McKenzie Sports Report
McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week
The McKenzie Varsity Volleyball team travels to Eddyville Charter on Tuesday, October 8, for a Mt. West League contest set for a 6:00 pm start. The Eagle team hosts Glendale on Saturday, October 12, in a non-league contest starting at noon.
The McKenzie Varsity Six-man Football Team hosts Washington School for the Deaf (WA) in a non-league game on Thursday, October 10. Kickoff is at 4:00 p.m.
The Eagle Cross Country teams travel to Seven Oak Middle School in Lebanon on Wednesday, October 9. The McKenzie teams will participate in the Lebanon Open XC meet. The Girls’ 5,000-meter varsity race starts at 4:00 p.m., and the Boys’ 5,000-meter race starts at 4:45 p.m.
Zyla Drake and Will Meister Lead Eagle CC Teams
McKenzie freshman Zyla Drake and junior Will Meister led their respective cross-country teammates in two recent meets held in Stayton and Lebanon. At the Champs Invite meet held at Cheadle Lake Park in Lebanon on Friday, September 27, Drake finished 43rd in the Varsity Girls 5,000 meter, clocking a time of 23:09.90 minutes. Drake was competing in a field of 168 runners. Eagle teammate junior Myra Dion finished 82nd in 24:41.10 minutes, and freshman Claire Weiss followed in 97th place with a finish time of 25:18.00 minutes.
East Linn Christian senior Daisy Lalonde took home first-place honors for the meet host school team, touring the course in 18:28.70 minutes. Freshman Ella Henthorn of Coquille finished second in 18:47.30 minutes. Siuslaw won the Varsity Girls’ team competition with 104 points, and Central Linn took second with 127 points. Nineteen teams competed. McKenzie does not field a full team; thus, the Eagle athletes compete as individuals and do not figure into a team score.
At the Champs Invite, McKenzie junior Will Meister ran his 5,000-meter race in 18:45.70 minutes and placed 52nd out of 232 runners. Santiam Christian’s Diego Zambrano finished first in the Boys 5K race with 16:08.10 minutes, and Gus Kirby of Neah-Kah-Nie took second in 16:23.50 min. Twenty-eight complete teams participated, and Banks finished first, earning 65 points. Valley Catholic earned second place with 87 points.
McKenzie’s next Cross Country meet, the Stayton/Regis Invitational, was held at the Stayton Middle School Nature Trail on Thursday, October 3, and Meister’s 18:44.6 minutes in the Varsity Boys 5,000-meter race placed him 14th out of 127 competitors. Santiam Christian’s Diego Zambrano again took home top honors with a first-place time of 16:04.8 minutes, and David Villanueva of Woodburn finished second in 16:58.5 minutes. Stayton won the 16 Boys team race with 49 points, and Sisters finished second with 80 points.
McKenzie’s Drake again led her Eagle teammates in the Varsity Girls 5K race, finishing 21st in 24:08.6 minutes. Teammates Weiss finished 33rd in 24:42.5 minutes, and Dion took 34th in 24:51.2 minutes. Clara Persons of Salem Academy won the Varsity Girls race in a time of 20:00.1 minutes, and Haley Butenschoen of Stayton finished second in 20:06.7 minutes. The Girls 9 team race was won by the host team, Stayton, with 39 minutes. Santiam Christian finished second with 63 points.
McKenzie Volleyball Still Searching For Mt. West League Win
The McKenzie Varsity Volleyball team won its first contest of the 2024 season, a 3-1 victory over the Pleasant Hill Junior Varsity second team on August 29. Since then, the Eagles have dropped thirteen contests, forging a 0-12 Mt. West League record and a 1-14 overall record.
The Eagles have just eight athletes on this season’s roster, and they are coached by Head Coach Rachelle Mark, who returns for a second stint at the job following a one-year hiatus. Coach Mark has her work cut out as she attempts to bring Eagle Volleyball back from the devastating impact of the Holiday Farm Fire and COVID epidemic that pulled the rug out from under the Eagle sports programs. Indeed, McKenzie had not posted a winning Volleyball season since 2018, when the Eagles finished 25-9 overall, won the Mt. West League with a perfect 16-0 record, and participated in the OSAA State playoffs with a State top-ten ranking (8th).
McKenzie finished the 2019 Mt. West League season, even at 8-8, forged an 11-17 overall record, and succeeded in earning another appearance in the OSAA State First Round playoffs. However, the next season (2020), disaster struck hard in the McKenzie Community with simultaneous COVID and Holiday Farm Fire disasters, and the Eagles could not field a team, let alone hold other normal school activities. McKenzie did not return to the hardwood until the 2022 Fall season and finished winless at 0-14, Coach Mark’s initial season. Brad Ill filled the Eagle Head Coaching position last year (2023), and his team finished the Mt. West League at 2-14 and 2-15 overall, with both victories coming over Mannahouse Academy, Eugene, which finished the Mt. West League in the last place, 0-15.
This season, McKenzie has five remaining games on its schedule, and the Eagles would like to notch a win or two. It won’t come easy for the inexperienced Eagle squad. The next four opponents are Eddyville Charter (7-7), Glendale (6-3), Alsea (9-5), and Triangle Lake (10-2). Siletz Valley (3-9), the last regular season opponent scheduled, might be the Eagles’ best hope of grabbing that elusive victory.
Eagles Drop Five Mt. West League Matches
McKenzie’s hardwood woes continued as the Eagles lost five subsequent Mt. West League contests in the past two weeks. At Triangle Lake on Thursday, September 24, McKenzie lost in three sets, 25-4, 25-8, and 25-15. Returning to the Coast Range on Thursday, September 26, the Eagles dropped three sets and the match to Mapleton, 25-9, 25-17, and 25-6.
Crow/City First Christian Academy rolled into Finn Rock on Tuesday, October 1, and rolled back out with a three-set victory over their Eagle hosts. This past Thursday, October 3, McKenzie hosted an MWL three-way contest with Mohawk and Mannahouse Academy, Eugene. The Mustangs of Mohawk easily won three straight sets, and Mannahouse Academy finished the day with a 3-1 victory over the Eagles. The McKenzie athletic staff posted no set scores or stats for the last three matches at press time.
Top-ranked Powers Cruises Over McKenzie, 68-7
Cowboys Rope And Dally Eagles, 68-20
The State’s top-ranked Six-man football team, the Powers Cruisers, steam-rolled McKenzie at Wade Thomas Field in Finn Rock last Friday, September 27. With their subsequent 62-0 win over Gilchrist this week, Powers has forged a 5-0 overall record.
Four six-man football teams remain undefeated this season in the State, Eddyville Charter and Harper Charter, both at 5-0, Prairie City/Burnt River 6-0, and the Cruisers.
The Eagles jumped a bus on Saturday, October 5, and traveled over the Hump to Silver Lake, where they locked horns with the North Lake Cowboys (1-1,3-1). The Cowboys corralled their first Special District 2 League win of the 2024 season with a 68-20 stampede win over the visiting Eagles.
Powers is at the top of the SD-2 League, followed by Days Creek and Crow/City First Christian, tied at 2-1. Gilchrist is currently residing in fourth place at 2-2, and the Cowboys are in fifth at 1-1, followed by the Eagles at 1-3. Elkton is last in the League with a 0-3 record.