With summer in full swing, a bit of nostalgia has begun to set in for the 2023-24 preps season.
It was my first ever full year covering prep sports — roughly nine months of traveling to communities all across the Mid-Willamette Valley to document the stories of young athletes. I was incredibly excited, albeit a bit nervous, to begin this journey, but have felt a deep sense of fulfillment when reflecting on the year.
I hope you all enjoyed the coverage as much as I had fun doing it. We'll take this trip together once again pretty soon, but for now, I thought we could look back and reminisce on some of the best moments from the preps season. What a ride it was.
Revival on the gridiron
In 2022, Molalla went 1-8 – with its sole win arriving in the final game of the season – and allowed 320 points while only scoring 96. This season, the team accumulated 154 points and surrendered 104, finishing 5-4 overall.
Molalla’s Week 4 performance exemplified the program’s advancement perfectly. Mason King bolstered the offense, finishing with 137 total yards on the ground and through the air as Molalla avenged a 47-0 loss against La Grande in 2022 with a 20-7 victory.
“Last year, we struggled with injuries and I had freshmen and sophomores starting varsity, especially in that game (against La Grande),” Molalla head coach Sean McElhaney said. “Our season started going downhill about this time (last year).”
“We were turnover prone, and we had lots of plays and you’d feel like every quarter was an hour,” McElhaney continued. “Now, we control the ball more and we’re more efficient on offense than we were. And defense is playing lights out.”
Molalla’s dependence on its run-game proved successful. It let them dominate time of possession, like against La Grande when the offense spent more than 30 minutes on the field. Besides King, seniors Zachary Clinton, Ben Olsen and Troy Munoz wreaked havoc in the backfield.
“Those four guys are kind of the core right now,” McElhaney said.
A return to form
After a year absence, the Molalla boys' cross country team returned to the OSAA 4A cross country state championships on Nov. 4, 2023, at Lane Community College in Eugene and reestablished themselves as a premier program in the classification.
The team finished fourth with 146 points, trailing conference foe The Dalles by just 10 points. Newport won the boys' team title with 49 points, while Crook County finished second at 87 points.
“We came in this year not even ranked in the coaches poll," Molalla head coach Kenny Schoenfeld. "We finished this year ranked sixth in the coaches poll – felt a little disrespected, because I think we were fourth on paper for sure. I told the guys let’s prove to them we’re not sixth.”
Senior Colten Strohmeyer led the way, finishing 12th overall in a time of 17 minutes, 42.1 seconds.
“This is a culmination of everything we could do, everything we worked for," Strohmeyer said. "I just couldn’t be happier.”
A turnaround season
Colton boys basketball head coach Joe Casey hadn’t heard of the Vikings just over two years ago.
He was introduced to the school through his computer screen. Casey spotted the vacant head coaching job listing while scouring the Internet. Despite being unable to place the town on the state map, the recent college grad and Oregon State baseball alum applied, chasing a brimming aspiration, and decided to author another chapter in the sport he adored most in his youth and adolescence.
The beginning was a bit shaky, but with Casey in his second season at the helm, the Vikings are beginning to bloom.
“When you’re in it you don’t think about it as much, but the whole team aspect is awesome,” Casey said. “Last year when we first started coaching, practice was kind of quiet — the guys weren’t super close. Now, we can’t get them to shut up sometimes.”
After finishing 8-17 last season (5-10 TRC), Colton achieved drastic growth. The Vikings finished their campaign 20-8 (10-6 TRC) and qualified for the state playoffs as the 12-seed, ultimately losing to No. 5 East Linn Christian 61-40.
“They just had a ball in their hand more than they ever have (this offseason),” Casey said. “They’ve all been super coachable and just open to us doing our thing.”
District champs
The Molalla boys swimming team breezed to a 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 1 title on Feb. 10 at the Molalla Aquatic Center, as the team finished over 100 points ahead of second place La Grande, totaling 276 points.
William Person and Jackson Blomquist each scored a team-high 26 points based on their performances. Derick Hodak scored 21 points. Caleb Hauth scored 19 points, while Sebastian Mota added 16. Jack Austin and Kurtis Wagner finished with 15 points each. Otto and Osten Terry chipped in 12 points each.
A league of her own
Marie. Mason.
Dominant. State champion. History-maker. Trailblazer.
There's likely not enough words or adjectives that can accurately encapsulate the Molalla senior's brilliance in the pool. Fortunately for this writer, the results speak for themselves.
On Feb. 17 at the OSAA 4A/3A/2A/1A swimming state championships at the Tualatin Aquatic Center, Mason cemented her extraordinary high school career even further as the lone swimming state champion in Molalla's history added two state titles to her resume.
Her first individual title came in the 200-yard individual medley, as Mason breezed to the gold in 2 minutes, 7.83 seconds, winning the event by over 13 seconds. The University of Idaho-commit then cruised to the title in the 500 freestyle, besting second place by over six seconds and clocking in at 5:17.64. It's her third state title after winning the 200-yard individual medley last season.
“It feels pretty awesome. I’ve been working toward this for the last four years; it’s been a goal of mine to win two state titles,” Mason said. “Working toward it and accomplishing it feels pretty awesome.”
Hayes finishes second at state wrestling
It couldn't get much closer for Molalla's John Hayes in his semifinals bout against Cascade's Brody Copple at the OSAA wrestling state championships on Friday, Feb. 23, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
He registered three takedowns in the first two rounds as the score was knotted at six apiece entering the final round. With a raucous Molalla faithful behind him, Hayes secured the winning point via escape just over a minute into the third period, fending off Copple the rest of the way to advance to the state final at 138 pounds.
Unfortunately, Hayes finally met his match in the championship final, facing the No. 1-seed Crook County's Landon Lavey. Lavey pinned Hayes in 39 seconds as the Molalla junior finished second.
While the loss capped Hayes' season on a bit of sour note, he's determined to learn from the experience and return as better as ever next year, hopefully continuing the upward trend he's followed throughout his state tournament performances in his high school career.
And in his senior year next season, Hayes is coming for it all.
“Now that we got a taste of what the finals is like, come back next year, hit it hard and win the damn thing," Hayes said.
Program resurgence
It wasn't all roses, but Colton softball, led by first-year head coach Mateo Melius, showcased significant growth between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
“We’re a really young team (filled with) freshmen and sophomores and I think they’ve been really well coached coming up,” Melius said. "My coaching staff, we believe that a part of winning, there’s a culture. We feel like this community (wants) a winning program.”
The Vikings went 1-19 (1-22 SD2) in 2023, finishing last in league while allowing 462 runs and scoring just 109. This year, Colton finished 9-15 (7-8 SD2), finished third in league, totaled 262 runs and improved by a whopping 176 runs allowed.
Making history
Molalla boys volleyball captured the program's first-ever piece of hardware on June 1 at the Olympus Sports Center in Hillsboro, finishing fifth in the 5A/4A state tournament.
The team ended its regular season campaign at 7-8 and entered the tournament as the eighth seed. On May 31 Molalla split its pool matches, winning against Stayton 3-0 and losing to Summit 3-0. It was enough to advance Molalla into the eight-team championship bracket, cruising past Crook County 2-0 in the first round.
Molalla lost to the No. 1 seed and eventual champion Summit 2-0 in the semifinals, setting up a third-place matchup against Ashland, ultimately losing 2-0.
"I couldn't be more proud of these boys," Molalla head coach Lauree Nelzen said. "They set a goal to get to the state tournament at our first practice. So, they not only met that goal, but exceeded it in bringing home some hardware for Molalla High School. They represented Molalla in such an outstanding and gracious way Friday and Saturday. The parents and fans were amazing all season, and we are so excited for the future of boys volleyball in this state, and especially at Molalla."
A pleasant welcome
When Molalla track and field head coach Kenny Schoenfeld saw junior Peyton Craven on the first day of practice, he knew he had something special.
“When she walked up and she's like 5-9 and starts warming up, you just see her natural athletic ability,” Schoenfeld said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, she's an athlete.’”
Schoenfeld's instincts were proven correct on May 17 at the OSAA track and field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, as Craven won the girls 4A high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 4.5 inches.
“I’m pretty pumped,” Craven said. "I'm really thankful that I could just be in this environment and get to actually (compete).”
Craven was just getting started. She won her second consecutive 100-meter hurdle state title on May 18 in dominant fashion, crossing in 15.30 and winning by over half over a second. It's her third overall state title after finishing first in the hurdles in the 2A classification.
“As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was very excited,” Craven said. “Just grateful and happy.”
“We had a little chat earlier before warming up and I just told her, ‘Go run your race. Do your thing,’” Molalla assistant coach Brody Olson added. “I’m happy that she’s doing as good as she is, because she is hands down the best athlete I’ve ever seen.”
An international triumph
As Sonja Fischer crossed the finish line in the final of the 4A girls 800 meters at the OSAA track and field state championships on May 18 at Hayward Field in Eugene, a house in southern Germany likely erupted in joy.
Over 5,000 miles away, in the early hours of Sunday morning, Fischer's father watched as his daughter, who is an exchange student, secured her second podium finish of the afternoon, setting a personal best of 2 minutes, 22 seconds. Less than an hour before, he watched Fischer finish fifth in the 400 meters, clocking in at 1:00.28.
“My dad, he paid some money so he could watch a livestream. He’s still up – it’s like 1 a.m. or something right now there and he’s watching me," Fischer said. "I don’t know where the camera is for the livestream but he’s watching me right now.”
“I called him (on Friday) after my (prelim) races,” Fischer continued. “He was so happy he was crying.”
Although Fischer didn't shed any tears while reflecting on her accomplishments, words failed to accurately portray her emotions.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” Fischer said. “I’m so happy.”
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