SPORTS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
A9
Donkey basketball comes to Wallowa
By Christian Ambroson
Wallowa County Chieftain
Courtesy Photo/Troy Farwell
These three Enterprise Junior High School grapplers
showed they could wrestle with the best in the
state at the Oregon Middle School State Wrestling
Championships held in Woodburn on March 9.
(L to R) Xander Sarbacher, Cody Fent and Nevan
Goldsmith can hold their heads high after their
respective performances.
Junior High
grapplers shine
at district, state
from the Saturday,
March 9 tournament.
Coach Troy Farwell
said he is proud of the
boys and their perfor-
mances. Fent wrestled
at 132 pounds and came
away with a seventh
place, as did Goldsmith
at 175 pounds while
Sarbacher placed in the
13th slot at 195 pounds.
“They
wrestled
very well,” Farwell
said. “Keep in mind
that junior high state
includes all divisions
from 1A through 6A.”
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County
Chieftain
Three
Enterprise
Junior High School
wrestlers who per-
severed in district
wrestling in Board-
man returned from
the state champion-
ships in Woodburn with
the knowledge they
can wrestle with any-
one. The three wres-
tlers, Nevan Goldsmith,
Cody Fent and Xander
Sarbacher just returned
After a competitive—at
times even heated—season
of High School basketball
across the county, Wallowa’s
sophomore class decided to
throw a fundraiser that would
pit Joseh Charter School stu-
dents and staff against Wal-
lowa High School students
and staff respectively.
On one level, the objec-
tive was to raise money to
ease the fi nancial burdens
of student events, including
staff trips, proms or other
dances.
Dani Weaver, English
teacher at Wallowa High
School played a major role in
organizing the event. Weaver
saw a fun and unique way to
raise money for her students,
but also she “wanted to get
two schools together in a
way that would be fun and
promote unity between Wal-
lowa and Joseph students
and staff.”
The gym fi lled up and the
fi reworks fl ew. “It was nice
to see a gym full of people
from all over the county,”
Kristin Craig
Wallowa High School staff takes on Joseph Charter School staff .
Weaver said. “I think we
should have more events like
this.”
The students certainly
enjoyed themselves. Ryan
Hafer, a senior at Wal-
lowa High School, states “
I had such a fun time play-
ing Joseph! I wish I had the
opportunity to do something
like this all throughout my
high school years!
While this years event
didn’t turn out so well for
Joseph Charter School stu-
dents and staff, perhaps if
they train hard enough the
tide might turn next year.
OSAA fi nds Enterprise student ineligible
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Oregon Schools
Activities Association unani-
mously shot down the sports
eligibility appeal of the
Enterprise High School stu-
dent whose question of eli-
gibility caused the Feb. 22
resignation of the school’s
athletic director, Larry Wells.
Wells and EHS princi-
pal, Blake Carlsen had both
determined the student inel-
igible for athletic status at
the school. Regardless of the
determination by the AD and
principal, the school board
and superintendent Erika
Pinkertonpressed
onward
with the matter.
The board and Pinkerton
next submitted the eligibility
request to the District Ath-
letic Committee, which is
composed of the the athletic
directors of three schools in
the Blue Mountain Confer-
ence. Wells had to step aside
as he was chairman of the
committee.
Regardless, the district
committee
unanimously
rejected the request for
essentially the same reasons
Wells and Carlsen did. The
board and Pinkerton forged
ahead with the request none-
theless, and took the eli-
gibility matter up with the
OSAA.
Like Wells and the DAC,
the OSAA also unanimously
rejected the request and
determined the student inel-
igible as a mid-year transfer.
In addition to the Wells
resignation, an investigation
is pending on the actions of
one of the school’s employ-
ees who allegedly altered
school attendance records
for the benefi t of the stu-
dent or possibly, to impli-
cate Wells. The school was
forced to consult its attor-
ney over the matter and sev-
eral executive sessions were
called to debate the matter.
Because of the resources
expended, the investigation
of the school employee and
another possible investiga-
tion into the matter at the
state level ,the Chieftain will
pursue the story to its con-
clusion in the coming weeks.
Albee: Joseph Charter School’s rising star
Continued from Page A8
up her skills to her desire to
succeed for both herself and
the team.
“I’m really competitive,”
she said. “I want to win.”
On occasion, Coach
Lance Homan works with
Albee after practice on a rou-
tine of different shots.
“He’s been my coach
since like, fourth grade,”
Albee said.
Coach Lance Homan said
he enjoys coaching Albee
because of her dedication to
the game. Albee, with her
high level of skills, under-
stands the game so well that
her intuition will often tell
her what’s going to happen
next. He also appreciates her
humility.
“She doesn’t like the
spotlight is uncomfortable
with recognition, but you put
her on the basketball fl oor in
a packed gym and she loves
it,” he said. “I also really
appreciate that she encour-
ages everyone and really is a
good team member.”
As good as she is, Albee
has things she says she needs
to improve on as a player.
“I need to work on my
mid-range for sure,” she said.
“I work on that a lot. I think
I need to work on offensive
rebounds.” She added that
team box-out drills and play-
ing against her much taller
dad helps as well.
Albee does have her
occasional single digit point
nights, which she expects
Brought to
you by,
Meet Siri
sider her a threat.
“I get a lot of ‘guard 21’
from the coaches,” she said
with a laugh. “I try to set my
“We took
our daughter to
Dr. Allen on several
occasions, and we
were extremely
happy with the care
we received…”
-Enterprise Mom
Sabrina Albe es e to
Dr. Allen is a family
practice physician and
doctor of osteopathic
medicine.
S
603 Medical Parkway
$45 adoption fee
http://www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org/
(next to Wallowa
Memorial Hospital)
Enterprise, Oregon 97828
We treat you like family
601 Medical Parkway, Enterprise, OR 97828 • 541-426-3111 • www.wchcd.org
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is a equal opportunity mployer and provider
201 E. Hwy 82, Enterprise • 541-426-0320
www.edstaub.com
WEEK
udly
Pro onsore d b y
p
Mountain View Medical Group
Contact Cassie at 541-805-1205
the week honor go
This week’s athlete of ter School basketball
vaunted Joseph Char ar-old sophomore
e. The 16 ye
player, Sabrina Albe the state playoffs as both
to
es
gl
League
helped lead the Ea
t guard. Old Oregon the
in
po
d
an
d
ar
gu
g
shootin
ted Albee as
just unanimously vo of the year.
pl
league’s ayer
Call Dr. Allen to
schedule your appointment today!
541-426-7900
Available for Adoption
teammates up a lot whether
I’m double-teamed or not. I
try to do what I can to help
the team win and make my
OF
THE
A short hair, male, black
and white with an amazingly
sweet disposition. Born
June 11, 2018. Siri seeks
confirmation that he is loved,
wanted and would like to be
your forever boy. Siri adjusts
well to other pets and is
an indoor/outdoor cat.
He’s not very graceful on his
feet. He is litter-box trained
and up-to-date on shots
and worming.
because she’s often dou-
ble-teamed,
and
other
coaches don’t mind letting
everyone know they con-
ATHLETE
PET OF
K
THE WEE
Ellen Morris Bishop/Chieftain
Sabrina Albee of the Eagles drives toward the bucket during her team’s 49-30 loss to Crane on March 2 in their fi nal game in the
1A state basketball championships in Baker City.
teammates successful as
well. High scoring isn’t half
of what basketball is.”
Despite all of the natural
talent Albee possesses along
with the unanimous all-
league selection and the mul-
tiple 20-plus point games
under her belt, she doesn’t
have a problem stating she’s
motivated to do better.
“I just think, ‘next shot,’
I try to move on to the
next play,” she said. Albee
doesn’t discount the rest of
the squad, either. “The team
does a good job of keeping
my spirit up.”
Although Albee sets
goals, those goals are not
stats-oriented, but rather,
mental goals she sets for her-
self. She said that when shots
don’t fall she can get frus-
trated, so she works on keep-
ing her head at such times.
She recognizes that as she is
one of the team leaders, so
she tries to fulfi ll that role by
example.
“I’m not a big talker,” she
said.
Albee had advice for
younger players coming up
who are serious about their
game.
“Always have a good
mindset,” she said. “Be
patient; you’re not going
to have a good game every
night. You’re not going to get
good shots every game. Stay
with it and do your hardest.”