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MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
A9
WEDNESDAY
January 8, 2020
Golfing in the new year
Blue Mountain Eagle
Twelve people braved the
weather New Year’s Day at
the Snowflake Tournament
at the John Day Golf Club.
The annual golf scram-
ble has been cancelled the
last several years because of
snow on the course.
This year, the competi-
tors played through wind,
rain and hail, along with
some sunshine.
The team of Dan Pro-
peck, Ed Winkleman, Mike
Kemper and Emma Winkle-
man tied for first place with
the team of Tom Bedortha,
Lynda Farrell, Chuck Coff-
man and Kathleen Lee.
A chili cookoff and rib
feed followed the tourna-
ment. Farrell won the chili
contest with her turkey chili
recipe.
Dan Propeck puts during
the Snowflake Tourna-
ment New Year’s Day at
the John Day Golf Club
as his teammates Ed Win-
kleman, Mike Kemper
and Emma Winkleman
look on. Propeck’s team
tied for first place with
Tom Bedortha, Lynda
Farrell, Chuck Coffman
and Kathleen Lee.
Contributed photo
SPORTS ROUNDUP
Grant Union boys
grow as a team on the
road
Contributed photo
Tuck Carpenter killed his first bull elk this year with a .30-06.
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Best day ever
T
uck had a heartbreak-
ing deer season this
year. He missed a cou-
ple of shots at really nice
bucks over the course of the
season. We were both looking
forward to his second sea-
son elk hunt for redemption.
Tuck was determined to hold
out for a bull, even though
he had an either sex tag. At
first light opening morning,
we spotted some elk headed
up into the timber and tried
to circle around to get ahead
of them, but we weren’t fast
enough. The ground was dry
and tracking was tough, so
we started still hunting in the
direction we thought they had
gone. After about a mile we
sat down for a break. While
munching on our candy bars,
I heard a cow whistle. We
quickly moved in the direc-
tion of the whistle and soon
could hear lots of cows call-
ing. Unfortunately, by the
time we found them, they
were jumping the fence onto
private property, but we did
see a nice six-point with them
as they made their getaway.
The next morning we got
to the spot we had first heard
them at first light, and sure
enough, we could hear the
cows talking. It was a big
herd, and the junipers were
thick so sneaking in on them
proved a challenge. As we
snuck around trying to find
the bull, a cow would bust
us and take off running with
the herd in tow. Nobody else
knew why they were run-
ning so they never went very
far before settling down. It
was tons of fun, with lots of
excitement, but they even-
tually headed for the fence
to private land, and we were
forced to call it a day once
again.
I’m a lit-
tle slow, but
eventually I
always catch
on. The
third day we
were wait-
ing at the
Rod
Carpenter
fence when
the sun came
up. Tuck was resting his new
.30-06 on the shooting tripod
and ready to go. We had to
wait a bit, but eventually they
showed up and started cross-
ing. Cow, cow, cow, there is
a bull! It wasn’t the six point,
but it was a nice five. What to
do? Had we missed the bull
somewhere, or was he still in
the trees? We only had a few
seconds to decide. I told Tuck
it was his decision, so he set-
tled and pulled the trigger.
We heard the slap of the bul-
let, and suddenly there were
elk everywhere. You guessed
it, the big six was just inside
the trees.
When the dust settled,
the five-point was still stand-
ing in a small opening so
Tuck shot again and put him
down. We were a happy
pair as we approached his
first bull elk. Examination
showed the first bullet had
broken the front shoulder and
the second the spine. After
some hugs, high fives and
pictures, the real work began.
By cutting him in half at the
hips we were able to drag
him 300 yards to where we
could get a wheeler to him.
While we were skinning him
out, we both had to agree it
was the best day ever.
Share your best day in the
field with us at shootingthe-
breezebme@gmail.com.
Rod Carpenter is a
husband, father and
hunting fool.
SPORTS SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, JAN. 10
Dayville/Monument basketball vs. Four Rivers in Dayville,
5 p.m.
Grant Union basketball @ Heppner, 6 p.m.
Prairie City basketball vs. Echo, 6 p.m.
Ukiah/Long Creek boys basketball @ Burnt River, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY, JAN. 11
Grant Union wrestling @ Echo Tournament, TBA
Grant Union basketball @ Union, 4 p.m.
TUESDAY, JAN. 14
Dayville/Monument basketball @ Sherman, 4 p.m.
The first half of the
Grant Union boys bas-
ketball team’s season has
been full of ups and downs,
according to head coach RC
Huerta, but these moments
have prepared the team for
the league games coming
up.
“The team has faced
some tough loses and some
exciting victories,” Huerta
said. “The competition has
been great and has helped
the team grow and prepared
us for the road trips ahead.”
On Dec. 19 the Pros-
pectors traveled to Burns
to play against the Hilan-
ders. After a 57-73 loss in
Burns, the team then trav-
eled to Willamina on Dec.
20 and came out victorious
60-55 against the Bulldogs
Dec. 20.
The Prospectors took on
Sutherlin for their last non-
league game Dec. 21 and
lost 36-69. The difference in
score made the loss tough,
but this has helped motivate
the team to improve, Huerta
said. The nonleague games
also prepared the team for
hours on a bus.
“We are now traveling
battle tested and ready to
go,” Huerta said. “Now one
of our focuses is on defense
and to control the pace of
the game.”
The team opened league
play with two wins. The
Prospectors beat Stanfield
65-51 Jan. 3 and Enterprise
48-30 Jan. 4. They’re sched-
uled to face Heppner Friday.
Grant Union wrestling
team places second in
Elgin
Justin Hodge and Drew
Lusco earned titles in their
weight classes to help the
Grant Union wrestling team
to second place at the John
Rysdam Memorial tourna-
ment Dec. 20-21 in Elgin.
Weiser won with 185
team points, followed by
Grant Union with 128.5, La
Grande with 92 and Elgin
with 90.
On Day 2 of the tourna-
ment, at 160 pounds, Hodge
won by fall over Logan
Griffin of Adrian and by
decision over Boone Ksi-
azek and Clayton Beesley,
both of Weiser, to earn 20
team points. Lusco, at 285,
won by fall over Tristan
McMahill of Weiser and
Mats Ollenhauer of Adrian
for 22 points.
Also on the final day for
Grant Union, at 106, Dan
Henry placed second for 14
points; at 113, Ezra Beam
placed fourth for 10; at 126,
Eli Sheedy placed fourth,
and Dylan Clark placed
third for 14; at 132, Ben
Henry placed third for 16;
at 138, Tanler Fuller placed
fourth for 9; at 138, Rid-
dick Hutchison went 1-2;
at 145, Jack Strong placed
fourth for 10; at 152B, Sam
McCracken placed third; at
160, Frank Douglass placed
fourth; at 170, Quinten Hall-
garth placed third for 13.5;
at 170B, Noah Blood placed
third, and Tucker Carpen-
ter placed second; at 285,
Rylan Cox placed third.
The Grant Union girls
wrestled each other Day 2
with Abby Lusco placing
first with wins by fall over
Kristin Cantrell, who placed
POOR SOLES
Contributed photo/Christy Rheu
The shoe tree on Highway 26 near Mitchell burned Dec.
30. Christy Rheu said she was traveling from Bend to
John Day and ended up following a fire truck to the
burning shoe tree that was dropping melting shoes
into the sagebrush and starting a wildfire.
second, and Fallen Boll-
man, who placed third.
On Day 1, at 106B, Dan
Henry went 2-0 for first;
at 113B, Ezra Beam went
3-0 for first; at 126, Eli
Sheedy went 1-2 for third;
at 126B, Dylan Clark went
2-0 for first; at 132B, Ben
Henry went 3-0 for first;
at 138, Tanler Fuller went
0-2 for third; at 138B, Rid-
dick Hutchison went 0-3 for
fourth; at 145B, Isaac Koop-
man went 2-1 for second;
at 145C, Jack Strong went
3-0 for first, and also won a
145 pigtail match; at 152B,
Sam McCracken went 0-3
for fourth; at 160, Damion
Young went 1-2 for third;
at 160B, Justin Hodge went
3-0 for first; at 160C, Frank
Douglass went 3-0 for first,
and also won a 160 pigtail
match; at 170B, Quinten
Hallgarth went 3-0 for first;
at 170C, Noah Blood went
1-2 for third, and Tucker
Carpenter went 2-1 for sec-
ond; at 285, Drew Lusco
went 4-0 for first, and Rylan
Cox went 2-2 for fourth.
For the girls Day 1, at
106, Amelia Hall went 2-0
for first, and Samantha
Floyd went 1-1 for second;
at 132, Ashley Henry went
1-3 for fourth; at 155, Sierra
Tipton went 0-3 for fourth,
and Mercedes Locke went
2-1 for second; at 170, Abby
Lusco went 1-1 for second;
at 232, Fallen Bollman went
0-2 for second, and Kristin
Cantrell went 2-0 for first.
Ukiah/Long Creek
boys on a roll
The Ukiah/Long Creek
boys basketball team is on a
five-game win streak.
The team won twice at
the Helix Holiday Tourney
Dec. 20-21, beating Klicki-
tat-Glenwood, Washington,
52-51 and Bickleton, Wash-
ington, 47-42.
Coach Amos Studtmann
said the team is maturing
this year, working on exe-
cution, communication and
playing smart.
“The team spirit his
high,” he said. “Everyone
is committed to growing.
Nobody wants to be com-
placent. We’ve got good
leadership in our seniors
and even from one of our
juniors.”
Hosting Burnt River Jan.
4, Ukiah/Long Creek won
81-31.
Studtmann said every-
one played in the game, and
it was good for them to feel
the game pressure.
The team will travel to
face Burnt River again at
6 p.m. Friday, Studtmann
said, and is focused on
improving.
“Everybody has got to
get better,” he said. “Every-
body has got to improve,
and we’ve got to continue to
execute and play smart.”
Ukiah/Long Creek
girls recovering from
injuries
The Ukiah/Long Creek
girls
basketball
team
is bouncing back from
injuries.
The team was forced
to cancel games against
Mitchell/Spray Dec. 6 and
Dec. 10 but played in the
Helix Holiday Tourney Dec.
20-21.
“We were rather short-
handed, but for how little
practice we’ve been able
to do with all the injuries,
our girls played well,” said
coach Amos Studtmann.
The team lost 28-47 to
Griswold and 27-54 to a
Nixyaawii junior varsity
team.
“Our opponents both
days played with a lot of
class,” Studtmann said.
“When we couldn’t put five
on the court, they didn’t
either, so at times we played
four on four.”
A game against Crane
planned for Jan. 7 is being
rescheduled, but the coach
said the team is ready to
bounce back.
Of the three girls origi-
nally injured, one is out for
the season, but the other two
are back on the court, giving
the team six healthy players.
“Playing without kids
you expect to have is always
rough,” he said. “The chal-
lenges are where you grow,
though, and the experience
is good for all of us.”
Dayville/Monument
girls making
adjustments
The Dayville/Monument
girls basketball team is hard
at work in preparing for the
second half of the season,
according to head coach
Cheyenne Perkins.
The team lost 4-46
against
Union,
17-44
against Elgin and 17-63
against Council, Idaho, at
the Union Bobcat Classic
Dec. 19-21.
Going to tournaments
and playing a variety of
teams have helped in show-
ing the girls where things
are going well and what to
work on.
“We know what we need
to work on, and we are mov-
ing forward to try things
with a couple of players and
making sure we work as a
team,” Perkins said. “We
want to focus as a team on
offense adjustments.”
Perkins wants to work
on offense by improving
rebounds, stops and shoot-
ing. These are a part of the
little goals the girls have in
accomplishing bigger goals
in the season.
“There are a couple of
plays that we are working
on and we are excited to try
them out on other teams,”
Perkins said. “We are look-
ing forward to having fun
working on the basics of
basketball and working on
our little goals.”
While the team is mak-
ing adjustments offensively,
the team has great defense
with the help of taller girls
in their post positions, Per-
kins said.
The girls will have their
next game on Jan. 10 against
Four Rivers.
Prairie City teams do
well on the road
After losing the first
game of the season, the
Prairie City boys basketball
team has been unstoppable,
winning seven in a row. The
boys traveled for the last
four wins, beating Sherman,
40-30, Horizon Christian,
55-51, Crane, 55-47, and
Imbler, 55-21.
The Prairie City girls
basketball team won three
of its last four games on the
road. The girls beat Sher-
man, 45-27, Hood River
Valley junior varsity, 47-20,
and Imbler, 47-29. The team
lost to Crane, 33-72.
The teams were sched-
uled to face Mitchell/Spray
Tuesday past press time
and Echo on Friday. Coach
Bo Workman could not be
reached for comment.
Grant Union girls
looking to rebound
The Grant Union girls
basketball team traveled
to Burns Dec. 19 and lost
37-73. The team lost against
Brewster,
Washington,
25-46, and College Place,
Washington, 43-47, during
the DeSales Tournament in
Walla Walla, Washington,
on Dec. 27-28.
The team had their
first two league games of
the season and lost 19-46
against Stanfield Friday and
then 24-43 against Enter-
prise Saturday. They’re
scheduled to face Heppner
Friday. Coach Kristi Moore
could not be reached for
comment.
Dayville/Monument
boys earn first win
The Dayville/Monument
boys basketball team got its
first win of the season, beat-
ing Cove 51-44 on Dec.
21. The team lost against
Union, 27-55, and Elgin,
27-45, in two earlier games
at the Union Bobcat Clas-
sic. The team is set to Face
Four Rivers Friday. Coach
Jeff Schafer could not be
reached for comment.