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68 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, May 24, 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 Biz Connection 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 May 17, 2005 Gallop’s giant leap keeps South streak intact Prep Notebook By DON HUNT Mail Tribune South Medford High sophomore Kendall Gallop pulled off the biggest surprise at the Southern Oregon Conference district track meet Saturday when she won the girls triple jump title to earn a berth to this weekend’s Class 4A state meet in Eugene. Gallop sailed to a mark of 34 feet, 4 inches on her final attempt to surpass North Medford’s Ashley Chambers (34-1) and fellow Panther Kaylyn Knutson (33-11) to steal the title. No one was more surprised than Gallop, who didn’t take up the event until South Medford jumps coach Mark Losinski talked her into it two weeks after the season began. Was it fate? Luck? A gift from the track and field gods? Certain accomplishments in sports are as inexplicable as they are unpredictable. And that’s part of the beauty in them. Advertisement But in this case, a good chunk of the credit goes to Losinski. Dating to 2000, Losinski has now served as mentor to four district long jump champions, one triple jump champ, a high jump titlist and a triple jump runner-up. He’s certainly had some gifted athletes to work with, but it’s more than coincidence that his jumpers keep striking gold. "He’s really knowledgeable and he makes everything fun," says Gallop, a sophomore who also runs sprints. "He’s always joking with you, and even if you have a bad jump he finds positive things about it." Losinski compares Gallop to former South Medford standout Whitney Grant, a three-time district champion in the long jump who twice won titles on her final attempt. "Kendall gets herself amped up before every jump and Whitney was the same way," Losinski says. If Losinski has a secret to his jumpers’ achievements, it’s that he coaches them to run their fastest just before they hit the take-off board. "I’d rather have a kid explode to the board and scratch a big jump than always be worried about their steps," he says. "We do so many run-throughs in practice that by the end of the year it comes naturally." Losinski thought that senior Kaylyn Knutson had the best chance of keeping alive a streak that has seen South Medford jumpers advance to state six straight years. Knutson, who broke Grant’s long jump school record last year with a mammoth leap of 18-4½ , has been hobbled with tendinitis in her knees but was in second place in Saturday’s triple jump before Gallop passed her by. "That was one of those jumps that came out of nowhere," Losinski says. YOU KNEW IT wouldn’t be long before Roseburg High School and its strong football tradition would join Medford and Grants Pass and install its own synthetic turf at Finlay Field. Roseburg athletic director Thurman Bell said the $600,000 project will start on June 13 and be completed by Aug. 1. "The entire field has to be removed — there’s going to be extensive prep work," Bell said. Bell worked the phones for a solid month to kick-start the fund drive, getting pledges for the first $250,000. The Roseburg booster club will take it from there. The field will feature a grass-like substance similar to Spiegelberg Stadium and will host a multitude of events, including soccer matches. "I told the Roseburg people that if we didn’t get an artificial field that I was going back to the wishbone," Bell said. "That motivated them to help out the cause." A DOCTOR TOLD Ashland High girls basketball coach Ken Lathen that he had likely suffered a heart attack and had blockage in one or more arteries after he underwent a recent stress test. But a subsequent angiogram showed that Lathen had suffered neither. "I’d been having some heaviness in my chest and went to get checked out," Lathen says. "The final analysis was that I had about 10 percent blockage in my arteries, but they said that’s normal for a 59-year-old man." Lathen took the news as a warning and went on a diet. He omitted beef and processed foods from his menu and quickly lost 18 pounds. "I told a friend I got a new lease on life," Lathen says. "When something like this happens, it gets your attention." Lathen was named Southern Oregon Conference girls basketball coach of the year last season after leading Ashland to a 15-11 record and a share of the league title in his first year with the Grizzlies. 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 diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s