Sports
A8
WR
C
Thursday, December 2, 2021
SWIMMING
PREP BASKETBALL
Tigers ready
to dive in
La Grande swimming sees uptick
in numbers, looks for strong season
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
La Grande’s Brady Hutchins (22) looks to pass the ball during the first quarter of a game last season against Nixyaawii. Hutchins is one of sev-
eral returning seniors that will look to lead the way for La Grande in the 2021-22 season.
Looking to make a run
La Grande boys leaning
on deep group of
upperclassmen to carry
the load this season
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
L
A GRANDE — This year’s
La Grande boys basketball
team has high potential, but
head coach Mark Carollo’s
squad is not looking too far
ahead.
The Tigers return five rising seniors
and four juniors to this year’s team
and will look to build on a 7-3 spring
season. With a large group back for
this coming hoops season, La Grande
is aiming to make a run at the Greater
Oregon League and Class 4A state title.
“We have high expectations, but
we’re looking to take things one game
at a time,” Carollo said. “Winning
the league and competing in the play-
offs are obviously very high goals, but
coming into the season we just have to
focus on little things that we need to
get better at.”
La Grande returns several key
contributors from last year’s squad,
including seniors Devin Bell and Brady
Hutchins. Carollo is relying on the duo
to provide leadership on and off the
court for this year’s team.
“Both of them have valuable varsity
experience and last year they definitely
increased their level and improved,”
he said. “I can totally see that they’re
maturing and continue to get better.”
The Tigers breezed through league
play last season, compiling a 4-0
record. Other contributors from last
year’s team who will have a large
impact this year include upperclassmen
Alex Rodriguez, Cesar Rodriguez,
Jarom Huntsman, Sam Tsiatsos,
Owen Rinker, Logan Williams and
Jace Schow. Even with a plethora of
returning talent, the mindset remains
the same at La Grande — taking things
one day at a time.
“Every year is different, especially
in high school,” Carollo said. “This
early on, we’re just worried about how
we’re competing in each game leading
up to the end of the season. There’s a
long way to go and a lot to learn.”
The Tigers get things started with a
heavy slate of non-league matchups to
begin the season. La Grande opens the
year at Umatilla on Thursday, Dec. 2,
as part of 11 straight nonleague games
to start off.
See, Boys/Page A9
Reloading for another run
SW
WRESTLING
High expectations
for Tiger matmen
Experienced group has La Grande
looking for state glory on the mat
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
New-look
La Grande aims
to find its identity
after key
departures
the program. Wright said he
expects a high quantity of
freshmen to make the var-
sity team and see the court
in order to gain valuable
experience.
“I think this freshman
class has potential to be
really good,” he said.
With a large turnover
from one year to the next
comes the task of rebuilding
team chemistry, which is a
focus during the offseason.
Wright said the group is
coming together well and
the team is making a real
effort to become more
cohesive.
LA GRANDE — The bar is set high for the
La Grande High School wrestling team.
Following a historic state championship
in 2019-20, a young group of wrestlers over-
achieved and placed second in last year’s tour-
nament. With most of those wrestlers returning
this year, La Grande is looking to bring home
another championship.
“We’re building on how they did last year,”
head coach Klel Carson said. “We only grad-
uated one senior, who we’re going to miss a
lot this year, but we’re super excited for this
season.”
The Tigers are coming off a second-place
finish in the spring season 4A state champi-
onship, scoring 167 points and placing behind
Sweet Home with 262. La Grande returns nearly
the entirety of the roster that dominated the
Greater Oregon League district championship.
Leading the way is senior Braden Carson, a
138-pound wrestler who last season earned his
second straight individual title. Braden Carson
is entering the 2021 season seeking program his-
tory — a third state title would be a record at La
Grande. The senior is locked in on his personal
goals, but is focusing on the team’s success first
and foremost.
“I’m ready to go,” Braden Carson said. “I
expect our team to do really well this year. I
think we have everyone we need at every weight
class to compete well at state.”
Joining Braden Carson as another senior
leader on the team is Brody MacMillan, who is
fresh off a stellar football season in which he was
named Greater Oregon League offensive player
of the year. MacMillan missed the entirety of
last season with a leg injury and is itching to get
back on the mat for this year’s group.
“I’m ready to get back out there,” MacMillan
said.
Klel Carson noted the importance of adding
MacMillan back into a group that competed
well in his absence last year. The coach stated
that MacMillan brings invaluable leadership and
intensity to La Grande’s wrestling room.
See, Girls/Page A9
See, Wrestling/Page A9
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Brian
Wright has one thing on
his mind heading into the
2021-22 season.
“It’s a fresh new start,”
he said.
The La Grande girls bas-
ketball head coach is faced
with replacing five seniors
from a team that went 10-0
in the regular season last
spring. With many new ath-
letes hitting the hardwood
this year, the Tigers will
look to surprise some folks
around the league.
La Grande has some
major shoes to fill, pri-
marily its former one-two
punch of guard Camryn
Collman and forward Ella
Dunlap. Collman now plays
for the University of Port-
land and Dunlap is on the
Eastern Oregon University
team. The duo contributed
to La Grande right from the
start as freshmen, so their
absence will surely be felt
after four productive years.
However, the Tigers will
still rely on a Dunlap to be
a steady force in the paint
this year — Ella Dunlap’s
younger sister, Addison.
Now in her junior year,
LA GRANDE — The La Grande swim team
is anticipating big possibilities this upcoming
season.
Coming off a delayed spring season in which
both La Grande’s girls and boys teams competed
admirably at the state championships despite lim-
ited swimmers, hopes are high in 2022. Under
the leadership of first-year head coach Cheyenne
Maszk, the Tigers are looking to utilize a much
larger group of swimmers to find success this
year.
“We are looking forward to a much more
normal season than last year,” Maszk said. “We
have quite a few returners and kids who have
swam club, so we have high expectations for dis-
tricts and state.”
The Tigers are coming off a clean sweep in the
Greater Oregon League, taking both the girls and
boys titles with just 10 total swimmers. La Grande
went on to place sixth at the 4A/3A/2A/1A girls
state championship and its two boys qualifiers
helped the team place 13th. Now with 25 swim-
mers on the roster, the team is ready for a big year.
“Last year we didn’t expect that we would take
a whole lot of people to state, we just didn’t know
where everyone was,” Maszk said of the spring
season in which she was an assistant coach. “We
ended up taking most of our little team, which was
exciting and a good thing to build on.”
On the boys side, junior Glenn Ricker leads the
way as he pursues his second career individual
state championship. Ricker won the 100-yard but-
terfly as a freshman and placed second in last
year’s competition. He also finished as the run- C
ner-up in the 100 breaststroke after battling an
Th
early-season injury.
Next to Ricker is Gabe Zamora, another junior up
on t
who Maszk expects to lead the way.
“Glenn and Gabe are both quiet leaders. They sa
don’t have to be loud or obnoxious — people just di
naturally follow their example,” Maszk said. “The er’s y
older ones are definitely ready to work and they’re is a f
ready for a more normal season where we have a s
more time to train and get on track.”
G
D
See, Swimming/Page A9 “W
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
La Grande Junior Makenna Shorts works on her shot during a girls basketball practice on Thursday, Nov.
18, 2021. Shorts will be looking to help fill the void left by five graduating seniors from last year’s team.
Addison Dunlap will likely
see a spike in playing time
as an upperclassman.
“She played a lot for
us last year and did really
well,” Wright said. “When
she’s on the court we can do
some things just because of
her size.”
As for replacing Coll-
man’s efficient ball han-
dling, court vision and
scoring abilities, that is the
big question coming into
this season.
“That’s what we’re
looking for,” Wright said.
“I think we’ll do it more by
committee this year.”
Junior Makenna Shorts
is set to take a big step this
year at the guard position
after a quality sophomore
season. Seniors Grace Neer,
Isabelle Kump and Mad-
dielynn Larman also will
look to lead the way for this
year’s younger team.
“We’ll be a little more
diversified this year,”
Wright said. “Traditionally,
we’ve pounded the ball into
the post or started inside
out.”
In Wright’s fourth year
as head coach at La Grande,
this group presents a new
challenge. While the team
has a solid quantity of
returners, the Tigers have
a large group of incoming
freshmen to acclimate to