Document text
Cavers lose some, gain some, and they're still the team to beat By KRIS HENRY Roger Stewart knows his Grants Pass boys track and field team is the favorite to win a second straight Southern Oregon Conference title. The Caver coach also knows that fact has more to do with the athletes suiting up for his team than the coaching behind the scenes. "It's one of those times you're blessed as a coach," he says of the gluttony of talent at Grants Pass. "You look at it and it puts a smile on your face. It's not every year where you return so many quality athletes." Grants Pass edged Ashland for the SOC boys title last season, and dreamily went into the offseason set to return all but John Opelt, who was lost to graduation. Time, however, has a way of changing perspective as the SOC opens its season today. "That's what it looked like on paper but we've lost some other people since then," Stewart says of his team's expected dominance headed into the 2000 campaign. "It's not going to be as easy as it looked at the end of last year when we graduated seven points from the number we scored at the district meet." Several district placers scheduled to return for Grants Pass instead will miss the season due to injuries, transfers or other interests. Missing from action this season will be Armando Lara, who placed fourth in the 400 meters last year and ran on both relay squads; Trenton Ray, who placed third in the shot put; Brian Stout, who was sixth in the 200, eighth in the 100 and 200 and also was on the relay team; Jeremy McLean, who finished fourth in the 3,000 and fifth in the 1,500; and Chris Leach, who placed third in the pole vault. Another top Caver, Cameron Watts, was in a recent car accident and injured his tailbone. Stewart says Watts' status is uncertain, which deals another blow to the Grants Pass machine since Watts placed third in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump last season. Despite the dropoff, no one is backing down from the prediction that the Cavers are the team to beat. "They look even better this year," South Medford coach Bill Rowan says after seeing early results by Grants Pass. "This year they can make a run at a state trophy if they get everyone in line." With returners like Jake Zeliff, Parker Lane, Eddie Blay and Mike Thomson, along with a healthy Mike DeLaGrange, the Cavemen have more than enough chances to score points. New additions to the talent pool include Nick Amaranthus, a transfer from St. Mary's, Colin Janke, a transfer from Washington, and Brandon Hamada, one of the SOC's top tailbacks in football. "It's like you fall in mud and come out smelling like a rose," Stewart says. "We have someone to fill the void in all those places." Sophomore returner Tom Martin will also be called upon by Stewart in a more prominent role this season. "I think people will be surprised with how fast Tom Martin runs the 400 this year," says Stewart. "He's going to be an outstanding 400 meter runner for us. He's also going to go over six feet in high jump." Stewart is also high on Zeliff, who has worked on his flexibility and continues his decathlete pursuits. "He should have a tremendous spring," says Stewart. "He's doing things right now in practice that he never came close to last year. He is one of the best athletes in the state of Oregon." Stewart says that Zeliff's stock would be even higher if he wasn't so set on being a decathlete in college. "If we focused him in one or two events, he'd probably compete for a state championship in any of those events," says the coach. "It's a really unique situation." So far, the Cavers' preseason meets have provided unique situations across the board for Stewart. Early indicators show that Grants Pass stands to have three sprinters under 11 seconds in the 100 and under 23 seconds in the 200 in Lane, Amaranthus and Blay. Under Stewart, the Cavers hadn't run under 44 seconds in the short relay in the first meet of the season until this season. The grouping of Hamada, Amaranthus, Blay and Lane ran a 43.6 recently. The Cavemen ran a 43.55 to win last year's district meet. Despite the gaudy numbers and potential at Grants Pass, Stewart says the Cavemen don't stand a chance if they're not focused heading into the SOC season. "All the potential and talent in the world doesn't mean anything if you're not committed to making it happen," says Stewart. If top stature is given to those who stood the tallest at the state meet last season, then Grants Pass is overshadowed by athletes from South Medford, North Medford and Klamath Union. South returns arguably one of the nation's finest distance runners in senior Perry Custance, who placed third in the 800 and fourth in the 1,500 at the state meet. "He's probably going to be the finest distance runner we've had out of Medford by the time he's done," Rowan says of the Panther leader. Right next to Custance is Klamath Union senior Ian Dobson, who was second in the 1,500 and fourth in the 3,000 at the state meet. Another Pelican state placer, Evan Garich, will look to improve on his fifth-place mark in the 800. North senior Nick Dunn took seventh in the 400 and fourth in the 300 intermediate hurdles at state. Scott Myers will look to defend his district discus title. Ashland senior Chris Phillips appears ready to take on the challenge of defending his 100 and 200 titles, with senior Ben Bryan looking to make more strides in the hurdles for the Grizzlies. "He's been working hard," Ashland coach Bob Julian says of Phillips. "He's looking to defend his championships and is looking healthy and ready to go." Ashland will also get a boost with the return of senior Kass Lane, who was ineligible last season but ran a 2:01 in the 800 as a sophomore. Roseburg's Nick Pappas stands to be a top threat in the sprints once again, along with Thomas O'Brien of North Medford. Conway Bixby split time between the Roseburg baseball and track teams last season, but coach Mike Bober says the standout sprinter will be a full-time feature to the track troupe this season. Leading the way for Eagle Point stands to be John Bilden and Nick Rouhier in the sprints, with Blake Cam and Issac Johnson setting the standard in the throws. Crater's Scott Toney and Mike Moore head the charge for the Comets, with Toney and Moore seeking to defend district titles in the shot put and pole vault, respectively. SOC boys track 1999 District Results Grants Pass 139, Ashland 137, North Medford 90, South Medford 70, Crater 63, Roseburg 57, Klamath Union 56, Eagle Point 51. Returning District Placers (District meet marks) 100 -- 1, Chris Phillips, Ashland, sr., 11.3; 3, Parker Lane, Grants Pass, jr., 11.43; 4, Nick Pappas, Roseburg, sr., 11.48; 5, Thomas O'Brien, North Medford, jr., 11.53; 6, Eddie Blay, Grants Pass, sr., 11.56. 200 -- 1, Chris Phillips, Ashland, sr., 22.98; 2, Parker Lane, Grants Pass, jr., 23.29; 3, Thomas O'Brien, North Medford, jr., 23.33; 4, Eddie Blay, Grants Pass, sr., 23.36; 5, John Bilden, Eagle Point, sr., 23.51; 7, Jesse Jones, Ashland, sr., 23.75. 400 -- 1, Nick Dunn, North Medford, sr., 50.29; 2, Simon Driskell, North Medford, sr., 50.97; 5, Jesse Jones, Ashland, sr., 52.36; 6, Matt Parish, North Medford, jr., 52.41. 800 -- 1, Perry Custance, South Medford, sr., 1:55.94; 2, Evan Garich, Klamath Union, sr., 1:57.87; 3, Shaun Olson, South Medford, so., 2:00.56; 4, Aaron Scholl, Ashland, jr., 2:02.54; 6, Dana Thomas, Grants Pass, sr., 2:03.24; 7, Brandon Jones, Ashland, sr., 2:03.68; 8, Simon Driskell, North Medford, sr., 2:05.61. 1,500 -- 1, Perry Custance, South Medford, sr., 4:01.20; 2, Ian Dobson, Klamath Union, sr., 4:03.36; 6, Brian Parmer, Grants Pass, jr., 4:13.02; 7, Phil Morton, Klamath Union, jr., 4:15.06; 8, Joel Sullivan, South Medford, sr., 4:15.39. 3,000 -- 1, Ian Dobson, Klamath Union, sr., 8:43.8; 3, Nick Fikes, Ashland, sr., 9:13.8; 5, Jimmy Addison, Klamath Union, jr., 9:19.1; 6, Jacob Gomez, Klamath Union, so., 9:21.9; 7, Chris Roberts, Roseburg, jr., 9:22.5. 110 HIGH HURDLES -- 3, Ben Bryan, Ashland, sr., 15.38; 5, Mike Thomson, Grants Pass, sr., 15.60; 6, Nick Pappas, Roseburg, sr., 15.88; 7, L.J. Newsom, Klamath Union, sr., 16.15; 8, Luke Lathen, Grants Pass, jr., 16.21. 300 INTERMEDIATE HURDLES -- 2, Nick Dunn, North Medford, sr., 39.83; 4, Ben Bryan, Ashland, sr., 41.30; 5, Nick Pappas, Roseburg, sr., 42.23;6; 7, Brennan Garrelts, Roseburg, so., 43.19; 8, Tom Martin, Grants Pass, so., 43.50. LONG JUMP -- 2, Jake Zeliff, Grants Pass, sr., 20-7; 3, L.J. Newsom, Klamath Union, sr., 20-5; 4, Tyler Mitchell, Roseburg, sr., 20-3; 6, Conway Bixby, Roseburg, jr., 19-10; 7, Cameron Watts, Grants Pass, sr., 19-9; 8, Kevin Ludlow, North Medford, sr., 19-8. TRIPLE JUMP -- 1, Jake Zeliff, Grants Pass, sr., 43-10; 3, Cameron Watts, Grants Pass, sr., 42-2; 7, L.J. Newsom, Klamath Union, sr., 16.15. SHOT PUT -- 1, Scott Toney, Crater, sr., 51-0; 4, Jake Zeliff, Grants Pass, sr., 48-4; 5, Scott Myers, North Medford, jr., 47-11; 6, Justin Baehmann, North Medford, jr., 47-8; 7, Robin Knebel, Roseburg, sr., 47-7; 8, David Vevoda, Crater, sr., 46-8. DISCUS -- 1, Scott Myers, North Medford, jr., 161-2; 3, Jake Zeliff, Grants Pass, sr., 148-7; 4, Ryan Davis, Roseburg, so., 139-1; 7, Brian Helman, Crater, jr., 134-0; 8, Robin Knebel, Roseburg, sr., 129-9. JAVELIN -- 6, Robert Costa, Grants Pass, sr., 150-6; 7, Evan Goulette, Grants Pass, jr., 149-10; 8, Tim Miner, North Medford, sr., 149-7. HIGH JUMP -- 1, Josh Jones, Crater, sr., 6-2; 2, Colin Grant, South Medford, sr., 6-1; 3, L.J. Newsom, Klamath Union, sr., 6-0; 5, Tyler Mitchell, Roseburg, sr., 6-0. POLE VAULT -- 1, Mike Moore, Crater, jr., 13-4; 4, Kyle Hayes, Grants Pass, sr., 12-5; 5, Bob Tukuawfu, Ashland, sr., 12-0; 8, Mike Thomson, Grants Pass, sr., 12-0. 1999 State Results 11, Ashland, 18; 12, Klamath Union, 17; 18, North Medford, 13; 21, South Medford, 11; 44, Eagle Point, 4. Returning State Placers (State meet marks) 400 -- 7, Nick Dunn, North Medford, sr., 50.88. 800 -- 3, Perry Custance, South Medford, sr., 1:58.16; 5, Evan Garich, Klamath Union, sr., 1:59.20. 1,500 -- 2, Ian Dobson, Klamath Union, sr., 3:59.38; 4, Perry Custance, South Medford, sr., 4:00.79. 3,000 -- 4, Ian Dobson, Klamath Union, sr., 8:34.37. 300 INTERMEDIATE HURDLES -- 4, Nick Dunn, North Medford, sr., 39.75. State Qualifiers Top two finishers in each event in the district finals, plus those meeting performance standards based on recent state meets. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA