By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
West Salem’s Soren Ingebrigtsen (Boys Swimming), West Salem’s
Solveig Ingebrigtsen (Boys Swimming),Sprague’s Andres Mendoza (Boys Wrestling), Salem Academy’s Celia James (Girls Basketball), Sprague’s Jarrod Stanley and Braxton Long (Boys Basketball), and the Salem Academy Girls Basketball team was honored at this past Friday’s meeting
Here’s the Press Release
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Boys Swimming, is Soren Ingebrigtsen.
Soren, a senior, was a team captain for the Titans. The West Salem boys have gone undefeated and won the district meet for two consecutive years. Individually, Soren won the 200 individual medley and earned 3rd in the 100 fly at districts. He also swam on the 2nd place 200 free relay and the 1st place 400 free relay. At the OSAA State meed he swam in three events including a leg on the 6th place 400 free relay team. Soren finished with the second most points scored on the season for the Titans.
This is Soren’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Boys Swimming, is Solveig Ingebrigtsen.
Solveig is a 9th grader. At districts Solveig had 2nd place ndividual finishes in both the 50 free and 100 fly events. She also swam on the district champion 200 medley relay and 200 free relay teams. At the 6A State meet she was part of the 200 medley and the 9th place 400 free relay teams.
This is Soveig’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Sprague Boys Wrestling, is Andres Mendoza.
Andres is a junior for the Olys. Andres came to Sprague from Jefferson this year and quickly integrated himself as a team leader. During the season he placed 1st at the Southridge invitational, and was a Reser’s Scholar Athlete before going on to win districts at 113 pounds. At the 6A State meet he recorded a fall and a technical fall before finishing 4th. But, according to coach AJ Antillon, “probably most impressive for a new-to-the-team athlete, was that his peers selected him as the “Best Teammate” in his first year.
This is Andres’ first Athlete of the Week honor.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Olsen Daines Senior Athlete of the Year, from 2A OSAA State Champion Salem Academy Girls Basketball is Celia James.
Celia, a team captain, played guard for the Crusaders who finished 15-1 in league and 26-4 overall. Celia finished her Salem Academy girls basketball career with 1st team all-Tri River Conference recognition as well as 1st team all-tournament and 1st team all-state honors.
This is Celia’s fifth SSBC honor. She has previously been three times as an Athlete of the Week for girls basketball and once for girls track and field.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club, Olsen Daines Senior Athletes of the Year, both from Sprague Boys Basketball, are Jarod Stanley and Braxton Long.
The Olys finished 11-1 in the Central Valley Conference before going on to earn 4th place at the 6A State tournament. The team recorded wins over Century and Oregon City to make it to the Chiles Center where they recovered from a quarterfinal matchup with ultimate-state-champion Barlow by beating Southridge and Tualatin. This was the first “Elite 8” tournament team in the history of Sprague! (Sprague opened in 1972.)
Braxton is a 3-year varsity letterman for the Olys and a team captain. Braxton, the starting point guard, finished his Oly career 2nd on the all-time assists board. This past season Braxton broke the school record for assists in a game with 18, steals in a season, and assists in a season. Braxton earned 1st team all-CVC and CVC Player of the year honors, both of which he shared with teammate Jarod.
Braxton was honored earlier this season as an Athlete of the Week.
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Jarod is a 4-year varsity letterman for the Olys. He finished his career 8th in school history in career points with 1,055 and 9th in career rebounds with 291. On top of being one of the scoring leaders in 6A this past season, Jarod was usually responsible for guarding the opponent’s leading scorer and relished those matchups. Jarod was named 1st team all-CVC and CVC Player of the Year, again, both of which he shared with Braxton.
Jarod was honored as an Athlete of the Week for boys basketball last season.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club “Team of the Year” is the 2A State Champion from Salem Academy Girls Basketball.
The Crusaders finished 26-4 overall and 15-1 in league. The lone league loss was to Western Christian who won the conference playoff as well. Undeterred, in the 1st round of the playoffs Salem Academy more than doubled Nestucca – 80-38 – to qualify for another trip to Pendleton. In the quarterfinals they destroyed, by 45, East Linn Christian who came in as the five-seed. In the semis they beat Bandon 43-34 before exacting their revenge on Western Christian, winning the final 43-29 to win the championship.
