Sweet Home’s Dakotah Keys is a finalist for the Johnny Carpenter Prep Athlete of the Year Award, to be presented during the Oregon Sports Awards, scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 31, at the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike World Campus.
Winners will be announced in 16 categories. A total of 80 finalists and winners were chosen by a statewide panel of media representatives.
They will be honored during a two-hour program that will be hosted for the fourth consecutive year by former University of Oregon and professional football star Ahmad Rashad, an Emmy-winning broadcaster. The awards show is in its 58th year. Bill Schonely, the Portland Trail Blazers’ founding broadcaster/ambassador, is back as show ambassador.
Tickets are $50. To order, call Chelsea Corrado at (503) 721-7477, ext. 24.
Keys said he doesn’t know much about the award, but he said he knew it was big.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I don’t’ know whom I’m up against. But it’s pretty cool being nominated by the media. I’ll know more when I get there. It’s exciting.”
Joining Keys as finalists in the Johnny Carpenter 4A through 1A division, along with Grant Hedrick of Central (baseball, basketball and football), Nevin Lewis of Culver (track and field), Sean Lewis of Damascus Christian (track and field), Coulter Mastenbroek of Scio (track and field, football), Scott Morse of Cascade Christian (basketball and tennis), Jordan Poyer of Astoria (basketball and baseball) and Cole Watson of Rogue River (track and field, cross country).
Keys, a national junior decathlon champion, holds the state record for the decathlon, which includes 10 track and field events.
He also is holds state track titles in five events et last spring, he won the 4A pole vault, 110-meter high hurdles and long jump and finished second in the javelin to help Sweet Home to a second straight state title. He also helped the 200 Freestyle relay team make the state meet and was an all-league soccer player before giving up that sport. He has made a verbal commitment to compete in track and field for the University of Oregon.
Keys was forced to skip the summer track season, during which he planned to defend his national decathlon title, after breaking his kneecap when he slipped during a freak hailstorm last June.
Keys, who is one of the top freestyle swimmers on a deep and talented Sweet Home boys team this winter, said the injury is healed.
“The knee is feeling good,” he said. “I’ve been doing physical therapy and training. I think I’ll be ready for track season.”
Here is a rundown on the other finalists:
Hedrick, whose play at quarterback was one of the main reasons Central rolled over eventual 4A football semifinalist Sweet Home last fall, has committed to playing football at Boise State. Hedrick was voted one of the two 4A Players of the Year.
Mastenbroek won the state 300 intermediate hurdles title in 39.00 seconds, a Division 2A state meet record by nearly two seconds, was third in the 200 and helped Scio win the 1,600 and 400 relays, the latter a new meet record in 43.96. In December, Mastenbroek helped the Loggers win the 2A football state title, finishing fourth in career rushing yards in state history among all classifications.
Nevin Lewis, now a Portland State University football player, was a standout in track and field at Culver, winning state championships in the 100, 200, 400 and the long jump in 2009. He also was named the 2A Offensive Player of the Year twice. He was also a three-year starter on the high school basketball team, earning All-League honors three times.
Sean Lewis, who is pursuing track and field at Point Loma Nazarene University, won the 100, 200 and both hurdles races at the state 1A championships last year as a senior.
Morse, who signed to play basketball and tennis at California Baptist University, holds the Cascade Christian High scoring record with 1,632 points as well as the school’s single-game record with 12 blocked shots and was named 3A Player of the Year after averaging 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 5.4 steals and 3.1 blocks while shooting 57 percent from the field. He also averaged 18.3 points and 10.5 rebounds as a junior.
Morse, who stands 6-7, won the state small-schools singles titles in tennis his first three years of high school, then teamed with his younger brother Eric, a freshman, for a fourth state championship last spring, becoming the first male in Oregon high school history to accomplish such a feat.
Poyer, a freshman at Oregon State University, where he plans to play football and baseball, was named league offensive and defensive player of the year in football and state player of the year in baseball. The four-year varsity starter helped the Fishermen win two OSAA state baseball titles, and was selected by members of The Oregonian sports staff as the first Brian T. Meehan Oregon Baseball Player of the Year. The award, to be presented annually by The Oregonian, recognizes a top senior high school player in Oregon.
Watson won the 3A 400, 800 and 1500-meter state titles last spring €“ repeating as state 800 champion €“ and won the state 3A cross-country championship last fall. He has verbally committed tot eh University of Oregon. He has run 1:52 in the 800.
Recent winners of the Johnny Carpenter Award include Recent winners include Elijah Greer (2008), Kevin Love (2007), Kevin Love (2006), Kevin Love and Joey Wong (2005), Galen Rupp (2004), Tommy Skipper (2003), Jordan Kent (2002) and Jordan Kent (2001).
Carissa Swanson contributed to this article.