East County’s 2023 in Sports: Champions on the field, track, pool

Published 3:00 am Tuesday, January 2, 2024

There was plenty to cheer about in 2023 when it came to local sports.

Teams excelled on the field, track and pool with tons of individual honors, team trophies, championship rings, gold medals and new sports facilities.

Here are the top sports stories from the past year:

Estacada puts a ring on it

Story: tinyurl.com/4jmjzk54

The Rangers celebrated a special group of men with a massive, community-wide gathering filled with cheering family, friends, neighbors and loved ones. Oh, and there were massive state championship rings for all involved. In the spring the 2022 football state champs got their individual hardware for beating Tillamook 32-8 in the 4A title bout. That was the school’s first football state title.

Damascus track makes it two-in-a-row

Story: tinyurl.com/mppyvym3

Track and field isn’t often seen as a team sport, but for the Eagles girls last spring, it was all about coming together to once again stand atop the podium. Damascus Christian pulled off a repeat of the 1A girls state championship without having a single individual champion.

In lieu of those 10 team points for each gold, a balanced Eagles program spread its wings to scrape together 67 points as a group for the overall win.

Meet of medals

Stories: tinyurl.com/4u4wyap9 – tinyurl.com/4a6mpkus

A pair of East County track stars capped their high school careers with some hardware around their necks. During the OSAA Track & Field State Championships Barlow’s Micah Perry and Sandy’s Sydney Brewster both shined. Perry claimed a pair of golds, in the 110-hurdles and 300-hurdles; while Brewster placed on the podium for the javelin, shot put and discus.

Nine-man gridiron reset

Story: tinyurl.com/434upcxr

How to you revitalize a sports program seeking a win? In Corbett it was by making a sweeping change with a shift to 9-man football. The team dropped into 2A play, which pulls a pair of players off the field, and the results were immediate — a 30-0 win to kick-off the 2023 season. The new format also bolstered numbers, the team was up to more than 32 kids, enough to field a junior varsity team. And none of this is permanent, the plan is to regain the program’s footing with one more year of 9-man ball, before returning to 3A classification.

Centennial’s track goes blue

Story: tinyurl.com/yc7amvm9

Eagles athletes got a huge boon this fall with the unveiling of a new athletic facilities with some much-needed safety upgrades. The centerpiece was a turf football/soccer field, officially ending Centennial’s status as the only major school in East County without that type of playing surface — Reynolds doesn’t have one on-site, but plays at Mt. Hood Community College. Other things completed in Centennial’s first phase of its athletic improvements included seismic upgrades to the historic grandstands; more parking; better restrooms and locker rooms; and a striking, powder blue track.

World-class athletes

Stories: tinyurl.com/3rzz7c3v – tinyurl.com/22zrxtc5

East County is home to not just one international sports star, but a pair, shining in unique disciplines. Daryl Walker, who lives in Sandy and works at Rock Haven Climbing Gym, is a longtime member of Team USA’s goalball squad, which competes at the Paralympic Games. Goalball is for visually-impaired athletes, with competitors wearing eye masks and listening for a ball embedded with jingling bells. He earned a silver medal as part of the American “Redeem Team,” which turned international heads at the 2016 Rio Games after failing to qualify four years earlier.

Living in Corbett is Donna Walker, a powerlifter who set a world record this fall by hoisting 416.6 pounds competing for Team USA. She set her latest record, she also has dozens of historic marks set in Oregon and nationally, at the International Powerlifting League Drug-Tested World Competition in England. There she not only set her world record in the deadlift for her age and weight, but also claimed three gold medals.

Overtime champs make a splash

Story: tinyurl.com/5rmv8m6n

Barlow boys water polo claimed the program’s first-ever state title in a championship match not for the faint of heart. The Bruins surged back with an improbable 11-10 upset over two-time defending state champs Lake Oswego this fall. Barlow trailed the Lakers 8-5 with just three minutes left in regulation before mounting its furious comeback. Their first lead came in the opening minute of overtime. Eventually it spilled into a third, sudden-death overtime period, with the winning goal scored by Luke Riegelmann off a pass from goalkeeper Cole Christiansen.

Estacada bracket busters

Story: tinyurl.com/5has277z

Rangers boys soccer shocked bracketologists and delighted fans during a Cinderella postseason run that ended in the quarterfinals. As the No. 14 seed they downed No. 3 Stayton 3-2 in the first round of the 4A state championships. Leading the way for Estacada was star senior forward Jose Gonzalez-Felician, who had a brace in the win, with the third goal courtesy senior Gener Pinto-Dominguez.

Players of the year

Barlow girls soccer swept the Mt. Hood Conference all-league honors — forward Katya Tercek, defender Kaisa Asberg and goalie Kassidy Waibel — for their respective roles; Barlow’s Jalen Atkins was the Mt. Hood boys basketball player of the year and Gresham’s Scotty Riddle and Barlow’s Jahvari Martino were the co-defenders of the year; Barlow’s Kennedie Shuler was the Mt. Hood girls basketball co-player of the year; Barlow’s Peyton Trickel was the Mt. Hood softball player of the year; Estacada senior striker Jose Gonzalez-Felician was the Tri-Valley Conference’s boys soccer player of the year; Barlow’s Lilly Knight was the Mt. Hood volleyball player of the year; and Corbett junior Greta Miller was the Coastal League volleyballs player of the year.