East Portland Schools’ Activities Round-up

At the end of each school quarter, the Memo marks the successes of area students and athletic teams. If we missed someone, let us know by e-mailing editor@midcountymemo.com or calling 503-287-8904. When you encounter young people in this community, know you are meeting some of Portland’s best and brightest.

Academic All-Stars
Mid-county student athletes excel in the classroom. The OSAA Academic All-Star program recognizes teams with a combined GPA of 3.0 or better. Members of top-10 schools in each activity at each classification are recognized with a commemorative pin. Earning those pins are Parkrose boys’ swimming at 3.63 (3rd place); Portland Adventist Academy boys’ basketball at 3.59 (5th place); Portland Christian girls’ basketball at 3.76 (6th place); and Parkrose girls’ basketball at 3.60 (8th place). Other teams with a combined GPA of 3.0 are:

City Christian boys’ basketball (3.16) and girls’ basketball (3.27); David Douglas boys’ swimming (3.30), cheerleading (3.27), dance and drill (3.09), girls’ basketball (3.28) and girls’ swimming (3.66); Parkrose boys’ basketball (3.04), cheerleading (3.12), and dance and drill (3.27); Portland Adventist Academy girls’ basketball (3.61); Portland Christian boys’ basketball (3.38); Portland Lutheran girls’ basketball (3.44) and dance and drill (3.40); Reynolds boys’ basketball (3.14), boys’ swimming (3.17), girls’ basketball (3.38) and girls’ swimming (3.64).

Boys’ basketball

After going 14-2 for a second-place finish in the Lewis & Clark League, Portland Adventist Academy earned a berth in the OSAA 3-A tournament. They too lost in first-round action—80-69 to Blanchet Catholic.

Trinity Lutheran School boys’ 7th and 8th grade basketball team had a regular season record of 21-4 and won the annual Lutheran Elementary School Tournament at Concordia University last month. Those successes propelled them into the Lutheran Basketball Association of America Tournament in Valparaiso, Ind. last month. Results of that tournament were not available at press time.

This season, boys’ basketball at Parkrose High School was high energy and high drama. The Broncos hosted a state tournament game for the first time in recent memory, beating the Ridgeview Ravens out of Redmond 102-86 in first-round action. As the 16 seed in the OSAA 5-A tournament in Corvallis, Parkrose lost in a heartbreaker to top-ranked Mountain View of Bend 63-61. Isaac Bonton, a 6’2” sophomore, was named Northwest Oregon Conference player of the year. He was joined on the conference all-star team by Isaac Mbuyamba (2nd team) and Chris Wilson (honorable mention.)

David Douglas Scots boys shared an equally dramatic end to their season. Sixth-ranked David Douglas beat Beaverton 68-82 in first round play at the OSAA 6A tournament in Chiles Center on the University of Portland campus, but lost by one point (56-55) to Lakeridge in second round action. They were 19-5 on the season.

Girls’ basketball
Portland Adventist Academy earned sixth place at state. PAA and Portland Christian girls’ basketball teams won first round games in the OSAA 2-A tournament. PAA beat Creswell 44-34. The Royals beat Lakeview 61-53. After losing second-round match ups, the teams faced one another.
Portland Christian was sent home losing 40-30 while Portland Adventist advanced in the consolation bracket only to lose to Amity 62-41.

City Christian lost to Western Mennonite, the eventual OSAA 2-A champions, 64-43 in its only state tournament game. The Lions finished third in Northwest League play.

Portland Lutheran suffered a similar fate in the OSAA 1- tournament. The Blue Jays hosted Falls City/Kings Valley Charter, beating them 50-39.
In second-round action, they went down 76-25 to Casco League champs and second-place finishers, Country Christian.

Cheerleading
Don’t suggest to the David Douglas High cheerleading squad that cheer is not a real sport. The Scots won the OSAA 5A/6A large division OSAA championship. They were also awarded the first ever Kim Hunter Positivity Award, which is given to honor the memory of the late cheerleading icon Kimberly Hunter, who succumbed to cancer in January. The award acknowledges positive attitude and team spirit.

Although some scoff at calling cheer a sport, school newspaper columnist and Highlander sports editor Elli Simotas supports the designation.

“The sport they participate in,” she says, “has the same components as any other sport—physical ability, competition and strategy.” In cheerleading competitions, Simotas points out, “competitors are scored on routine creativity, formations/spacing, synchronization, motions, voice, and overall impression.”

In addition to the varsity win, JV cheer won the OCCA cheer championships.

Chess
Shaver Elementary in the Parkrose School District earned a spot in the state chess tournament when the Tigers took second place in the Region 5 tournament held at their school. Game Maldonado took first place at the regional tournament while brothers Matthew and Benjamin Dobre each earned second-place finishes. All three qualified for individual berths in the state tournament. Making up the rest of the Tiger team are Yahir Ibanez, Orion Madrigal, Mac Napaa, Quincy Teklehiamanot, Hunter Napaa, Jonathan Evans and Andy Truong. The team is coached by Greg Nakashima.

Dance/drill
Parkrose Elite dance team racked up the points once again at the OSAA Dance and Drill championships. The team’s performance, called Architect of Light, earned them the second-place trophy in the show division. Rachel Billick-Smith and Mary Markham finished second and third, respectively, in the drill down competition. Team captains Abby Ma, Ilda Eufragio, Mary Markham were named to the all-state team.

David Douglas finished seventh, Reynolds finished eighth and Madison finished 10th in the show division as well.

Reading
Sacramento Elementary School fifth graders participated in the Oregon Battle of the Books. The Reading Warriors played with confidence and skill and worked well as a team. They won a match against Riverdale, but were ousted from the tournament by a much higher-ranked team. The team is coached by Sue Lampe, Adelia Hofeld and Stephanie Viegas Dias.

Swimming
Parkrose hosted the NWOC district swim meet. Bronco boys and girls each finished in sixth place.

For the seventh straight year, the David Douglas girls’ swim team has been undefeated in league competition. The Lady Scots retained the district title with a final team score of 369, nearly 70 points ahead of second-place Clackamas High School. The Scots placed 10th in the state championships.

Standouts on this year’s team were sophomores Fernanda Rodriguez and Mia Bagaric; juniors Elizabeth Fryer, Maggi Chan and Alina Bibik; and senior Pamela Kennedy. The boys’ team finished 10th in league competition.

Wrestling
David Douglas wrestlers earned second place at the OSAA 6-A tournament. Four Scots wrestlers earned finals berths: senior Andrew Curry (120 pounds), junior Osawaru Odighizuwa (285) and freshmen Anthony Cha (106) and Kyle Beal (113) wrestled for titles. Cha, Beal and Odighizuwa won their matches. Odighizuwa kept an undefeated string going and captured his second consecutive state title. “It feels great,” he said. “I’m going to go celebrate. This is great, second time, this is the best feeling in the world.”

Curry (120 pounds) took second; Brandin Colley (170) and Nadari Shabanov (132) made it to the semi-finals; Tristin Molinari (152) and Mamed Razatdinou (138) both had first round wins before losing in the second.

Brandon Thai (106) lost a first round match by fall.

Parkrose, Reynolds and Madison all sent representatives to state tournaments.

Pat MacAodha contributed to this report