News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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The annual Meet of Champions, held at Sweet Home High School on Saturday, April 27, featured an array of Outlaws standing high on the podium following season-best performances. The meet, which in recent years has been staged at Willamette University, took place at Sweet Home this year due to scheduling challenges. Due to the state meet being held a week earlier than normal, meet calendars for the 2019 season have been complicated for many schools since traditional dates for annual meets got jammed up, including the Sisters... Full story
The Summit Invitational attracted 30 teams from across Oregon, and even a few from Idaho. The meet included depth of talent rivaling the 4A state meet — which is what Coach Jeff Larson loves about the event. “Truly, each event was deeper than our state meet field will probably be in May,” he said. “It was an excellent mid-season test for our kids.” With so many schools involved, multiple heats were necessary to get everyone to the starting line, resulting in a meet that took about nine hours to complete. “It’s a... Full story
The track is finally clear of snow and the Outlaws boys track team got its first real taste of competition in meets last week. The Outlaws hosted Oregon West foes Sweet Home and Cascade, along with 2A Culver on Wednesday, April 10, under somewhat chilly conditions in the squad’s first true head-to-head competition of the season after only competing in the Crook County Relays to start the season before spring break. The team then traveled to La Pine for the annual La Pine I... Full story
The loss of some top performers to graduation last year has given the 2019 girls track team some big shoes to fill, and Coach Jeff Larson is pleased with the team’s spirit and performance now that the competitive season is getting into full swing. The team competed in two meets last week with a home meet April 10 and the La Pine Invitational April 13. “It’s hard to compare to last year since we lost two state-level sprinters and one state placer in the distances, but we’re... Full story
Sisters ultra-runner, Ashley Nordell, 38, put another feather in her cap with a big-time win at her favorite event, the Three Days of Syllamo, a three-day ultra-marathon stage race challenge held in northern Arkansas. Counting this year, Nordell has taken part in the Syllamo race nine times and the event remains her favorite among ultra marathon competitions, due in large part to the camaraderie that has developed among runners over the years. “It’s a very low-key sort of eve... Full story
After three-plus weeks of training, largely indoors, one canceled meet, and other challenges, the Sisters High School track and field team got its first taste of competition at the Crook County Relays held in Prineville on Thursday, March 21. A total of nine teams competed, including La Grande, Mountain View, North Lake, Redmond, Ridgeview, Paisley, Madras, and Sisters, along with the host Cowboys. Relay meets are common at the start of the season as a way to give athletes more of a “soft” entry into the season as vir... Full story
The 400 meter oval at Reed Stadium still lies a couple of feet beneath the snow from the massive storm two weeks ago, but the track team led by head coach Jeff Larson and his crew of assistants has not missed a beat as they train for the competitive season. “Of course we would much rather be out on the field,” said Larson, “but part of preparing athletes is teaching them to overcome adversity. The biggest challenge is taking a sport intended for outdoors and making it an indoor sport. Add to that limited gym space, large... Full story
Hundreds of young readers descended on Sisters Middle School for the annual Battle of the Books regional competition on Saturday, March 10. According to co-director Deb Riehle, a total of 43 teams from all grade divisions attended this year's event, which serves as a qualifier for the state competition, which is set for April 6. Teams came from throughout Central and Eastern Oregon, from as far away as Fossil and Burns. Preparation for Battle of the Books begins months ahead... Full story
Behind a second- and third-place finish in two events by Lydia Bartlett, the Sisters High School girls swim team wrapped up the season with an eighth-place team finish at the OSAA 4A/3A/2A/1A State Championships held February 15 and 16 at the Tualatin Valley Swim Center in Beaverton. Friday's preliminaries included 12 entrants in each event with the top six advancing to Saturday's finals. Bartlett came through as the top finisher in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle prelims but knew she would face her competitors' very... Full story
Governor Kate Brown paid a visit to Central Oregon on Friday, February 1, and made her first stop of the day in Redmond where she met with a group of 18 teachers and school counselors representing school districts in Madras, Prineville, Redmond, Bend, and Sisters. Among the group were Sisters Elementary teacher Clay Warburton and Sisters Middle School teacher Deborah Riehle. The Central Oregon office of Oregon Education Association helped organize the visit which was intended... Full story
Inspired by experiments planned in Rima Givot's chemistry class, four Sisters High School students submitted a proposal to the Asgard: Scientific Balloons for Space Education program. And for the second year in a row, a team from Sisters is one of 12 groups to be chosen from international submissions. Amy Hills traveled last year with 2018 graduate Ethan Ferwalt, so this is her second foray in this project. Her partners this year include junior Emma Farley, as well as fellow... Full story
After years of seeing cigarette smoking rates decline, a new nicotine phenomenon has taken hold in the United States through a clever marketing and manufacturing strategy by companies like Juul, resulting in a wave of teenage users who may not have any real comprehension of the health dangers involved. Welcome to the world of vaping, the common term for using e-cigarettes. Vaping devices are also common for ingesting marijuana products, but this article is focused primarily on nicotine use. Young people of Sisters have... Full story
I have often expounded on the mental-health benefits of running, and when I heard the term "mindfulness" for the 10,000th time in the last two years I thought it might be time to find out what the term means and how it might apply to my own life and those of the runners I know. The webzine Mindful defines mindfulness this way: "Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us." That sounds good, but how i... Full story
The Sisters Outlaws swim team members continued their assault on personal and season records at a dual meet versus Madras on January 12 at the Madras Aquatic Center. Official meet results were not published in a timely manner, but Head Coach Bryn Singleton reported notable highlights from the meet and shared what the team's focus has been as the squad moves beyond mid-season. "We have been working on more technical aspects of everyone's strokes this past week, and everyone really did a great job putting those things into... Full story
The Sisters High School swim teams broke into 2019 with solid performances at the Clemens Invitational, hosted by Philomath High School on Saturday, January 5. The girls team was slightly short-handed during the Christmas break and competed only in individual events. Laura Clem got things started for the team in the first individual event of the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:36.01, followed by Meredith Mandal's second-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:28.03). Brooke Robilla... Full story
The Sisters High School swimming team plunged into the season with back-to-back meets last weekend. Friday, December 7 at the Newport Quad meet, the Outlaws faced league rivals Newport and Sweet Home, along with 2A Kennedy High School. As the first competition of the season, the meet served as a conditioning check for the swimmers and gave Head Coach Bryn Singleton her first real look at how her veterans and newcomers look as a team. On the girls' side, Sweet Home flexed its muscles, winning all but one event for the day,... Full story
After picking up a fourth-place trophy at state last year, the girls swim team returns with three of its four scorers, giving reason to believe the squad will make some noise again this year, while the boys team will look to build on improvements from last season. Bryn Singleton is in her fifth year with the program and her second as head coach. She is assisted once again by Rosie Horton. After a record number of swimmers last year, the team is down to a bit more manageable number with a turnout of about 25 swimmers. Seniors... Full story
For the second week in a row the Sisters High School girls cross-country team left Head Coach Josh Nordell nearly speechless as the squad ran to a fourth place trophy as the OSAA 4A State Championships held Saturday, November 3, at Lane Community College in Eugene. "I knew we had an outside chance, but honestly I was thinking fifth or sixth place would be a successful day for us," he said. This came a week after an upset win at the Oregon West District meet on October 25. The... Full story
John Peckham's stellar sophomore season drew to a close Saturday, November 3, with a 15th-place finish at the OSAA State Championships at Lane Community College. Peckham's breakout season included a personal record of 16:05 at the Oregon West District meet on October 25, where he placed fifth in a field that ended up including four of the top 10 finishers at the state meet. On Saturday, the crowded field made the going tough for Peckham as he got caught in about 40th place... Full story
Sophomore John Peckham fulfilled one of his season goals for the cross-country season by qualifying for the 4A State Championships after finishing fourth at the Oregon West District Championships held Thursday, October 25, at Lane Community College. Peckham qualified as an individual by placing among the top five in the meet, crossing the line in 16:05, in fourth place. Mattheu Frazeur of Stayton won the race in 15:52, followed by teammate Ben Kirby (15:56), and Newport's... Full story
Last Wednesday afternoon, Head Coach Josh Nordell laid out a plan with the varsity cross-country team helping them know exactly what they would need to do to be one of the two teams to qualify for the state meet by being in the top two at the next day's Oregon West District Meet. With Philomath appearing to be a heavy favorite, Nordell's plan was focused on beating the Stayton Eagles for the second spot. Even that would require most of the team to run personal bests. In one... Full story
The Sisters Outlaws cross-country teams expect a competitive battle at the Oregon West District Championships this week. Based on performances at the Country Fair Classic at Richardson Park last Wednesday, they are ready. Elmira High School hosted the meet on the shores of Fern Ridge Reservoir. Nearly every varsity athlete ran either personal or season bests as the Outlaws put together their best single-meet effort of the season. Kate Bowen led by example, running a strategica... Full story
I have to be honest up front on this column: I have run the Hood-to-Coast Relay a number of times and also helped guide high school runners for many years in the Portland-to-Coast High School Challenge that runs in conjunction with Hood-to-Coast. What I have never understood - until I talked to Kathy Kemper-Zanck and Chris Davenport - is why anyone would ever take part in the Portland-to-Coast WALK. It takes more than a full 24 hours to complete (not counting travel), meaning that sleep, personal hygiene and normal meals are... Full story
Kolby Spink of Newport took the pace out hard at the Paul Mariman Invitational on Saturday, October 6. He must have been largely unaware of the battle taking place behind him for the runner-up spot. On the other hand, Ethan Hosang of Sisters, running a patient, smart race, was keenly aware as he moved up into the top four midway in the 5,000 meter race. He put the hammer down over the last 1,000 meters in his quest for second place. In the end, Hosang was overtaken by Brenden... Full story
In the words of Head Coach Josh Nordell, running a quality 5,000-meter requires a certain complicated sophistication. "There are actually more factors to races than most people realize," he explained. "There's the course, the conditions, the competition, the unforeseen surprises that the kids need to deal with to produce the outcome they desire." His philosophical words came after being asked to reflect on the Outlaws' progress as the season enters October, when meets really... Full story
