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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2019)
A10 PAGE LABEL Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 3, 2019 WEDNESDAY April 3, 2019 New head coach leads Dayville track and fi eld By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Practicing on Dayville’s athletic fi eld with its dirt track may not be ideal, but the Tiger track and fi eld team makes it work. W h e n runners aren’t prac- ticing their relay hand- offs, sprints or hurdles on the track, Head coach t h e y ’ r e Josh Williams out on the paved South Fork Road, running near the river and past ranches and hay fi elds. “It’ll be interesting to see what we do on a real track,” said head coach Josh Williams. Williams is new to coaching track and fi eld but has experience as assis- tant basketball coach for the Dayville/Monument Tigers for two years. Last year, Dayville combined with Monument School for track and fi eld with Peter Bogardus over the Dayville athletes. Bog- ardus has since moved out of state, and Dayville is not combining with Monument this season. A science and agricul- ture teacher for Dayville High School, Williams said he enjoyed track and fi eld when he was a student at Wheeler County High School in Fossil. “I had a great track DAYVILLE TIGERS TRACK AND FIELD SCHEDULE April 5: @ Prairie City Invitational, 11 a.m. April 9: @ Grant Union Small School Meet in John Day, 4 p.m. April 12: @ Burns Lions/Oster Track Meet, 1 p.m. April 19: @ Condon/Wheeler Invita- tional, 11 a.m. April 30: @ Ranchers Invitational in Crane, 3:30 p.m. May 10: 1A District 4 Championships in Baker City, 10 a.m. May 17-18: OSAA 1A State Champi- onships in Monmouth at Western Oregon University, TBA Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter Dayville Tigers Jaydon Hoff man, left, and Haylee Collins race each other during track practice. Austin Walker Dayville Tiger track and fi eld athletes Zach Ferguison, left, and Gabe Walker-Hopkins race in practice as their teammates Jaydon Hoff man and Haylee Collins and head coach Josh Williams look on. coach, Jon Bowerman — his dad, Bill, was coach for University of Oregon for several years,” Wil- liams said. Bill was also a co-founder of Nike. Gabe Walker- Hopkins Williams has experience with the 100- and 200- meter dashes, the 400 and long jump. His wife, Molly (Buce) Williams, who is assistant coach, competed in shot put and discus for Day- Prospector baseball hosts top teams at two tournaments By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle The Grant Union/Prai- rie City Prospector baseball team kept their bats busy during spring break, hosting a total of seven teams in two tournaments at the Seventh Street Complex. Prospector head coach Doug Sharp said they played a tough schedule in both tournaments. Grant Union had two wins and two losses at the Iron Triangle Tournament March 21-23 and one win and two losses at the Les Schwab Tournament March 28-30. “Only one of the games we played was a team not ranked in the top 10 in both the 3A and 2A/1A classifi ca- tions,” Sharp said. The Prospectors are in the 2A/1A Special District 7. In the Iron Triangle tour- ney, Grant Union beat San- tiam Christian 11-1 and Western Christian 6-3 on March 22. They fell 15-7 to Homedale, Idaho, on March 21 and 5-1 to Nestucca on March 23. The Prospectors domi- nated Neah-Kah-Nie 15-3 on Friday after falling to Umpqua Valley Christian/ Melrose Christian 8-0 on Thursday at the Les Schwab tourney. Grant Union fell 15-9 to Rainier on Saturday — the Columbians ranked No. 2 among OSAA’s 3A teams. Sharp said, in the games they lost, his team gave up multiple runs in one inning. “Most games are won or lost by these big innings,” he said. “What usually happens in those innings is a combi- nation of walks and errors. You defi nitely can’t give good teams extra outs.” Grant Union currently has a 3-6 record, but the losses didn’t hurt their rank- ing as the team sits at No. 9 in the OSAA standings. Sharp said it was a great experience for his team. “Our goal now is to take care of business in league,” he said. ville in her high school days. She works at Day- ville School’s early learn- ing center. Skip Inscore will assist in coaching javelin. The Tigers have fi ve high school athletes, including seniors Gabe Walker-Hopkins and Aus- tin Walker. This is Walker-Hopkins’ fi fth year participating in track and fi eld. He plans to compete in hurdles, long jump and the 100 and 200. “I’m going to try to Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter Grant Union Prospector Roen Langum is in action as fi rst baseman in Saturday’s game against Rainier. The Prospectors hit the road Saturday for a double- header, facing the Dufur/ South Wasco Rangers at noon and 2 p.m. in Dufur. Sharp said their goal is to win league and fi nish in the top six in the rankings. Those teams in the top six get a fi rst-round bye this year, he said. Sharp said he’s confi - dent in his top pitchers, junior Warner Robertson and freshman Mason Morris with junior Logan McClus- key as top reliever. “When we have our No. 1 and No. 2 pitching, then I think we will match up well with anyone in the state at our level,” the coach said. In the tournaments with multiple games, they throw in more pitchers to keep up with the pitch count rules. Sharp said the leadership he’s seeing from his team has been outstanding. “We have a great bunch of boys playing this year,” he said. “There were times our play was a bit rough, but the boys continued to play hard and with class.” “They are a fun team to watch,” he added. “I hope everyone in the commu- nity can fi nd the time to get down to the fi elds and sup- port them.” The Prospectors have their next home double- header at noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, when they host the Weston-McE- wen TigerScots. See Track, Page A13 Prospector softball wraps up spring break tourney Team will face league action on the road Saturday By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Grant Union Prospector catcher Jacob Vaughan tags a Rainier runner out at home plate in Saturday’s game at the Seventh Street Complex. Grant Union pitcher Peyton Neault is at back right with fi rst baseman Roen Langum. make it to state in the 300- meter hurdles, and every- thing else I want to improve on,” he said, adding, “Our new coach should be fun.” Last year, Walker-Hop- kins had a fourth-place fi n- ish in the 300 hurdles at the district championships and set a personal record in the 100 at the event. Zachary Ferguison is a freshman transfer student with three years of expe- rience competing on Hep- pner’s middle school team. Last year, he placed third in the 800-meter run, set- ting a personal record, at the middle school cham- pionships at Riverside Junior-Senior High School. He also competed in the 4x200-meter relay for fourth place, the 3,000 for fi fth place and the long jump for 12th place. Ferguison said he likes how he and his teammates help push each other in The 2A Grant Union/ Prairie City Prospector softball team hosted four teams during their spring break tournament March 25-27 in John Day. The Prospectors, who hold an 8-1 overall record, had three wins and one loss to a top-ranked 3A team. Grant Union starts league play Saturday when they face the Union/Cove Bobcats (6-2) in Union in doubleheader action with games at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Prospector head coach Zach Williams said they’re expecting tough competition. “Union is well coached, a great program, and has good pitching and some good hitters,” he said. “We prepare like we always do, work on fundamentals, do little things right, get a lot of swings in the cages and be mentally prepared to grind it out.” Although the Prospec- tors started last week’s tournament with a loss March 25, the competition brought out Grant Union’s best. Grant Union, in 2A/1A Spe- cial Dis- trict 6, fell 5-3 in nine Macy Strong innings to the 3A Clatskanie Tigers. Both teams are ranked No. 1 in their divi- Hailie Wright sion in the early season OSAA standings. The game went to an international tie-breaker rule in the ninth inning, with each team starting their half of the inning with their last out on second base. Prospector Macy Strong pitched six innings with six strikeouts, three hits and four walks. Hailie Wright was 3 for 4 for Grant Union, and Madi McKrola was 1 for 2. Grant Union shut out Nestucca 12-0 in fi ve innings the following day. Taylor Allen pitched four innings with seven strikeouts, giving up two hits and two walks. Jesaka Culley pitched the fi nal inning, giving up one hit. See Softball, Page A13 SPORTS SCHEDULE FRIDAY, APRIL 5 Grant Union golf @ Pendleton Invitational at Pendleton Country Club, 8 a.m. Prairie City, Monument, Dayville, Long Creek, Grant Union track and fi eld @ Prairie City Invitational, 11 a.m. SATURDAY, APRIL 6 Prairie City track and fi eld at Oregon Trail Invitational in Vale, 11 a.m. Grant Union softball @ Union/Cove in Union, 11 a.m., 1 p.m. Grant Union baseball @ Dufur/South Wasco in Dufur, noon, 2 p.m. TUESDAY, APRIL 9 Grant Union baseball @ Pilot Rock/Nixyaawii/Ukiah in Pilot Rock, 4 p.m. Grant Union, Dayville, Long Creek, Monument, Prairie City track and fi eld @ Grant Union Small School Meet in John Day, 4 p.m.
