High school earns Oregonian Cup

Sisters High School has won the Oregonian Cup.

The award was presented at Friday's fall sports assembly. This was the first win for Sisters in the 13-year history of the Oregonian Cup competition. The Oregonian Cup originated in 1999 as a way to recognize overall excellence by schools in academics, activities and athletics.

"I am incredibly proud of our students in the way that they do a great job of balancing their academic focus with participation in co-curricular activities. It's a great day to be an Outlaw," said Superintendent Jim Golden when the award was announced in June.

The award is given by the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) yearly to the highest performing of the 290 schools and is broken into six levels of competition by the size of the school, from 1A through 6A. The award honors a school's students, teachers, coaches and the entire school community.

Addressing the assembly, new Athletic Director Tim Roth said, "I'm very excited and proud to be an Outlaw. This award that you guys are about to receive is not something that happens in one year. It takes many years in striving for excellence and commitment to athletics, academics and sportsmanship."

Molly Hays of the OSAA handed the large silver trophy to Pinky Pagano, longtime high school athletic secretary and enthusiastic Outlaws supporter. Hays said, "In athletics Sisters High was a championship participant in 14 different activities. It was also an ejection-free school last year, which deserves recognition. Sisters also placed in the top 10 in 19 different academic programs.

"In its truest sense this is a community award. It seems appropriate to recognize a community that obviously takes pride in their school and its students," said Hays.

Schools earn points based on their participation and finish in OSAA State Championships and for Top 10 finishes in the OSAA Academic All-State Program, sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Oregon. A sportsmanship component, whereby schools are awarded points each season for having no ejections, is included as well. Beyond the traditional OSAA sports, points are also awarded for competition in band, choir, solo music, speech, and cheerleading.

In the 4A category Sisters was competing with 43 similar-sized Oregon high schools. Sisters High racked up 2,797 points, followed by Klamath's Henley with 2,575 points. Portland's Jesuit High won the 6A competition for the ninth time, and Bend's Summit High won the 5A competition for a second time.

Summit and Sisters were the only non-private schools to win their respective classifications.

"We always say that this is a special place, and everyone feels it, but it is nice to have it recognized like this," said Sisters High School Principal Joe Hosang.