Young athletes from throughout the Lincoln City area were supported by coaches Nicole Kelso and Tonia Anderson’s young cheerleaders Saturday during their first performance at soccer competition at Voris Field.
The young spirit leaders, who have been training since the end of school in June, will perform next at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Voris Field.
Lincoln City Youth Cheerleaders is a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Central Oregon Coast Athletics’ Breakers.
Interest in Taft High 7-12 girls soccer — which numbers 21 varsity players, including 12 underclassmen this season — is reflective of the growth in high school girls sports programs nationwide, according to figures released recently by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Led by an additional 15,009 athletes in girls programs — such as the crowded gym full of players at Thursday’s Lincoln County Volleyball Jamboree in Toledo — the number of participants in high school sports increased for the 29th consecutive year in 2017-18, according to the NFHS’s annual High School Athletics Participation Survey.
The number of participants in high school sports last season reached a record 7,979,986, according to figures from the 51 NFHS member state high school associations, which includes the District of Columbia. The number of girls participating in high school sports reached a high of 3,415,306, and boys participation set a standard at 4,564,680.
While the number of additional participants (16,451) was not as substantial as the previous year (94,635), a steady increase in several boys and girls sports extended the streak to a record 29th year.
Among boys sports, soccer registered the largest gain with 6,128 additional participants. Other boys sports with sizeable gains were cross country (3,824), volleyball (3,767) and golf (2,558).
For the second consecutive year, competitive spirit had the largest increase among girls sports with an additional 18,426 participants, followed by swimming and diving (4,797), lacrosse (3,431) and golf (3,176).
With 1,035,942 participants, 11-player football remains the No. 1 participatory sport for boys in high school by a large margin. Outdoor track and field is No. 2 with 600,097 participants, followed by basketball (551,373), baseball (487,097), soccer (456,362), cross country (270,095), wrestling (245,564), tennis (158,151), golf (144,024) and swimming/diving (138,935).
Outdoor track and field continues to lead the way for girls with 488,592 participants, followed by volleyball (446,583), basketball (412,407), soccer (390,482), fast-pitch softball (367,861), cross country (223,518), tennis (190,768), swimming/diving (175,594), competitive spirit (162,669) and lacrosse (96,904).
Despite remaining the top participatory sport for boys, 11-player football dropped for the second consecutive year. The decline in numbers, however, was not as high as 2016, and participation in six-player and eight-player football continued to trend upward. In 2017, participation in 11-player football was 1,035,942, a 2 percent decline of 21,465 from the previous year. The decline from 2015 to 2016 was 27,865, or 2.5 percent.
While there have been some recent reports about schools dropping football for the 2018 season because of declining numbers, the overall number of schools discontinuing 11-player football before the 2017 season was minimal – a decline of 20 schools from 14,099 to 14,079.
With 14,079 schools sponsoring 11-player football nationally, the loss of 21,465 participants amounts to 1.5 per school. And, although the 11-player numbers were down, the number of schools sponsoring 6-player football increased from 259 to 317, and school sponsorship of eight-player football increased from 841 to 847. Overall, the number of high schools sponsoring football (combining six-, eight-, nine- and 11-player) increased by 29 schools – from 15,457 to 15,486.
The overall number of participants in football (six-, eight-, nine- and 11-player) in 2017 was 1,067,970, which includes 2,401 girls playing the various levels of the sport. The 21,465 decline in 11-player participation was evenly distributed across the country with no states reporting significant drops in football numbers.
“There are many positives about the numbers in this year’s sports participation survey,” said Karissa Niehoff, who began her duties as NFHS executive director earlier this month after eight years as executive director of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference-Connecticut Association of Schools. “First, the upward trek of interest in high school sports continued for the 29th consecutive year. The model of sports within the education-based school system continues to thrive in the United States.
“Second, we are encouraged that the decline in high school football has slowed due, in part, to our efforts in reducing the risk of injury in the sport. While there may be other reasons that students elect not to play football, we have attempted to assure student-athletes and their parents that thanks to the concussion protocols and rules in place in every state in the country, the sport of football is as safe as it ever has been.”
In addition to playing rules in place that remove an athlete from a game when a concussion in suspected, states have enacted rules that limit the amount of contact before the season and during practices. With a more directed focus on risk minimization related to concussions the past 10 years, two recent studies have revealed that the rate of concussions has decreased the past couple of years due to more stringent rules related to protecting the head.
This year’s survey indicated participation by high school students in 65 different sports, as well as 13 adapted sports for students with disabilities. Some of the more popular non-traditional sports were badminton (17,898), archery (10,460) and fencing (4,513), along with two relative newcomers – bass fishing and ultimate Frisbee.
Some of the emerging sports during the past decade continued their rise on the charts. Lacrosse now has 210,217 combined participants (113,313 boys, 96,904 girls), and bowling is up to 60,039 participants nationwide (32,159 boys, 27,880 girls).
“It is great to see new sport opportunities created to involve as many students as possible in high school sports,” Niehoff said. “While we continue to try to make football a viable option, we understand that some parents continue to have a concern about the physical nature of the sport. Certainly, the goal is to involve more and more young people in sports and activity programs because the benefits of participating in sports and activities is the same whether it is football, baseball, lacrosse, music, band or debate.”
The top 10 states by participants remained the same. However, Ohio moved ahead of Illinois into fourth place this year. Texas and California topped the list with 824,619 and 819,625 participants, respectively, followed by New York (378,065), Ohio (347,567), Illinois (338,848), Pennsylvania (319,867), Florida (311,361), Michigan (296,625), New Jersey (281,800) and Minnesota (240,433).
The participation survey has been compiled in its current form by the NFHS since 1971 through numbers it receives from its member state associations. The top 10 sports for boys and girls and the year-by-year participation totals are listed below. The complete 2017-18 High School Athletics Participation Survey is available via the following link: http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatistics/ParticipationStatistics/
About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)
The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 16 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,500 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including almost 8 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.
Lincoln County School District personnel spent Monday getting to know and begin training for the new teachers in North County. They include:
Row 1 (from left): Kathleen Grove, Jennifer Torres, Ashley Shoman, Gwen Lahti, Erika Early, Kristina Pico, Wynn Arellano, Chloe Migliaccio
Row 2: Kelly Geerdes, Carlie Dennison-Leonard, JoBeth Rube, Christine Brown, Christina Johnson
Row 3: Susan O’Leary, Caitlin Loughran, Joanne Tomlin, Betty McDaniel
Back: Robb Ellis, Felicia Lambie, Nichole LeSage, Elizabeth Pettinger, Kami Smith, Sam Moore
Lincoln County Task Force 56 returned Sunday from the Ramsey Canyon Road fire near Gold Hill after helping control a blaze that triggered an evacuation warning.
The local firefighters were the first-arriving Office of State Fire Marshal Task Force crew in the area and remained for four days conducting structural protection and triage during the day shift, North Lincoln County Fire and Rescue officials said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared the fire a “conflagration” on Thursday, allowing state resources to be called on as necessary. Four structural task forces and more than 360 personnel from nearby counties helped fight the fire.
Separate searches conducted this weekend by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Deputies resulted in the discovery of a lost hunter and a deceased female within a 24-hour period.
Ground and motorized search teams joined a man-tracking team for five hours Friday before discovering the body of a deceased female 1.6 miles from an abandoned vehicle located approximately 4.5 miles up a logging road outside of Lincoln City.
Detectives said no foul play is suspected in the unidentified woman’s death.
On Saturday, deputies and volunteers responding to the area of Forest Service Road 5100, located an experienced hunter through GPS findings after he was reported missing by his wife.
Taft High’s underclassmen helped overcome the absence of several team members Saturday to help the Tigers launch the 2018 volleyball season with mixed success in a six-team preseason tournament in Warrenton.
“I am very proud of how the girls did,” Coach Kelsey Hart said, “We struggled a bit, and definitely identified some areas and skills to work on, but there were flashes of greatness. We were playing with only two-thirds of our team, so everyone got a ton of great game experience.”
Freshmen Lily Hatton, Shelline Nerup and Logan Jack joined sophomore Jordyn Ramsey to “really step up and got a feel for what it will be like on the varsity squad,” Hart said.
Hatton had the most service aces for the Tigers, while senior middle blocker Maleah Smith “had an amazing day, and was one of our most consistent, aggressive servers, and put up some monster blocks,” Hart said.
The second-year Taft coach said senior outside hitter Savannah Russo was “a hitting powerhouse,” and senior setter Lilly Salsbery and junior libero Corey Van Damme “did a great job running the court in tough situations.”
“Both had very consistent serving days,” she said.
“The competition at the Warrenton Tournament is always great, and pushes us to play our best,” said Hart, whose Tigers earned victories over Knappa and Clatskanie and challenged Nestucca, Culver and Warrenton. “We are looking forward to rematches this season with several of the teams we played yesterday. They were tough competition, and I can’t wait to see how we improve against them as we move forward.”
Roster
| No | Name | Position | Grade | ||
| 1 | Lilly Salsbery | S | 12 | ||
| 3 | Caitlyn Rundstrom | OH/RS | 12 | ||
| 4 | Logan Jack | RS/OH | 9 | ||
| 5 | Charlotte Huppert | RS/MB | 12 | ||
| 7 | Savannah Russo | OH | 12 | ||
| 8 | Shelline Nerup | MB/OH | 9 | ||
| 9 | Makena Cole | RS/OH | 10 | ||
| 11 | Lily Hatton | S | 9 | ||
| 12 | Jordyn Ramsey | DS/RS | 10 | ||
| 14 | Maleah Smith | MB | 12 | ||
| 16 | Corey Van Damme | L | 11 | ||
| 17 | Jazmyn Reyes-Cornejo | DS | 12 |
Well-wishers looked on Saturday to honor former community leaders Kenny Sr. and Lucille Morgan and family at the dedication of the Morgan Family Stage at Regatta Park.
Kenny, a local grocer and the first mayor of Oceanlake before Lincoln City’s incorporation, passed away on June 9, 1997, while wife Lucille died on Nov. 3, 2012. They were married on Dec. 10, 1938.
The Morgans are survived by five children, Tom Morgan, Carol Cruickshank, Kenny Morgan, Ronnie Malone and Patti Smith, 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
The Morgan Family Stage is a Ford Family Foundation Lincoln City Cohort 1 Project.
When Google accepted Lincoln City Homepage’s application this year to be a part of its Google News, it was a monumental cause for celebration among the staff. Now, Apple, the multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., has accepted Homepage into its Apple News platform.
Owners of the iPhone and iPad can now find Homepage news and sports stories in the News app on their devices.
“This expands our reach to all countries on Earth, and it’s a pretty big deal,” Homepage Publisher Justin Werner said. “There are still some kinks to work out with the layout on Apple News, but we are working with the Apple team to make Homepage as good as it can be on their platform.”
Some technologies Homepage uses to disseminate the news are not supported on Apple News, such as Facebook-embedded videos and the Facebook Page plugin. Users will not be able to see videos when viewing articles on Apple News.
If you are viewing this on an Apple device, you can click this link to see Lincoln City Homepage on Apple News: https://apple.news/T_o0-Cg3eROWhJpiicA85yg
Coquille, Newport, Tillamook and Toledo high schools joined the host Taft Tigers on Friday for the Lincoln County Football Jamboree at Voris Field.
Lincoln County Football Jamboree 2018
Taft 7-12 Tigers hosted the Lincoln County Football Jamboree Friday night. JV and varsity teams played Toledo, Newport, Coquille and Tillamook high schools. The exibition event was at Voris Field in Lincoln City.
Posted by Lincoln City Homepage on Friday, August 24, 2018
Junior varsity and varsity squads ran a series of plays on a divided field for about three hours in preparation for the upcoming season. A set of contests were played on a 40-yard field using NHFS/OSAA rules. Each team was entitled 18 offensive snaps.
The Tigers open their season Friday, Aug. 31, at Harrisburg. The Newport Cubs open their season Friday at Tillamook, while the Toledo Boomers are at Nestucca.
A base group of experienced returning players and a crop of fresh faces promise to provide an interesting mix for the Taft High volleyball team in its 2018 debut in the newly formed Class 3A Cascade Range League.
Four key players return to lead the Tigers, while several underclassmen will immediately step into pivotal roles when the Tigers open play Saturday morning in a nonleague four-team tournament in Warrenton.
“Our goals this season are to grow as a program,” second-year Taft Coach Kelsey Hart said. “We have a very young team, so our goal will be to increase our skills and build a strong team culture.”
Senior Maleah Smith should be among the players to lead the way on the front row for Taft.
“She’s got a great passion for blocking, and has been working hard on her attacks,” Hart said.
Fellow senior Caitlyn Rundstrom could be Taft’s strongest player physically, and the most versatile on the scoring end.
“She’s got a cannon for an arm, and has very powerful attacks and serves,” Hart said. “I’m excited for all of the offensive options she gives us.”
Strong-serving senior Savannah Russo will patrol the outside and is expected to give the Tigers an immediate spark from the service stripe.
“She has always been a very consistent, reliable player,” Hart said. “She brings a great amount of control and steadiness to our team. And, her serves are killer.”
Aggressive net play will dictate the Tigers’ ability to force the action this season, Hart said.
“I think we will have a strong offense from our front row,” she said. “Specifically, our seniors [Maleah, Caitlyn and Savannah] will be very strong and play key roles in our offense.”
Another senior, Lilly Salsbery, is expected to oversee the offense.
“She is our returning setter, and has been doing a great job running the floor at practice,” Hart said. “She does a great job making sure everyone is in the right place, communicating about sets-plays, and just generally being a good leader.”
A trio of new faces will complement the Tigers’ play, including promising ninth-grader Lily Hatton.
“As a freshman on varsity, she has some big shoes to fill, but her hands are great and she’s learning to be a confident leader on the court,” Hart said.
Defensive specialist Corey Van Damme will likely prove a commodity along the baseline.
“Her movement and presence in the back row will help our team be successful this year,” Hart said.
Another freshman, Shelline Nerup, gives the Tigers a new look near the net.
“Her skills are still raw, but with the improvement she’s made in the last week, I am very excited for the contributions she’ll make to our offense in the front row,” Hart said.
Two more seniors – defensive specialist Jazmyn Reyes-Cornejo and middle blocker and right-side player Charlotte Huppert – join sophomore outside/right side hitter Makena Cole, sophomore right side/defensive specialist Jordyn Ramsey and freshman outside/defensive specialist Logan Jack as key components to the Tigers’ hopes for success.
“Our team is very young, so our biggest challenge will be to quickly bring up the skill levels of our younger players,” Hart said. “I am looking to my seniors and juniors to help mentor our younger players.”
“I am excited to see where this season takes our program,” Hart said. “We have a huge potential for growth this year. Our group of young women is committed to getting better, working as a team, and improving our program.”
| No | Name | Position | Grade | ||
| 1 | Lilly Salsbery | S | 12 | ||
| 3 | Caitlyn Rundstrom | OH/RS | 12 | ||
| 4 | Logan Jack | RS/OH | 9 | ||
| 5 | Charlotte Huppert | RS/MB | 12 | ||
| 7 | Savannah Russo | OH | 12 | ||
| 8 | Shelline Nerup | MB/OH | 9 | ||
| 9 | Makena Cole | RS/OH | 10 | ||
| 11 | Lily Hatton | S | 9 | ||
| 12 | Jordyn Ramsey | DS/RS | 10 | ||
| 14 | Maleah Smith | MB | 12 | ||
| 16 | Corey Van Damme | L | 11 | ||
| 17 | Jazmyn Reyes-Cornejo | DS | 12 |
Junior varsity roster pending
The Tigers, who open their 2018 volleyball season Saturday morning in Warrenton, joined squads from Newport, Waldport and host Toledo on Thursday for the Lincoln County Jamboree.
Taft Coach Kelsey Hart said the preseason exhibition matches served as an adequate barometer as to where her team stands and what it needs to work on in its four nonleague matches before the Cascade Range League opener Sept. 13 at home against Rainer.
“We came out a bit rough, and didn’t do some of the key things we’ve been working on, namely communication, keeping a positive attitude and ball control,” Hart said. “The girls had a brief team meeting between games 1 and 2, and came out looking like the team I knew they could be.”
Hart said she was particularly proud of the way the Tigers performed against Newport and Waldport.
“Both teams had solid front-row hitters, but Corey [Van Damme], Savannah [Russo], and Caitlyn [Rundstrom] really stepped up their defense and passing,” she said. “Once we improved our defense and ball control, we were able to get more balls to our setters.”
Hart said senior setter Lilly Salsbery and freshman setter Lily Hatton “made great decisions about where to send the ball,” and senior outside players Rundstrom and Russo “had some amazing attacks.”
“I’m super-excited to see what they can do Saturday,” she said.
If there was a trouble spot, Hart said it came from behind the baseline, where the Tigers’ serving was off target early against Toledo. However, senior middle blocker Maleah Smith produced a big run of serves that gave Taft a solid lead against Waldport.
“While we have a whole list of things we need to work on, I am beyond proud of my team and am so excited to see where this season takes us,” Hart said.
The Tigers will get a quick examination at where they stand in comparison to two of their four conference opponents beginning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Warrenton as the host Warriors and Clatskanie are co-members of the newly formed Coastal Range League. Toledo (Class 2A Sunset) and Jewell (Class 1A Casco) will also participate.
8/23 5 p.m. vs. Lincoln County Jamboree
8/25 8 a.m. @ Warrenton
9/11 6 p.m. @ Yamhill-Carlton
9/18 5:30 p.m. @ Clatskanie*
10/4 5:30 p.m. vs. Clatskanie*
10/6 8 a.m. @ Western Christian
* Denotes league match
