The Summer Olympics are coming up in another month and you could say Philomath just might have an athlete to cheer on.
Her name is Jade Carey, an Oregon State University junior, and she will be among the gymnasts competing June 27-30 at the Olympic Trials in Minneapolis. The five representatives will be announced at the end of the competition on June 30. Carey won the gold medal in the floor exercise at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
On her USA Gymnastics page, Carey lists Philomath as her current residence. She lives in a local apartment complex.
Carey has obviously been impressive in the sport to reach this level. In the floor exercise, she’s scored a 10.000 score on six occasions, most recently at the NCAA regional meet on April 4 when she pulled it off twice in the last-ever Pac-12 Championships. She’s one of 13 gymnasts all-time to score a 10 in every event during her collegiate career.
In the regional meet while competing with the Beavers, Carey finished as the silver medalist in the all-around competition and also on the floor exercise.
Carey qualified for the trials with her performance at the U.S. Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this month.
If Carey makes it to Paris, those are scheduled to run from July 26-Aug. 11.
Look ahead to football
The Philomath High School football team will open its 2024 season on Sept. 6 with a trip to Newport for a showdown against the Cubs, a school that has been a longtime rival over the years. Philomath then plays its home opener on Sept. 13 against Milwaukie. Nonconference games follow at North Bend on Sept. 20 and at home vs. The Dalles on Sept. 27.
In Special District 3, Philomath’s schedule includes at Sweet Home on Oct. 4, at home vs. Stayton on Oct. 11, at home vs. Cascade on Oct. 18, at Junction City on Oct. 25 and at home vs. Marist Catholic on Nov. 1.
Philomath is coming off a 5-4 record in 2023 — the wins came over Newport (48-0), Cottage Grove (41-17), Stayton (21-20), Klamath Union (30-8) and Sweet Home (33-14). The Warriors ended up 18th in the OSAA rankings and just barely missed qualifying for a play-in game.
The conference should be very competitive again — it certainly was last year with Marist reaching the 4A finals and both Junction City and Cascade winning at least one playoff game. The toughest nonleague opponent appears to be North Bend although The Dalles may have something to say about that statement.
Philomath will want to pile up wins early in the season with Cascade, Junction City and Marist representing the last three weeks of play.
As head coach Alex Firth has told me on more than one occasion — the program is still looking for that signature win, the type of result that really turns things around and launches the Warriors to a new level of play.
PHS summer baseball
The Philomath High summer baseball program is off and running with the team out to a 3-1 start. Les and Bob’s lost its June 6 opener at Corvallis, 7-6, but came back to post three straight wins over Junction City (8-6), Sweet Home (14-7) and Lebanon (11-0). The team is scheduled to play Wednesday at Willamette and Friday at South Albany. The next home game is set for 6 p.m. Monday vs. Sweet Home.
Through the first three games, Logan Matthews has the hottest bat with an .800 batting average (4 for 5). Wylie Griffith is hitting .571 (4 for 7), Brady Russell is at .500 (3 for 6), Grant Niemann is hitting .444 (4 for 9) and Kayson Olsen is currently at .417 (5 for 12).
An interesting note on Olsen — four of his five hits have gone for extra bases with two triples and two doubles. Matthews also had a pair of doubles. Niemann leads in RBIs with five. Olsen is tops in runs scored with seven and also has a team-high six stolen bases.
On the mound, Niemann, Matthews and Griffith have the teams three wins. Niemann and Griffith have the most innings pitched with six each and they both have good earned run averages at 1.17.
Les and Bob’s will play games well into July. An alumni game is scheduled for July 19.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
