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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2021
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Hermiston’s
Hunter
Dyer (top) pins South-
ridge’s Zander Zack-
ula on Thursday, Dec.
16, 2021, at Hermiston
High School. Dyer has
signed a letter of intent
to wrestle for the Uni-
versity of Providence in
Great Falls, Montana.
GREAT ADVENTURES
Hermiston wrestler feels at home at University of Providence
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
B1
ON THE SLATE
Saturday, Dec. 18
Prep girls wrestling
Hermiston at Best of the West, 9 a.m.
Prep boys wrestling
Pendleton at Liberty Tournament, 8 a.m.
Hermiston at Tri-State, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, TBD
Prep girls basketball
Griswold at Helix Tournament, TBD
Weston-McEwen vs. Warrenton, Heppner
Tournament, 1 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Vernonia, 1 p.m.
Hermiston at Southridge, 3:15 p.m.
McLoughlin at Riverside, 4 p.m.
Irrigon vs. Heppner, Heppner Tournament, 4 p.m.
Spray/Mitchell/Wheeler at Echo, 4 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Sherman, 4 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
Griswold at Helix Tournament, TBD
Pilot Rock at Vernonia, 2:30 p.m.
Weston-McEwen vs. Warrenton, Heppner
Tournament, 2:30 p.m.
Hermiston at Southridge, 5 p.m.
Clarkston, Washington, at Pendleton,
5:30 p.m.
McLoughlin at Riverside, 5:30 p.m.
Irrigon vs. Heppner, Heppner Tournament,
5:30 p.m.
Spray/Mitchell/Wheeler at Echo, 5:30 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Sherman, 5:30 p.m.
College women’s basketball
Blue Mountain vs. Bellevue at Umpqua,
noon
EOU vs. Walla Walla, 6:30 p.m.
College men’s basketball
EOU vs. Walla Walla, 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 20
HERMISTON — A mix of the great
outdoors and a solid wrestling program
was enough to convince Hunter Dyer that
University of Providence in Great Falls,
Montana, was the place for him.
The Hermiston senior recently signed
a letter of intent to wrestle for the Argos.
“A couple of years ago, I went to
Montana to meet my uncle, and I fell in
love with the place,” Dyer said. “I went
back the next year, and I went in search of
schools. I found Providence and I really
liked it. When I have spare time, you can
fi nd me hunting and fi shing. It’s perfect
for me.”
Dyer also likes to ski, but he will have
to wait until wrestling season is over
before he can hit the slopes.
Argos coach Steve Komac said Dyer
is a good fi t for his program.
“There are several things we liked
about him right away,” Komac said.
“First, the quality of young man we saw
when we met him. He is a great exam-
ple of a student athlete. When they can
take care of the student and athlete part,
that is benefi cial. Getting to know him,
his parents have raised a good kid. We
really liked him. He has a great work
ethic, comes from a good program and
is well coached.”
Dyer also felt a strong connection with
Komac and the program.
“Me and Komac got to know each
other and clicked right away,” said Dyer,
who plans to major in fi nancial business
administration. “He’s a big outdoors guy
like I am, and he’s super easy going and
laid back.”
Komac said it will depend on how
quickly Dyer adjusts to the college level
as to whether the Argos will redshirt him
or not.
“We have the ability to wrestle
our freshmen in open invitationals,”
Komac said. “At the winter break, we
will sit down and see where the season
is going before we make a final deci-
Prep girls basketball
McLoughlin at Corbett, 3 p.m.
Riverside at White Swan (Washington), 4 p.m.
Enterprise at Nixyaawii, 4 p.m.
Pendleton vs. Crater, Corvallis Tournament,
5:30 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
McLoughlin at Corbett, 4:30 p.m.
Riverside at White Swan (Washington),
5:30 p.m.
Enterprise at Nixyaawii, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 21
Photos by Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Hermiston’s Hunter Dyer (back) throws Southridge’s Zander Zackula on Thursday,
Dec. 16, 2021, at Hermiston High School.
sion on that. Our redshirts will get
15-20 matches, if that’s what we end
up doing with him.”
Dyer is the second Hermiston athlete
to sign with Providence. Girls basketball
player Katelyn Heideman signed a few
months ago.
“Me and Katelyn are really good
friends,” Dyer said. “That will make
it fun. She said, ‘If you are looking at
colleges, look at this one.’ “
The Argos compete in the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athlet-
ics Frontier Conference with Carroll
College, College of Idaho, Eastern
Oregon, Montana Tech, Montana Western,
MSU-Northern, Rocky Mountain College
and Southern Oregon.
College of Idaho, EOU and SOU are
football members only.
A TOUGH DECISION
Dyer’s fi rst love in the world of sports
was baseball. It wasn’t until his junior
year that he felt he could have an oppor-
tunity to wrestle at the college level.
“Coming into my freshman year,
I liked baseball a whole lot, and I was
decent at wrestling,” Dyer said. “My
junior and senior years, I developed more
of a love for wrestling, and things kind of
fell into place.”
Dyer, who wrestles at 138 and 145
pounds, placed fourth at state as a junior
at 138 during the spring season.
He then put in the work during the
summer to hone his skills.
“I went to tournaments in Idaho and
Utah last summer to get some mat time,”
he said.
He also went to Europe with team-
mates Adrian Delgado and Zayne Helfer,
and wrestled with Northwest Exchange.
“We wrestled in Austria, Switzer-
land, Poland and Germany for a couple
of weeks,” Dyer said. “Going over there
was a whole new experience. It was all
freestyle and Greco. We also got to do
some sightseeing. We went to concen-
tration camps in Germany, and Hitler’s
Eagle’s Nest in the (Bavarian) Alps. That
was really cool.”
Dyer is back on the mats for the Bull-
dogs this winter, working to improve his
skills before he heads to college.
“I’m just going to keep pushing
forward and onto the next step,” Dyer
said. “A new step in life. Still school and
wrestling, but it’s new to me.”
Prep girls basketball
Pendleton at Corvallis Tournament, TBD
McLoughlin at Cascade Holiday Classic, TBD
Heppner at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Umatilla at Nixyaawii, 6 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Pilot Rock, 6 p.m.
Stanfi eld at South Wasco County, 6 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
McLoughlin at Seaside, 5 p.m.
Baker at Pendleton, 6:30 p.m.
Umatilla at Nixyaawii, 7:15 p.m.
Heppner at Irrigon, 7:30 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Pilot Rock, 7:30 p.m.
Stanfi eld at South Wasco County, 7:30 p.m.
College men’s basketball
EOU vs. Linfi eld, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 22
Prep girls basketball
Pendleton at Corvallis Tournament, TBD
McLoughlin at Cascade Holiday Classic, TBD
Horizon Christian at Griswold, 2 p.m.
White Swan (Washington) at Riverside, 4 p.m.
Nixyaawii at Union, 5 p.m.
Boys prep basketball
Horizon Christian at Griswold, 4 p.m.
White Swan (Washington) at Riverside, 5:30 p.m.
Nixyaawii at Union, 6:30 p.m.
McLoughlin at The Dalles, 7 p.m.
Prep boys wrestling
Echo/Stanfi eld, Heppner/Ione, Irrigon,
McLoughlin, Riverside/Arlington at Rollin Schim-
mel Memorial Tournament, Pendleton, TBD
Thursday, Dec. 23
Prep girls basketball
Weston-McEwen at Elgin, 1 p.m.
Boys prep basketball
Weston-McEwen at Elgin, 2:30 p.m.
EOU’s DeLong, Van Wyck earn NAIA All-American honors
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Two pillars of
Eastern Oregon University football
wrapped up their collegiate careers
by earning top honors at the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletic
level.
Senior defensive linemen Sage
DeLong and Chase Van Wyck were
both named NAIA All-Americans
in the NAIA’s offi cial end-of-season
release on Monday, Dec. 13. The two
linemen were a nightmare for oppos-
ing off enses for what was a much-im-
proved Mountaineers defensive unit
this season. DeLong was named to
the fi rst team and Van Wyck earned
honorable mention.
“What a great couple guys,” head
coach Tim Camp said. “They’ve had
such an impact on what we’ve done
and what we’ve been trying to do
defensively.”
DeLong was a menace on the
defensive line this year, tallying 17.5
tackles for loss and 10 sacks on the
year. Those splits ranked him 11th in
the NAIA for tackles for loss and fi fth
in the NAIA in sacks despite missing
three games during the season. The
Vale native also recorded six sacks in
a matchup against Carroll on Oct. 30,
which set a school record.
“It was evident during the course
of the games that they could take over
games and just do their jobs at a high
level,” Camp said.
DeLong wrapped up his career
ranked as the program’s second
all-time player in sacks (26) and tack-
les for loss (51.5). This season marked
the second time that DeLong has been
named an All-American after earning
honorable mention following the 2019-
20 season.
“We got stronger on defense as the
season went on,” Camp said. “A lot of
that had to do with the leadership of
those two guys.”
Van Wyck, a native if Napavine,
Washington, earned his second career
nomination to an All-American team.
Van Wyck earned honorable mention
after fi nishing the season with seven
sacks, 16.5 tackles for loss and 54 total
tackles.
See Honors, Page B2
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Eastern Oregon’s Sage DeLong pursues Rocky Mountain’s DeNiro Killian Jr. in a game Oct. 9, 2021, at Com-
munity Stadium, La Grande. DeLong earned Frontier Conference co-defensive player of the year along-
side teammate Chase Van Wyck.