WEDNESDAY
May 23, 2018
THE WRIGHT TRACK
Junior’s three
titles help girls
track team to
second at state
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union junior Kaylee
Wright won three state titles
to help her team to second
place at the 2A OSAA Track
and Field State Champion-
ships in Eugene.
The Grant Union girls
scored 65 team points behind
Monroe with 80. Central Linn
came in third with 59. Grant
Union led the competition
until the second-to-last event
when Monroe pulled ahead.
Wright won in all three of
her individual events.
She set a new state record
in javelin. She beat the state
record she set as a freshman
by 7 feet, throwing for a
mark of 138-06, for her third
consecutive state title in the
event. She placed first in high
jump at a height of 5-03 and
first in the 100-meter dash
with a time of 12.75.
She also placed second as
a member of the 4x100-meter
relay team alongside Sydney
Brockway, Trinity Hutchison
and Sierra Cates with a time
of 51.22. The winning team
from Central Linn had a time
of 51.20.
“There was a lot more
competition than previous
years,” Wright said. “We all
pushed harder. That’s how we
perform better.”
Grant Union head coach
Sonna Smith said she was
impressed by Wright’s efforts
this year.
Eagle file photo
Grant Union’s Duane
Stokes takes a shot for the
hole at an invitational at
the John Day Golf Course
early in the season.
Grant Union
golfers DQ’ed
at state
tournament
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
Kaylee Wright of Grant Union throws javelin Saturday at the OSAA state track and field meet in Eugene. Wright
won the event and set a new 2A girls state record with a throw of 138 feet, 6 inches.
“She has consistently done
the work she needs to do to
be ready to compete at a high
level,” Smith said. “She fin-
ished district with a hamstring
strain and rehabbed all week
to be ready for state, and it
paid off.”
She said Wright was close
to becoming 2A Athlete of the
Meet.
Wright had one second
place and three first-place fin-
ishes, the same as the winner,
but Wright had fewer overall
points because relay athletes
split their points four ways
with the other runners on their
team. Wright beat the other
athlete in the 100, the only
head-to-head meeting be-
tween the two.
“Kaylee came out on top,”
Smith said. “For us, that
makes her the superior athlete
in our eyes.”
Hutchison, a junior and
returning triple jump champ,
placed second in the event
this year with a distance of
34-04.25. Isabelle Wyss of
St. Paul placed first with 35-
10.75.
Hutchison also placed
fourth in the long jump with a
distance of 16-03.5.
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
See TRACK, Page B10
Grant Union’s Trinity Hutchison lands the triple jump
at the OSAA 2A Track and Field State Championships.
1A track athletes compete at state
Burke places third in
high jump
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
Megan Camarena of Prairie
City competes in shot put
Saturday at the OSAA state
track and field meet in
Eugene.
Four Grant County 1A track and field
athletes competed with the best of the
best Thursday and Friday at the OSAA
Track and Field State Championships.
Prairie City’s Levi Burke and Megan
Camarena and Monument/Dayville’s
Mark Thomas and Kyla Emerson made
their mark at University of Oregon’s
Hayward Field, and the event left an in-
delible mark on them as well.
Prairie City junior Levi Burke placed
third in the high jump Thursday with a
mark of 5-08.
Eagle file photo
Prairie City’s Levi Burke clears the
high jump earlier in the season.
He placed third at the 1A state
championships with a height of 5-08.
“It didn’t go as well as I wanted it
to go, but to win third place was awe-
some,” he said.
Burke said he felt supported by ev-
eryone, even people he didn’t know.
“Everybody was just helpful, people
who’ve been in it their whole lives,” he
said. “The high jump community is al-
ways going to be good.”
Dawson Smith of Powder Valley won
the state high jump with a mark of 6-02,
with Josiah Hart of Southwest Christian
in second at 6-02.
Burke competed against Smith three
times previously in the season, includ-
ing at the Prairie City Invitational and
the District Meet in Baker City.
“I wouldn’t want to lose to anyone
else,” Burke said, adding he and Smith
had become good friends. “He definitely
deserved it.”
Burke, who is in his first year as a
See STATE, Page B10
Prospectors flog Huskies to move on
Grant Union
faces Reedsport
today
Grant Union
vs. Elgin
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union pitcher
Zack Deiter and some hot
Prospector bats got the job
done in their 8-1 win over the
Elgin Huskies in Thursday’s
district play-in to the OSAA
Baseball State Championship
playoffs.
The Prospectors will face
the Reedsport Braves at 2:30
p.m. Wednesday, May 23, in
Reedsport.
“The kids, they were fired
up today, and had two double
plays today,” said Grant Union
head coach Dusty Williams.
“Zack Deiter threw a heck of
a game.”
It was the small ball with
“a lot of hit and running” that
made the difference, the coach
said.
“We put the ball in play and
hit the ball really well today,”
he said.
Facing Elgin pitcher Caleb
Lathrop was no easy task. The
last time the Prospectors were
up against him, Grant Union
lost 2-0 on April 14.
“He’s probably the second
best pitcher in the league,”
Grant Union Prospector Wade Reimers slides in safe at
home against Elgin.
Elgin Huskies pitcher
Caleb Lathrop at the
mound in Thursday’s
playoff game.
Williams said. “We knew we
had to get on him early, and
that’s why we changed the bat-
ting order a little bit today. We
led off with Wade (Reimers),
one of our best hitters.”
Grant Union was first on
the scoreboard after Warner
Robertson singled, sending
Reimers home in the bottom of
the first inning.
Prospector Roen Langum
singled to start off the second,
and Deiter’s bunt sent Langum
home.
It was three up and three
down in the top of the third,
with Deiter striking out two
Elgin batters.
Two sacrifice hits brought
in 2 more runs for the Prospec-
tors in the bottom of the fourth
“I’m in raw emotions, see-
ing all the guys come togeth-
er,” he said. “We played dang
good baseball. I’m proud to be
going to state.”
Vaughan said, after two
straight wins, “we just don’t
want to go home.”
Reimers agreed.
“We don’t want to be
done,” he said. “I’m proud of
the team. I want to thank the
younger kids for helping us
out. They’ve been tremendous
this year.”
Williams said his team has
had their ups and downs this
year, and sometimes their in-
tensity hasn’t been there and
a few games slipped away. He
said, this time, the boys came
out “fired up” with everyone
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
for a 4-0 lead.
Elgin scored 1 run in the top
of the fifth, and Grant Union
scored another in the bottom of
the inning.
Grant Union fans cheered
loudly when, in the sixth, Pros-
pector second baseman Logan
McCluskey tagged Elgin’s
Bubba Palmer out and threw to
McDaniel at first, getting Lath-
rop out.
In the second half of the
inning, Reimers scored on an
error and McDaniel singled
for two RBIs, Robertson and
Jacob Vaughan.
Deiter walked one Husky
in the seventh but kept Elgin
at bay for the win. Third base-
man Robertson said he was
excited about the win.
At bats/hits/runs/RBI/average
Wade Reimers: 1/1/2/1/1.000
Zack Deiter: 3/2/0/1/.667
Warner Robertson: 3/1/1/2/.333
Jacob Vaughan: 4/2/1/2/.250
Ty McDaniel: 4/1/0/2/.250
Roen Langum: 3/2/2/0/.667
Logan McCluskey: 4/1/0/0/.250
Cole Deiter: 2/0/1/0/.000
Russell Hodge: 2/0/1/0/.333
Innings pitched/hits/runs/strike-
outs/ERA
Zack Deiter: 7/2/1/4/0
talking and having fun before
the game.
“I thought, ‘Today’s go-
ing to be a good day,’” he
said. “This is the best they’ve
played all year. They looked
like a good baseball team
today.”
He said they’ll practice hard
and focus on their goal — “try
to win a state championship.”
Grant Union is ranked 15th
among OSAA’s 2A/1A teams
with a 14-11 overall record.
Out of 25 games, the Pros-
pectors scored 174 runs and
allowed 116.
Reedsport is ranked No.
2 with a 23-1 overall record.
Out of 24 games, the Braves
scored 246 runs and allowed
49.
Had everything gone well,
the Grant Union Prospector
boys golf team would have
placed fifth instead of 12th
at the OSAA 3A/2A/1A Golf
Championship May 14-15 at
Quail Valley Golf Course in
Banks.
Markers set at the incorrect
yardage and some incorrect
directions on the course on
day one turned the much-an-
ticipated event into disqualifi-
cation and disappointment for
the Prospectors.
Four Grant Union golfers,
as well as eight others, four
from Rogue River and four
from Columbia Christian,
were disqualified on the first
day of the tournament for hit-
ting from the wrong set of tees
at hole No. 13, the red instead
of the blue markers.
“There was a discrepancy
between the yardage on the
scorecard (172) and where
the tee box was actually set
by Quail Valley Golf Course
(212),” said Steve Walker,
OSAA’s sports information
director.
Grant Union head coach
Ron Lundbom said, “OSAA
didn’t make sure that Quail
Valley staff had the markers at
the correct yardage.”
A coach from another team
told the first group, which
included Prospector Duane
Stokes, to hit from the red
markers instead of blue at No.
13, because it was the correct
distance listed on the score-
card.
A second group, which
included Prospector Garrett
Lenz, followed the first. Then
a third group, which included
Prospector Kellen Shelley,
advanced toward the blue
markers, and members of that
group said a marshal pointed
them toward the red markers.
Lundbom said his team
“did what the marshal told
them to do,” but added, “Kids
are not supposed to listen to
the marshals.”
A volunteer marshal at the
13th hole was mistaken for a
rules official, Lundbom said.
Lundbom said, although
three players and three coach-
es said the marshal directed
them to the red markers, the
marshal denied it.
Grant Union’s athletic di-
rector Jason Miller weighed
in, saying athletes are taught
to respect those in authority.
“At 16 or 17, if a marshal
tells them to hit from the red
tee, are they going to question
that authority?” Miller said.
The three groups realized
they were disqualified after
they turned in their score-
cards.
“It’s unfortunate that kids
were put in this position by
adults, but it doesn’t change
the fact that they had a great
season and scored well at the
tournament,” Miller added.
Grant Union’s Parker
Manitsas, golfing in a group
after the mistake at No. 13
was discovered, finished with
a score of 106 on day one and
116 on day two.
Had their disqualified
scores counted, Grant Union
See GOLF, Page B10