Sports
A7
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
BREAKING
BARRIERS
Audrey Garlitz scores the fi rst goal of a Nov. 5, 2019,
playoff contest against Molalla. La Grande won 3-1
behind a hat trick from Garlitz.
Ronald Bond/The Observer, File
Local athlete to compete for USA Deaf Women’s National Soccer Team in Brazil
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
C
OVE — A hearing impair-
ment has not stopped Audrey
Garlitz from achieving a suc-
cessful athletics career.
The Cove senior who
recently signed to play col-
lege soccer at NCAA Division II Uni-
versity of Mary has excelled on the
soccer pitch, on the cross-country
course and on the basketball court
despite having a hearing impairment.
In addition to her high school sports
accolades, Garlitz is a member of the
USA Deaf Women’s National Team
and will be competing with the team
at the 2022 Deaf Olympics in Brazil.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to
bring deaf and hard-of-hearing players
together to represent the United
States, especially for me personally
coming from a small town in Eastern
Oregon with not a lot of competitive
playing opportunities locally and even
less chance to play with other deaf
teammates,” Garlitz said. “I’m very
grateful for this opportunity.”
Garlitz is a multisport standout,
competing at a high level in soccer,
cross-country and basketball. After
three years at La Grande High School,
Garlitz transferred to Cove for her
senior year where she competed in
cross-country and is currently playing
basketball, in addition to her club
soccer team.
In cross-country, Garlitz helped
Union/Cove place third at the
3A/2A/1A state championships by fi n-
ishing in 26th overall with a time of
22:09.7. Last spring, she was named
4A fi rst-team all-state in soccer after
helping La Grande fi nish the season
7-2.
A new home
At the conclusion of a stellar high
school and club soccer career in high
school, Garlitz signed with the Univer-
sity of Mary in North Dakota in early
November to continue on her soccer
career. Upon visiting the Marauders
for a practice on a recruiting trip, Gar-
litz quickly felt at home with the team.
“I was able to connect with the
players and train at a high level on my
fi rst visit which made me want to be
a part of their program,” Garlitz said.
“UMary’s focus on academic suc-
cess for their student-athletes and their
strong Catholic faith and identity drew
me in even before my fi rst visit.”
University of Mary is coming
off a 9-7-3 season in 2021 in which
the Marauders placed sixth in the
Northern Sun Conference. The team is
just two years removed from an 11-4-3
fi nish in 2019.
“I feel like I’m just getting started
on my sports career and am very
grateful to continue beyond high
school,” Garlitz said. “Going to col-
lege so far away from home is a
little intimidating, but it’s helpful
and exciting to know that I’ll be sur-
rounded by an instant family with the
team and coaches.”
Stars and stripes
Garlitz has represented the United
States with the USA Deaf Wom-
en’s National Team since the summer
of 2019. The team trains during the
summer and either in the winter or
spring. This year, Garlitz and the USA
team will train in Viejo, California, in
January to prepare for the Deaf Olym-
pics in Brazil.
Each player is asked to raise $6,000
for the 14-day trip abroad, which Gar-
litz said will be her fi rst time out of
the country.
“Our team is funded entirely by
private donations, and the USA Deaf
Sports Federation is continuing to
grow with attention from the ath-
letes,” Garlitz said. “I defi nitely hope
the fundraiser and trip to Brazil will
raise awareness for people who might
not be familiar with the ‘Deafl ympics.’
There are 21 other sports participating
in the summer Deafl ympics too and
there are also winter Deafl ympics that
don’t get a lot of attention.”
Through playing on the Deaf Wom-
en’s National Team, Garlitz has been
able to make close friendships with
teammates who have similar hearing
impairments. Interacting with the
team over the past few years has pro-
vided an outlet to share similar obsta-
cles that come along with being hard
See, Barriers/Page A8
SPORTS SHORT
Former Auburn quarterback announces transfer to Oregon
By JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
EUGENE — Oregon is
adding a veteran quarterback
from the SEC.
Bo Nix, the former Auburn
quarterback who began his col-
lege career by beating the Ducks
in the 2019 season opener,
announced he’s transferring to
Oregon.
The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Nix
just fi nished his third-year sopho-
more season at Auburn, where he
completed a career-high 61% of
his throws for 2,294 yards with
11 touchdowns and three inter-
ceptions and ran for 168 yards
and four scores in 10 games
before suff ering a fractured
ankle.
Oregon off ensive coordi-
nator Kenny Dillingham was in
the same role at Auburn in 2019,
when Nix won SEC Freshman of
the Year.
Last week, Nix explained his
decision to transfer from Auburn,
where his father, Pat, also played
quarterback, and what he would
be seeking in a new team.
“I think when you look at it
from afar the main thing is is to
go somewhere that needs a quar-
terback and can kind of make
ends meet to what a great team
is going to look like,” Nix said
during his weekly appearance
on The JBoy Show. “I’m excited
to go and fi nd a new team that
is eager to continue to have suc-
cess and I would like to go into
a place to where, like I said,
they’re just missing a quarter-
back to the piece of the puzzle
for them to be really good. With
that being said, it’s not every-
where — not everywhere needs
a quarterback. There’s a lot of
places out there with great quar-
terbacks and then there’s a lot of
guys that are about to land great
quarterbacks, a lot of guys like
me in the transfer portal that are
good and going to go and play
somewhere.”
In 34 career games, all starts,
Nix completed 59.4% of his
passes for 7,251 yards with 39
touchdowns and 16 interceptions
and rushed for 869 yards and 18
touchdowns. He played for two
head coaches (Gus Malzahn and
Bryan Harsin) and three dif-
ferent off ensive coordinators
(Dillingham, Chad Morris, Mike
Bobo) during his time at Auburn.
In 2020, Nix completed 59.9%
of his throws for 2,415 yards with
12 touchdowns and seven inter-
ceptions and ran for 388 yards
and seven scores in 11 games.
Nix was the fi rst true
freshman QB to start a season
opener for Auburn since 1946,
which he did against the Ducks
in a 27-21 win in Arlington,
Texas when he threw the 27-yard
game-winning touchdown to
Seth Williams with nine seconds
to go. Nix completed 57.6% of
his passes for 2,542 yards with
16 touchdowns and six inter-
ceptions, all Auburn freshman
records, and ran for 313 yards
and seven scores that season.
Ron Jenkins/The Associated Press, File
Former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix announced he’s transferring to Oregon. The
addition of Nix, who has two years of eligibility remaining, gives Oregon four
scholarship quarterbacks entering 2022, with Ty Thompson, Jay Butterfi eld and
Robby Ashford all freshmen in terms of eligibility.