SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
A11
READY TO TEE OFF
Grant Union golf team
looking forward to
a full season
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
R
on Lundbom, now in his
16th year as head coach
of the Grant Union golf
team, is ready for a return
to normalcy.
After the COVID-19 pandemic
largely wiped out the last two golf sea-
sons, Lundbom is looking forward to a
complete season, which will include a
district tournament in 2022.
Grant Union is fi elding seven golfers
this year, four boys and three girls. The
turnout is “about average for the past half
a dozen years,” according to Lundbom.
Lundbom, who owns the NAPA
Auto Parts store in John Day,
said not being employed by the
school district has made recruiting
golfers challenging.
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union golfers, from left, Layla Wennick, Charley Knowles, Audry Walker, Tanler Fuller, Sheldon Lenz and Bridger
Walker practice putting at the John Day Golf Club on March 30, 2022, while assistant coach Zach Denney, far left, looks on.
“Basketball coaches can see you
roaming the halls for a couple semes-
ters and talk to you,” he noted. “I can’t
do that.”
As a result, the kids who are
already a part of the program are the
most prominent recruiters for the golf
team.
The team has already had one
unoffi cial match, in Echo. The event
is more of an icebreaker for newbies
and a refresher for seasoned golfers.
“Echo is more of a preseason,
let’s see how you do type of event.
It’s developed into that over the years
as more new golfers are taken to the
course,” Lundbom said.
The match also provides an oppor-
tunity for teaching golf etiquette to
kids who may never have played golf
and walked a nine- or 18-hole course,
he added.
Despite that, Lundbom says he
saw promise in his team at Echo.
“We watched putts to see how
the team did. Then we had our team
score, and we used that to see how we
would’ve done in district.”
The team isn’t that far away from
where it needs to be for a competitive
showing at district, according to the
Echo scorecards.
“We’re at about a stroke a hole,”
Lundbom said. “We shave one
stroke per hole and we’re where
we want to be, using past years as a
guide.”
Lundbom would like to see the
Grant Union golf form a co-op with
Prairie City. That arrangement might
allow him to fi eld an entire girls squad
and would put the golf team on the
same level as the other spring sports.
“Baseball and softball co-op in the
spring,” he said. “It would be nice if
the kids in Prairie got the opportunity
to co-op in golf if they wanted to.”
Overall, Lundbom is hopeful his
team can make a run at the district
meet in Pendleton this year.
“I’m optimistic this year,” he said.
“It’ll be interesting when the scores
count and you have to count all your
scores.”
Grant Union track
sees mixed results
at Sisters Invite
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union/Prairie City catcher Riley Robertson, a senior, protects the plate Friday, April 1, 2022, during the Lady Pros’ doublehead-
er against Echo.
Lady Pros win 2 to stay unbeaten
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — The Grant
Union/Prairie City team col-
lected a pair of league wins
Friday, April 1, with a dou-
bleheader sweep of Echo that
extended the squad’s sea-
son-opening win streak to
eight.
The undefeated Lady Pros
handed Echo a 12-2 shellack-
ing in the fi rst game and dom-
inated the second game, win-
ning it 15-5.
Zach Williams, Grant
Union/Prairie City’s head
coach, said that in addition to
stellar pitching performances
from aces Drew Williams and
Halle Parsons in Friday’s dou-
bleheader, the team put up a
solid off ensive and defensive
eff ort.
“Top to bottom, the lineup
hit well,” Williams said.
“They played great defense
and pitched well. You do those
three things, you are usually
pretty successful.”
In the fi rst game, Williams
said, the Lady Pros got behind
by a couple of runs but kept
it together and waited for the
pitches at the plate.
It did not take long for the
team’s bats to come alive, with
Rainey Anderson and Parsons
hitting home runs.
Anderson, who went two
for two with a walk, notched
fi ve RBIs in the game, while
Parsons was three for four and
had four RBIs.
The off ensive onslaught
also saw extra-base hits
from
Savannah Watter-
son, Riley Robertson, Paige
Gerry, Sivanna Hodge, Wil-
liams, Parsons and Addy
Northway.
Meanwhile, Drew Wil-
liams was lights out from the
mound. Before the 10-run
“mercy” rule ended the fi rst
game in six innings, the soph-
omore allowed one earned
run, gave up just six hits and
struck out 14.
In the second game, which
went the complete seven
innings, Drew Williams and
SPORTS SCHEDULE
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
4 p.m.: Grant Union baseball vs. Heppner/
Ione
4 p.m.: Grant Union track Small School
Meet
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
1 p.m.: Grant Union golf at Heppner Invite
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
Noon: Grant Union golf in Nixy Invita-
tional at Birch Creek Golf Course, Pendleton
Noon: Prairie City track Prairie City
OREGON CAPITAL
INSIDER
Annual Meet
2 p.m.: Grant Union softball doubleheader
vs. Heppner/Ione
SATURDAY, APRIL 9
1 p.m.: Grant Union softball vs. Nyssa
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
4 p.m.: Grant Union baseball vs.
Heppner/Ione
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
4 p.m.: Grant Union baseball vs. Burns
Home games in bold
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Parsons kept Echo’s bats from
doing too much damage, giv-
ing up 11 hits and fi ve earned
runs.
Meanwhile, Drew Wil-
liams helped herself when
she hit a home run late in
the game, while Watterson,
Anderson, Reece Jacobs and
Hodge all had extra-base hits.
Asked how it feels to be
ranked fi rst in their division,
Williams said it puts a lot of
pressure on the team.
As the top-ranked squad,
they are the team to beat, he
said.
“In a perfect world,” Wil-
liams said, “we’d be No. 1 on
the last day of the season and
No. 5 the rest of the year.”
SISTERS — The Grant
Union track team came away
from the Sisters Invite on
Wednesday, March 30, with a
solid performance by the boys
and valuable experience for
the girls.
The boys placed second
overall, fi nishing with 80.5
points. The girls notched a
seventh-place fi nish, leaving
the meet with 29.5 points.
The 10 teams that partici-
pated in the invitational meet
were mostly from class 2A and
3A schools. Class 6A’s Sum-
mit and class 4A’s Madras and
Sisters, the host team, made up
the rest of the fi eld.
Individually, the Prospec-
tor boys ended the day with
fi fth-place or better fi nishes in
eight events.
Justin Hodge and Luke
Jackson fi nished third and
fourth in the 100 meter dash.
Jackson also placed third in the
200 meter dash. The 110 hur-
dles saw a pair of Prospectors
secure top fi ve fi nishes, with
Landon Boyd and Quinn Lar-
son placing third and fourth.
The team’s lone fi rst-
place fi nish came in the 300
meter hurdles courtesy of
Landon Boyd. Skylor Boyd
also placed in the event, fi n-
ishing fi fth.
The 4x100 relay team,
consisting of Andrew Hunt,
Mason Morris and holdovers
from last year’s state champi-
onship team Justin Hodge and
Luke Jackson, fi nished third.
The 4X400 relay team of Luke
Jackson, Cashton Wheeler,
Brady Dole and Landon Boyd
logged a fi fth-place fi nish at
the meet.
Field events for the boys
resulted in two top fi ve fi n-
ishes. Justin Hodge secured
his fourth top four fi nish in the
meet competing in the long
jump. Hodge fi nished fourth
in the event. Mason Benge
rounded out the top fi ve plac-
ers for the boys, fi nishing fi fth
in the triple jump.
The Grant Union girls had
top fi ve fi nishers in six events.
Carson Weaver got things
started for the Lady Pros, fi n-
ishing fi fth in the 100 meter
dash. Aliciana Archibald’s
3,000 meter race was good
enough for a fourth-place fi n-
ish in the event. The girl’s
4X100 team, composed of
Lauryn Pettyjohn, Katelyn
Hughes, Sydnie Brandon and
Carson Weaver, ended the
meet with a fi fth-place fi nish.
Field events produced
three fi fth-place fi nishes for
the girls: Carson Weaver on
javelin and Morgan Randleas
in both the high jump and
long jump.