By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club honored West Salem’s Aaron Petrone (Boys Swimming), Sprague’s Alena Paul (Girls Swimming), West Salem’s Emma Zuniga (Girls Basketball), West Salem’s Hunter Hendrick (Boys Swimming)Sprague’s Jaeger Hahn (Boys Swimming), McKay’s Ochoa (Girls Swimming), North Salem’s Keplan Barram (Boys Basketball), Western Christian’s Lucas Zook (Boys Basketball), South Salem’s Malia Davis (Girls Swimming), West Salem’s Odelya Laroya (Girls Swimming), and South Salem’s Sophia Buswell (Girls Swimming) at this past Friday’s meeting.
Here’s the Press Release:
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week and the Olsen Daines Law Firm Senior Athlete of the Year for Boys Swimming, from West Salem, is Aaron Petrone.
Interestingly, Aaron has not been a year around club swimmer, unusual these days for successful high school swimmers. This is the first year that he has participated in club swimming, and he only did so during the high school swim season.
At the CVC meet Aaron won the 50 free in a top 10 time for the Titan program. He also took 2nd in the 100 breaststroke. At state, he swam on two relays on Saturday, the 200-medley relay and the 400 free relay. Swimming a very strong final leg in the 400 relay, he helped the Titans place 6th. Aaron was the runner-up for most valuable swimmer at West, based on overall points scored.
Coach Evans says, “He worked at the YMCA all season but continued to practice every day! He had the best season he has ever had!”
This is Aaron’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Sprague Swimming, is Alena Paul.
Alena, new to Sprague as a sophomore, was originally scheduled to be an Athlete of the Week on Valentine’s Day. The first day of the Central Valley Conference meet, and ultimately snow, preempted Alena’s recognition. The State meet was last weekend, so, one more time Alena was delayed. Not to be deterred, here we are.
Going into the CVC meet, Alena was swimming well. She won the 500 free against South Salem. She won the 200 free and placed 2nd in the 100 fly against West. Alena was swimming her best times in the middle of the season and consistently helping the relays finish in the top position.
This is Malia’ first Athlete of the Week recognition.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Girls Basketball, is Emma Zuniga.
Emma is a junior for the Titans. She has helped lead West Salem to a second-place finish in the Central Valley Conference and a #17 ranking. The Titans play their regular season finale tonight against the Olympians before entering the playoffs next Tuesday. Emma has been a large part of their success. She led the Titans to wins over Sprague and McNary with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists against the Olys, followed by 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists versus the Celtics.
This is Emma’s third Athlete of the Week recognition for girls basketball.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Swimming, is Hunter Heidrick.
Hunter, a junior for the Titans, had his best season this year while generally facing very tough competition. At the Central Valley Conference meet he swam the 100 freestyle for only the third time, finishing 1st. He won the 100 backstroke for a second time. He also was a member of two winning relay teams.
At the 6A OSAA State Championships, despite not feeling well, he put in a strong leg on the 400 free relay, helping the team to 6th place, the best finish for West Salem in the event since 2016.
Hunter is on pace to finish in the top three all-time in points scored for the Titans. He’s currently in the top 5 West Salem times for the 100 freestyle and is second all-time in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Finally, he holds the school record for the 400 Individual Medley.
This is Hunter’s second Athlete of the Week honor.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Sprague Swimming, is Jaeger Hahn.
Jaeger, is a senior for the Olys. He placed 2nd in the 200 free and 2nd in the 100 free, with a personal best, at the CVC meet. He also was part of the 400 free relay team that finished 2nd and the winning 200 free relay team that qualified for the State Meet at Tualatin Hills. At State last weekend he dropped .3 from an already best time recorded at the conference meet, helping the relay place 13th. Jaeger has been a varsity swimmer for the Olympians for three years.
This is Jaeger’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from McKay Girls Swimming, is Jolem Ochoa.
Jolem is a 9th grader and is in her first year of swimming for the Royal Scots. She qualified for the 5A State meet in her first year in the 100 backstroke. She was seeded 10th and placed 9th. A member of a 15-member McKay swim team, she is a team captain and, according to Coach Potter, “She leads with passion. Her teammates are always looking for her to lead them whether they are in a relay, school team cheers, or encouraging the other swimmers to continue to do their best.”
This is Jolem’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from North Salem Boys Basketball, is Keplan Barram.
Keplan a senior, is a 2-year varsity starter and a captain for the Vikings. Keplan was originally scheduled to be honored on February 7th with teammate Jesse Bechtel after the Vikings had just come off their first conference win in 10 years. That game was followed by a win over South. Obviously the first back-to-back wins in quite some time as well. Unfortunately, Keplan was sick on the 7th. Moved to the 14th, we got snow. On the 21st, senior day activities preempted us again. Finally, we’ve made it happen.
Keplan, over a three-game span that included the wins over McNary and South, averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds and, according to Coach Hemingway Huynh, “[was] huge down the stretch for us in the fourth quarter, hitting big free throws and playing clutch defense.”
This is Keplan’s first Athlete of the Week recognition.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Western Christian Boys Basketball, is Lucas Zook.
Lucas, a senior, has been a key contributor for the Pioneers who are 23-3 on the season, 16-0 in Tri-River Conference play, and ranked #1 in Oregon in 2A. Lucas scored 14 second half points in the conference championship win over Regis.
Lucas was named 1st team all-conference as well as 1st team all-defense for the Tri-River.
A 4-year starter and 3-year captain, according to Coach Geoff Martin he has been a “leader on our team and a huge reason for our success”.
The Pioneer’s host a round 1 playoff game versus #16 Faith Bible/Life Christian Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
This is Lucas’ second Athlete of the Week honor from SSBC.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from South Salem Girls Swimming, is Malia Davis.
Malia is a senior and team captain for the Saxons. She helped lead the girls to back-to-back Central Valley Conference championships. She placed 3rd in the 50 free, 2nd in the 200 free relay, 1st in the 100 breaststroke, and 2nd in the 400 free relay. Malia qualified for three races at the state championship meet. She swam both relays and the 100 breaststroke. She placed 16th in the 100 breaststroke while the relays placed 14th and 15th.
Malia swam for the Saxons for each of her years high school years and has lettered four times, and has been a team captain for 2 years.
This is Malia’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Swimming, is Odelya Laroya.
Odelya, a sophomore for the Titans, has been co-MVP or MVP for all but two meets this season. At the CVC meet she swam the second fasted time in program history in the 50 free, winning the event, and 4th all time in the 100 free, again finishing 1st. She also was on the winning 200 and 400 free relays. This past weekend at State she placed 3rd in the 50 free despite being sick and swam on both the 200 and 400 free relays. She is currently second on the team in points scored. She was Co-MVP at districts and MVP at State.
This is Odelya’s first Athlete of the Week recognition.
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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week and the Olsen Daines Law Firm Senior Athlete of the Year for Girls Swimming, from South Salem, is Sophia Buswell.
Sophia was undefeated in the 100-fly going into the state championship meet this past weekend. She recently broke her own school record for the event, going 59.64. She has dropped time in every 100 fly that she competed in this season. She also excelled throughout the season in the 200 free, the 100 free, and the 50 free.
At the Central Valley Conference meet Sophia continued her dominance in the fly, finishing 1st and once again dropping her personal best time. She also got 2nd places in the 200 free as well as the 200 and 400 free relays for which she swam outstanding lead-off legs. Swimming all four events at the state meet, Sophia placed 6th in the 100 fly, setting another South Salem record for the event at 58.81, 12th as part of the 200 free, as well as helping the 200 free relay to place 14th.
Sophia has previously been honored as an Athlete of the Week for girls swimming.
