WEDNESDAY
May 24, 2017
Monument’s Pettit repeats
as 100-meter state champ
Relay team
places fourth
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Monument High School
has a student population of just
19, but that didn’t stop their
four-member girls track team
and one boy from shining at
the OSAA 1A Track and Field
State Championships held
Thursday and Friday at Uni-
versity of Oregon’s Hayward
Field in Eugene.
Sophomore Sophie Pettit
won her second consecutive
1A 100-meter dash Friday.
“It was really cool to re-
peat,” Pettit said. “The com-
petition for the sprints was a
lot tougher this year. Everyone
has gotten a lot better.”
She posted a time of 12.7,
shaving .05 off her winning
time from last year. Pettit also
placed fourth in the 200 with
a season-record time of 26.67,
Sonna
Smith
awarded
Coach of
the Year
fi fth in the long jump (15-
06.00) and fourth as a member
of the 4x100-meter relay team
(53.46), which included Fay-
the Schafer, Kyla Emerson and
Dinorha Vidrio Landin. Fresh-
man Aubrey Bowlus was on
hand as an alternate.
“The 4x100 was really ex-
citing,” Pettit said. “At the be-
ginning of the year, none of us
thought we would go to state.
It was really cool just to take
the team to state and compete
there. I think the relay and the
Monument’s
Sophie Pettit
lets out a
victorious yell
after winning
the 1A girls
100-meter dash
Friday at the
OSAA Track
and Field State
Championships
at Hayward
Field in Eugene.
100 were my favorite.”
She said reaching state each
year is her goal.
“I’m looking forward to
next season,” she said. “I’m
really trying to get a four-time
repeat in the 100.”
Emerson set a personal re-
cord when she placed fourth
in the 100-meter hurdles with
a time of 16.90, and she was
sixth in the 300-meter hurdles
(50.93).
EO Media Group
Kathy Aney
See PETTIT, Page B10
‘COULDN’T BE PROUDER’
Young Grant Union girls team soars to second at state
Sophomores win titles
in javelin, triple jump
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union track and fi eld head
coach Sonna Smith was honored Satur-
day in Eugene as the Girls 2A Coach of
the Year by the Oregon Athletic Coaches
Association.
She received the plaque at Autzen
Stadium, awarded for the 2016 girls
team she led to a state championship ti-
tle. The team included Chelsie Kodesh,
Kaylee Wright, Kenzie Wilson, Samatha
Brock, Sydney Brockway, Jozie Rude
and Kori Pentzer.
Smith said she gives much of the
credit for the award to her assistant
coaches, including Ken Boethin, hur-
dles; John Houk, long jump and triple
jump; Kelsy Wright, javelin; Angie Lus-
co, discus and shot put; Buzz Gilmore,
pole vault; and Emma Robinson, high
jump. Smith trains athletes for sprints,
distance and relay.
Smith once before received a Coach
of the Year award when the Grant Union
boys 2A team won the state title in 2007.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union head track and field
coach Sonna Smith received
the Oregon Athletic Coaches
Association 2A girls Coach of the
Year Award. In the photo, she stands
with the plaque at the Grant Union
track in John Day.
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
Trinity Hutchison of Grant Union triple jumps Friday at the OSAA Track and Field State
Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. Hutchison won the event with a jump of
34 feet, 10 inches. More photos can be found online at MyEagleNews.com/sports.
The young fi ve-member Grant Union
girls team aimed for the top spot at the
May 17-18 2A Track and Field State
Championships in Eugene, landing in
second with 82 points, just four points
behind 11-member East Linn Christian.
Two Grant Union Prospector soph-
omore girls earned state track and fi eld
titles at University of Oregon’s Hayward
Field, including Kaylee Wright, who set
a season-record with her javelin throw
of 128-11, and Trinity Hutchison in the
triple jump with a leap of 34-10.00.
The Prospectors were hoping for a
repeat of last year’s state championship
win, and after the close loss, the team is
already making plans for a strong come-
back in 2018.
After seeing East Linn, a team of ju-
niors and seniors, pull ahead of them in
one of the last events of the day — the
4x400-meter relay — a race which Grant
Union didn’t have on the list this year,
the Prospectors started plans to improve
their score.
“The athletes that are coming back
next year immediately sat down and
thought of who they could recruit for
next year for the 4x400,” said Grant
Union head coach Sonna Smith.
This year’s Prospector girls team was
comprised of one freshman, three soph-
omores and one junior.
Earning 28 points for Grant Union,
Wright also had second-place fi nishes in
the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.91,
the high jump at a height of 4-10.00 and
was part of the second-place 4x100 team,
which also included Sydney Brockway,
Hutchison and Sierra Cates, with a time
of 50.97.
“That was something I was really
proud of,” Wright said of the relay. “We
went in second and ended the day bet-
ter than we had planned. Our time was
improved — not easy being sophomores
and freshmen, competing against seniors
and juniors.”
Cates said their handoffs improved
signifi cantly over the season.
“We worked on our handoff all
week,” she said. “They all did a good
job, and we ended up being faster, each
leg of the race.”
See TRACK, Page B3
Grant Union softball still in the game Humphreys fi nishes
Lady Pros face
Glide at 2:30 p.m.
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union Pros-
pector softball team will
compete in round one of the
OSAA Softball State Cham-
pionship this week as they
face the Glide Wildcats at
2:30 p.m. today in Glide.
The Grant Union team,
led by head coach DeAnna
Nash, also includes one ath-
lete from Dayville School
second in javelin at
state meet for Dayville
UP NEXT:
PROSPECTORS
• Grant Union Prospectors
at Glide Wildcats
• Today, 2:30 p.m.
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
and one from Prairie City
School.
If Grant Union (No. 11,
18-6) beats Glide (No. 6, 18-
5), they will play the winner
of the Dayton versus Burns
game in quarterfi nal action
Friday, May 26, the time to
See SOFTBALL, Page B2
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Reagan Shelley gets the signal from
head coach DeAnna Nash to take it on home from third in
Friday’s league playoff against the Burns Hilanders in Vale.
Dayville
sophomore
Kristina Humphreys threw
javelin for second place at
117-09 at the OSAA 1A
Track and Field State Cham-
pionships.
She competed on Friday
at University of Oregon’s
Hayward Field in Eugene
along with 11 other athletes
in the fi nals.
Humphreys said she only
recognized two of her oppo-
nents this year.
“It was a really cool expe-
rience visiting with the other
competitors, asking how far
they throw,” she said.
Humphreys won the ti-
tle last year with a throw of
129-02.
See DAYVILLE, Page B3