusaders for about 75 of the 80 minutes played in regulation, and held a 2-0 lead from halftime until the 69th minute.

Goals were scored by Abraham Cuevas George four minutes into the game and Sebastian Lopez just before half. Senior Edwin Cuevas George, the Pacific Conference Player of the Year and All-State First Team member, assisted on both goals.

Jesuit’s game-tying goal with a minute left in regulation was set up with an obscure foul call. A Jesuit shot from about 25 yards out in the middle of the field was easily blocked by a wall of Mac defenders. However, the referee decided Mac senior Adan Figueroa Lampke made an obstructive noise during the shot and awarded Jesuit a free kick.

Jesuit’s star player, Vala Saghafi, got a clean look off the indirect free kick that curled around the Grizzly wall in the left corner of the net.

McMinnville finished the season 15-3 1 and won the Pacific Conference with an undefeated 5-0-1 record. After back-to-back losses to Beaverton and Franklin early in the season, the team refocused and went undefeated the rest of the way until the title match.

They celebrated with the home crowd through four playoff games, knocking out Sandy (1-0), Roosevelt (3-1), Franklin (2-1) and Grant (2-1).

While it was a bitter finish in the end, the players move on with sweet memories of one of the best seasons in program history.

“One of the most stand out things was the atmosphere,” Abraham Cuevas George said about the playoff run and title match. “Not all of McMinnville was there, but a lot of McMinnville was there. I just felt so supported because you could just look into the stands and see how everyone was there for us.”

“It felt like everyone was connected and wanted to support us,” he added. “That brought a lot of love and brought McMinnville together.”

Edwin Cuevas George led Mac this season with 27 goals and nine assists. Junior forward Jose Farias finished with 11 goals and seven assists; Danny Reynaga had seven goals and four assists; Antonio Virrueta had six goals and three assists; Abraham Cuevas George had five goals and six assists; and Nick Lorano had five assists on the season.

Defender Adan Figueroa Lampke was also voted into the All-State First Team.

Head coach Adam Howard was named the Pacific Conference Coach of the Year, and then honored as the Oregon 6A Boys Soccer Coach of the Year.

“Talented players can make a coach look good,” Howard said subtly in response to the announcement.

The Streak continues, but ’Cats season ends in second round

An Oct. 26 thrashing of Puget Sound, 62-13, by the Linfield football team extended The Streak of winning football seasons into its 68th year — the longest in college football history.

Linfield lost a nonconference game to Wisconsin-Oshkosh, but went undefeated in the Northwest Conference and was 9-1 entering the playoffs.

An easy first round D-III playoff win over Texas Lutheran, 65-3, had the team and fans hopeful for another deep run.

But the next week, the Wildcats came out on the short end of a 28-18 score against University of Mary Hardin Baylor.