By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club honored McNary’s Nicole Schnurbusch (Girls Tennis), West Salem’s Mia Zachary (Softball), West Salem’s Madison Forrest (Track and Field), Sprague’s Eli Lowe (Baseball) and Sprague’s Jacob Hoda and Jake Horn (Boys Tennis) for the Week of April 21

Here is the Press Release:

The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from McNary Girls Tennis, is Nicole Schnurbusch.

Nicole is a junior for the Celtics. According to her coach, “Nicole has started on fire” this season. She is off to an 8-0 record while playing #2 singles. Last week she posted dominant wins – beating Newberg 6-0, 6-2; South Salem 6-1, 6-0; and West Salem 6-2, 6-3. Nicole is also a captain for the Celts.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Softball, is Mia Zachary.

Mia, is a senior captain for the Titans who are 2-1 in conference and 6-6 on the season. In the two wins last week over South and Sprague, Mia – batting leadoff – hit .444 with 2 RBI, a .889 on-base percentage, and a stolen base. She also sacrifice bunted 3 times. Coach Nicholson describes Mia with phrases like “the ultimate teammate”, “a coaches dream player”, and “a hard worker who is always trying to get better and makes everyone around her better.”

Mia was also an Athlete of the Week last year.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Track and Field, is Madison Forrest.

Madison is a sophomore for the Titans. At the “Need For Speed Invitational” last Saturday, Madison placed 3rd in the 300 intermediate hurdles and 4th in the 100 meter hurdles.  She also ran the leadoff leg of the 4 x 400 relay which placed  8th.  Her time in the 300 intermediate hurdles rank her 5th in 6A and #1 in the Central Valley Conference. She is ranked 2nd in the CVC for the 100 meter hurdles and her 4 x 400 relay team currently is the 2nd fastest in the CVC.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Sprague Baseball, is Eli Lowe.

Eli is a senior pitcher and utility player for the Olympians, who are 3-0 in conference play and somehow have managed to get 17 games played and are 13-4 on the season. From Coach Luke Buccheit: “During his last 4 games he posted one of the most impressive stat lines I have ever seen in my 20+ years of coaching baseball.”

Eli was 12-15 at the plate with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 9 runs batted in with an astounding .733 batting average in those 4 games. On top of that, he pitched a compete game victory vs West Salem with 2 earned runs and 6 stike outs for 6th ranked Sprague. “He had one heck of a week.”

Eli was also an Athlete of the Week as a junior.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athletes of the Week, from Sprague Boys Tennis, are Jacob Hoda and Jake Horn.

Jacob, a sophomore, and Jake, a senior, are the #1 doubles team for the Olys. They are currently undefeated on the year in conference play. Additionally, they went undefeated in a team tournament last weekend in Roseburg. They were 4-0 at the #1 doubles position.

Jake was also honored as an Athlete of the Week in the 2021 season.

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​Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.