A10
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
WEDNESDAY
November 29, 2017
Lady Panthers shoot to
be competitive in league
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Brandon Horell grabs a rebound
in practice, his teammates Jayden Winegar, left, Lucas
McKinley and Kevin Duvall in the action.
Panther brotherhood
looking to return to
playoffs this season
New coach
Sam Workman
leads Prairie
City boys
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Prairie City boys
basketball team closed out
a successful season last
school year, reaching the
second-round state playoff
match.
The Panthers are right
back at it, hopeful for an-
other shot at a bright post-
season.
Dorran Wilson, the sole
senior among the 12 play-
ers, has a deeply vested in-
terest in the team.
“We started working on
this program my freshman
year,” he said. “It’s exciting
to see it all coming togeth-
er.”
Wilson and junior Levi
Burke were two of the
team’s top players last year,
frequently scoring in double
digits.
“I’m looking forward to
winning because we have
a good brotherhood start-
ed,” Burke said. “We’ve
got some new kids who are
going to bring something to
the plate.”
The team’s new head
coach this year is Sam
Workman. This is Work-
man’s first year coaching
high school basketball, and
he brings years of experi-
ence working with youth
programs. He was an assis-
tant junior high girls coach
the last two years for Prairie
City. He’s also coached John
Day-Canyon City Parks and
Recreation basketball and
football for eight years and
Little League baseball the
last four years.
Six freshmen players are
joining the varsity ranks this
year, plus two sophomores,
and three juniors.
Workman said his goal is
“to get as much out of those
Prairie City Panther Cassie Hire moves the ball past Katie Hire and Samantha Workman in the team’s Nov. 16
practice.
Dorran Wilson
guys as we can every night
... and have fun.” Right now,
the team is working on rig-
orous full-court drills to get
them into shape and offense
and defense moves.
He’s already seeing
strengths in the individual
players. Team captain Wil-
son, the coach said, has “all
the strengths for the game.”
Bringing some height for
rebounding are Burke, ju-
nior Syd Holman and fresh-
man Declan Zweygardt.
“Levi shoots from the in-
side and outside,” Workman
said. “Syd is quick off the
floor, a good rebounder and
good inside shooter. Declan
is young, but he’s a tough
kid.”
Workman, who is assist-
ed by his brother Bo Work-
man who coaches the girls
varsity team, said being
from a small school is a pos-
itive factor for their team.
“They all interact well
with each other,” he said.
“They should be tough. We
have a little bit of every-
thing on the court.”
The bottom line is, “ev-
erybody stays healthy,” Sam
Workman added.
Last school year, the
Panthers ended the season
16-8, ranked No. 18.
They were second at the
1A-8 High Desert District
Tournament and won the
Sportsmanship Award.
Prairie City claimed a
62-32 victory over the Echo
Cougars in the round-one
See PANTHERS, Page A18
Team is hopeful for postseason action
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
onfidence and mental
toughness are two quali-
ties the Prairie City Lady
Panthers basketball team
hopes will take them into
postseason action this year.
Several of the girls on the bas-
ketball team were also part of the
volleyball team that won the 1A
district volleyball championship
tournament.
Brianna Zweygardt, one of three
seniors on this year’s basketball
team, said she’s hopeful the energy
gained from a successful volleyball
season will carry over to basketball.
“We’re definitely excited and
looking forward to competing with
the higher-level teams this year,” she
said. “I’m confident that we can make
it farther than we have in the past.”
The other two seniors leading the
way this year are Cassie Hire and
Megan Camarena.
Camarena said the team members
have known each other their entire
lives.
“We know each other’s strengths
and weaknesses,” she said. “I’m re-
ally excited to see how well we work
together this season.”
Hire added the team is close with
good chemistry.
“I’m just excited to play basket-
ball and get along with my team-
mates,” she said.
Prairie City’s schedule starts off
with a rigorous round of travel to
three tournaments in Maupin, Con-
don and Klamath Falls.
“We’re looking to see some tough
competition preseason,” said head
coach Bo Workman. “Before we get
into league in January, we’ll deal
C
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Hailee Wall looks to pass in practice, with Megan
Camarena on defense. Emily Ennis and Samantha Workman, right, are in
the action, and head coach Bo Workman looks on.
Cassie Hire
Brianna Zweygardt
with adversity, traveling, with no
home game and long bus trips.”
This is Workman’s second year as
coach, and overall, he has four years
of coaching experience.
He said his main goals for the team
are “improvement from last year and
being mentally prepared, day in and
day out — that’s the biggest one.”
Megan Camarena
The team of 11 is working on mas-
tering “mental toughness and individ-
ual skills, footwork — that can never
be mastered,” he said.
Joining the three seniors this year
are one junior, four sophomores and
three freshmen.
See TEAM, Page A18
Grant Union wrestlers aim to sweep districts
Experienced team
‘chomping at the bit’
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union wrestling head coach
Andy Lusco said this year’s team is
something to be excited about and has
been a long time in the making.
He’s seeing growth in numbers this
season as well as experience, plus the
weight classes are stacked up.
There are 25 wrestlers out for the
team this year, compared to 20 last
season.
“We look good in terms of
breadth, so that’s encouraging,” he
said. “We’re starting to see some
quality wrestling. I think we’ll be
pretty competitive.”
Grant Union took the 2A/1A-SD4
Special District 4 championship title
last season, and four Prospectors
qualified for the state tournament.
Clay Johnson, who graduated,
won second place in the 138 weight
class. Drew Lusco, now a sopho-
more, placed fourth in heavyweight.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union assistant wrestling coach Tye Parsons, standing center,
shows takedown techniques with Cameron Hallgarth to the team in
their Monday, Nov. 20, practice.
Now among the nine seniors on
the team, Dillon Maley and Toby
Boatwright also competed in the 285
weight class at state, Maley falling to
Lusco and Boatwright falling to the
top-seeded wrestler.
Maley said the team has a goal
to repeat their district championship
win, and his personal goal is to re-
turn to state.
Boatwright reached state last year
as a first-time wrestler. He said he
likes the competitive nature of wres-
tling.
“It’s a tough sport,” he said. “I’m
looking forward to winning districts
and making it to state again.”
This is Lusco’s sixth year as head
coach, and his assistant coaches are
Tye Parsons, who also coaches the
junior high team, and Guy Johnson.
Coach Lusco said the three re-
turning state qualifiers should earn a
trip back to state with hard work.
“Dillon has worked very hard for
years and is a high-quality wrestler
who has a great chance of a medal at
state,” coach Lusco said. “Toby also
has an excellent chance to medal and
is working hard in practice. Drew is
looking to make the finals and win
a championship. It will take a lot of
hard work to make that a reality for a
sophomore.”
Coach Lusco said a few of the
other wrestlers he and the assistant
coaches see working their way to
a state qualification include junior
Braden Spencer, sophomore Eli
Sheedy, sophomore Russell Hodge,
senior Elijah Humbird, senior Ely
Carniglia, senior Cameron Hall-
garth, senior Hadley Boethin and
sophomore Damion Young.
Young wrestlers who could sur-
prise everyone include freshmen
Quinten Hallgarth, Logan McClus-
key and Ben Henry, the coach said.
“We really believe any of our 25
could qualify for state and are excit-
ed to see them compete and grow,”
he said.
New seniors to the varsity team
are Josh Carpenter and Savannah
Wyllie.
Senior Collin Harvey wrestled
through middle school and his fresh-
man and sophomore year.
Spencer is the sole junior, and
there are eight sophomores and sev-
en freshmen.
Grant Union will face nine oppo-
nents in their district: Adrian, Crane,
Elgin, Enterprise, Heppner/Ione,
Imbler, Joseph/Wallowa, Pine Eagle
and Union/Cove.
“Crane and Enterprise are usually
the toughest team competition, but
all teams have pretty talented indi-
vidual wrestlers,” Lusco said.
On Friday, Grant Union will have
their first test at the Woodfin Tourna-
ment in Burns.
Lusco said it’s hard to say, this
See WRESTLERS, Page A18