A10
SPORTS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
GOLD RUSH: Grant Union cross country hosts home meet
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Thursday, Oct. 24, was a
great day for a “Gold Rush.”
One hundred high school
cross country runners hoped
to “strike it rich” at the Grant
Union Prospector home
meet, held at the Seventh
Street Complex in John Day.
The race, which started
near the Jimmy Allen
Memorial Trail and Trafton
Pond, was the first the Pros-
pectors had hosted in three
years, and the largest gath-
ering of teams for a Grant
Union cross country meet
since 1997 or 1998, said
Grant Union head coach
Sonna Smith.
“I had so much help that
it literally flowed smoothly,”
Smith said. “We had eight
high school teams, including
GU, and five middle school
teams.”
Visiting high schools
included Burns, Ontario,
Four Rivers (Ontario), Baker,
Vale, Heppner and Condon.
She said her runners were
excited to have a home meet
because most of them were
eighth-graders at the time of
their last Gold Rush.
Smith said the course is a
good practice run for the dis-
trict meet, because it’s simi-
lar with not many hills but a
lot of rolling ups and downs.
“I had my girls run in a
tighter pack, which is what
you always want in cross
country because it raises your
team score,” she said.
All six Grant Union girls,
except one, set personal
records on the course.
“All of the athletes are
peaking at the right time,”
Smith said.
On the boys side, Gage
Brandon and Donavan Smith
had season bests and Jesse
Randleas, Gavin Lopez and
Cole Ashley set personal
records.
“We had great weather
and great competition, with
many of my athletes running
their best races of the sea-
son,” coach Smith said “We
are right on schedule for the
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Quinn Larson, right, competes in Thursday’s Gold Rush Run at the Seventh Street Complex in John Day.
BOYS RESULTS
Brady Dole, 14, 18:51.78
Quinn Larson, 30, 20:03.81
Jesse Randleas, 37, 20:42.14 PR
Gage Brandon, 38, 20:56.45 SR
Max Bailey, 40, 21:40.73
Gavin Lopez, 44, 22:19.36 PR
Cole Ashley, 48, 23:16.33 PR
Donavan Smith, 50, 23:23.79 SR
GIRLS RESULTS
Erika Dickens, 12, 22:22.52
Rylee Browning, 15, 23:01.63 PR
Katelyn Hughes, 22, 24:54.82 PR
Tiler Voigt, 33, 26:35.19 PR
Riley Robertson, 39, 27:29.47 PR
Mikiah Kimble, 41, 28:34.82 PR
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector cross country runner Riley Robertson
(172), a sophomore, settles in at the start of the Thursday, Oct.
24, Gold Rush at the Seventh Street Complex in John Day.
Grant Union Prospector Ericka Dickens, right, runs in the
Gold Rush, her team’s home meet held at the Seventh Street
Complex in John Day.
final sharping for district this
week.”
“I would like to give a
big thanks to the city of John
“I had tons of volunteers that
helped me during the races,
and I would like to give them
a shout-out of appreciation
Day and Parks and Rec for
making our race possible and
assisting us in having it come
off a great success,” she said.
from myself and the team.
We could not have done it
without all of the help.”
Senior Rylee Browning,
who had never experienced a
home meet, said she liked the
familiarity of the course.
“I liked it the best out of
all the races I’ve done,” she
said.
For the Grant Union
middle school racers, sev-
enth-grade Madelyn Bai-
ley placed second out of 23
runners in the 3,000-meter
race.
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