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Top Eugene area high school performances for Sept. 9-15

Edith Noriega, Eugene Register-Guard
·4 min read

Eugene-area high school teams delivered another strong week of performances.

This week's top performances include cross country, Willamette boys soccer, Sheldon girls soccer, and South Eugene and Thurston volleyball.

Each week, The Register-Guard will highlight top performances from student-athletes and teams. Coaches can send stats and nominate a player of the week by emailing enoriega@registerguard.com.

Here are this week's top prep performers.

Top cross country performers

In Class 6A, Sheldon sophomore Malachi Schoenherr finished third and set a new PR with a time of 15:36.1 in the boys 5K at the Ash Creek XC Festival on Sept. 9.

In Class 5A, North Eugene senior Artana Nice finished second and set a new personal record with a time of 18:59.2 in the girls 5K at the County Fair Classic on Sept. 14.

Willamette’s Joaquin Balcazar-Recinos scores as the Willamette Wolverines defeated Sheldon 3-2 Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, at Willamette High School in Eugene.
Willamette’s Joaquin Balcazar-Recinos scores as the Willamette Wolverines defeated Sheldon 3-2 Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, at Willamette High School in Eugene.

Willamette boys soccer team stuns with late goal, remains undefeated

Senior forward Joaquin Balcazar-Recinos did it again when he scored a goal with 25 second left in the match to give Willamette the 1-0 league victory over South Eugene on Wednesday night.

Willamette (6-0, 4-0 Southwest Conference) is the No. 1 OSAA-ranked team in the Class 6A level as of Sunday morning.

Willamette traveled to Roseburg (0-4-1, 0-3 SWC) for a league match Saturday and won 1-0. The Wolverines will travel to South Medford (5-0, 3-0 SWC) this Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup.

South Eugene dropped to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the SWC. The Axe were set to play a league matchup against Grants Pass (1-2-1, 0-2-1 SWC) Saturday.

South Eugene volleyball gets big win against Sheldon

The South Eugene volleyball team faced off against Sheldon (8-5, 2-1 SWC) and won 3-1 on Sept. 11.

Aleta Champenoy led the Axe with 14 assists while Kirsten Pangburn led with 16 digs. Caroline Combs and Pangburn each had seven kills and Lucy Alkire led with nine assists.

"We served extremely aggressively," South Eugene head coach Alicia Chamness said. "We made sure that we kept pressure on their outsides and made it harder for them to get involved in the game. Our unforced errors were substantially lower than theirs, but we've also been working on our blocking and eye work and that showed in our stats."

Sheldon, which swept Roseburg in three sets on Wednesday, will travel to South Medford (4-5, 2-2 SWC) for a league match at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

South Eugene (5-6, 3-1 SWC) hosts Roseburg (5-4, 2-1 SWC) at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

Sheldon girls soccer dominates Churchill

The Sheldon girls soccer team dominated in a nonleague match at Churchill on Tuesday with an 8-0 win.

Alexis Cockerill-Gonzalez led the Irish with two goals and an assist in her first game appearance in eight months.

Jaida Easter had two goals and an assist, while Ava Philyaw, Annika Leighton, Dani Haverland and Gwen Apker each had a goal.

Sheldon (5-0, 3-0 Southwest Conference) is ranked No. 2 in the OSAA Class 6A as of Sunday morning.

Sheldon beat North Medford 3-0 (2-2, 2-2 SWC) on Friday.

Churchill (0-5) hosts North Eugene / Triangle Lake (3-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Thurston's Scout Martin goes up for a shot against Ridgeview in a volleyball match at home.
Thurston's Scout Martin goes up for a shot against Ridgeview in a volleyball match at home.

Thurston volleyball on a win streak

The Thurston volleyball team defeated Ridgeview 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-22) on Thursday.

Emily Buller led the Colts with 19 assists while Julia Cook led with 12 digs. Bailey Tovey and Scout Martin each had six kills.

The Colts have now won nine straight after defeating Crater 3-2 and Eagle Point 3-1 on Saturday. Thurston is 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the Midwestern League in Class 5A.

Thurston will play at North Eugene (3-8, 0-3 MWL) at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Thurston's Emily Buller returns a shot against Ridgeview in a volleyball match at home.
Thurston's Emily Buller returns a shot against Ridgeview in a volleyball match at home.

Other top performances

The Creswell volleyball team (6-2, 2-1 Mountain Valley Conference) defeated Siuslaw 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-21) in a league match on Thursday. Piper Hanson and Lizabelle Osborn each had 13 and 11 kills. Kimberlee Kelsey led with 19 assists and Ashelyn Sharkey had seven digs.

The Pleasant Hill girls soccer team dropped a 3-2 match to Creswell on Thursday. The Billies dropped to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in Special District 3. Creswell improved to 4-1 overall in 3-1 in league.

Edith Noriega is a sports reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at ENoriega@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Noriega_Edith.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Top Eugene area high school performances for Sept. 9-15