Here are the most popular posts of the past month:
• Bend Basketball Trick Shots
• 2010 Oregon high school XC preview
• Jesuit girls XC train in Central Oregon
• 2010 Oregon prep volleyball preview

Anyone out there watching the US Open? Let’s hear some predictions!

Here are mine:
Men’s Singles – Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal
Women’s Singles – Venus Williams def. Maria Sharapova
Men’s Doubles – Bryan brothers
Women’s Doubles – Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs

Mountain View junior-to-be Jessica Wolfe is the second fastest returning cross country runner in Class 5A. She finished third at last year’s state meet and is one of a handful of standout runners on the girls side here in Central Oregon. She was kind enough to take a break from her back-to-school activities and answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete.

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you been running competitively?
Jessica Wolfe – I’ve been running competitively since 6th grade, so as of this year, it’ll be six years.

COA – What was the highlight for you last XC season?
JW – Well, the highlight for last season would definitely be the 3rd place finish at state. Haha, in the hypothetical state race, I was ranked as 12th, so finishing 3rd absolutely blew me away!

COA – Can you share some of your goals for the season?
JW – As far as goals go, I’d really like to start running in the 18-minute zone. I really just want to go fast, and enjoy doing so.

COA – Do you play any sports other than XC?
JW – I’m not really coordinated enough to do many other sports than running, but over the winter I do yoga/pilates and spinning (indoor cycling).

COA – What do you like doing besides sports?
JW – Besides sports I love art (painting, sketching, sculpting), music (I play the piano and clarinet), reading and writing (indeed, I am a book geek), and being with awesome people.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
JW – My favorite workout in Central Oregon would most definitely would be Pilot Butte repeats. I love how when you do 3 or more on a consistent basis, people start to know your name and cheer you on; it’s pretty fun.

COA – Do you have a favorite XC race?
JW – I absolutely LOVED the Ashland race. It was the most beautiful trail I’ve ever ran on, and last year my teammate (Mkhaila Thornton) ran on each other’s tail the whole time; making it possible on the huge down hill to do the “rollercoaster”, which involves sticking your arms in the air and screaming. So, not only did we have a great time running, but we also finished 1st and 2nd, with our team coming in 1st.

COA – Anything else to add?
JW – As far as running goes, Central Oregon is the absolute best!

State Meet Results
2009 – 3rd, 19:19
2008 – 8th, 19:32

Intermountain Conference Championships
2009 – 5th, 19:39
2008 – 4th, 19:30

Here are some helpful links for basketball in Bend, Oregon:
• High Mountain Hoops
• All Stars Basketball Academy Bend
• Summit High School Boys Basketball Team
• Central Oregon Hot Shots
• Mountain View Boys Basketball Team
• Mountain View Girls Basketball Team

A four-person team scramble @ Aspen Lakes to benefit Bend youth ministry ONTRACK.

Raffle Prizes!
Prizes for Low Gross Foresome.
Prizes for Longest Drive, Longest putt and Closest to the Hole.

Cost:
$150 / player
$500 / foresome

Includes:
Round of Golf at the beautiful Aspen Lakes Golf Course!
Fantastic Lunch!
A Ticket for the Raffle!
A chance to win AMAZING PRIZES!
After play Snacks and Dessert!

I had the good pleasure of hearing Bruce Brown (of Proactive Coaching) speak recently at Summit High School in Bend. If you are a coach, you need to know who Bruce Brown is. He is a traveling speaker and author on the subject of coaching sports… and he knows what he is talking about.

A friend of mine played for him and assures me that he is the real deal and what he presents is backed up by his years of coaching and shaping countless young people’s lives. I was really impressed with what I heard him say.

This wasn’t Brown’s first time speaking in Central Oregon, and I’m sure it won’t be his last. You really should catch him next time he does.

Oregonlive.com 5A top 10 preseason football poll:
1 Sherwood
2 West Albany
3 Marist
4 Jefferson
5 Crescent Valley
6 Mountain View
7 Bend
8 Churchill
9 Hermiston
10 Corvallis

Travis Neuman is going to be a sophomore at Summit high school and he’s one of the fastest cross country runners in the state. He is the younger brother of Kenyon and Gatlin Neuman, who were outstanding XC runners at Summit as well. Kenyon went on to have great success at the University of Colorado. Travis slowed down enough to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete.

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you been running competitively?
Travis Neuman – I have been running competitively since I was 8 or 9.

COA – How did you get into racing?
TN – The reason I got into racing or even thought about running was because my older brothers both did XC and were fairly good at it so through watching them I really wanted to do the same.

COA – What other sports do you enjoy?
TN – I enjoy doing XC Skiing, Tennis, Track and Field, Biking and Swimming. XC is the most fun and interesting I would say out of all of them.

COA – What are some of your hobbies other than sports?
TN – I really enjoy learning songs on the piano even though im not to great at it. Reading anything about history is really fun. I also play ping pong at lunch (not to sure if thats considered a sport) with some friends and I really enjoy that too. (editor’s note: Yes, ping pong is a sport!)

COA – Do you have any XC goals you can share with us for this year?
TN – My goals for each year are kinda similar. I really want to beat my brother Kenyon’s high school times and this XC season I think both our boys and girls could have a shot at state titles so both of those things would be great to accomplish.

COA – What’s it like being on such a big XC team?
TN – I think that the bigger the team the better because it just makes the trips and running soooooo much more fun when there are a lot of kids there. Dave Clark (Summit XC coach) does a really good job explaining everything about running and our workouts and everyone one still has a blast.

COA – What was the highlight from your freshman year of sports @ Summit?
TN – Every sports that I did last year was super fun but the best part out of all of it was probably when our XC team went to Boise, Idaho for the Nike Cross Regionals race. We just had a great time and some how we ran really well the next day.

COA – Do you have a favorite workout in Central Oregon?
TN – I probably have 2 favorite run/workouts in Central Oregon. The 13 mile Green Lakes Loop is fun and we drink out of a stream that has the best water EVER! The other one would probably be doing 1,000 repeats at Juniper Park.

So how are the youngest Neuman’s times stacking up against big brother Kenyan? So far so good!

KENYON
09 – 16:38
10 – 15:59
11 – 15:38
12 – 15:24

TRAVIS
09 – 16:29
10 – ?

Bend’s Ian Boswell is killing it on his bike once again. Checkout the article – Boswell battles Mancebo on Utah’s Mt Nebo

Fantastic video of what makes Bend and Central Oregon so special!