Gray wins national title in shot put.

Byline: The Register-Guard

WALNUT, Calif. - Javan Gray of Emerald Valley Track Club won the youth boys shot put competition Saturday at the USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships.

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

The 14-year-old, who will be a freshman at Thurston High School, posted a personal-record mark of 48 feet, 8 1/4 inches to win the event.

On Friday, the national record-holder in the youth boys javelin at 189-6 1/2 finished second in the event with a best of 179-8. He will compete in the discus today.

Astoria, West Albany

meet for state title

Astoria and West Albany will play for the championship of the State Junior Baseball Division I tournament today after semifinal victories Saturday.

Astoria reached today's 2 p.m. final at Marist High School by beating North Salem 10-0. West Albany qualified by beating McNary 8-5. Saturday's losses sent North Salem and McKay into the third-place game at 2 p.m. at Pleasant Hill.

Willamette and Marist will meet at 11:30 a.m. at Marist in the fourth-place game. Willamette stayed alive by beating North Marion 16-7 and Marist downed Lake Oswego 14-4.

The 11:30 a.m. fifth-place game at Pleasant Hill matches Beaverton and Scappoose. Beaverton beat Sprague 11-1 to advance, and Scappoose defeated Southridge 4-2.

Willamette Valley

falls in semifinals

NAMPA, Idaho - Idaho Falls defeated the Willamette Valley All-Stars 10-2 on Saturday to eliminate the Eugene-area team from the 12U Babe Ruth regional baseball tournament.

Joe Schindler had two doubles and two RBIs and Kyle Watson had three singles and scored a run to lead the All-Stars, who finished 4-1 in the tournament. Idaho Falls will meet Black Hills of Olympia, Wash., for the title today.

In a quarterfinal game earlier Saturday, Willamette Valley defeated Eastmont, Wash., 10-5 behind a combined five-hitter by Brett Nielsen, Schindler and Jordan Thompson.

Wyatt Swick smacked a three-run homer to put Willamette Valley up 7-3 in the fourth inning, Matt Evans had two RBIs and Watson had a single, double, triple and an RBI. Scott Kuvaas added a double and an RBI single.

Leunen scores seven

in Pan Am Games win

RIO DE JANEIRO - The University of Oregon's Maarty Leunen had seven points and two assists in 22 minutes of the United States' 84-58 victory over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Saturday at the Pan American Games.

Leunen made 3-of-6 shots from the field, including 1-of-3 three-pointers, as the U.S. team (2-2) advanced to face Panama (2-2) in the fifth-place game today. Indiana's D.J. White had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Americans.

Three Rivers, Salem

to play for area crown

ALBANY - Steven Blum was 4-for-5 with a three-run home run to lead Salem Post 9 to a 12-1 victory over the Three Rivers Sandblasters in the Area 3 American Legion baseball league playoffs Saturday.

Travis Anderson had two hits for the Sandblasters. Cole Skriver singled in Shane Rose for Three Rivers' only run.

The same two teams will meet today at 7 p.m. for the Area 3 championship.