WEDNESDAY
February 7, 2018
Grant Union High School
LEAGUE CHAMPS
• Girls Basketball
• Wrestling
• Boys Basketball
Grant Union girls defend Wapiti League title
Lady Pros will honor seniors at Thursday’s game
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Madi McKrola overtakes the ball
from a Union player in Friday’s game.
For the second consecutive year, the
Grant Union Prospector girls are Wapiti
League basketball champions.
Grant Union beat the Union Bobcats
on Friday and the Imbler Panthers on
Saturday to seal the deal.
With just one more league game left,
the Lady Pros are 7-0 and ranked No.
4 in state, followed by 4-2 Enterprise,
ranked No. 10. Other teams in the league
are Union, 3-4, No. 27; Elgin, 2-4, No.
24; and Imbler, 0-6, No. 34.
Grant Union has one more league
game left against Enterprise at 4 p.m.
Saturday, which Grant Union head
coach Casey Hallgarth expects will be a
competitive game.
“We need to continue to not back
down and get after it on defense,” he
said.
Although he expects Enterprise will
be a top contender at the district tourna-
ment, Hallgarth said some of the other
teams are also playing well.
“Anything can happen,” he said.
The Grant Union Prospector girls
brought an energetic defense that led to
many scoring opportunities in their 59-
32 win over the Bobcats Friday night.
“We’re not being complacent and
not taking anything for granted,” Hall-
garth said. “They were ready to go off
the bat.”
Prospector Kaylee Wright wasted no
time getting 2 points on the board at the
start. She led the Prospector scoring with
21, followed by Mariah Wright with 13
and Mariah Moulton with 9.
Prospector Whitney McClellan had a
steal and scored 2, and Wright intercept-
ed a Union pass and scored another 2.
Grant Union held Union to 2 points
in the first quarter and led 34-15 going
into halftime.
Union’s defense livened up in the
third, but Grant Union was still able to
power through.
Prospectors Madi McKrola, Kaylee
Wright and Mariah Moulton (with a
3-point shot) combined for 9 points be-
fore Union found the basket.
Union’s Brianna Kohr scored a
3-pointer, followed by another 2 from
Moulton and 2 from Prospector Trinity
See GIRLS, Page B12
Prospector boys clinch first
league title in 28 years
Eagle file photo
Grant Union Prospector Drew Lusco puts Kaleb Kendrick
of Irrigon in an arm bar at the Grant Union Wrestling
Invitational earlier this season.
Grant Union wrestlers
blow away
district competition
Six Prospectors
advance to state
Feb. 15-16
By Angel Carpenter
Toby
Boatwright
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Kellen Shelley fights for possession of the ball in Friday’s game against Union.
Grant Union wins 2 league games at home
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union Prospector boys
have claimed the 2A Wapiti League ti-
tle, for the first time since 1990, after
beating the Union Bobcats on Friday in
John Day.
Grant Union head coach Kel-
sy Wright said they were 5-1 going
into last week’s league games against
Union, and Imbler on Saturday.
“We knew we needed to win both,”
he said.
The Prospectors came away with
victories in both games.
Because Enterprise beat Elgin on
Friday, Grant Union actually clinched
the league title that night.
Current league standings are Grant
Union, 6-1, ranked No. 9; Elgin, 3-3,
No. 21; Union, 3-4, No. 30; Enterprise,
2-4, No. 28; and Imbler, 2-4, No. 33.
They have one more league contest
in Enterprise at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday,
but win or lose, Grant Union will re-
main the Wapiti’s top team.
Wright said he spoke with his team
last Thursday.
Grant Union’s Duane Stokes flies
up to score on a fast break in
Friday’s game, Union Bobcat Jace
Phillips (11) reaching forward, and
Prospector Wade Reimers in back.
“I told them if we get this win, it’s
already clinched,” he said. “They were
stoked about that. The boys were just
ready for it. It’s been a long time since
we’ve won a league championship.”
Wright said the team will work hard
to beat Enterprise Saturday to go out
with a win and keep their RPI numbers
high.
In Friday’s game, the Grant Union
boys built a strong foundation in the
first quarter and continued an upward
trend, leading to an 87-49 Wapiti
League win on Friday over the Union
Bobcats at the Prospector court in John
Day.
After some back and forth, Grant
Union got to work.
Prospectors Wade Reimers, Ty Mc-
Daniel and Cauy Weaver combined for
9 points before Union Bobcat Keegan
Glenn scored a 3-pointer.
Moving forward with their offen-
sive attack, Grant Union had 19 more
points on the board before Union
scored again.
McDaniel and Reimers each scored
Grant Union Prospec-
tor wrestlers sophomore
Drew Lusco (285) and se-
nior Elijah Humbird (220)
earned individual champion-
ship titles to lead their team
in defending their OSAA
2A/1A Special District 4 ti-
tle at Friday’s tournament in
Joseph.
The two champions and
four second-place wrestlers,
freshman Ethan Moore (106),
sophomore Eli Sheedy (113),
sophomore Russell Hodge
(182) and senior Toby Boat-
wright (285), will advance
to the OSAA Wrestling State
Championships on Friday and
Saturday, Feb. 15-16, at the
Veterans Memorial Coliseum
in Portland.
This is the second consec-
utive year the Grant Union
team has brought home the
title, this year earning 214
points ahead of Joseph/Wal-
lowa, which had 131.5. Crane
followed with 131 for third,
Enterprise had 130 for fourth
Elijah
Humbird
and Pine Ea-
gle had 88 for
fifth.
“It was a
very exciting
tournament
from start to
Drew Lusco finish,” said
Grant Union
head coach Andy Lusco.
“We faced some adversity
with injury and illness this
year, and we were a little con-
cerned,” he said. “However,
our wrestlers did a fantastic
job and placed very well in
the tournament individually,
which leads to a team victo-
ry.”
Coach Lusco said he and
his assistant coaches have
a positive outlook for their
wrestlers at state.
“We are very proud of the
efforts these wrestlers have
put in all season, and it is
pretty neat to see it result in
See WRESTLING, Page B12
See BOYS, Page B12
“
I told them if we get this win, it’s already clinched. They
were stoked about that. The boys were just ready for it. It’s
been a long time since we’ve won a league championship.”
Kelsy Wright, Grant Union head coach
Contributed photo/Cindy Dougharity-Spencer
The Grant Union wrestlers and assistants pose with their
2A/1A Special District 4 trophy at Friday’s tournament in
Joseph.