B2
Sports
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
G RANT C OUNTY SPORTS ROUNDUP
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Pros run full teams to
close cross country season
Grant Union cross country crossed a goal
off their list to close the season.
“It was the first time Grant Union has had
a full girls and full boys team at district cross
country since 1999,” said head coach Sonna
Smith.
The Prospectors traveled to the District 5
Championships Friday, Oct. 28, at Pendle-
ton Community Park.
Competing in the event were athletes
from 16 schools from Class 1A to 3A.
There were 82 boys and 63 girls compet-
ing in the varsity events.
Top placers for Grant Union were Tanner
Elliott for the boys with a time of 19:31.4
and Ericka Dickens for the girls, recording a
time of 24:16.2.
Several Grant Union athletes earned
personal records at the meet: Trejan Speth,
20:15.1; Braden Spencer, 21:31.2; Gage
Brandon, 21:39.6; Ginni Frazier, 24:51.8;
and Sierra Cates, 31:10.5.
“We had a fun season and are learning
how to be more competitive in our racing,”
Smith said.
She said she’s losing three seniors to
graduation this year, including Speth, Fra-
zier and Reitta Wyllie.
“Trejan has been with me since I start-
ed the program back up,” Smith said. “He
FAN
contributed a strong leadership presence
throughout the season. Ginni and Reitta
were just hitting their stride in racing, and
we are going to work on keeping strong until
track season. My large group of underclass-
men are going to have to step up for next
season.”
Burnside Memorial Wildhorse Invite in
Pendleton with a time of 10:57.6, competing
with 176 runners.
Chuck said the competition will be plen-
tiful for Mark next year as a varsity runner.
“I think he’ll do all right,” Chuck said.
“It’s something to look forward to.”
Monument’s Mark
Thomas shines at state
cross country meet
Season ends for Prairie
City/Burnt River and
Monument/Dayville teams
Monument middle school cross country
runner Mark Thomas finished his season
with flying colors.
The eighth-grader from Kimberly earned
13th place out of 257 runners in the Super
Champs 3,000-meter race, a faster division
of runners. Another 299 boys raced in the
Champs race.
Thomas finished with a time of 10:50.5
at the race held Oct. 23 at Western Oregon
University in Monmouth.
“He didn’t PR (reach a personal record)
in that race,” said coach Chuck Thomas.
“The course was really muddy, but it was a
good race.”
The coach said Mark ran aggressively
and reached his goal of finishing in the top
20.
“When you’re racing against that many
runners, you have to go out fast or you’re
going to get bogged up,” Chuck said. “He
ran a good race.”
Mark finished third at the Oct. 13 Kyle
The Prairie City/Burnt River Panther/
Bulls and Monument/Dayville Tigers junior
varsity football teams planned on one more
game to close the season, but, due to a lack
of Tiger athletes, the game was canceled.
“It was a good season — a little dis-
appointing to not get a win, but the guys
showed a lot of heart and determination to
keep playing through the whole season,”
said Tiger head coach Nathaniel Ashley.
Ashley said his team was a great group
and fun to coach.
“I would like to thank all of our fans who
traveled all over the place, watching our
games,” he said. “That means a lot of all of
us on the team.”
Panther/Bull head coach Darrel McKrola
said the team was looking forward to run-
ning the new plays they’d been practicing.
The team won multiple matchups this
season, and he said his team had been grow-
ing with each game.
“I’m proud of all the boys,” he said.
Continued from Page B1
for season tickets — he
was in the 70,000-range
down the list.
“Three years ago, I got
a phone call from a ticket
representative,” he said.
“At first, I thought it was a
hoax.”
Sharp’s childhood friend
Jim from Illinois foot the
bill for the season and
post-season tickets, and
they’ve shared them, his
friend giving them to clients
and employees.
Earlier in the season,
Sharp enjoyed trips to Chi-
cago with his wife, Becky,
and two daughters, Josie
and Riley, to attend games
and visit Jim.
“Jim and Julie are really
nice people — we’ve been
friends forever,” Sharp
said. “It was a cool expe-
rience to see them after all
these years.”
He said there were
40,000 people in the stadi-
um for the game and just as
many outside the facility for
Friday and Sunday’s games.
“Friday’s game was a
loss, but the atmosphere
was 10 times magnified,
compared to the regular
season games,” he said.
“In Sunday’s game, the
tension in the crowd was
way worse because it was
an elimination game. There
was no way of relaxing,
and everybody was excited
to be there.”
He said his favorite part
of Sunday’s game was “ev-
ery second.”
He also enjoyed “being
a part of history and shar-
ing that with my uncle,” he
said.
For Tuesday night’s
Game 6, the Cubs were set
to face the Indians in Cleve-
land at Progressive Field,
and this time Sharp plans
to watch the game from the
comfort of his home.
“It will still be nerve
racking, but more comfort-
able and warmer,” Sharp
said.
He said he’s taking a
realistic approach to the
game.
“I want them to win, but
only one team can win,” he
said. “If they lose, you’d
like to think it’s just another
step to the next level — you
never know what’s going to
happen.”
11. Steelers vs Ravens
WEEK 8 OF 13
6. USC vs Oregon
8. Lions vs Vikings
4. Kansas State vs Oklahoma
State
15. Cowboys vs Browns
2. Texas A&M vs
Mississippi State
13. Panthers vs Rams
12. Saints vs 49ers
9. Jets vs Dolphins
10. Jaguars vs Chiefs
5. Oregon State vs Stanford
14. Titans vs Chargers
1. Washington State vs
Arizona
$40.00
Unlimited
month of
Tanning
7. Ohio State vs Nebraska
Congratulations to
Seth Cooksey
Seth picked all 15
games correctly. A
perfect score!
3. Grant Union vs Reedsport
Ken Gillihan & Kirk
Ausland came in
second with 14 out of
15 correct.
Good luck
next week!