SPORTS
SCHEDULE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Football
WEDNESDAY
October 14, 2015
Friday, Oct. 16
Prairie City/Burnt River
vs. Jordan Valley in Unity,
1 p.m.
Dayville/
Monument
vs. Adrian in
Dayville,
1 p.m.
Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 16
Grant Union
Prairie City vs. Jordan
Valley in Unity, 1 p.m.
Grant Union
@ Union in
Union,
4 p.m.
Dayville/
Monument vs. Adrian in
Dayville, 4 p.m.
Prairie City
Saturday, Oct. 17
Grant Union
(Dig Pink)
vs. Cove, El-
gin in John
Day,
Noon/5 p.m.
Monument athlete sprints at Junior Olympics
Dayville/Monument
Grant Union @ Union/
Cove in Union, 7 p.m.
B1
Freshman has
passion for track
competition
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
MONUMENT – A couple thou-
sandths of a second means a lot to
Monument School sprinter Sophia
Pettit.
The freshman had an opportunity
to compete, for a second time, at the
AAU Junior National Olympics last
summer.
Although her mark of 13.11 in
the 100-meter dash wasn’t what
she’d hoped, she still ¿ nished with a
time that would have earned a sec-
ond-place ¿ nish at the OSSA state
high school track championship. She
earned ¿ rst placed at Oregon’s mid-
dle school track competition as an
eighth-grader.
“I should be under 13 every
time,” Pettit said of her time. “Even
a couple thousandths of a second off
is a lot for a sprinter.”
Contributed photo
Sophia Pettit, right, sprints to the finish line at the AAU
National Junior Olympics last summer. The Monument High
School ninth-grader continues to train in the sport she loves.
She also competed in the pentath-
lon, 200-meter, long jump and triple
jump at the Aug. 1-8 event held in
Norfolk, Virg.
When she’s not training for track,
she plays on the Dayville/Monument
junior varsity volleyball team and
she plans to attend a Jane Goodall
Science Seminar in Portland this
year.
She said track is her passion,
when it comes to sports.
This year, she realized a “drastic
difference” in the level of competi-
tion, going from competing with the
13-year-old division last year to the
14-year-old group.
“That was most true of the triple
jump, because 14 is the average age
that athletes start training for the tri-
ple,” she said.
Pettit said she’ll have to train
harder to be competitive, and she’s
already working toward that goal.
“I spend a lot of my spare time
training for future track meets,
spending time in the weight room
building muscle,” she said.
She added she learned some les-
sons which she plans to apply this
spring when she competes on the
Monument track team.
“It taught me there are people out
there who will be dif¿ cult to beat,
and that I’m going to face challenges
throughout seasons to come,” she said.
Commenting on what she enjoys
about the sport, she said, “I really
like the rawness of talent sets – for
every event it’s a different skill set.
Also, it’s an individual sport where
everything is on you.”
Sophia is the daughter of Earl and
Nittaya Pettit.
D IG PINK ACTION ON THE WAY
PC vs. HH in Prairie City,
1 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 20
Grant Union vs. Crane, 5 p.m.
Cross Country
Thursday, Oct. 16
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Tiger team listens to their coach Tiffnie
Schmadeka during a timeout.
Monument @ Kyle Burn-
side Wildhorse Invite in
Pendleton, TBA
Lady Tigers serve
and pass to 3-1 win
Friday, Oct. 16
Grant Union hosts Run
the River in Mt. Vernon,
1 p.m.
Girls take win in Monument
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
MONUMENT – The Dayville/Monument Lady Ti-
gers battled for a homecoming win 3-1 against Harp-
er/Huntington.
Tiger scores were: 22-25, 25-15, 25-11 and 25-14.
The Hornets squeaked by for a three-point win in
the ¿ rst set, then the Tigers worked in the second and
third sets to catch an early lead and build on it.
After tying 7-7 in the fourth, the Tigers pulled away.
“We played really well as a team, and our serving
was much better than it has been,” said head coach Tiffnie
Schmadeka. “Passing was good, so we were able to run
and get a lot of kills. We had lots of good leadership from
our older players. The team, overall, played really well.”
The Tigers are on the road Wednesday, Oct. 14,
to play South Wasco County at 4 p.m., and they host
Adrian in Dayville at 5 p.m. Friday.
Prairie City
upgrades are
‘on track’
Athletic facility
will get new
equipment,
tennis court,
storage facility
%\&KHU\O+RHÀHU
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY – Just a
few more steps to go, and
the Prairie City School Ath-
letic Complex will be com-
plete.
The school recently fin-
ished rubberizing and paint-
ing the track, high jump area
and tennis court. Up next is
to purchase track and field
equipment, such as hurdles,
high jump and pole vault
mats and standards; remov-
able partition fencing to
separate events; and a stor-
age facility for equipment.
Funding for the latest
phase of renovations came
from a $60,000 grant from
United States Rural De-
velopment’s
Community
Facilities Program. Prairie
City School District No. 4
contributed an additional
$120,000 loan from Bank of
Eastern Oregon to the proj-
ect.
The facility’s improve-
ments will allow the
school to host track meets
and other sporting events
as well as enhance the
community.
Prairie City School Su-
perintendent/Principal Julie
Gurczynski, “This is a won-
derful opportunity for the
school and the town.”
Gurczynski said they are
looking forward to running
the school’s first track meet
next spring.
See TRACK, Page B2
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Eagle file photo
Grant Union Prospector Samantha Brock (3) spikes the ball in last year’s Dig
Pink games with Rheanna Cartner and Heather Mosley ready.
Dayville/Monument Tiger Kyla Emerson (4)
stretches for a dig in the homecoming game
against Harper/Huntington, her teammates
Ravyn Walker (18, left), Kendall Hettinga (2)
and Skylar Powell (8) in the action.
Mountaineers show mental toughness in close sets
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
LONG CREEK – The Uki-
ah/Long Creek junior varsity
volleyball team has had its
share of setbacks this season,
but they proved what they’re
made of at their homecoming
doubleheader last Saturday,
taking the sweep over Crane
and Dayville/Monument’s ju-
nior varsity teams.
The Ukiah/Long Creek
Mountaineers had the advan-
tage of a bigger roster, with 14
girls versus Crane’s six.
While the teams tied scores
early on, for the most part the
Mountaineers kept a steady
lead, toppling the Mustangs
with scores of 25-20, 25-14
and 25-23.
The Mountaineers also
stayed ahead of Dayville/
Monument.
They beat the Tigers 25-20
and 25-14 in the ¿ rst two sets.
,n the ¿ nal set the teams
were tied at 22-22 when the
Mountaineers made a save
and then closed out the game
25-23.
“I couldn’t be more proud
of the Ukiah/Long Creek
girls,” said head coach Rea-
gan Enriquez who coaches
with Linda Studmann. “They
¿ nally showed everyone what
kind of team they are. They
are committed to each other
and show more support for
one another than most teams.”
Saturday’s games were
Ukiah/Long Creek’s ¿ nal
league games, but they faced
nonleague opponents, includ-
ing Nixyaawii on the road
Wednesday, past press time,
and were scheduled to face
the Rockets in Pilot Rock at
12 p.m. Saturday.
Ukiah/Long Creek
volleyball player
Alejandra Cabral
and her teammates
focus in on the
game. The team
toppled both Crane
and Dayville/
Monument’s junior
varsity teams
for a Saturday
homecoming
sweep.
Contributed photo
Linda Studtmann