Sports
8A — THE OBSERVER
8A
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Mountie women wrestlers
have a new head coach
Local schools react to
postponed sports season
By Kaleb Lay
By Kaleb Lay
The Observer
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity in November wel-
comed a new head coach
to the Mountaineers wom-
en’s wrestling squad with
the hiring of Carlene
Sluberski.
Formerly at
the University
of Providence
in Great Falls,
Montana,
where she led
Sluberski the Argos
to a top-10
ranking and a third-place
conference fi nish last year,
Sluberski brings experi-
ence and enthusiasm to the
Mounties grappling squad.
“I am very excited to
be at Eastern,” Sluberski
said. “It’s been awesome.
Obviously, coming in at
this time is kind of crazy,
and (I’m) just trying to
keep my head above water.
It’s not a bad thing at all,
it’s just crazy. I’m really
excited to be at Eastern.
It’s a good place, and I
think they do things the
right way.”
While taking the reins
UNION COUNTY —
The Oregon School Activi-
ties Association on Monday,
Dec. 7, announced it pushed
back the start of high school
sports to February 2021 due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local school offi cials met
the news with frustration
and acceptance.
The OSAA’s decision
moved the start of a six-
week season for the tra-
ditional fall sports of
football, volleyball and
cross-country to Feb. 22,
though football teams can
start practice earlier. Spring
sports will play during the
following six weeks, and
winter sports will play in
the six weeks after that.
Jeffrey Rysdam, ath-
letic director and head foot-
ball coach in Elgin, said
the OSAA’s move was
predictable.
“I wasn’t really sur-
prised by it,” Rysdam said.
“I had a feeling they were
gonna push things back just
because of county cases,
cases rising not only here
but across the state.”
Rysdam struck a cau-
tiously optimistic tone
about the prospect of
six-week sporting sea-
sons returning to area
high schools, saying “six
games is still better than no
games.”
Students in Elgin have
been frustrated, he said,
that play continually eludes
them.
“We’re in person out
here and I’ve been talking
to them at the start of each
day in class,” he said. “I
talk to them and tell them
what’s going on. They’re
disappointed and, I guess,
they’re basically tired of the
goalposts getting moved.
We get close and we have
to move it again, and they
just want to get back to
normal.”
At the other end of the
Grande Ronde Valley, Cove
School District Superin-
tendent Earl Pettit has been
vocal about his dissatisfac-
tion with state restrictions
on school sports.
“With the latest shift
in goalposts today, we are
currently not allowed to
have any indoor sports at
all — this despite the fact
that we are allowed to have
PE classes, be in school,
ride buses, etc.,” Pettit
wrote in a Dec. 3 press
release predating the OSAA
announcement. “Expressing
my frustration here, this
goes clearly against the con-
cept that activities are a part
of school and an important
part of the educational
process.”
He also criticized Gov.
Kate Brown for changes to
Cove’s ability to provide
sporting opportunities to
students. Under Brown’s
risk and protection frame-
work, K-12 sports now
are prohibited in counties
with 60 or more cases of
COVID-19 in the previous
two weeks.
Pettit expressed a similar
frustration with the OSAA’s
decisions.
“We have said for years
and continue to say that
activities are an integral
part of the educational
experience for secondary
students, for high school
students, and (we’re) still
waiting for that to happen
this year,” the Cove super-
intendent said.
While action on the
court, fi eld and track has
widely been put on hold in
2020, some sports did take
place earlier in the fall.
Imbler Athletic Director
Mike Mills said he felt his
school was fortunate to
squeeze in an early volley-
ball season, adding it was
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Israel O’Reilly of Union/Cove leads the 2A/1A boys dis-
trict cross-country championships Friday, Nov. 1, 2019, at
Community Park in Pendleton. O’Reilly won with a time
of 16:43.6. The Oregon School Activities Association has
moved the start of tradition fall sports season to February
2021 due to the corona pandemic.
good for the students.
Mills, though, expressed
his own frustration with the
delay in sports but said it
was a necessary sacrifi ce in
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2020
LABEL
a diffi cult year.
“I’m a little disap-
pointed, but I can under-
stand why they (OSAA) are
doing that,” he said.
of a new team during the
COVID-19 pandemic has
been challenging, she said
she was thrilled to help
grow both Eastern’s pro-
gram and the sport of
women’s wrestling as a
whole.
Sluberski had high
praise for EOU athletics
and for the athletes on her
team.
“It’s not like a huge
team, but there’s a lot of
good character there, good
people,” she said. “They’re
focused, very driven. I
think the individuals have
high standards for them-
selves and high expecta-
tions. ... It’s a good group.”
Drive, focus and high
personal standards are a
facet of women’s wres-
tling, Sluberski said,
adding that one of the rea-
sons she loves the sport is
the constant challenges it
provides.
“You know, when you
step out on the mat, it’s
only you. You can’t hide
anything. You can’t hide
that you didn’t put the
work in — it shows,” she
said. “It gives you a sense
of personal responsibility
for yourself and you fi gure
out a way to get things
done and how to do your
best.”
A native of upstate New
York, Sluberski became
involved in women’s
wrestling in elementary
school. She credited her
own coaches during her
younger years with seeing
the potential not only in
her but in women’s wres-
tling as a sport.
Women’s wrestling has
rapidly grown in the last
decade as more and more
schools expand their ath-
letic programs to include
women in the sport.
“I graduated high
school in 2009, and I think
there were about 10 col-
leges in the entire U.S. that
offered women’s wres-
tling, and now there’s over
80, I believe,” Sluberski
said.
More states have offi -
cially sanctioned and rec-
ognized women’s wres-
tling in that time as well.
Sluberski said that while
only a handful had sanc-
tioned the sport a decade
ago, 23 to 25 states have
done so since then.
it’s too late!
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