SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
A11
Pros sweep Small Schools Meet
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
T
he Grant Union boys and
girls track teams both
placed first in the Small
Schools Meet held at
Grant Union High School
on April 5. Grant County teams Prairie
City and Monument also participated
and had respectable showings at the
event, which drew 11 teams from 1A,
2A and 3A schools.
The Grant Union boys came away
with 127 points on the afternoon, well
ahead of second place Heppner, which
finished with 99 team points. The girls
needed 142 points to place first, just
edging out second place Crane, which
left with 140 points on the day.
Prairie City’s boys team finished
the day in fourth place with 65 points.
Powder Valley and Pine Eagle were
right behind them, finishing in a tie with
64.5 points. The Monument boys, with
their smaller numbers, finished the day
with 8 points but did log an individual
second place finish at the meet.
Prairie City’s girls finished with
21 points on the day, which was good
enough for ninth place. Pine Eagle
and Powder Valley finished just ahead
of the Lady Panthers with 26 and 22
points, respectively. Monument’s girls
finished with 5 points on the afternoon,
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union’s Sydnie Brandon, right, hands off the baton to teammate Carson
Weaver during the 4x100 relay race at the Small Schools Meet at Grant Union
High School on April 5, 2022.
picking up a fourth-place finish in the
800 meter dash.
Justin Hodge had another solid out-
ing for Grant Union, finishing with
wins in the 100 meter dash and 4x100
relay with teammates Luke Jackson,
Cashton Wheeler and Andrew Hunt.
Hodge also finished second in the long
jump. Jackson had a productive day
as well, taking home a win in the 200
meter dash and a third-place finish in
the 4x400 relay to go along with his
win in the 4x100 relay.
Grant Union’s Brady Dole was a
teammate of Jackson’s in the 4x400
relay while finishing second in the
1,500 meter race and fourth in the
3,000 meter race. Freshman Ashton
Wheeler was a member of both Grant
Union relay teams and finished fourth
in the 200 meter dash.
Grant Union’s Landon and Skylor
Boyd finished second and fifth in the
110 meter hurdles. Prairie City’s Eli
Wright left the winner in the 300 meter
hurdles, with Landon Boyd finishing
fourth in the event.
Field events for the boys saw Prairie
City hit their stride as the team scored
top five finishes in five of the seven
field events contested at the meet. Eli
Wright led the way for the Panthers as
he picked up wins in the high jump and
javelin along with a third-place finish
in the discus. Tucker Wright picked up
a win in the triple jump and Cayden
Howard rounded out the Prairie City
placers in field events, taking third in
the pole vault.
Grant Union’s boys had a trio
of second-place finishes in the filed
events with Hodge in the long jump,
Max Bailey in the pole vault and
Tucker Carpenter in the discus. Monu-
ment’s Michael Martin left with a per-
sonal record in the javelin, which was
good enough for a second-place finish.
Katelyn Hughes and Carson
Weaver led the Lady Pros to their
first-place finish. Both Hughes and
Weaver placed top five in four dif-
ferent events. Weaver placed second
in the 100 meter dash, finishing a
mere .03 seconds behind the winner.
Weaver was also a member of the
4x100 relay team with Lauryn Pet-
tyjohn, Katelyn Hughes and Sydnie
Brandon. Weaver and her team went
on to place third in the 4x100 meter
relay.
Hughes picked up a second-place
finish in the 300 meter hurdles, as
well as the third-place finish in the
4x100 relay. Hughes also placed
fourth in the 4x100 relay with team-
mates Morgan Randleas, Abbie Jus-
tice and Lauryn Pettyjohn, who rain
in both relays at the meet.
Monument and Prairie City each
had a top four individual finisher.
Prairie City’s Janie Koopman placed
fourth in the 400 meter dash and
Monument’s Jin Bo Ciochetti fin-
ished fourth in the 800 meter race.
Field events for the girls saw the
Lady Pros take control as they had a
top five finisher in every field event
of the afternoon. Morgan Randleas
led the way, placing first in the shot
put, second in the high jump and
third in the triple jump.
Carson Weaver landed her third
top-five finish in the meet, plac-
ing first in the javelin. Grant Union
teammate Katelyn Hughes would
place fourth in the event. Weaver also
placed third in the high jump, placing
in her fourth event of the afternoon.
Prairie City’s girls would see a trio
of top five finishes in field events, led
by Zoey Beam and Janie Koopman’s
fourth-place finishes in pole vault
and high jump. Brooke Tell would
finish the day with fifth place in the
long jump for the Lady Panthers.
The Grant Union track teams will
be in action next on Friday, April 15,
at the River’s Edge Meet in Hermis-
ton. The meet has a noon start time.
Prairie City heads to Burns for the
Lions Arlie Oster Invitational the
same day. Events start at 11 a.m.
Monument’s next competition is at
the Sherman Invitational Track Meet
in Moro on Saturday, April 16. Start
time is 11 a.m.
Grant Union Lady Pros overpower Nyssa 16-1
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — The Grant
Union softball team trailed
for all of half an inning agains
Nyssa before rattling off 16
unanswered runs on their way
to a dominant 16-1 win Satur-
day afternoon in John Day.
The Bulldogs struck first,
scoring a single run in the top
of the first inning to take a 1-0
lead into the bottom of the
frame. The Lady Pros would
respond by scoring a pair of
runs in the bottom of the first
to take a 2-1 lead. That was
all the scoring the Lady Pros
would need, but it wasn’t all
they would get.
Powered by a Sivanna
Hodge solo home run, the Lady
Pros would add to their lead in
the second and third innings
to push their advantage to 6-1
headed into the fourth.
Then the floodgates opened.
After holding the Bulldogs
scoreless through the top half
of the fourth, the Lady Pros
would erupt to score 10 runs
in the bottom of the fourth and
end the game early with a 16-1
win.
The win keeps the Lady
Pros perfect on the season at
11-0. The 16 runs scored in the
game mark the 10th straight
game the team has scored at
least 10 runs and their fourth
straight scoring at least 15 runs.
Once again the Lady Pros
were efficient at bat, rack-
ing up 14 hits while only see-
ing one batter strike out on the
afternoon. Riley Robertson fin-
ished a perfect 3-3 at the plate,
ending the day with three RBIs
and three runs scored. Hodge
finished 1-3 from the plate, but
her solo home run opened up
the game and got the Lady Pro
offense flowing.
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union’s Riley Robertson slides into second base during the
Lady Pros’ 16-1 victory over Nyssa on Friday, April 9, 2022.
Savannah Watterson and
Raney Anderson each logged
a pair of hits in the game and
finished with three RBIs each.
Addy Northway also finished
the day with a pair of hits while
driving in two runs.
Drew Williams picked up
the win for the Lady Pros, pitch-
ing all four innings. Williams
surrendered a single hit while
striking out 10 batters in doing
her part to help keep the team’s
perfect record intact.
Grant Union head coach
Zach Williams says Grant
Union ace Drew Williams and
the rest of his team have pre-
pared themselves to be in this
position for a long time.
“Drew is still young — she’s
a 15-year-old sophomore —
and she is definitely still get-
ting better. She has been work-
ing with her pitching coach out
of La Grande all winter, along
with physical therapy and win-
ter workouts to improve her
overall strength,” Williams said.
“She has been pitching to
me in the backyard since she
was about 6 years old and has
watched the past GU teams/
players with a dream of com-
peting for league/state champi-
onships and eventually going to
college to be a pitcher.”
Williams says Drew “isn’t
alone” as most of the team has
spent a large portion of their
childhoods competing through-
out the Northwest to put them-
selves in the position they find
themselves in.
“They show up to the ball-
park loose and relaxed but ready
to go to work,” he said. “I think
they all truly love the game
and competing, and I think that
plays into their success as well.”
Williams adds that the depth
of this Lady Pro squad is a huge
part of why the team is currently
undefeated and never truly out
of a game when they find them-
selves trailing.
“It’s a huge part of their suc-
cess so far. We have had prob-
ably seven or eight different
starting lineups so far this sea-
son, and it doesn’t seem to make
much difference as far as the
outcome is concerned. I would
say it makes coaching easy, but
it also presents challenges. We
have so many talented young
ladies in the program, and fig-
uring out who plays and who
sits can be very stressful, but
the ability to hit top to bottom in
the lineup means we are never
really out of a game.”
The Lady Pros’ next outing
is a home doubleheader against
Enterprise at Malone Field in
John Day on Saturday, April
16, at noon. They then travel to
Lakeview for a pair of games
on Tuesday, April 19, starting
at 3 p.m.
the meet with 13 top three fin-
ishers in all events.
The Prairie City boys also
had multiple top three fin-
ishers, led by Eli Wright.
Wright had a very productive
day, finishing first in the jav-
elin and high jump. Wright
also placed second in the 300
meter hurdles. Prairie City
also picked up a second-place
finish in the pole vault from
Cayden Howard. The Monu-
ment boys team competed at
the event but didn’t score any
team points due to small num-
bers leading to a limited num-
ber of participants in races
and field events at the meet.
The Grant Union girls also
had multiple individual plac-
ers, led by Carson Weaver,
who placed top three in four
separate events. Weaver
logged second-place fin-
ishes in the high jump and
the 4x100 relay with team-
mates Lauryn Pettyjohn, Syd-
nie Brandon and Katelyn
Hughes. Weaver also placed
third in the javelin and 100
meter dash. Hughes added
a second-place finish in the
300 meter hurdles to her sec-
ond-place finish in the 4x100
relay.
Prairie City and Monu-
ment’s girls finished the day
with a number of individual
placers as well. The Monu-
ment girls were led by Jin Bo
Ciochetti, who finished sec-
ond in the 800 meter race.
Prairie City’s Janie Koopman
had a pair of top three fin-
ishes, winning the 400 meter
race and placing third in the
high jump. Mallory Lusco
and Morgan Randleas also
had top three finishes for the
Lady Panthers. Lusco would
finish second in the discus
and Randleas would place
third in the long jump.
SPORTS ROUNDUP
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union baseball
team falls to Heppner
HEPPNER— The Grant
Union baseball team lost a close
league road game on April 5,
falling to Heppner 3-0. The
game was scoreless through
the first three and a half frames
before Heppner struck first, scor-
ing two runs in the bottom half
of the fourth inning. Heppner
would add their third run in the
sixth inning and keep the Pros
off the board for the remainder of
the contest. Grant Union coach
RC Huerta said pitcher Parker
Neault “threw a gem. We just
couldn’t get any runners across.”
Crazy wind conditions and bit-
ter cold contributed to the result
as well but “the boys battled,”
Huerta said. The loss leaves the
Pros at 7-4 on the season with a
league record of 2-1.
Lady Pros take two
from Heppner
HEPPNER — The Grant
Union softball team outscored
the Heppner Lady Mustangs
32-1 in a pair of league games
in Heppner on Friday, April 8.
The first game saw the Lady
Pros emerge with a 17-1 win
that was called early. Heppner
was held scoreless in the sec-
ond game as the Lady Pros
went on to secure a 15-0 win.
Area track teams
compete in Prairie City
PRAIRIE CITY — The
Grant Union, Prairie City and
Monument track teams com-
peted in the Prairie City Annual
Track Meet on Friday, April 8.
Finishing with 141 points,
the Grant Union boys beat out
nine other teams to win the
meet. The Prairie City boys
team finished in fourth place
with 81 points. Mitchell-Spray
finished in second place with
87 points, one more than third-
place Crane.
The girls’ competition had
12 teams, with Grant Union
finishing second with 98.5
points. Meet winner Crane fin-
ished the afternoon with 157
points.
Prairie City’s Lady Pan-
thers finished in sixth place
TOM CHRISTENSEN
CHRISTENSEN
TOM
CONSTRUCTION
(541) 410-0557 • (541) 575-0192
CCB# 106077
REMODELS • NEW CONSTRUCTION • POLE BUILDINGS
CONCRETE EXCAVATION • SHEET ROCK • SIDING
ROOFING • FENCES • DECKS • TELESCOPING FORKLIFT SERVICES
Shawna Clark, DNP, FNP
541-575-1263
235 S. Canyon Blvd. John Day, Oregon 97845
Accepting new Patients! Go to:
www.canyoncreekclinic.com
SPORTS SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, APRIL 15
11 a.m.: Grant Union
golf, Grant Union HS Invite
@ John Day Golf Club
11 a.m.: Grant Union
track, River’s Edge Meet @
Hermiston
Noon: Prairie City track,
Lions Arlie Oster Invitational
@ Burns
SATURDAY, APRIL 16
10 a.m.: Monument track,
Sherman Invitational Track
with 37 points. Ten points sep-
arated sixth-place Prairie City
from fourth-place Condon,
which finished the meet with
47 team points. The Monu-
ment girls amassed 8 points on
the afternoon.
The Grant Union boys fin-
ished with multiple individual
Meet @ Sherman County
High School
11 a.m.: Grant Union
baseball, doubleheader vs.
Lyle
Noon: Grant Union
softball, doubleheader vs.
Enterprise/Wallowa/Joseph
TUESDAY, APRIL 19
3 p.m.: Grant Union
softball, doubleheader vs.
Lakeview
Home games in bold
placers, led by Justin Hodge
and Brady Dole. Hodge came
away with a pair of first-place
finishes in the 100 meter dash
and shot put while placing sec-
ond in the javelin. Dole picked
up first-place finishes in the
800 meter and 1,500 meter
races. The Prospectors ended
VOTE
JOHN
ROWELL
O U
U N
N T
T Y
Y
C C O
O M
M M
M I I S S S S I I O
O N
N E
E R
R
C C O
A TRUSTED MAN WORKING FOR YOU
Paid by John Rowell
Paid by John Rowell