White Salmon-Bingen doesn’t have the large player base enjoyed by many youth soccer programs statewide, but sometimes small packages of organization, passion and skill can produce huge results.
The Hood River Special Olympics Swim Team participated in the Northwest Oregon Regional Competition Sunday at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton. It was the first competition Special Olympics Oregon has held in three years due to the pandemic and the athletes were excited and anxious to get back to some social interaction and competition against teams of developmentally disabled athletes from Clackamas, Clatsop, Multnomah, Wasco/Sherman, Washington and Yamhill counties and the High Desert region.
By most standards, back-to-back second-place finishes in the state playoffs are reason to celebrate. But when the bar is raised, as is the case with the Hood River Valley boys water polo program, a bitter taste sometimes lingers with being “runner-up”.
Hood River Valley’s girls water polo team took care of business in an efficient, workmanlike manner Saturday on its way to the 2022 Oregon 5A/4A state championship.
AJ Valencia, incoming athletic director for White Salmon Valley Schools, spoke at last week’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Bingen-White Salmon, outlining his priorities for the year.