Week in Sports: 1
Girls Basketball
To start off the season, the team dominated the Tigard Memorial tournament, outscoring their opponents by 38 points and beginning the year 2-0. As of Jan. 14, they sit at 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the league.
Describe the team in two words: Untested Team. This year’s team only has a single senior, Bijou O’Connor, and returns just three players from the 2023-24 roster. Last year, a whopping eight seniors graduated, meaning the team isn’t as experienced at the varsity level this year. That said, they have been catching teams by surprise and are starting the year off strong. O’Connor is leading the team in scoring at 12.7 points per game and dropped 21 points in the 49-31 win against McDaniel on Jan. 10, while also playing stellar defensively.
What comes next? As league play began on Jan. 7, coach Po Waiwaiole’s team will go up against some top competition in the state. Before the end of the regular season in late February, 16 games will be played. They are set to play against each of the other eight teams twice before the regular season ends. In league play, the squad is 2-1 after three games played in only four days. Based on how the season is going so far, opponents should be prepared for Cleveland to turn heads and make an appearance in the playoffs.
Boys Basketball
Describe the start of PIL play in two words: Rough Going. Jumping into PIL play, the Warriors’ first two league matchups at home against Roosevelt and Grant ended rough for Cleveland, losing both games. However, in their most recent game Jan. 10, Cleveland won big on the road, beating McDaniel 58-38 for their first league win of the season. Junior Sigi Stacey and senior Finn Cooper led the Warriors with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Currently sitting at 3-7, with a 1-2 record in PIL play, the Warriors will look to add some wins to the column going into the gauntlet schedule during January and February.
What do the Warriors need? Experience. The Warriors graduated five seniors last year, including their three captains: Will Susak, Jackson Owens, and Josh Huss. The loss of Owens, one of the most prolific scorers in Oregon high school basketball last year, has been difficult for Cleveland to adjust to. The team this year is largely comprised of a mix of juniors and seniors, many of whom are getting their first taste of varsity basketball. Senior captain Brady Ryan said that the team is “growing as players, while also building team chemistry.” Ryan added that the offseason training was instrumental in helping the team bond.
What comes next? Ryan said the goals for the team are for a “top three finish in PIL, and make a deep run in the playoffs.” The team will look to add some more wins, heading to Jefferson on Friday, Jan. 17, followed by a game in the MLK Showcase against Oregon City on Monday, Jan. 20.
Swimming
First Meet of the Season Dec. 4
PIL League Meet versus Lincoln, Ida B Wells, McDaniel
Describe the meet in two words: Impressive Start
Cleveland’s swim team had an impressive start at their first meet of the season on Wednesday, Dec 4. Seven swimmers hit personal records during the meet: juniors Owen Threadgill, Xinyi Lu, Evan Creany, Quinn Dodge, Maggie Gibson, and Celia Roehl, as well as sophomore Ike Forbes. Coach Mollie Starr was impressed with the improvements shown by the swimmers, as they had only practiced for limited amounts of time before the meet. She is excited for the team’s improvement over the course of the season.
Quotable: Senior Peter Bamer, who competed in the mixed 50 and 100-yard freestyle as well as the boys 200 yard medley relay and 400 yard freestyle relay, said that overall “the meet was very successful.” His goal for the season is to “make it to state and put up a good result.” In the mixed 100 yard freestyle, Bamer took first place with a time of 1:05:13. In the mixed 50 yard freestyle, Bamer finished fourth in a heat of over 60 swimmers.
Who stood out? Several other swimmers for the Warriors took first place in their events such as juniors Sam Schaller and Max Thompson in the mixed 100-yard individual medley and boys 100 yard butterfly, respectively. Junior Eugene Fedutinov took first place in the boys 100 yard freestyle as well as the boys 100 yard breaststroke, and senior Hazel Alperin was victorious in the girls 500 yard freestyle. Sophomore Ike Forbes and junior Paul Sterner won their events, the mixed 50 yard breaststroke and the mixed 50 yard backstroke, respectively.
Next Up: PIL League meet on Dec. 13 at Dishman
Wrestling
Oregon Classic Redmond, Oregon
How did Cleveland do?
Cleveland girls wrestling went to Redmond with only five wrestlers competing on Friday and four competing on Saturday. It was a dual tournament, meaning that you compete with your team against another team with one wrestler at each weight class. With only five people they gave up a lot of points to forfeit but even with the number disadvantage they still won one dual against North Valley, 24-18. All the girls won their matches against North Valley by pin, Izzy Herring (155), Aubrey Spangler (135), Natalie Benn (135), and Maise Wheeler (190). While Cleveland girls lost most of their duals they did still win matches and overall had a good weekend. Wynnie Posedel, Cleveland wrestler said, “The fact that we were able to win a dual with four girls wrestling shows the determination and strength of our team,”
What’s next?
The girls wrestling team is headed to Hood River for the Hood River Valley Girls Invitational on Jan. 25 and it will be an individual bracketed tournament.
Boys Wrestling
Jeff Zerba Classic Jan. 3-4
Cleveland High School hosted the Jeff Zerba Classic boys tournament on Jan. 3-4.
It had been a month before the school hosted the “For the Land” dual with North Salem High School.
A total of 10 schools from Portland and surroundings took part in the tournament.
What was the most surprising performance?
The most outstanding performance was for sure made by Sam Medford, sophomore, who won the first prize medal for 132 pounds, winning also the prize for most takedowns in the all tournament considering all weight classes.
Who were the top performers? Max Copus, senior, placed second after losing the final match for 157 pounds. Sadat Clowers, a senior from Benson who wrestles for Cleveland, also managed to place second in the 144 pounds weight class. Stewart Bromwell and Curran Smeller, sophomores, both placed third after winning the third place match respectively for 120 and 126 pounds.
Honorable Mention also goes to two other sophomores, Kylar Paxton and Atticus Lenox, who both placed fifth respectively in 138 and 190 pound classes.
It was a good result overall for our school and was a great opportunity for showing our wrestlers talent to other Portland schools.
Describe the meet in two words: Teamwork and Resilience
One of the strengths of the Cleveland team is for sure the quality and experience of coaches and assistant coaches. They not only teach how to wrestle but also teach wrestlers how to behave, always respecting opponents and supporting their teammates.
Everyone, including the people who were eliminated on the first day, played an important role supporting the rest of the team showing up also on the second day even though they knew they were not going to wrestle.
In addition, many Cleveland wrestlers had some minor injuries and physical problems, but nevertheless they bit the bullet and kept wrestling, always doing their best to help the team.
Jefferson dual Jan. 8
The Jefferson team didn’t bring many wrestlers, so the girl dual was canceled and there were a bunch of forfeits in the boys dual. But the matches were still pretty intense and Cleveland ended up winning by six points.
Shout out to the fact that cheerleaders were at the dual cheering for our team, a thing that is not very common in wrestling.
