The Blue Mountain eagle., February 12, 2020, Page 13, Image 13

SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
A13
Grant Union girls wrestlers end season
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union girls
wrestling team traveled to
Springfield this weekend for
the Oregon Schools Activi-
ties School Association Girls
South Regional Tournament.
Competing with much
larger schools in the all-clas-
sifications contest and bat-
tling illnesses, the girls team
placed 37th out of 59 schools,
scoring 22 team points.
With the Oregon School
Activities Association offi-
cially sanctioning girls wres-
tling as a separate sport,
girls wrestling has surged in
popularity.
Grant Union’s program
is thriving and has had an
impact on outgoing seniors
Samantha Floyd and Fallen
Bolman.
Floyd, who
won one of
her matches
by fall Satur-
day, did not
advance
in
her
weight
Senior
bracket, but
said the team Samantha
Floyd
has battled ill-
nesses
and
had a grueling
schedule the past few weeks.
Nonetheless, the experi-
ence of being one of the first
female wrestlers at Grant
Union has been rewarding,
the senior said.
“Our coach (Andy Lusco)
told us that, as female wres-
tlers, we are pioneers in a
growing sport, and I liked
that because I always wanted
to wrestle,” Floyd said.
Contributed photo/Erin Cantrell
Kristin Cantrell wrestles at the district tournament for girls
Feb. 8.
Floyd, who will go on to
the University of Oregon
next year, said the univer-
sity does not have a female
wrestling program or even a
wrestling club. She said that
she really wants to continue
wrestling and hopes to reach
out to people from the men’s
program there to see about
starting a wrestling club.
Bolman, who came up
short at the state tournament,
said she was happy just to
have been a part of the team
as well.
Bolman, a longtime fam-
ily friend of Lusco, had
been recording statistics for
the wrestling program since
middle school. She had
always wanted to wrestle,
but female wrestlers were
rare, especially at rural high
schools and middle schools.
“Honestly, I was scared,”
she said. “Girls wrestled,
but it was rare.”
While she was involved
with the team last year,
this was the first year she
wrestled.
Grant Union wres-
tling standout Drew Lusco
encouraged her to join this
year’s team as did former
female wrestler, Trinity
Hutchison, who won a state
title last year, Bolman said.
Both Bolman and Floyd
said the team, boys and
girls, has been like a family,
and all have been very sup-
portive of one another.
“It was the most reward-
ing thing I’ve done,” Bol-
man said. “Wrestling shows
you that you can get through
tough times and that any-
thing is possible.”
As for the rest of the 11
female wrestlers, they com-
peted and won some tough
matches in their weight
brackets.
In the 135 weight
bracket, Mercedes Locke
won by fall in the second
and third rounds, while
junior Sophie Brockway
pinned her first two oppo-
nents in the first and second
rounds in the 155 weight
brackets.
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
THE OTHER .24 BORE
E
veryone, it seems,
is acquainted with
the .243 Winchester.
Almost anywhere you go
you’ll see a vast array of
choices in both rifles and
ammunition.
Everything
is covered,
the total
gamut from
lightweight
55-grain
varmint bul-
lets all the
Dale Valade
way up to
controlled-expansion 100-
grain hunting loads. We have
even seen more than a few
of the PRS, fast-twist, long-
range match rifles cham-
bered for the Winchester
round. So what do I mean
when I speak of the “other”
.24 bore? No, not the .240
Weatherby Magnum, nor the
new 6mm Creedmoor.
Like every other indus-
try there exists rivalries, con-
stantly competing for the
affection of their potential
Contributed photo
The 6mm Remington is the other .24 bore.
consumers. In 1955, both
Winchester and Remington
introduced a short-action .24
caliber cartridge. The .244
Remington was introduced
with long-range varmint
hunting in mind, while the
.243 Winchester was billed
as a combination varmint
and deer hunting cartridge.
The corresponding twist
rates were 1-12” and 1-10”
respectively. According to
some, the 1-12” twist rate
of the Remington would not
stabilize anything heavier
than a 90-grain bullet while
the 1-10” of the Winchester
shot everything just fine.
Never mind the 10 grains of
difference in bullet weight,
the .244 had much higher
velocity and was introduced
in the very affordable Rem-
ington Model 722 rifle.
These two seemingly posi-
tive points were met with a
collective yawn while con-
sumers flocked to the Win-
chester round.
To further add to the con-
fusion, the .244 was over-
hauled a few years later to
address this slower twist rate
issue. Besides being given
a faster 1-9” twist rate, the
.244 was renamed 6mm
Remington. These two acts
of faith were left standing
at the proverbial altar so to
speak and the .244/6mm got
left in the dust while sales
for the .243 continue to soar
even today.
This isn’t to say the 6mm
is a bad cartridge, far from it.
With factory loads it hand-
ily outruns and outhits the
.243 with no noticeable dif-
ference in recoil, making
both cartridges very appeal-
ing to youngsters and sea-
soned shooters alike. An old
friend of mine, Ted Mor-
gan, had a P.O. Ackley cus-
tom Mauser rifle cham-
bered in 6mm Remington.
He could get 4,200 feet per
second from 55-grain bul-
lets. That, my friends, is fast!
And it was absolute dyna-
mite on coyotes and the like.
While being the .243’s supe-
rior in each possible bul-
let weight and its equal in
the accuracy department,
the 6mm really shines as an
antelope and deer cartridge.
And I know of a handful of
folks who use it success-
fully for elk hunting. This of
course, being a stretch in my
opinion, can be done. Ask
the number of game ani-
mals Lyle McCumber has
taken over the years whether
the 6mm is adequate or not.
Ask my sister Jenny Martin.
Her first rifle, a unique Rem-
ington 788, has seen its fair
share of freezer filling, and I
could go on and on.
Everyone I know who
owns a 6mm wouldn’t trade
it for a dozen .243s. Those of
you lucky enough to own one
know what I mean. If there
exists a gap in your gun col-
lection, I suggest making
room for a 6mm Remington,
you won’t be sorry.
Are you a fan of the .24
bore? Write in at shootingth-
ebreezebme@gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local
country gent with a deep
love for handloading, hunt-
ing and shooting.
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