The bar is high for athletic success in the West Linn/Wilsonville School District, where both high schools are perennial state contenders in multiple sports.
In fact, 6A West Linn and 5A Wilsonville are so successful, and have such a deep pool of talent, that many of their athletes don't get a chance to shine.
Enter Riverside High School, the choice school that opens in the district this fall. The 3A school not only will offer three career pathways that aren't available at the other high schools, but it will give athletes in the district another option to compete.
“We have some people who have expressed interest and said, 'I'm going to go there because I'm not in the top five in my class, but I'm still pretty good,'” athletic director and assistant principal Carey Wilhelm said. “It's just a real opportunity to give kids more playing time in the district who won't necessarily get that at the other schools.”
The school, which is taking over the remodeled Athey Creek Middle School campus on Southwest Borland Road next to I-205, will be a member of the Lewis & Clark League. It will be open to any student in the district, starting with freshmen and sophomores in its first year.
“It's like, 'I really want to play basketball, but I kind of see the writing on the wall at West Linn and Wilsonville,'” said Chuck Matthews, recently hired as Riverside's boys basketball coach. “'So maybe I can go to this 3A school and have a great opportunity to play varsity and play earlier in my career.'
“I think there are going to be kids that look at that opportunity like, 'Wow, it's a great academic school, it's brand new, and I have a chance to really make my stamp there.' I think we're just going to be an organic, viable option for kids.”
Wilhelm said the school will have about 125 to 150 students in its first year, a roughly even split between the West Linn and Wilsonville enrollment areas. In 2023-24, the Raptors will compete on the sub-varsity level, and possibly on varsity in some individual sports.
Riverside plans to offer a full palate of athletics in its first year, except for football, baseball and softball. The school does not have facilities for those sports, but hopes to build them with the passage of the next district bond, which includes artificial turf fields and other upgrades. Currently, it has one gym, a regulation track and grass soccer fields that it shares with Willamette United Soccer Club.
“The facilities and property there is large and expansive,” Wilhelm said of the campus. “It's the biggest property that the district owns. It has the best ability to expand for fields and another gym.
“We're hoping that we can add football as soon as possible once we get a little bit larger and get the facilities upgraded at the school.”
Wilhelm said that Riverside anticipates an enrollment of about 400 in a few years. The school's capacity is about 550.
“It's hard to predict because it is a choice school,” Wilhelm said. “We could get booming numbers, we could stay about the same. It's a smaller school, so it's for students that like that smaller-school setting. We're purposely staying smaller, at least for the time being, than the other two schools so that the students have that option.”
The Raptors' colors are purple, black and gray. The name came from a district-wide student contest last year.
“We see lots of birds of prey around our area, so it seems like a perfect fit,” Wilhelm said.
Riverside has hired fall coaches for boys soccer (Greg Bean), girls soccer (Raul Sixtos), cross country (Allison Bonn-Savage) and volleyball (Emma Ehlers). The school also has brought aboard coaches for boys basketball (Matthews), girls basketball (Dan Boyd), wrestling (Chris Kamhoot) and golf (Alex Grandjean).
Matthews spent the last 23 seasons as the head coach at Madison/McDaniel of the 6A Portland Interscholastic League. Matthews, who lives in Oregon City, will bring his lead assistant of the last 11 seasons, Cyrus Lee, a Lake Oswego resident.
Upon hearing about Riverside, Matthews said he aggressively pursued the coaching position.
“It's kind of like a dream job,” Matthews said. “As long as I've been coaching, what a great opportunity to go to a small school like that, a 3A school that's just starting up, and be able to build my own program. It's just such an exciting opportunity.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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