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SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2022
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B1
STANFIELD
STIHL Timbersports/Contributed Photo
Kate Page of Heppner competes in the stock saw event
at the 2021 STIHL Timbersports U.S. Championships in
Little Rock, Arkansas. She placed sixth and is returning
Saturday, July 23, for the 2022 competition.
Lumberjack power
Page looking to
chop her way
into top 3 at
Timbersports
Series
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
HEPPNER — Kate
Page has chopped her way
to the STIHL Timbersports
U.S. Championships once
again.
Page, from Heppner,
will be one of 12 women
from throughout the coun-
try to vie for the title Satur-
day, July 23, in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
“This is my fourth trip,”
Page said. “My top goal is
third and my short goal is
fi fth. I’d like to get some
personal records in my
events.”
Page placed second at
Western Regionals June 4
in Shelton, Washington, to
earn her trip to the fi nals.
Erin LaVoie of Spokane
won the event.
Page and LaVoie are two
of three women from the
West Coast competing at
U.S. Championships. The
rest are from the East Coast
and Midwest.
“There are seven women
from the West Coast who
compete and 30 from the
east and Midwest,” Page
said. “It’s like East vs.
West. Erin and Martha
King (two-time champions
from Pennsylvania) are the
favorites. Erin holds the
world record in the under-
hand at 22 seconds. My best
time is 42 seconds. She has
a slow swing and hits the
block where she needs to.”
Page, 31, has improved
each time she’s competed
at the U.S Championships.
She placed eighth in 2018,
seventh in 2019 and sixth
in 2021.
Competitors try their
skills in four events — the
single buck, standing block
chop, underhand chop and
stock saw. Everything is
based on time.
IN HER ELEMENT
Woods brings
energy, passion
to role as
Stanfi eld AD
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
S
TA N F I E L D —
Lorena Woods had
no intention of being
an athletic director
when she took her fi rst teach-
ing job out of college, but
once she started she found
she had a passion for it.
Woods recently took over
as athletic director at Stan-
field High School and is
working to serve the commu-
nity and school.
“Working and ser v-
ing my own community is
super important to me,” said
Woods, who also is dean of
students. “When the oppor-
tunity came up for me to
apply for the job, it was a
no-brainer. Dan (Sharp) did
a really good job. He really
cares about the kids and Stan-
fi eld. The pandemic really
did a number on Dan. He has
been super helpful to me.
in Stanfi eld. For her, it’s all
about relationships.
“Being an athletic direc-
tor, it grew my resources
for my job, but also another
family for my kids,” Wood
said. “They were gym rats.
It’s so nice to know every kid
at the school. We welcome
the kids in the morning. You
“WORKING AND SERVING MY
OWN COMMUNITY IS SUPER
IMPORTANT TO ME.”
— Lorena Woods, Stanfi eld High School athletic director
Now he can focus on coach-
ing. He started some good
things here in Stanfi eld.”
Woods had stints as
athletic director at Arlington
and Nyssa before landing
know their names. It adds
value to our day. Your actions
become their actions. You
want to make sure the kids
have an experience they want
to cherish forever.”
GPA or better, and achieve
automatic or provisional
LA GRANDE — East- qualifying marks for the
ern Oregon University’s indoor or outdoor season.
“Given all the chal-
men’s and women’s track
and field teams earned lenges over the last
U.S. Track & Field
few years, I am
and Cross Coun-
very happy and
try Coaches Asso-
impressed with
ciation National
how wel l t he
athletes have been
Associat ion of
doing in the class-
I n t e r c ol l e g i a t e
room,” EOU coach
Athletics all-aca-
Ben Welch said in a
demic honors for
their eff orts during
Nichols
news release. “Ulti-
the 2022 season.
mately, academic
EOU was one of 14 teams success is the most import-
to win the award.
ant accomplishment and
Heppner’s Hunter Nich- reason to be in college.”
ols was one of 11 athletes on
the men’s team to earn a 3.25
See Honor, Page B2
Woods took over at Stan-
fi eld as the school district is
going through renovations.
A new middle school gym
was added, the tennis courts
have been resurfaced, and the
school is getting a new track.
“The track will be red and
nice and cushy,” Wood said.
“We have two full size gyms
now, which will be nice for
three-way volleyball days.
We also got our booster club
back up and running.”
As much as improvements
are exciting, Woods enjoys
sharing the success on the
court and on the fi eld with
her athletes and coaches.
“Going to state with the
(Stanfi eld) girls was special,”
she said. “When I was in
Nyssa, the baseball and boys
basketball teams went to state
See Woods, Page B2
Biking and fi shing the Blues
See Timber, Page B2
Heppner’s Nichols earns
NAIA academic honors
East Oregonian
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Lorena Woods, Stanfi eld’s new athletic director, works on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, out of Stanfi eld Secondary School.
BRAD
TRUMBO
OUTDOOR PURSUITS
O
ne of the many
beautiful things
about summer in
the Blue Mountains is the
opportunity to pack up a
mountain bike and fl y rod
and hit the trail for a little
surf-n-turf adventure. The
rainbow trout are on the
rise, wildfl owers are in full
bloom, and wildlife is at its
peak activity for the year.
With streams and trails in
close proximity, biking and
fi shing are a match made
in heaven with seemingly
endless opportunities.
Recently, I found myself
casting big fl uff y stimulator
fl ies to feisty rainbows in a
canyon bottom. The stream
was swollen, colored and
Brad Trumbo/Contributed Photo
A mountain meadow with a Blue Mountain view is one of the
many rewards of biking in the Blues.
cold from rain and runoff .
My mountain bike was in
the truck and the plan was to
catch rainbows for a while,
then head to the mountain-
top for a wildfl ower ride in
the wilderness.
The river reach I selected
for the day was lousy with
large woody debris and
prime pools. I had not fi shed
it since before 2020 and the
high fl ows that year and this
spring had carved new side
channels, deposited massive
log jams, and allowed for
trout to sprinkle out all over
the place. Few fi sh were
looking up, but the stimu-
lator grabbed the attention
of those willing to play the
game.
The fi rst pool I
approached was formed by
a channel-spanning log in
which water was spilling
over, creating a scour hole
on the downstream end with
a gentle glide off to the right
side. Dissecting the habi-
tat suggested fi sh would be
holding at the head of the
pool by the log, on the left
where fl ow slowed against
a root wad, in the fl ow seam
between the pool and glide
on the right, and through the
glide itself. Maybe even a
fi sh in the pool tail-out.
Starting on the left side
of the pool, a few small fi sh
came to hand from the root
wad, many of them bumping
the big fl y as it bobbed along
but struggling to fi t the hair
mass into their small gapes.
But big or small, watching
trout attempt to smash a big
dry fl y is always exciting.
See Blues, Page B2
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