photo of Pat Madden

Here’s a list of some of the contenders for this year’s IMC district XC title.
Name, School, Grade, Best time this season, Last year’s IMC placing, Last year’s State placing:

GIRLS
Kellie Foley, Crook County, 11, 1st IMC, 1st State (The reigning state champion hasn’t run a prep race since the first of the season. Not sure if she’ll be competing @ Districts)
Kellie Schueler, Summit, 12, 18:19, 3rd IMC, 5th State
Megan Fristoe, Summit, 10, 18:21, 2nd IMC, 4th State
Brit Oliphant, Summit, 9, 18:53
Mimi Seeley, Bend, 12, 18:34, 9th IMC, 31st State
Catherine Theobald, Bend, 12, 18:55, 31st IMC
Angelica Rodriguez, Hermiston, 12, 19:10
Jessica Wolfe, MV, 19:15, 4th IMC, 8th State

BOYS
Pat Madden, Summit, 12, 16:01, 2nd IMC, 19th State
Cameron Clark, Summit, 11, 16:19, 9th IMC, 57th State
Travis Neuman, Summit, 9, 16:30
Javier Velasco, Hermiston, 10, 16:45
Eduardo Juarez, Hermiston, 9, 16:56
Luke Hinz, Summit, 9, 17:02

Schedule of events Saturday @ the Bend Pine Nursery:
1.00 Varsity Girls
1.30 Varsity Boys
2.00 JV Girls
2.30 JV Boys
3.15 Awards

(Home team in CAPS)
WEST SALEM 51 Redmond 36
HERMISTON 42 Summit 10
MOUNTAIN VIEW 38 Crook County 7
PENDLETON 53 Madras 6
BEND 33 The Dalles-Wahtonka 13
SISTERS 27 Elmira 14
BLANCHET 48 Culver 6

Bend needs to win its game at Summit next week to win the IMC crown!

• Mark Morical’s final Mt. Bike article of the year.
• “Storm top Cougs to win IMC” – boys soccer.
• Blazers lose to Denver – you’ve got to make your free throws!
• Oregon vs USC article.

Here’s a quick preview of tonight’s prep football games involving Central Oregon schools:

• Summit (0-8) @ Hermiston (4-3)
- The Storm will be looking for their first win of the season.
- The Bulldogs have lost three of their last four (but those three losses were against quality teams.
• Crook County (2-6) @ Mountain View (6-1)
- The Cougars only loss all year was to Bend High and they are riding a three-game win streak.
- The Cowboys are 2-2 in the IMC and could still make the playoffs.
• Madras (1-7) @ Pendleton (3-4)
- The White Buffaloes are playing an independent schedule, but facing several IMC teams this year. Their lone win was against Crook County
- Pendleton is 1-4 in the IMC and pretty much out of the playoff hunt.
• The Dalles-Wahtonka (6-1) @ Bend (6-2)
- TDW started off the season 6-0, then they lost to MV last week.
- Bend has won 4 games in a row and controls its own destiny in hopes of winning a league title.
• Redmond (0-7) @ West Salem (6-1)
- The winless Panthers only have two more games in the Central Valley Conference, before joining the Central Oregon “Hybrid” next year. It should be a welcomed move.
- West Salem sits atop the CVC at 4-0.
• Elmira (2-6) @ Sisters (3-5)
• Junction City (3-5) @ La Pine (3-5)
• Culver (2-5) @ Blanchet (4-4)

This is a list that’ll be updated every time a league champion is crown in the Intermountain Conference or if a non-IMC Central Oregon team wins a league title:

IMC BOYS SOCCER
Summit – 1st ever

IMC GIRLS SOCCER
Bend – 7th straight

On the boys side, Summit needed a win or a tie in the final game of the IMC season against Mountain View and the Storm scored a 1-0 victory.

On the girls side, a win by Bend over Crook County and a tie between Summit and Mountain View game the Lava Bears their seventh-straight IMC girls soccer title.

I’ve already been getting great input on links that I am missing. Please keep that input coming. You can either E-mail me joshuac@bendbroadband.com or you can join our facebook group. Also, please let me know of any blogs I am missing.

I have several categories still to add.

With the Intermountain Conference coming to an end after this year, being replaced by a “hybrid league” today could mark the final IMC soccer league champions ever! And the championships are up for grabs.

On the boys side it’s winner takes all as the Summit Storm (5-0-1 IMC) host Mountain View (5-1-0) at 4 pm. Whomever wins the match is the outright IMC champion. A tie would give the title to the Storm. Go watch this if you can, should be very exciting!!!

On the girls side, two games come into play. Bend High (5-0-1) and Summit (5-0-1) are tied atop the league standings, having tied in game against each other. Summit plays @ Mountain View (5-1-0), who sits alone in third, while Bend hosts Crook County (1-5-0).

So here’s what could happen on the girls side:
1 Bend beats Crook County
Summit beats MV
Bend and Summit = Co-champions

2 Bend beats Crook County
Summit ties or loses to MV
Bend = Champion

3 Bend loses or ties Crook County
Summit beats MV
Summit = Champion

4 Bend loses to Crook County
Summit loses to MV
MV = Champion

– Summit girls after winning @ Oxford Classic

How hard is it going to be to qualify for the state XC meet if you are in the Intermountain Conference? Well, let’s take a look at how the IMC teams are ranked in the state, and keep in mind only two teams qualify (plus the top 4 individuals not on those two teams). The IMC has 8 schools in all. On the girls side, half of those 8 teams are ranked in the top 7 in the entire state for Class 5A schools… including the top 3 teams!

CLASS 5A STATE RANKINGS
Girls
1 Summit (reigning state champions)
2 Mountain View
3(t) Bend
7 Pendleton (3rd at State last year)

Boys
4 Summit (4th at State last year)
10(t) Hermiston (5th at State last year)

The race is this Saturday @ the Bend Pine Nursery… you don’t want to miss it! Varsity girls start @ 1pm, Varsity boys @ 1:30, followed by JV girls (2:00), JV boys (2:30) and Awards (3:15). The IMC district meet is always exciting, check it out if you can.

This week is a rare one where so many different sports are in action.

In the Pros:
• Major League Baseball’s World Series (Wow, that’s such a long season!)
• Nearing the mid-way point of the NFL regular season
• NBA tip-off week, beginning of the regular season
• NHL is well underway to their regular season

College:
• BCS rankings are out for Football (let the arguing continue)
• Pac-10 XC championships are Friday
• All other Fall sports are getting into the playoffs

Prep:
• Football wrapping up the regular season on Friday
• Cross County district meets on Saturday
• Soccer wrapping up the regular season
• Volleyball wrapping up the regular season
• Winter athletes already licking their lips (hitting the open gyms, the slopes, the pool and the mat)

Racing:
• The New York Marathon is this Sunday, one of the biggest races in the world
• Winter Olympic hopefuls are racing World Cups all over the place in hopes of making the 2010 games
• Cyclocross season is kicking into gear

It truly is a great week for sports!!!

UPDATE: Photo of former Mountain View tennis star Bryan Laing on the front page of The Portland Trailblazers home page. He’s dead center above the “Rise and Believe” sign… and that was a nice win tonight!

• Meet your Blazers (The Oregonian)
• Blazers vs Rockets preview (Hoops World)
• Blazers season preview (Bust A Bucket)
• Feature story on Brandon Roy (The Oregonian)