St. Thomas More 6th Grade win CYO Volleyball Championship


Home Team: Valley Catholic

Coaches: Julie Campbell, Ashley Schaef, Molly Kuhner, Nisha Ekanathian

Players: Marie, Daisy, Anshu, Jaden, Milania, Vivienne, Vibha, Eliza

Mascot: The Valiants

Visiting Team: St. Thomas More

Coaches:  Ashlee Sharp, Bethany Kelly

Players: Presley, Isabel, Claire, Elodie, Caitlin, Mia, Shannon, Maren, Stelia, Zoe          

Mascot: Bulldogs

Game Highlights November 19, 2022

Match 1: St. Thomas More 25, Valley Catholic 19

Match 2: Valley Catholic 25, St. Thomas More 11

Vivian brought Valley Catholic from a 7-5 deficit with 5 points scored followed by Milania with another 5 and Jaden added another 2 before retiring the serve to St. Thomas More.  The scoring blitz gave Valley Catholic a 17 to 7 lead before they won the match 25 – 11.  

Match 3:

St. Thomas More opened the match with a 6-0 run to give the Bulldogs a strong lead.  Both teams had some exceptional rallies in the third match which made for a very exciting game.

CYO 3rd Grade Volleyball Battle to the End


Home Team: Fighting Dutch (St. Francis, Roy and Visitation, Verboort)

Coaches Sharon Bird, Tara Giannetti

Players: Emma, Emery, Lily, Charlotte, Lucy, Rose, Lyla, Lydia

Mascot: Fighting Dutch

Visitation and St. Francis “Fighting Dutch” take second place in the CYO Spike Tournament Finals at Valley Catholic High School in Beaverton November 19, 2022

Visiting Team: Valley Catholic

Coaches: Alicia Feb, Erika Rudishauser, Emily

Players: Lila, Sage, Cassandra, Allison, Karen, Katherine, Emily, Sshley, Grace, Lydia, Makena, Abigail, Alexis

Mascot: The Valiants

Valley Catholic Valiants win the 3rd Grade CYO Spike Championship November 19, 2022 at the Valley Catholic High School Gymnasium.

Game Highlights

Match 1: Fighting Dutch 25 – 21

Match 2: Valley Catholic 25 – 19

Match 3: Valley Catholic 15 – 11

Each team took a match to begin the game and the final match was hard fought to the end. Two very evenly matched teams with skilled third graders who we will likely see in top level volleyball contention in the future.

CYO 7th Grade Boys City BXB Championship Results


SUNDAY March 13, 2022

7th GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL

CYO CHAMPIONSHIP

HOME TEAM: St. Andrew Nativity

COACH’S: Dominique Forrest

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Davon, Kanelo, Christopher, Nahceem, Von’ye, Samuel, Jehiel, Bennett, Elijah, Isaac

VISITING TEAM: St. Pius X “The Cougars”

COACH’S: Douglas Post, Kelly Grant, Loren Hotchkiss

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Sam, Conor, Nicolas, William, Michael, Elliott, Alex

Q1: St. Pius X came out to the early lead making some great shots while St. Andrew Nativity paid the price with some turnovers.  End of quarter 12 – 6 St. Pius X.

Q2: St. Pius added several three pointers during the course of the quarter.  St. Andrew struggled with missed shots and turnovers.  34 – 16 St. Pius X.

Q3: St. Andrew came out on fire scoring 7 points in 2 minutes, getting the rebounds on the other end and playing great defense.  St. Pius finally answered with a three point to bring the score to 39 – 23.  With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, St. Andrew had brought the score within 9 points at 30 – 39. End of third quarter score: St. Pius X 39 – St. Andrew Nativity 34.

Q4: The Game. A technical foul on St. Pius X followed by a technical foul on St. Andrew Nativity set the tone for the fourth quarter.  After the technical fouls were shot, the Panthers went into a stall game to maintain a five point lead 44 – 39.  St. Andrew Nativity answered with a foul fest which extended time and the final score St. Pius X 51 and St. Andrew Nativity 45.

CYO 7th Grade Girls City BXB Championship


SUNDAY March 13, 2022

7th GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL

CYO CHAMPIONSHIP

HOME TEAM – Christ the King “The Lions”

COACH’S: T.R. Riehl

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Arsema, Elizabeth, Caroline, Cailyn, Keira, Ava, Ruby, Abby, Finley, Lucy, Alexis, Teresa

VISITING TEAM: Valley Catholic “The Valiants”

COACH’S: Zach Bromert, Frank McKeen

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Claire, Hannah, Leah B., Meghan, Avery, Malia, Louisa,

Leah N., Grace, Stephanie, Natalie

Valley Catholic 7th grade girls win second place in the CYO City Basketball Championship March 13, 2022 at Valley Catholic School.

Q1: Tough defense on both teams, no scoring until second half of the first quarter.  Christ the King was scoreless until under two minutes in the first quarter. The teams ended the quarter Valley Catholic 4, Christ the King 3

Q2: With 3 minutes left in the half, Christ the King tied the game at 6 – 6.  Christ the King gained some momentum and outscored the Valiants 10 -6 to end the half.

Q3: Intense play by both teams with little penetration toward the hoop.  A lot of athleticism on both teams with great defense closing out most scoring attempts. The Lions capitalized on the Valiants endless turnovers. End of quarter Christ the King 15, Valley Catholic 10.

Q4: The Valiants had a momentum burst and brought the game within 3 points.  Turnovers vexed them throughout the game and end of game fouling sent the Lions to the charity line to add points.  Two very balanced teams the Lions were victorious today 22 – 14. FINAL

CYO 5th Grade Girls City Championship Results


SUNDAY March 6, 2022

5th GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL

HOME TEAM St. Anthony (Tigard)

COACH’S: Aubrey Turley, Charles Keller

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Kathryn, Sofia, Bridget, Brenna, Kayla, Hazel, Audrey, Leighton, Ally

VISITING TEAM: St. Anthony (Tigard)

COACH’S: Craig Moore, Ken Feist

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Madeline, Emma, Josie D., Josie F., Allie, Layla, Lydia, Presley

Game Note: First time two teams from the same school played for a CYO City Championship!

Quarter 1

The Olson twins were a force to be reconned with and led a first quarter charge outgunning the blue team 11 – 2.

Quarter 2

Both teams scored 4 points in a tough fought quarter to bring the score to 15-6 St. Anthony Home team to end the first half.

Quarter 3

St. Anthony Home team added 6 points to their total outscoring the visiting team by 4.  The quarter ended 21 – 8.

Quarter 4

Final 26 – 9 Home Team St. Anthony.

CYO 3rd Boys City Champs…


SUNDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2022

3RD GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL

CYO CHAMPIONSHIP

HOME TEAM St. Anthony

COACH’S: Stephen Aidan Tabor, Lozelle Mathai

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Porter, Nick, Jackson, Gavin, Camden, Luther, Colin, Miles

VISITING TEAM: St. Thomas More

COACH’S: William Thomas, Abraham Hawkins, Brandon Peele, Rommel Vega

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Izzy, Kelly, Kirin, Rex, Luke, Palmer, Zachary, Henry, Spencer, Kingston, Crosby

First Half: A very fast paced game with St. Anthony converting shots while St. Thomas More missed the mark.  Half time score: 26 – 4 St. Anthony.

End of third quarter: St. Anthony 30 – St. Thomas More 6 in a very hard-fought quarter.

Final 39 – 15 St. Anthony

CYO Third Grade Girls BXB 2022 Champs


SUNDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2022

3RD & 4TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL

CYO CHAMPIONSHIP

HOME TEAM: St. Pius X

COACH’S: Karie Conner, Anna Martin, Michael Liu, Kennard McClennan

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Philomena, Charline, Layla, Ava, Layla, Natalia, Audrey, Reese, Gabrielle

VISITING TEAM: St. Anthony

COACH’S: Charles Keller, Alex Umbdenstock

PLAYER FIRST NAMES: Lea, Sloane, Holly, Caroline, Camryn, Zoe, Hadley, Brielle, Emi

Quarter 1: Lots of back-and-forth play with several shots that were close but missed the mark.  Great ball skills being developed on both teams with obvious look at some great future athletes.  With less than a minute in the game, Caroline scored on a 20-foot shot to end the quarter 2-0 St. Anthony.

Quarter 2: St. Pius X went ahead in the second quarter with a 4-point run while St. Anthony put in an extra point to bring the score to 4-3 St. Pius X with 3:25 left in the quarter. With 10 seconds left in the half with a tied game of 5-5, St. Pius X Leila scored on a breakaway for two at the buzzer leading 7-5 at the half.

Quarter 3:

One of the most exciting 3rd grade games this writer has watched, the score was 10 – 10 with 2:47 left in the 3rd quarter. At the buzzer, St. Pius X increased the lead by 5 with a quarter ending score of 15 to 10.

Quarter 4:

A lot of energy was expended by both teams in the fourth quarter steals, shots, lots of missed attempts but plenty of attempts.  At the end of the game the score stood 21 – 14 in favor of St. Pius X.  Both teams played an incredible game

St. PIus X 3rd Grade Girls bring home the gold in the 2022 CYO City Basketball Tournament
St. Anthony Girls Basketball Team finishes second in the CYO 2022 City Basketball Tournament.

Giving Thanks as We Restart CYO Sports


Sam Robbins wins his heat of the 100 meter dash at the CYO mini meet at Valley Catholic May 1, 2021. He also took first place overall in the longjump for his age group.

Herb Lommen, Announcer, Sr. Krista von Borstel, CYO, Erik Holstrom, Javelin Coach Valley Catholic CYO reunite at Valley Catholic. The trio worked many years together on campus as teachers. Erik Holstrom is still on staff.

CYO Staff Cathy Foy, Connor Garcia and Nora Gravengaard work on the portable sound system for the upcoming track meets.

Jenna Bass and Nora Gravengaard keep spectators, volunteers and participants safe while directing them to their areas for the track and field meet.

Student Meet Director, Paige Dunckly, talks to the head track and field coaches prior to the beginning of the May 1, 2021 meet.

Paige Dunckley, CYO Meet Director talks to head track and field coaches, Liz Dooley (West Hills Christian) and Isaac Forquer (Holy Trinity) prior to the beginning of the meet. Liz and Isaac are also two of the five CYO Track and Field Commission Members.

As the CYO/Camp Howard staff work to make a comeback as a business, I am deeply touched at so many things and I would like to share some of them with you. I am sure many of us have things in common that speak to the sweetness of hearts.

First of all, I could not ask for a better group of people to work with.  They have seen the organization through a year-long furlough, come back when asked and acted as a first-class team to execute our first activities beginning with Cross Country at the end of February and Track and Field currently.

I will always have a very special place in my heart for the CYO Track and Field Commission for helping us offer and execute the new Cross Country program. Isaac Forquer (Chair), Mac Lavier, Jennifer Adamy, Liz Dooley and Randy Dollar worked with the CYO staff and really provided technical assistance, feedback, weekly meetings, encouragement and presence at all of the meets.  How do you properly thank such heroics? 

Our CYO Athletic Directors, coaches and parents have been so excited to return to action.  I was a CYO Official at Valley Catholic this past weekend, hosting three “mini meets” which basically means we held the numbers at each meet to the state mandates including participants, officials and volunteers. We cut the number of events in half to speed things up yet give the kids a good choice of activities, changing them up the following week with the other half of track events. A really positive side benefit has been that youth have tried things they never did before.  Maybe a star will be born!

I cannot give enough thanks to our volunteer parents who stepped in and assisted with the production of the running and field events.  The mini meets lasted 90 minutes each, the participants were able to compete in two events and thanks to all of these individuals all of the events across the city were finished on time and everyone seemed to be so grateful to be back.

Special thanks also to the administrators who made their facilities available to us, Valley Catholic (Beaverton), Seton Catholic (Vancouver) Portland Christian (Portland) and Liberty (Hillsboro).  If not for the sites, there would have been no CYO Track and Field meets.  We are incredibly grateful!

CYO will present three more weekends of track meets at three locations per week the next three Saturdays in May 2021.

National Vocation Awareness Week


Check out a short film I put together for my religious community, The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, for National Vocation Awareness Week!

Our Biggest Challenge Yet


October 31, 2020

National Vocation Awareness Week November 1 – 6

#23 in a series of 25 short stories

Things were going really well…numbers had doubled over the years in CYO sport participation, Camp Howard numbers were good and we were heading into the final large building campaign for the camp, our Chapel.

March 13, 2020 we had 4 days left in our City Basketball Championship in which some 2500 players participate all over Greater Portland area.  All of a sudden, the Catholic Schools and public schools began to close, sport events including professional, high school and college programs began to cancel events and the nation was beginning to “crumble” before our eyes. What did this mean?

Within the week I realized it meant no spring sports, no summer camp, no benefit dinner, no fall sports, no winter sports, no camp rentals and we had to refund $450,000.  Thanks again to those who donated their fees.  Our income stopped but our expenses did not.  Still had to pay insurance, rent, and $40,000 per month in various expenses to keep the business afloat while anchored!  CYO was one of the businesses that had no business when Covid hit.

We made a lot of calls to donors who have been stellar in their response.  I cannot thank them enough for responding.  We contacted our office space superintendent and asked to cut our space in half and bring our monthly payment to half the expense.  They could not have been better to us, thank you American Property Management!  Most of the staff furloughed and 4 keeping things going at half pay.  A very generous donor stepped up and paid my salary through December.

We have been out of business going on 9 months as of November 1st.  God willing, we will see some business start up again soon.  We are working with the Track and Field Commission to begin track in the spring if possible and we are planning for a new version of camp this summer.  God willing, the Outdoor School will be able to go in the spring but that is iffy.

Our new challenge will be in how we bring the business back after 9 months idle.  We are doing our best to manage a reappearance with the help of a timeline and financial charts.  I know that there are a lot of people who have suffered mightily at the hands of Covid.  I am grateful to the healthcare heroes who gave so much.  I realize how fortunate we are to have the challenges we have in light of so many stories of pain and suffering.  We will embrace our situation and climb out of our hole and we are grateful to all who have and will give us a helping hand and a push and a nudge!