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65 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 26, 2005 On track, Waroff is a diamond in the rough Prep Notebook By DON HUNT Mail Tribune Please excuse Alex Waroff if he hasn’t had a chance to catch his breath this spring. The Rogue River High junior is a starting outfielder on the school’s baseball team, a sprinter, long jumper and pole vaulter on the track team, a singer in the school choir and a trombone player in the band. All the while carrying a 3.7 grade-point average in the classroom. "He’s the real deal in whatever does," says Rogue River High baseball coach John White. Waroff decided to add track to his spring sports menu after watching his brother, Nick, dominate the sprints in the Skyline Conference last season. Nick Waroff, now a senior who is coming off herniated disc surgery, advanced to state in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Advertisement "I knew I could beat some of the guys he was going against, and it looked like fun having that one-on-one competition," Alex Waroff says. "There’s no politics in track. You either beat someone or he beats you." The younger Waroff has triumphed more often than not, particularly in the long jump, where his personal record of 20 feet, 7 inches ranks second in the Skyline. He’s run the 100 in a hand-timed 11.63 and the 200 in 23.9, respectable times for a first-year sprinter. Alex Waroff has only vaulted a couple of times but already has been over the bar at 11-6. "The pole vault’s a tough event to master, but it might be the funnest thing I’ve ever done in sports," he says. "I’m going down to the school on Sundays with our vault coach, trying to get the hang of it." On the baseball diamond, Waroff is batting .350 for a Rogue River team in contention to win the Skyline Conference championship. It’s conceivable that Waroff will qualify for the state track meet May 21-22 in Eugene. It’s also possible the baseball team will be participating in a state playoff game that same weekend. Should the two sports overlap, Waroff has already declared he’ll be taking his spot in left field for the baseball team. "I had to make a choice before the season started, and I went with baseball," says Waroff, who plays basketball in the winter months for the Chiefs. "Baseball’s a team sport, and I can’t let those guys down." While sports serves as Waroff’s physical outlet, music allows him to express himself in a more creative way. He sings bass in the school’s acappella choir and has played the trombone for the past five years. "Music has all kinds of moods and expressions, and it’s fun to just let yourself get lost in it," Waroff says. Whether it’s sports or music, Waroff hopes to finish on a high note this spring. THE NORTH MEDFORD track coaches were hopping mad over a report in last Thursday’s Oregonian that essentially handed the Black Tornado head coaching position to Marnie Mason. The Tornado track job will open once the season is over when current coach Mark Hodges leaves for Fernley, Nev. Mason, who served as North Medford’s distance coach before becoming the University of Oregon’s women’s cross country and distance coach two years ago, is heading back to North Medford as a special education teacher. She’s informed North Medford administrators that she’ll apply for the head track position. Hodges and many members of the team have voiced support for Pete Voskes, who took over Mason’s assistant coaching post when she left for Eugene. Voskes also inherited North Medford’s head cross country job. One thing’s for certain: Both are highly qualified. "At a time when schools are so strapped that they’re hiring people off the street to coach, it’s amazing that a school could have two candidates with their credentials," Hidden Valley coach Stan Goodell says. "I don’t think they can go wrong with either one." YOU DON’T NORMALLY think of a frosh-soph track meet featuring the state’s top performers, but Friday’s sixth annual Bob Newland Invitational showcased a handful of them. Grants Pass sophomore sprinter Dusty Parrish was the talk of the meet after he blazed to times of 50.13 in the 400-meters and 22.91 in the 200. His 400 time is the fourth-fastest in the state this season and shattered the meet record by almost two seconds. Roseburg sophomore Adam Brink tied a meet record by clearing 13-6 in the pole vault. Brink has gone 14-6, which is the second-best mark in the state. Crater sophomore Jake Keyser and Eagle Point freshman Jenna Boren also excelled. Keyser broke the meet record in the 3,000 with a time of 9:12.4 while Boren tied the meet mark in the girls pole vault at 10-6. The meet drew 468 competitors, making it the second-highest participatory event in the Rogue Valley, trailing only the Pear Blossom Run. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Advertisement s