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.