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Home is a luxury Cascade cannot afford By Greg Stiles Even when the Cascade Christian Challengers are at home, there�s a road trip involved. With the exception of softball, the Challengers travel to whatever gym or field is available for everything from basketball to soccer. Although the status quo won�t change overnight, school boosters are taking steps to revamp an antiquated gym and develop an off-campus complex that would reduce travel for practice and home games for baseball, soccer and track. "We�re in dire straits now and next year it�s going to be even worse," says Tom Brookins, chairman of the school�s building and grounds committee. "The biggest problem isn�t playing at different outside locations. To this date, I don�t know if we�ve (secured) home courts for basketball games this year." If it�s baseball, the Challengers drive 21 miles from Jacksonville to the V.A. Domiciliary to play and practice. If it�s basketball, boys coach Brian Morse burns candles at both ends in whatever gym he can find in the valley. Girls basketball coach Loren King rented space from Superior Courts� new basketball facility last year. The football team practices on the campus field, but has to play its home games at White City. The school applied for a permit to light its field a couple of years ago. The request was turned down. Although Cascade students do hundreds of hours of community service throughout the school year and the school makes its parking lot available for the Britt Festivals, the city deemed Friday night football an unwanted intrusion. Cascade�s home volleyball games have been played at Scenic Middle School in Central Point. But Scenic won�t be available past this year. Volleyball wasn�t a scholastic sport when the Jacksonville High Redskins occupied the campus, prior to consolidation with Medford schools in 1959. The 17-foot ceiling doesn�t conform to the high flight of a volleyball. When Cascade proposed building a gym of comparable size to other Class 2A schools a few years ago, the city planning commission nixed the idea. Brookins� committee has redrawn plans that would be within the city�s framework. The cost of the gym expansion is $3.5 million. Adding in the cost for developing 37 acres along South Stage Road that would house � among other things baseball, soccer and track � and the total swells to nearly $6 million. "The gym is definitely the priority on our list," Brookins says. "I�d like to see it built within six months, but that�s unrealistic. But we have to have some goal, so I�m hoping for the first of next school year." Two floors would keep basketball squads from being happy wanderers. It would also allow the school to expand its physical education offerings. "We�re losing kids and athletes because of our facilities," says athletic director Wally Nye. "We would pick up students if we had better facilities for sports." John Erlich, a member of the building and grounds committee, says private parks are among the permissible uses for the land, near Bellinger Road, that cost $240,000. "It�s been a real hardship to have to do all that traveling and this is a big step," says Erlich, who has two grandchildren attending the school. With goals in mind, plans drawn and land obtained, the next phase is raising money. "We can�t go out and have a garage sale to raise $6 million," Brookins says. "We�ve broken it down to phases and the gym is first." The Phoenix Pirates won their first District 5 girls soccer title last year and may be significantly better come playoff time than last year�s team that reached the state quarterfinals. Phoenix returns two-time, first-team league all-star Annie Kulig, the Pirates� all-time scoring leader, and four other players that earned all-league honorable mention last year. But it�s the influx of a superior freshman class that could make the team even better. Kat Cox, who played for Rogue Valley Soccer Club�s U-13 Storm, and Sarah Kieffer, who played for the RVSC�s U-14 Tsunami, were among the six freshmen first-year coach John Doty knew he could count on. But the biggest surprise has been forward Kelly Singleton, whose talent surfaced when another player was injured prior to the season. "She�s not about to let go of her spot," says Doty. Klamath Union�s reigning Class 4A state cross country championship team will try out its legs against some of the top programs in the nation Saturday in the Great American Cross Country Festival at Charlotte, N.C. A dozen races are scheduled on the Foot Locker Southeast Regional course at McAlpine Greenway Park. The Pelicans, ranked in the top-five a year ago, will be in the boys "Race of Champions" � pitting the top 25 teams. Liz Lindgren, who finished second to Ashland�s Paris Edwards in last year�s state meet, will run in an individual girls invitational. Bend and Mead High of Spokane, Wash., are also representing the Northwest in the event. The Pelicans are flying out of Reno on Wednesday and due back to Klamath Falls Sunday. Oregon Sports.com 2001 Oregon Sports Almanac is easily the most comprehensive guide of its kind. Although the almanac covers the full gamut of sports, a great deal is devoted to high school athletics. We learn girls soccer teams from Jesuit and Catlin Gabel have the longest active state championship streaks at six. Rogue River�s girls cross country team, Condon�s girls basketball team and Powder Valley�s boys track team have won four straight titles. The 350-page almanac is the brainchild of former Roseburg News-Review sports writer Cliff Pfenning, who published a lesser version of the almanac three years ago. "I�ve done some lengthy searching via the Internet to find other state sports almanacs, and can find only the remnants of this type of publication," Pfenning says. "Someone did this in Texas in 1983, Minnesota and in Ohio in the 1990s." The book is available at the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Oregon and Oregon State bookstores and may soon be available through other book sellers. You can also order a copy by going to Oregonsports.com. The cost is $9.95. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4483, or e-mail [email protected] Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA