Sports
Blue Mountain Eagle
TRACK
ROUNDUP
Continued from Page A10
Continued from Page A10
The coach trains in the
throwing events, sprints and
relays, while assistant Kieley
Williams coaches jumping
events, also teaching the team
yoga three times a week. Bar-
ber said the stretching exercis-
es improve the team’s balance,
power and fl exibility.
He said the girls throwing
events and sprints and the boys
throwing events look especially
promising.
The Prairie City team in-
cludes 11 athletes. There are
three boys and eight girls on
this year’s varsity roster, and
all six freshmen were previous-
ly on the middle school track
team.
Looking at the competition,
Prairie City’s 1A Special Dis-
trict 4 opponents will be Adri-
an, Burnt River, Cove, Crane,
Dayville, Harper Charter, Hun-
tington, Jordan Valley, Joseph,
Long Creek, Monument, Pine
Eagle and Powder Valley.
Barber said he expects Jor-
dan Valley, Crane and Adrian
to be especially tough compet-
itors.
“There are some schools
that are just athletic in every
sport. They’re just consistent,”
he said. “Adrian has the num-
bers, too. They have a lot of
kids that come out for sports.”
The coach added he’s happy
to see so many incoming fresh-
men join the team.
“It builds depth,” he said.
“It also helps build a long-term
program.”
Senior Taci Perrenoud said
she’s been competing in the
100-meter dash since sixth
grade.
“It’s always been the stron-
gest for me,” she said.
Her other events include
the 200, 100 hurdles and
Grant Union had four girls
and three boys competing in
the event.
“We played better than
I thought we would,” said
Grant Union head coach Ron
Lundbom. “Only two of the
team had ever had a club in
their hands before the fi rst of
this month. We should fi eld a
full team with both the boys
and girls at Pendleton in two
weeks.”
For the Grant Union boys,
Duane Stokes shot a 96, Kel-
len Shelley 102 and Elijah
Humbird had a 62 in his fi rst
match ever.
For the Grant Union girls,
playing nine holes, Fallen Bol-
man shot a 78, Emily Springer
78, Maddy Way 79. It was the
fi rst match for the four girls.
Heppner’s boys and girls
teams won the event, the boys
with 361 and the girls with
444.
Grant Union will travel
Thursday, March 23 to the 1A-
2A Invitational which starts
at 12 p.m. at Wildhorse Golf
Club in Pendleton.
The Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
LEFT: Racing down the Prairie City track are team members, from left, Jessica Reames,
Aleah Johns, Taci Perrenoud and Emily Ennis. RIGHT: Prairie City Panther Megan
Camarena throws shot put during Thursday’s practice.
Prairie City Panther Devin Packard throws javelin in
Thursday’s practice as Hayley Pfefferkorn and Jake
McHatton wait their turn.
long jump.
Perrenoud had an injured
ankle early last season but
said she’s ready to come back
strong.
“I’m really excited for the
season,” she said. “We have
a young team, but I think we
have quite a few state compet-
itors.”
Senior Devin Packard’s
events are shot put, discus and
javelin, and he competed his
eighth-grade and freshman
year.
“We should have a strong
competing team,” he said.
When asked what his favor-
ite event is, Packard quipped,
“Javelin — who doesn’t like
throwing sharp objects?”
Another strong member of
the team is junior Megan Ca-
marena, who has been throwing
shot put since sixth grade.
“I’m looking forward to
how we’re going to be more
of a family this year,” she said.
“I hope to go to district and
state.”
Barber said his seniors are
providing good leadership,
adding the team works well
together, and they are “coach-
able.”
“They’ve all been positive,”
he said. “They’ve done every-
thing we’ve asked, and they’re
on time and stretching. I’m ex-
cited to be doing this.”
The Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Monument
athletes tear up
track in
The Dalles
Monument track and fi eld
head coach Darrin Dailey said
his team had some remark-
able performances at Satur-
day’s Nullen-Leavitt Invite at
The Dalles.
The team was up against
15 teams, including 5A The
Dalles.
For the Monument girls,
returning state champion
Sophie Pettit placed fi rst in
all her events, the 100-meter
dash, the 200 and long jump.
Kyla Emerson was third
in the 300 hurdles with a time
of 53.13 and sixth in the 100
hurdles at 19.44.
Bailey Thomas fi nished
fourth in the 3,000 meter
with 13:33.61, and Faythe
Schafer took fi fth in the 200
with a personal record of
29.91.
On the boys side, new-
comer John Ramirez set new
school records in the 100-me-
ter dash, placing fourth with
a time of 12.05 and the 200,
placing ninth with a time of
24.99.
Dailey said senior Hayden
Schafer is well ahead of his
marks from this time last
year, and Jess Hoodenpyl
was in the middle of the pack
for the 800- and 3,000-meter
runs.
“We’re all looking for-
ward to Pendleton on Thurs-
day,” Dailey said.
There the team will face
24 competitors at the 26th
Annual Buck Track Classic at
Pendleton High School.
Grant Union Prospector second baseman Jesse Paulson, right, high-fives the coaches after Saturday’s win over
Lakeview. Other teammates in the photo are pitcher Brogan McKrola (7), left, Billy Copenhaver, back, Hadley Boethin
(24) and Wade Reimers (3).
BASEBALL
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Grant Union Prospector Wade Reimers gets a base hit in
Saturday’s game against Lakeview.
SOFTBALL
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Lakeview had four hits and
six strikeouts.
“Overall, I thought we
did well,” Nash said. “I was
pleased that we kept battling
and corrected some of our er-
rors as the game went on. ...
Every game, we should get
better like that.”
Grant Union travels to
Culver next week for a dou-
bleheader, which starts at 2
p.m. Friday.
In Friday’s game against
Union, Grant Union had 11
hits and three walks and gave
up nine hits with four errors.
McClellan,
Madden,
Walker, Natalie Stearns, Rea-
gan Shelley and Tressa Ranft
all had hits, including a triple
for Walker and a double for
Moulton.
Zweygardt and Hailie
Wright each had two hits and
a double.
Grant Union hosted the Burns
Hilanders on March 14 for the
Prospectors’ season opener.
The Prospectors held their
ground through the fourth in-
ning, but Burns made strides in
the fi fth, leading the Hilanders
to a 12-8 win.
In the fi fth, Burns turned up
their offense with four runs be-
fore Hilander Bryce Goss hit a
grand slam, giving the visitors
an 11-6 lead.
Grant Union worked to
close the gap in the bottom
of the inning. Reimers dou-
bled, advancing Deiter to
third. Then Cameron Hallgarth
brought his teammates home
when he hit the ball near the
center fence, to make it 11-8,
Burns leading.
A11
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Grant Union held off Burns
in the sixth, and third-baseman
Copenhaver got the fi nal out of
the inning when the Hilanders
attempted a steal.
Burns scored a fi nal run in
the seventh, a Goss one-run
homer.
In the bottom of the inning,
with two outs, Grant Union
was about to load the bases,
poised for a comeback, but
Burns got the stop to end the
game.
Grant Union will host
the Les Schwab Invitational
Spring Break Tournament on
Thursday through Saturday,
March 30-April 1 at the Sev-
enth Street Complex.
The Prospectors are sched-
uled to face Joseph/Enterprise/
Wallowa at 2 p.m. Thursday
with games against Oakland
on Friday and Sheridan on Sat-
urday at 2 p.m. both days.
Grant Union
Prospector
Whitney
McClellan gets
in the action
in Saturday’s
game against
Lakeview.
The Eagle/
Angel Carpenter
SPORTS
SCHEDULE
Thursday,
March 23
Monument track and
fi eld @ Buck Track
Classic in Pendleton
at 11 a.m.
Grant Union golf @
1A-2A Invitational at
Wildhorse Gold Club
in Pendleton at
12 p.m.
Friday,
March 24
Grant Union
softball @ Culver (2)
at 2 p.m.
Dayville, Prairie
City track and
fi eld teams
compete in Harper
Dayville and Prairie City
each fi elded a team in Harper
Friday for the Diana Thur-
mond Invitational.
The 1A teams competed
with other teams their size, as
well as 3A Nyssa and 2A Vale.
Dayville’s returning state
champion Kristina Hum-
phreys placed fi rst in javelin
with a mark of 126-03, and her
teammate Gabe Walker was
eighth in the 110-meter hur-
dles with a time of 21.96.
Prairie City’s Devin Pack-
ard, returning to the sport after
two years, placed fi fth in dis-
cus with 108-10 and ninth in
javelin with 122-00 and 10th
in shot put with a throw of 35-
05.75.
For the Prairie City girls,
Emily Ennis fi nished fi fth in
the 100 hurdles with a time of
21.99 and ninth in the 200 with
32.18, and Megan Camarena
was sixth in shot put with a
throw of 29-05.00.
Prairie City’s Taci Perre-
noud fi nished seventh in the
200 meter with 31.71 and
eighth in the 100 at 14.30.
“I was quite pleased with
the team at the track meet,”
said Prairie City head coach
Nate Barber. “It was nice to see
where we are with some of the
other schools in our conference.
We are right there at the top.”
He added, “The exciting
thing is that they will all get
faster and stronger as the sea-
son goes on, as long as we
continue to work. The meet
also gave some of them a goal
of where they want to be by
the time the next meet comes
after spring break.”
Both Prairie City and Day-
ville plan to compete at the
Grant Union Small School
Meet on April 4 in John Day.
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the
corner’s
SH T
HOT
EEK
OF THE W
ANDREA COMER
School: Grant Union
Grade: 10
Parents: Russ and Sheila Comer
Sport: Dance
What I like best about my sport: “It
expresses how I feel, and it’s fun to be around
my teammates.”
Coach’s Comment: “Andrea
gives it her all in practice and
has continued to make huge
strides this season. I’m
really proud of her.”
-Coach Kattie Piazza
PROUD SPONSOR OF GRANT COUNTY ATHLETES
100 E. Main • Stoplight in John Day
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