I grew up in Bend and have watched, coached, played and covered for the media lots of Central Oregon high school sports. Here are the best I’ve ever seen.
Football Offense – Cory McCaffery, Sisters (I saw McCaffery play several times and I’ve never seen anyone who busts more long touchdowns.)
Football Defense – Joel Skotte, Mountain View (So big, strong, fast and hard hitting!)
Boys Soccer – Matt Tompkins, Redmond
Girls Soccer – Katie Emerson, Bend
Boys Basketball – Maarty Leunen, Redmond (6-foot-9 point-forward… dominant!)
Wrestling – Austin Northup, Mountain View (I haven’t watched a ton of wrestling and the “Austinator” was one of my best friends in high school, so I watched him wrestle several times)
Boys Cross County – Travis Neuman, Summit (I’ve never seen anyone in CO run the times that he has this season)
Girls Cross County – Abby McAllister, Bend
Boys Tennis – Paxton Deuel, Summit (singles state champion)
Girls Tennis – Laura Krull, Summit (singles state champion)
Boys Track – Jesse Thomas, Mountain View (I never watched Ashton Eaton in high school.)
Girls Track – Kellie Schueler, Summit (the best Oregon track runner ever?)
Baseball – Joe Dusan, Bend (I never saw Jacoby Ellsbury play in high school)
TEAMS
Football – Mountain View 2011
Volleyball – Crook County… I forget which year. Wow! They’ve really got something going there.
Boys Soccer- Mountain View 1999 (state champs)
Girls Soccer – Bend 2008 (18-0 and state champs)
Boys Basketball – Redmond 2003 (state champs)
Boys Cross County – Mountain View 1995 (I was on this team but didn’t run at state… I wasn’t fast enough 
Led by Jesse Thomas, Jake Ortman and Scott Miller, this was a fast crew. They won state by 36 points.)
Girls Cross County – Summit 2011 (I’ve never seen a team this dominant in XC… and I’ve seen some good ones!)
Boys Tennis – Summit 2009 (OK, so I coached this team… but I really think this was the best CO boys tennis team I’ve seen. Freshmen Paxton Deuel and Adam Krull, state dubs champs Josh Guyer-Tyler Walsh, plus Conor Hegewald, Nate Haldeman, Sterling Dillingham… they were good!)
Girls Tennis – Bend 1994
Boys Track – Summit 2011
Girls Track – Summit 2011 (112.5 points!)
Girls Golf – Sisters 2008 (I covered them at state and they were dominant! State champs)
I’d love to hear your thoughts! I didn’t put up a selection for every sport, because I didn’t have one that came to mind. So please share your picks.
BEND @ SUMMIT
Bend
• 5-0
• OSAA #3 ranking 5A.
• 180-97 scoring advantage.
• 97 points allowed is 7th fewest in 5A.
• One of only 3 unbeaten teams left in 5A.
• Bend leads series with Summit 6-1.
• This is head coach Craig Walker’s final season.
• JC Grim has caught 7 touchdown passes this season.
Summit
• 4-1
• OSAA #20 ranking 5A.
• 218-118 scoring advantage.
• 4-game win streak.
• Bend vs Summit one of Oregonlive’s “best Week 6 matchups.”
MOUNTAIN VIEW @ REDMOND
Mountain View
• 4-1
• OSAA #8 ranking 5A.
• 230-93 scoring advantage.
• 2-game win streak.
• 238 points scored 2nd in 5A.
• 93 points allowed 6th in 5A.
• Jacob Hollister threw 5 first-half touchdowns last week in a win over The Dalles-Wahtonka.
Redmond
• 2-3
• OSAA #37 ranking 6A.
• 108-114 outscored this season.
• 2-game losing streak.
• The Panthers are coming off a home loss to Bend High.
The spring prep sports season has just started, but a few teams are already off to great starts. Here are some of the best win streaks to start the season:
Bend baseball (6-0) – The Lava Bears have a 6-game win streak to start the early season.
Redmond baseball (4-2) – The Panthers have a 4-game win streak going. And they’ve outscored their opponents 41-8 in those four games.
Redmond softball (7-1) – The Panthers have won 3-striaght games.
Winners of their district cross country championship meets:
BOYS
6A (CVC) – Trenton Kershner, Redmond
5A (Dist. 1 IMC) – Travis Neuman, Summit
4A (Sky-Em) – Taylor Steele, Sisters
GIRLS
5A (Dist. 1 IMC) – Megan Fristoe, Summit
4A (GOL) – Kellie Foley, Crook County
I’m looking out the window right now and I see blue skies and snow… oh spring in Bend!!!
GREAT PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BEND GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB AND BEND SENIOR HIGH GOLF TEAMS
Bend Senior High golf teams and Bend Golf and Country Club have had a fulfilling relationship for many years. With the use of the club’s varied practice facilities and championship-caliber course, BSH has produced state championship teams and individuals. In the past decade alone, BSH and Bend Golf and Country Club have produced an incredible list of collegiate players, including Amy Mombert, Brad Mombert, Lindsay Eide, Chad Cocco, Lisa Schmidt, Cory Schmidt, Natalie Weber, Joel Salmond, and Andrew Vijarro.
That successful effort continues into a new decade. The mild winter has allowed Bend Golf and Country Club to open for play much earlier than some other local facilities, which translates to a great head start for the Lava Bears squad. However, the life of a golf team member is not just qualifying rounds and hours spent refining swings on the driving range. These pictures illustrate that BSH golf teams expect to make a contribution to the care of the golf course and it’s future. In only a couple of hours, players cleaned up native areas and readied sand bunkers for spring play. In the weeks to come, both the boy’s and girl’s team will host their respective invitationals at the historic course. In years to come, the lessons learned from this partnership will benefit both Bend Golf and Country Club and the excellence of the Bend Lava Bears golf program.
Erik Nielsen, Head P.G.A. Professional
Bend Golf and Country Club
541-382-2878
www.bendgolfclub.com
• Summit Boys Swim team – State champs, 3rd in a row and 6 out of 9.
• Summit Girls Swim team – 2nd @ State.
• Culver Wrestling team – wins Special District 3 team title.
• Mountain View boys nordic team – State champions.
• Mountain View girls nordic team – State champions.
• Nic Morrell, Summit – individual swimming state championship.
• Mason Allen, Summit – individual swimming state championship.
• Paul Hartmeier, Summit – individual swimming state championship.
• Max King – Doing what he does, winning races.
• J.T. Taylor – Putting on the 38th Desert Brawl, a huge success.
• Travis Yamada – Putting on the Push Art Show Auction for the Division Street Skate Park.
• Jordan Schiemer, Summit – Winning up @ Mt. Bachelor this weekend’s CO Ski League.
• Ciara Timm, Bend – Winning up @ Mt. Bachelor this weekend’s CO Ski League.
• Kelly Hanson, Mountain View – Girls nordic state champion.
• Chase Nachtmann, Mountain View – Boys nordic state champion.
• Bend boys swimming – Fourth @ State.
• Torin Koos – Representing C.O. @ the Olympics.
• Chris Klug – Representing C.O. @ the Olympics.
• Tommy Ford – Representing C.O. @ the Olympics.
Who did we miss from this past week?
Checkout the COA EVENTS page to see all the great events coming up on this busy sports weekend.
