By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club honored West Salem’s Colin Paine (Boys Tennis), Salem Academy’s Addi Bennett (Softball), South Salem’s Chloe Kolb (Girls Track and Field), South Salem’s Rowan Thompson (Softball), South Salem’s Griffin Haider (Boys Track and Field), and Blanchet’s Griffen Mucken (Baseball) were honored for the Week of April 28.

Here’s the Press Release:

The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Boys Tennis, is Colin Paine.

Colin is a senior and team captain for the 6-3 Titans. The team’s winning record is a big turnaround from last year’s 1-13 and coach Sean Young credits Colin with being a big factor in this growth due to his leadership and hard work in the off season. And that hard work has paid off. In his match vs. Forest Grove Colin won the 1st set in a tie break after falling behind 2-5. He then dropped the 2nd set before taking the 3rd in a nearly 2-hour match. The next day he went 6-1, 6-2 to help the Titans to a 5-3 win over McNary.

Colin will be attending Oregon State University next year.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Salem Academy Softball, is Addi Bennett.

Addi, a sophomore, pitches for the 4-6 Crusaders who have won 4 of their last 5 games. In last week’s two complete game victories she threw 10 innings, allowing 10 hits and 6 earned runs while racking up 19 Ks. Addi also hit .667, with an on base percentage of .875 and scored 7 runs while driving in 4.

This is Addi’s second Athlete of the Week honor.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from South Salem Girls Track and Field, is Chloe Kolb.

Chloe is a sophomore for the Saxons. Earlier this month at the 15 team Chehalem Classic, Chloe ran a 4:49 in the Elite 1500, earning a 6th place finish. She is currently leading the Central Valley Conference and is ranked 8th in Oregon 6A.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from South Salem Softball, is Rowan Thompson.

Rowan, a junior, pitches for the 9-4 Saxons. After an 0-2 start in conference, South has stormed back, winning the last four including a 7-0 shutout over league leading McNary where she helped her own cause with a 3-run bomb. Over those four games – Sprague, West Salem, McNary, and North Salem – she has pitched 22 innings, striking out 47 while giving up 0 runs and allowing only 6 hits. In the 11-0, 5-inning shutout of Sprague, she allowed 2 hits and a walk while recording all 15 outs by strike out. In the 1-0 win over West Salem she was one walk – in the 7th – from a perfect game while striking out 17. She’s also taking care of it at the plate with an average of .450, 26 RBIs, and 5 HRs.

This is Thompson’s third AOTW honor.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from South Salem Boys Track and Field, is Griffin Haider.

Griffin is a junior for the Saxons. Griffin went 21.25’ in the long jump at the Newberg invitational. The distance places him 1st in the Central Valley Conference and 6th in Oregon 6A.

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The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Blanchet Catholic Baseball, is Griffen Mucken.

Griffen, a junior, is an outfielder for the 17-1 (13-0 in league) and 2nd ranked Cavaliers. The Cavaliers lone loss was to a Colorado team during an Arizona tournament. In last weekend’s 3-game series versus Monroe, Griffen hit .750 with an .818 on base percentage with 6 hits and 6 RBIs. For the season he’s hitting .400 and is currently 2nd on the team with a 65% quality at-bat percentage.

​Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.