E AST O REGONIAN
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021
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T-Wolves
going with
the fl ow
ON THE SLATE
Saturday, Sept. 11
Prep football
Warrenton at Heppner, 5 p.m.
Prep volleyball
Ione/Arlington at Condon Tournament,
9 a.m.
Hermiston at Kennewick, 1 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Umatilla at Dayton, 2 p.m.
Prep cross-country
McLoughlin at Chiawana Invite, Pasco,
10:30 a.m.
College volleyball
Blue Mountain vs. Snow College at Starr
Invite, 1 p.m.
Blue Mountain vs. College of Southern
Idaho at Starr Invite, 3 p.m.
EOU vs. Lewis-Clark State College at EOU,
5 p.m.
College men’s soccer
Blue Mountain at North Idaho, 2:15 p.m.
College women’s soccer
Blue Mountain at North Idaho, noon.
After a COVID-19-fi lled
season, the BMCC volleyball
team is ready for anything
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Monday, Sept. 13
Prep volleyball
Pendleton at Redmond, 6:30 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
La Grande at Pendleton, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 14
Prep volleyball
Chiawana at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Stanfi eld, 4 p.m.
Pilot Rock vs. Umatilla at Stanfi eld, 5 p.m.
Umatilla at Stanfi eld, 7 p.m.
McLoughlin at La Grande, 6:30 p.m.
Sherman at Ione/Arlington, 5 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Southridge at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Riverside at Portland Christian, 3 p.m.
Irrigon at McLoughlin, 4 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Pendleton at La Grande, 5 p.m.
McLoughlin at Catlin Gabel, 4:30 p.m.
Irrigon at Prescott, 4 p.m.
Portland Christian at Riverside, 5 p.m.
Prep slowpitch softball
Wenatchee at Hermiston (2), 4 p.m.
College volleyball
EOU vs. College of Idaho at Caldwell, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 15
Prep volleyball
McLoughlin at College Place, 6:30 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
McLoughlin at College Place, 6 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Putnam at Pendleton, 4:30 p.m.
College volleyball
Columbia Basin at Blue Mountain, 6 p.m.
College men’s soccer
WWCC at Blue Mountain, 4:15 p.m.
College women’s soccer
WWCC at Blue Mountain, 2 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 16
Prep football
Putnam at Pendleton (at PHS), 5 p.m.
Umatilla at Weston-McEwen, 7 p.m.
Prep volleyball
Grant Union at Heppner, 5 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Weston-McEwen, 6 p.m.
Union at Stanfi eld, 5 p.m.
Riverside at Irrigon, 5 p.m.
Umatilla at La Grande, 5:30 p.m.
Echo at Ione/Arlington, 5 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Hermiston at Kamiakin, 7 p.m.
Stanfi eld/Echo at Riverside, 4 p.m.
Umatilla at Irrigon, 4 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Prescott at McLoughlin, 4 p.m.
Umatilla at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Prep slowpitch softball
Hermiston at West Valley (2), 4 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 17
Prep football
Hermiston at Chiawana, 7 p.m.
Stanfi eld at Heppner, 7 p.m.
McLoughlin at Burns, 7 p.m.
Lyle/Wishram/Klickitat at Ione/Arlington,
7 p.m.
Riverside at Irrigon, 7 p.m.
Huntington at Echo, 7 p.m.
Prep cross-country
Pendleton, Heppner, McLoughlin, Nixy-
aawii, Riverside, Umatilla, Stanfi eld/Echo at
Wallowa County Invitational, 3 p.m.
College volleyball
Yakima Valley at Blue Mountain, 6 p.m.
B1
Debbie Akers/Contributed Photo
Colton Akers of Irrigon, a racing fan and seventh grade football player, visits Ken Tompson
in the pits on Sept. 5, 2021, at Hermiston Raceway.
Living the fast life
Thompson fi nds peace, and fun, on the race track
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
IR R IGON — Some
people go fi shing, others go
camping, and some like a
long weekend at the beach
to relax.
Not Irrigon football coach
Ken Thompson. He rolls
along the lines of extreme
sports with mountain biking
and race car driving.
A week prior to his team’s
season opener, Thompson
drove his blue 1984 Fox
Body Mustang at Hermis-
ton Raceway on Sept. 5 in
the Mini-Stock Class during
the Labor Day Spectacular.
“As far as family enter-
tainment, there isn’t any
more bang for your buck,”
Thompson said of the action
at Hermiston Raceway. “I
had a lot of people who knew
I was racing. They came out
and watched, sat in the car
and took pictures. I am a big
believer in living life and
trying new things. During
COVID last year, I had a
mountain bike thing going
on and I was at Mt. Bachelor
every weekend.”
The Labor Day Spectacu-
lar also had Legends, Street
Stock and Super Late-Mod-
els, but Thompson was
comfortable in his race,
which featured seven cars
and 25 laps worth of adren-
aline. Thompson’s top speed
was close to 70 mph, which
was fi ne with him.
“I was seventh out
of seven,” said Thomp-
son, whose car features a
4-cylinder motor. “One car
wrecked, so I might have
been sixth. Everyone knew
I was slow, but I had a great
time. That’s what matters,
having a release from our
day-to-day lives. I just do it
for fun.”
The racing bug
Thompson always has
enjoyed going to Hermiston
Raceway to watch the action.
It was his friend Jay Tracy
who got him on the track.
“We were sitting at the
race track one day and I
said it would be fun to do,”
Thompson said. “The next
week, he brought me out to
Irrigon, before I lived there.
We bought a hornet car for
$500. He is my pit mate.
I have had my car parked
at his place the past two
months. I am not a mechanic.
He supervises and gives me
a hard time when I try to do
things.”
Thompson has been
racing for about 10 years.
“I started out in the hornet
class, which is the begin-
ner class,” he said. “Then I
moved up to minis.”
While the racing is fun,
the camaraderie is priceless.
“We’ve made some
friends,” Thompson said.
“Everyone is great. They
know I’m slow. They give
me some pointers, but only
enough. I don’t get in their
way. I let the cars racing race.
That’s racing in a nutshell.
Guys have a lot of money
in their cars, and they have
skilled drivers. Then there
are guys like me who do it on
a dollar budget. It’s as close
to the NASCAR experience
I will get.”
Thompson enjoys the
small-track racing and the
communities that come out
to support the racers. He
appreciates the atmosphere
at Hermiston Raceway.
“When Greg Walden
took over the track a few
years ago, he made some big
improvements,” Thompson
said. “Their track workers do
a good job. It’s a fun thing to
be a part of. No matter what
you do, do it 100 percent and
try to have a good time.”
PENDLETON — Blue Mountain
Community College volleyball coach
Ceanna Larson is taking this season day by
day.
The COVID-19 pandemic played havoc
with the Timberwolves’ schedule in 2020,
and it continues to haunt the team after it’s
Northwest Athletic Conference East opener
at Walla Walla Community College was
canceled Sept. 8, because of COVID-19
issues within the Warriors team.
“We were talking about all the diff erent
things we had to go through,” Larson said.
“It seemed like more than a year. We have
to get really creative in our drills when you
aren’t competing against anyone. I worried
more about how they would adapt than they
did.”
The Timberwolves played in the North-
west Challenge in Bellevue, Washington,
two weeks ago, and will play in the STARR
Invitational this weekend at College of Idaho
in Twins Falls.
“A couple of our fi rst games of the day
were against some really good fast-paced
teams,” Larson said of the Northwest
Challenge. “We will be playing high-cali-
ber teams this weekend, and it will be fast
paced. We need to take what we learned and
apply it.”
Larson, who is entering her third year at
BMCC, returns nine players from last year’s
team.
Among those on the list are hitters
Savannah Koga, Jaycee Jerome and Audrey
Synon, and setter Kenzie Williams from La
Grande High School.
“Kenzie helps run our offense, and
Audrey has become an off ensive threat for
us,” Larson said. “It’s really fun to see these
girls grow.”
Everyone on the roster is listed as a fresh-
man because players were granted an extra
year of eligibility because of COVID-19.
Larson knows she will lose some of her play-
ers after this year.
“The hard part is that I am a big academic
person,” Larson said. “I push them to stay
ahead. Some are ready to graduate this year.
Some are ready to go on. They will be able
to get three years at the university level. It’s
up to them whether they stay another year
with us.”
See Flow, Page B2
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, FIle
Blue Mountain Community College’s Taylor
Suko (3) passes the ball against Walla Wal-
la Community College on May 21, 2021. The
Timberwolves are getting their season un-
derway after the COVID-19 pandemic made
the last season one to remember.
SPORTS SHORT
EOU’s Quinn, Machuca earn FC honors
East Oregonian
Eastern Oregon University Athletics/Contributed Photo
Eastern Oregon University quarterback Kai Quinn
was named the Frontier Conference Off ensive Player
of the Week.
LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon
University quarterback Kai Quinn and
kicker/punter Jaiden Machuca earned
Frontier Conference Player of the Week
honors.
Quinn was the Offensive Player
of the Week, while Machuca was the
Special Teams Player of the Week. Both
played key roles in EOU’s 35-28 win
against Montana Western on Sept. 4.
Quinn, a Pendleton High School
graduate, led an EOU offense that
rolled up more than 350 yards of total
off ense. Through the air, Quinn was
crisp, completing 23 of 34 passes for
283 yards and four touchdowns. He
shared the wealth as each of his four
touchdown passes were to diff erent
receivers.
Quinn also led the way in the ground
attack for the Mountaineers with 44
yards rushing on 10 carries. He fi nished
with 327 yards of total off ense.
Machuca was key in the kicking
game for the Mountaineers as he totaled
559 yards between punting and kickoff .
In the punt game, Machuca booted
the ball four times for a total of 179
yards. He averaged 44.8 yards per punt
and had two land inside the 20-yard line
to pin the Bulldogs deep in their own
end. His longest punt was 58 yards.
On kickoff, Machuca put up six
kicks in the win for a total of 380 yards.
He averaged 63.3 yards per kick and
had only two of his six attempts for
touchbacks.
The Mountaineers return to action
Sept. 18 when they travel to Montana
to take on Carroll College.