Sports
OSAA
alters winter
state title
schedules
A7
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Perry makes move to win ECX
Montana musher
claims 200-mile race
as one of three
winners
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WILSONVILLE — The
Oregon School Activities Asso-
ciation announced an update
to its winter sports schedule
on Thursday, Jan. 20, modi-
fying championship formats in
the midst of the recent spike in
COVID-19.
The changes, which were dis-
cussed at an OSAA Executive
Board meeting on Jan. 18, involve
modifications to swimming and
wrestling schedules, as well as
potential updates to state basket-
ball tournaments if affected by
COVID-19. OSAA’s press release
noted that the modifications are
subject to change as the pandemic
continues to impact the landscape
of high school sports in Oregon.
“The OSAA Executive Board
remains committed to providing
state championships in every
activity offered by the Associ-
ation and will continue to work
closely with schools and venues
throughout the year,” the state-
ment read.
The 2022 swimming state
championships are set to be
moved to a timed final format.
Competition among 4A/3A/2A/1A
teams will take place on the after-
noon of Feb. 19, while the 5A state
championship will occur on Feb.
18. The 6A state championship
was moved to the morning of Feb.
19. Both the La Grande and Cove
swim programs will compete on
the afternoon of Feb. 19.
OSAA reported that the
number of alternates allowed to
attend per relay team was reduced
from four to two athletes. The
modification, along with schedule
changes, will allow OSAA to
access the Tualatin Hills Swim
Center without reducing the
number of qualifiers from across
the state.
Adjustments that will not have
a major impact on Union and
Wallowa County schools were
announced regarding wrestling
and dance/drill state champion-
ships. The 6A state wrestling
championship date was moved,
and time requirements for dance/
drill performances were adjusted.
OSAA stated that it plans to
move forward with the eight-team
format for the final sites of bas-
ketball state championships, but is
prepared to move to home sites if
necessary. The same adjustment
was made during the volleyball
playoffs in the fall.
The organization emphasized
its playoff forfeiture policy —
once the state brackets are pub-
lished, COVID-19 related cancel-
lations will be scored as a forfeit.
It also went on to state that can-
celed league games should be
rescheduled by Feb. 11.
ON THE SLATE
Tuesday, Jan. 25
COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL
The College of Idaho at Eastern Oregon,
7:30 p.m.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
The College of Idaho at Eastern Oregon,
5:30 p.m.
JOSEPH — Clayton Perry
was in fourth place and well
behind the race leaders coming
into the final checkpoint of the
Eagle Cap Extreme Sled Dog
Race.
One of his fellow racers in
the 200-mile race, Bino Fowler,
asked him a question before he
took off.
“He came over and asked if
I was making a move,” Perry
said of Fowler.
The move to have his dogs
pick up the pace and really
test them paid off, and Perry
crossed the finish line at
2:38 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, as
the winner of the Eagle Cap
Extreme in its return from a
one-year hiatus.
“(I) took a high risk that
they might not finish at all or
get it done,” Perry, the 2017
100-mile winner, said.
Perry was down nearly half
of his team, as he started the
race Jan. 20 with 12 dogs. He
finished with seven, losing five
along the way to soreness.
But he trusted in the rig-
orous training he and his
partner, Morgan Anderson, had
put in. They had done several
lengthy runs and, Perry said,
put in more than 1,200 miles
in recent months. He knew his
team was capable.
“(I) had a lot of confidence,”
he said. “This year’s training
with Morgan Anderson gave us
a lot of confidence. We knew
they could do it.”
Perry has been close in
recent years, taking fourth in
each of the last two Eagle Cap
Extreme races. He called the
win “totally unexpected.”
“Because there’s a lot of
competition. It’s not easy to
get done. I’m older. Most of
the other competitors are half
my age,” the 62-year-old Perry
said.
He had older dogs than
many in the field, as well. Yet
that experience — for both
him and his team — was also
a benefit. Perry is a veteran of
the ECX who not only has run
the 200-mile race the last few
years, but had done the 100-
mile race several times prior,
including his win five years
ago.
“Experience, knowing what
to expect,” he said. “Being here
before (is) a definite advantage.
Older dogs. More experienced
dogs.”
He outlasted a field that
included his training partner,
Anderson, Fowler, Rex Mum-
ford and Bryce Mumford, and
Jed Stephensen. Perry turned
in a time of 38 hours, 31 min-
utes. The Mumfords both
crossed about an hour later
with matching times of 39:46,
with Rex in second and Bryce
in third, according to the offi-
cial results. Stephensen placed
fourth in 41:55, and Anderson
took fifth with a time of 45:31.
Fowler scratched during the
Ellen Morris Bishop/Contributed Photo
Montana musher Clayton Perry hugs his dogs after winning the Eagle Cap Extreme’s 200-mile race early Saturday
morning, Jan. 22, 2022, in Wallowa County. Perry posted a time 38 hours, 31 minutes.
final stretch.
It’s the start of what Perry
hopes will be a good 2022,
with the goal in sight of trying
to win the Rocky Mountain
Triple Crown. The next race,
the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge,
begins Jan. 30, and following
that is Montana’s Race to the
Sky in Perry’s home state.
Lombardi wins 100-mile
race in ECX debut
Also claiming the first leg
of the triple crown was Nicole
Lombardi, another Mon-
tana-based racer who was the
victor of the 100-mile race in
her first time at the ECX.
“I was a little nervous, but
felt fully supported by the
community, the race com-
mittee, veterinarians and fellow
mushers,” Lombardi said.
She ran away from the four-
team field, completing the
100-mile course in 18 hours,
7 minutes. Steve Madsen took
second in 22:33, and Jane
Devlin crossed in 22:47. The
fourth racer, Kevin Daugherty,
scratched during the race.
Lombardi admitted she
almost dropped from the race,
worried the weather conditions
would not bode well for her
team.
“I almost didn’t go. I was
afraid of giving my dogs pneu-
monia,” she said. “Turned out
to be a really nice trail for the
dogs.”
It was a race of firsts for
Lombardi — not only was it
her first win at the ECX in her
first try, but it was “really the
first time I’ve raced 100 miles,
and the first time racing my
own dogs,” she said.
It’s also her first year back
in racing after close to a decade
off building her own team.
“Basically I needed to build
my own kennel, and it took me
11 years to get to a place where
I could balance work, breed
dogs and get to the place where
we could do something like
this,” she said.
She intended to do it a year
ago, but the pandemic altered
those plans.
“We actually wanted to do
it last year but everything was
canceled due to COVID,” she
said.
Lombardi will be gearing up
for the Idaho Sled Dog Chal-
lenge next week. She definitely
plans to return to Joseph to
race in the ECX, and said that
while her career hinders it now,
she would consider building
up to the 200-mile race in the
future.
“I would love to someday,”
she said.
First-time ECX musher
Reimer takes 31-mile race
Another first-timer took the
31-mile, two-day race — Cali-
fornia racer Jesika Reimer.
“The plan was just to get
my yearlings some experi-
ence. All my adults have raced
before,” Reimer said. “They
just plowed up those hills and
loved the downhills.”
Reimer, who owns 12 dogs,
had four of the younger dogs
on her team. She said she ran
two of the yearlings during her
first day, then switched to the
others on the second day.
“Because I hadn’t run the
course before and it’s the upper
limit in mileage in what we
trained this year, the Day 1
(plan) was to ride the brake,
hold them back, run a conser-
vative day,” she said.
She let up on the reins the
second day out.
“Day 2 heading out, I
knew they still had a lot of
gas in the tank. I have a little
leader named Arrow, this
little 38-pound black dog.
I let her pick the pace on
Day 2,” Reimer said. “They
really loved it. They hit the
last 5 miles and they started
sprinting. It was a really fun
ride into the finish line for
sure.”
Reimer finished in 6 hours,
22 minutes, just over an hour
ahead of local racer Craig
Anderson, who took second
in 7:35. Chantelle Chase was
third in 11:15, edging Kathy
Miyoshi by 8 minutes. Can-
dace Sarkesian scratched just a
couple hours after the start.
Reimer said she was
impressed at the performance
of her team.
“For me, my dogs sur-
prise me and amaze me all the
time,” she said. “I was amazed
they were able to run those dis-
tances. They still had a ton of
energy and were really happy.
It was cool for me to see them
have a good time and that they
weren’t pushed too hard.”
Reimer said she’ll run a
couple more races this year,
then plans to train her team up
for the 100-mile race in 2023.
“It was such a welcoming
community and such a beau-
tiful place to run our dogs,” she
said. “We’re looking forward to
coming back again.”
The lone racer in the
22-mile junior race, Sofie
Kaaen of Baker City, com-
pleted the first day of the race,
but scratched out of the second
leg.
Randy Greenshields, the
race president, said the field
was smaller than in recent
years, as several racers with-
drew before the start.
“There was some sickness.
We had a couple that were not
COVID, but they were sick and
didn’t want to expose people,”
Greenshields said. “Others
didn’t get the training miles in
this year.”
Still, he said it was “another
good year” for the race, and
spoke highly of the ideal condi-
tions for the mushers.
“The snow conditions were
the best I think I’ve ever seen,”
he said. “The mushers really
enjoyed the trails.”
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Enterprise at Heppner, 7 p.m.
Pendleton at La Grande, 7:30 p.m.
Grant Union at Union, 7:30 p.m.
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Enterprise at Heppner, 5:30 p.m.
Pendleton at La Grande, 6 p.m.
Grant Union at Union, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 26
PREP GIRLS WRESTLING
McLoughlin, Nyssa at La Grande Dual,
5 p.m.
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Imbler at Pine Eagle, 5:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Enterprise, 6:30 p.m.
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Imbler at Pine Eagle, 4 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Enterprise, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 27
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Eastern vs. MidAmerica Nazarene,
Glendale, Arizona, 9 a.m.
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Powder Valley at Griswold, 7:30 p.m.
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Powder Valley at Griswold, 6 p.m.
Big wins earn EOU women’s basketball team recognition
The Observer
CORVALLIS — The Cas-
cade Collegiate Conference
announced Sunday, Jan. 23,
the Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity women’s basketball team
was named the Under Armour
Team of the Week for Jan.
17-23.
The Mountaineers moved
into sole possession of first
place with hard-fought wins
over Oregon Institute of Tech-
nology and Southern Oregon
University, according to a
press release from the CCC.
Fans on Jan. 21 were treated
to an extra frame of action
as EOU needed an overtime
period to take down the OIT
Owls 79-75.
Taylor Stricklin led the
way with 21 points and six
rebounds. Sailor Liefke added
20 points, six boards and four
assists. Defensively, the Moun-
taineers held Oregon Tech to
36.8% from the field and 22%
from beyond the arc.
Against SOU, Liefke
exploded for 32 points to lead
all scorers.
Trailing for a large por-
tion of the game against
Southern Oregon, the Moun-
taineers used a 19-point fourth
quarter to propel them to the
68-65 come-from-behind vic-
tory. The win avenged an early
season loss to the Raiders in
Ashland.
Eastern, 14-7 overall and
11-2 in the CCC, next sees
action Jan. 24 hosting the
College of Idaho before wel-
coming Bushnell and Corban
to Quinn Coliseum Jan. 28-29.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Taylor Stricklin makes a layup at Quinn Coliseum at Eastern Oregon University,
La Grande, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. The EOU women’s basketball team beat vis-
iting Oregon Institute of Technology 79-75. EOU now is in first place and was the
Cascade Collegiate Conference’s Under Armour Team of the Week for Jan. 17-23.