Sports
A9
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
BASKETBALL
Oregon’s
4A state
tourney
brackets
are set
HIGH SCHOOL STATE WRESTLING
La Grande boys host
Banks, girls travel
to face Cascade
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
OSAA Class 4A brackets
are set — and La Grande
High School is well
represented.
The first round of the
state tournament will be
hosted by the higher seed,
with the quarterfinals slated
to start on Thursday, March
10. The on-site tournament
will be moved to Coos Bay,
hosted by Marshfield High
School and North Bend
High School.
The finals are scheduled
for March 12.
Girls earn No. 15 seed
to tournament
The Tigers open the
state tournament as the No.
15 seed and will face Cas-
cade on Saturday, March
5. The two teams met in
the first round of the 2020
state tournament, with
the Tigers, the No. 5 seed,
posting a 52-46 win.
La Grande (13-9 overall)
won a state play-in game
on Saturday, Feb. 26,
58-35, over Valley Catholic.
Kayle Collman dominated
with 30 points to pace the
Tigers, who raced out to a
30-13 lead at halftime and
never looked back. Mak-
enna Shorts added eight
points and Grace Neer had
six.
Cascade enters the state
tournament with an 18-3
record and a six-game win-
ning streak, after ending
the regular season with
a 46-45 win over Sweet
Home. The Cougars fin-
ished behind top-seeded
Philomath in the Oregon
West Conference.
Baker, the Greater
Oregon League champion,
is seeded No. 3 and will
host Marshfield at 4 p.m. on
March 5.
Abigail Dollins/Salem Statesman Journal
La Grande’s Braden Carson is declared the winner in the 145-pound weight class of the OSAA Class 4A state wrestling championship on Saturday, Feb. 26,
2022, at Cascade High School in Turner.
‘Amazing team effort’
By JEFF BUDLONG
For The Observer
T
URNER — The La
Grande wrestling team is
back on top.
A year after finishing as
the runner-up to Sweet Home,
the Tigers returned the favor,
winning the OSAA Class 4A
State Wrestling Championship
with 275.5 points and 14 place-
winners, the most in school
history. Sweet Home was
second with 250.5.
“It was an amazing team
effort,” Tigers coach Klel
Carson said. “We have never
had 14 placers at state, and
everyone contributed and had
a part in it. It really shows how
deep and talented this team is
and all the hard work that was
put in.”
The Tigers crowned three
individual champions and had
two runners-up to help secure
the team victory, a feat it also
achieved in 2020. It is the
fourth state team title in pro-
gram history. The Tigers’ other
state titles came in in 1978 and
1996.
Braden Carson claimed his
third individual title — a first
for the Tiger program — with
a major decision over Baker/
Powder Valley’s Gavin Stone
10-0 in the finals at 145 pounds.
He wrapped up his season with
a 39-1 record and had three pins
en route to the championship
match.
Braden Carson finished
second as a freshman and
went out with a dominating
See, Team/Page A10
Imbler’s Burns is Union County’s 1st three-time champ
By JEFF BUDLONG
For The Observer
Boys to host
tournament opener
After posting a 16-2
record in the regular season
and winning the Greater
Oregon League tourna-
ment crown, the Tigers will
open the state tournament
at home.
La Grande, the No. 6
seed, will host 11th-seeded
Banks at 5 p.m. on Friday,
March 4.
The Tigers enter the
tournament on a six-game
winning streak, including a
69-52 drubbing of Baker for
the league championship on
Feb. 19. La Grande’s Devin
Abigail Dollins/Salem Statesman Journal
La Grande’s Mason Wolcott, left, leverages his position against Sweet Home’s
Kyle Sieminski in the 106-pound weight class on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at
the OSAA 4A state wrestling championship at Cascade High School in Turner.
Ronald Osterloh/Contributed Photo
Imbler’s Garrett Burns, left, faces off with Crane’s
John Otley in the finals of the 126-pound weight
class at the OSAA Class 2A/1A State Wrestling
Championship on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Burns
went on to win his third state championship.
CULVER — Imbler’s Garrett Burns
completed his run to a third OSAA Class
2A/1A State Wrestling Championship
with a dominating performance at 126
pounds on Saturday, Feb. 26.
Burns became Union County’s first
three-time state champion, joined later in
the night by La Grande’s Braden Carson
in Class 4A.
The Imbler senior opened up with a
15-0 technical fall over Neah-Kah-Nie’s
Mikal Hunter before pinning Riddle/Kays
Creek’s Blair Doud in 22 seconds in the
quarterfinals. Burns recorded a second
technical fall in the semifinals with a 17-1
win over Nestucca’s Zakai Chatelain.
The championship match was the
closest contest, but Burns was still deci-
sive with a 7-2 decision over Crane’s John
Otley.
“Burns had a bad ankle and he was
not 100%, and he had three points scored
against him in the state tournament,”
Imbler coach Doug Hislop said. “His
work ethic, determination and heart is
the key. I know this is something that has
been on his mind.”
Burns injured his ankle at the district
tournament, which hampered his prepa-
ration for state but did not derail him. He
concluded the season with a 42-3 record.
The wrestler also made history at the
2021 state championship tournament
when he became the first Imbler wrestler
to win multiple individual state champi-
onship titles.
Elgin saw three of its five state wres-
tlers place, led by Joe Lathrop’s runner-up
finish at 160. He recorded a 10-3 decision
over Regis’ Lucas Bishchoff in the quar-
terfinals, and downed Central Linn’s Cole
Goracke with a 13-1 major decision to
reach the finals. Culver’s Isaiah Toomey
See, 1A State/Page A10
See, Brackets/Page A10
Badgers will face a familiar foe, Nixyaawii, in state quarterfinals
North Powder to meet
league rival Nixyaawii
in 1A quarterfinals
in Baker City
The Observer
NORTH POWDER — A
pair of familiar faces will
square off one more time.
Powder Valley and Nixy-
aawii, both of the 1A Old
Oregon League, will open the
on-site portion of the OSAA
Class 1A boys state basketball
tournament in Baker City on
Wednesday, March 2.
The quarterfinal contest
is scheduled for an 8:15 p.m.
tipoff at Baker High School.
This will be the rubber
match between the two teams,
with both splitting the first
two games. Powder Valley
picked up a 76-64 win in
North Powder on Jan. 29.
Nixyaawii returned the favor
in the OOL District Tourna-
ment, posting a 59-51 victory
on Feb. 19 to win the district
tournament title.
The second-ranked Badgers
(23-2) punched their ticket to
Baker City with a 68-63 win
over Trinity Lutheran on Feb.
25 in the second round of the
tournament. Powder Valley
opened the state tournament
with a 80-63 win over Condon.
Bobcats draw Faith Bible
in quarterfinals
Union’s push for a state title
continues Thursday, March 3,
with a quarterfinal matchup
with Faith Bible at the OSAA
Class 2A girls state basketball
tournament in Pendleton.
The Bobcats (22-3 overall)
earned a spot in the on-site por-
tion of the tournament with a
35-30 win over Oakland on Feb.
26.
Faith Bible (25-3) fin-
ished second in the Northwest
League, dropping a 40-39 deci-
sion to Vernonia for the league
title on Feb. 19. The Falcons
opened the 2A state tournament
with a 33-30 win over Colton on
Feb. 26.
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer, File
Powder Valley’s Kaiden Dalke dribbles at the high post during the Old Oregon
League championship game against Nixyaawii at Baker High School on Friday,
Feb. 19, 2022. The two teams meet for the third time this season in the Class 1A
quarterfinals at Baker High School on March 2.