Sports Insiders

Local harriers on the run

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:33:30 GMT

There are a couple of big cross country meets Saturday for high schools. One is the State of Jefferson at Lithia Park in Ashland. It's a tradition for a lot of area teams and seems to be a good time for those participating.

Another meet is more high-powered and will feature the best of the best local talent. It's the Puma Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park in Portland and is considered an all-class state meet. Among the entrants are North Medford's Drew Jordan (defending 6A champ), Crater's Josh Elliott (defending 5A champ) and Rogue River's Cole Watson (3A/2A/1A state favorite this season). Should be a whale of a race.

In addition to Crater's boys and girls -- ranked No. 1 and No. 6 in the state, respectively, for 5A teams -- a top-five national boys team from Jackson, Wash., will be there, as will other top teams from throughout the West.

E.J. is OK as the Ducks gather

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:47:44 GMT

The Eugene Register-Guard's Bob Clark sought out E.J. Singler during the media preview session for Oregon basketball. Here's a story outlining the former South Medford standout's family ties. It appears in today's Guard:

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/21609612-41/story.csp

Coach K gives a sneak peek

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:13:17 GMT

If the visit by Oregon coach Ernie Kent to Medford last week wasn't enough of a hint that the college basketball season is fast approaching, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's appearance this morning on ESPN First Take drove home the point. The first official practice is Friday.

Coach K outlined his squad thusly, and of course, former South Medford star Kyle Singler factored into the brief discussion:

"We're gonna big, something we haven't been able to say in in four or five years," said the coach. "We're gonna be athletic. Obviously, we'll be led by our veterans, Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith. Those three kids will be on the perimeter. Singler is gonna play totally on the perimeter, which shows how big we are this season."

Singler is a 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior forward. He averaged 16.5 points and 7.7 rebounds last season.

A diverse night in the stick-and-ball dept.

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:16:55 GMT

Tuesday night turned out to be one of the more diverse shifts I've had from a subject-matter standpoint. Usually it's devoted to working on midweek prep sports like soccer, volleyball and cross country, with assorted other tasks thrown in. Check and check. But last night also included figure skating, professional boxing and a little college crew.

While helping with a figure skating story advancing the Northwest Regional this weekend at The RRRink, I chatted with Bill Cloran, a former Oregon assistant attorney general who has long been deeply involved in the U.S. Figure Skating Association, the sport's national governing body. I told him my exposure to figure skating was the same as most others' -- what I've seen on TV or what I've experienced slipping on an icy driveway in winter.

The thing about figure skating, he assured, is folks like me can watch it and know whether it's good or bad. You don't have to be able to distinguish between a flip and a Lutz. A baseball fan, Cloran used that sport as an example. It helps to know the nuances to really enjoy baseball. But in figure skating, you can tell if an athlete's routine isn't smooth and flowing, if she or he misses a jump or loses balance. You can appreciate an elegant, well-crafted technical program or free skate without knowing the specifics of the required moves or the importance of going from one sequence to another.

The figure skating is Thursday through Monday. There will be levels from the senior, or championship, division -- that which you see in the Olympics -- to relative beginners. If you want to see the best of the best, plan on going Friday and/or Saturday nights for the seniors, juniors and novice classes.

Find the schedule here.

While working on that story, Mike Wilson called to report the results of his latest fight -- his second in four days. It was over quickly, by design. Wilson, 26, is 3-0 and relatively old for a boxer just starting his pro career. That's because he had a long amateur stint that included two U.S. championships. What he needs to do now is fight often and build an impressive record. If/when he's 10-0, 15-0, people will notice and he'll become more of a draw and get better opponents.

The guy he beat Tuesday, Sugi Foxx, didn't really belong in the ring, said Wilson. He was big, about 280 pounds, and not in great shape. I looked Sugi up on Google and saw something where at one point -- I don't know how up to date or accurate it was and didn't put it in my story -- through five fights, Sugi was 0-5 and had been knocked out every time. He'd fought five times but only a total of nine rounds.

They won't all be that easy for Wilson, but there's a method to the scheduling.

As for crew, at the end of the shift I reworked a release about Julia White-Hoppe, a South Medford graduate who competed at Oregon State and for the U.S. national team. She has been named an assistant coach for UC San Diego. It didn't make it into today's paper, but watch for it in the next day or two.

Barry back in action, this for Beavers

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:52:10 GMT

Mike Barry is finally getting the chance to wear Beaver colors and play for Oregon State University. The former North Medford High state champion was in ninth place Monday through two rounds of the Giustina Memorial Classic at the Beavers' home course, Trysting Tree in Corvallis.

Barry had back-to-back rounds of 71 Sunday and Monday for a 2-under 142 entering today's final round. OSU is in second place, four shots behind Washington State and four strokes ahead of Oregon in the 10-team event. Barry is playing as the Beavers' No. 3, but only Diego Velasquez (138) is ahead of him among teammates. Leader Trent Sanders of Washington State is at 136.

Barry transferred from San Diego, where he played in the fall of 2007, to OSU, enrolling in the spring of 2008. He had to sit out that spring and all of last year, leaving him 2009-10 to compete as a senior.

Here's a story we had following his initial enrollment at OSU.