 This is the first time since 2015-16 that Eddyville has had a girls basketball team. So that means all the players coming up have never played high school basketball. We are happy to have a girls team this year and can't wait to see what they do on the court. Even with many inexperienced players, the team has some good athletes which will help them a lot in our league and hopefully lead to some wins.
The new girls team is accompanied by a new coach, Josh Russell. Josh Russell is an eddyville alumni who played basketball for the boys team in the 90’s. He’s a new coach for the lady eagles, but he has youth coaching experience. He will be surely working to set a good foundation right off the bat for this program as it continues to build this year and in future years. The Eddyville girls have the same schedule as the boys, they will share a bus to and from the game. Then having the boys JV game, then the boys varsity game, followed by the girls team. The girls will be starting off their season at a tournament in Gilchrist. Some of the tournaments they have are the Lowell Tournament; followed by the Monarch Invitational. The first league game is against Siletz at home. On our roster this season are Jillian Johnson, Maddie Roads, Hannah Smith, and Daisy Loomis. Sophomore, Lara Gullberg, and freshmen Hope Gassner, Jamie Demaris, Randi Turner, Rhyan Turner, and Micayla Flansberg. This is Jillian’s first time playing since middle school. Maddie Roads will provide some height for the team as she is the tallest player on the team. Hannah Smith is a great athlete who is sure to provide some excellent defense and leadership on the court. She, Maddie, Jillian, and Daisy Loomis will be the oldest members of the team, and counted on to provide good positive leadership and hard work. Hope, Jamie, Randi, Micayla and Rhyan all have played in the past at the middle school level so they have a good amount of experience. Jamie has played travel ball in the past and has played for Newport’s teams in middle school. Rhyan and Randi have played for Eddyville’s teams in the past. Since they are all just freshmen, they will be counted on to help build the program for years to come. Lara Gullberg used to play basketball for Eddyville in middle school and elementary, so she has some experience with the game. All in all, this is sure to be an exciting return season for the Eddyville girls. Having both teams travel to the games will provide some excellent school spirit and support for games on the road. Come on out and support these girls as they start their home slate on December 11th against Siletz!
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 Eddyville basketball is gearing up for a big season this year. With many returning players who have experience, along with many helpful newcomers, this season could be one to remember. Last year, the Eagles finished 13-10 and fourth place in their conference. With a chance to play for a state playoff spot in their last game, Eddyville fell short against a veteran Siletz squad.
Coach: Mike Ulstad (36-64, 6th season) Coach Ulstad is back for his 6th season at Eddyville. After helping re-start the program in the 2013-14 season, the Eagles have been on a steady upward trend ever since. The first two seasons were a struggle, with the team recording just 3 wins over those two years. Ever since, the Eagles have spread their wings and have had back to back seasons over .500 with a 14-9 record in 2016-17, and a 13-10 record last year. The team has recorded an overall 33-32 record over the past three seasons. The squad will start out there season against Yoncalla at the Gilchrist Tournament on November 30th. Another game the team is really looking forward to is against Siletz on December 11th, which is the 7th game of the season. Siletz and Eddyville have had many great battles over the last few years, and this year’s games are sure to be more of the same. Despite returning many guys, the Eddyville squad will be missing a few key players from last year’s team. Trent Kinion was a scoring guard averaging 12.2 points per game. He was a starter earning all league awards such as 2nd team all league and 3rd team league the past two seasons respectively. Trent graduated a year early, which is a major loss. Logan Rorie was a defensive threat and a sixth man coming off the bench. Logan provided a spark off the bench that will be missed. Also Cameron Davis, a starter last season, transferred for his final season. The Eddyville basketball team has a good amount of boys coming back. Everyone but the three mentioned above are returning and there are even more freshman coming up. We have four freshman coming from middle school to join us. Returning for the Eagles are senior Kurt Faxon, juniors Brier Rariden, Korbyn Byrd, Isaac Kinion, Chris Cross, and Keagan Spikes, and sophomores Carter Gassner and Logan Stafford. Here are some of the stats for some of our players returning. Isaac Kinion finished 2nd team all-league with 11.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.5 spg. Kurt Faxon is a 3 year starter and is a big rebounder for the team with 6 rpg last year. Keagan Spikes led the team in scoring with 14.2 ppg, to go along with 3.7 rpg, 3.9 spg. This was good for first team all-league last season. We have four freshmen, and two newcomers to the team who are joining this year. For the freshman, we have Jace Richards, Payton Rockmore, Max Kinion, Kyle Sanders and Wayne Nephew. We also have two newcomers, one has never played and one hasn’t played since middle school. The two players are Cheyden Gutierrez and Tucker Smith. Come out and support these boys as they have nine home games, and get to play a showcase game at the Moda Center on December 23rd against CS Lewis.  E-sports is an electronic sport which is one of the fastest growing sports at the moment. It includes hundreds of different games, ranging from shooting games to sports games. The first E-sports tournament was in October of 1980 at Stanford, the game was Spacewars on the Magnavox. Unlike in 1980 we have online games such as PUBG (PlayerUnknown BattleGrounds), Fortnite, NBA2k, Madden, Call of Duty, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Battlefield and many more. In 1990, online games started to get big. Internet connectivity was growing in size around the world and the technology was getting better and stronger. Netrek was the third online game, but it was the main game to blow up.
Like most games, NBA 2K19 has a pro league. It is one of the most popular pro league games. By the end of the year some players may earn up to a million dollars for these tournaments. But the pro league season is fairly new this year as the highest player currently is getting almost 100,000 dollars. Last year in NBA 2K18 the top earner got nearly a million dollars for strictly pro leagues and tournaments. There are also some youtubers that play 2K and make money because they are very popular even though they don’t play in the pro leagues. Fortnite, a cartoon video game, is a worldwide sensation; becoming one of the most popular video games of all time. It is a 100 player battle royal game that is very well known throughout the world. It has player bases ranging all across the globe, and a very popular competitive E-Sports scene. A lot of competitive players from other games, especially other battle royals, came over to play fortnite. It is the most up and coming game both professionally and casually, making it the most rewarding game to start playing. Tournaments for fortnite, hosted by the creators Epic Games, reward teams with upwards of million dollars in a prize pool. E sports can earn a person up to 12,500 at a minimum for a 28 match season. There was a man named Kuro Takhasomi who got paid 2,831,000 just for playing a video game called DOTA 2. There is multiple people who have won over a million dollars. Prize money is sure to increase as the years go by and the sport becomes even more popular. A major debate today is whether or not E-Sports is considered an actual sport or not. Some say that since the teams and league consist of players participating on a team and in a competitive environment, that it should be considered a sport. There has been a push to get E-Sports credited as an official high school sanctioned sport. It also shows up on ESPN occasionally. The other side of the argument says that since there is no physical activity involved, outside of good hand-eye coordination, it shouldn’t be considered a sport. The debate is sure to continue for years as these competitions continue to grow. The girls volleyball team had a game at McKenzie on Tuesday, October 9th against Oak Hill. They won 3-0 which was there first victory of the season bringing their record to 1-14. When you believe in something and put your mind to it you can make anything happen. The Eddyville girls didn't have the greatest mindset going into the game. They were getting into each others heads and, at times, making each other mad. However, as the game went on, they realized that having each other’s back would help them win the game. The girls started encouraging each other and turned the game around. The only senior and the captain of the team, Mikki Lala, said that all the girls started doing a great job of supporting each other. “I think actually all of us had a point of leadership during that game, because anytime any one of us got upset we all picked each other up, so i think we all helped out in that aspect.” Mikki said. All three games were very tight, with each set being 25-23. Although they were close every set went in Eddyville’s favor, getting them a 3-0 victory. “I think we did good, it was within five points of each other in each set, so we could've even played a little harder.” Junior Jillian Johnson said. Another member of the team, Ally West, had this to say. “I feel pretty good about it, I mean we won!” Ally said. The team stayed very confident in their win. After hard fought season they finally got a win which is something to look forward to for next season. Wins like this one will help continue to build the program, especially with so many girls returning to the team next year. Mikki Lala’s final volleyball game on her own home court will be this Thursday. Its her senior night and she is really looking forward to it. She says, “I’m really going to miss playing with all my friends because they are who inspired me to play sports and what made it fun.” Mikkis high school career started at Klamath Falls four years ago. The sports she played consisted of volleyball, softball, and cheer. She played softball for her sophomore and junior year but she also plans on playing this year as well. She has played volleyball for her junior year and also plans on playing this year. She also did cheer her Junior year. Mikki says she has a few different plans for after highschool. Mikki says, “I plan on going to college, hopefully OSU(Oregon State University) and I want to continue a career in the medical field.” When asked why she wants to go to OSU, Mikki had this to say, “Just because it's close to home and it will be easier to stay close to my parents and go to school at the same time. I also love it out here so that helps.” She’s been a great leader this year for the volleyball team, as many of her teammates are underclassmen. “Since I am team captain, I’ve had to help the girls when they needed help, and kinda make hard decisions about some games that we’ve played, and help out the coach more.” She’ll surely draw upon this experience as she heads to college and has many new experiences. As Mikki steps on to the court for her last time this Thursday, emotions are sure to be high. When she heads to college next year, she will surely remember these memories. They have a home game this this Thursday, and are hoping to finish the season with a win. Eddyville’s cross country season started off great at their first meet in Sweet Home on Thursday at the Husky Invitational.
The times from Eddyville’s first meet was impressive. For the girls 3k, Rhyan Turner finished with a 14:56, good for 9th place overall. In the men’s 3k race, Max Kinion finished with a personal record of 15:01, getting him in 74th. Isaac Kinion finished with a time of 14:48 landing in 69th place. Carter Gassner ran well, netting him a personal record with a time of 13:30, and getting 56th place. Finally, Keagan Spikes running an impressive 11:29, landing him a third place finish. One of Eddyville’s runners, Max Kinion, raced for his first time as a cross country runner. “I felt like I was going to lose lots of energy quickly, but I didn’t end up losing too much energy.” Max Kinion said. “The course was really fun, the creek with the hill was a little difficult, but other than that it was a fun course.” Another runner, Isaac Kinion, his third year of cross country, had some interesting thoughts on the course. “You had to cross a creek and look out for the bees’ nests.” Isaac Kinion said. Fun fact, this is the first time in years that Eddyville has had a female runner. “Rhyan did a great up in her first race for us. She did a really nice job finishing in the top 10, even though she wasn’t feeling 100%.” Coach Ulstad said after the race. In addition to Max, Carter Gassner also ran in his first cross country race ever and did well. “Carter really finished strong. He’s got a competitive attitude that will make him very successful as a runner.” Coach Ulstad said. Keagan Spikes, Eddyville’s top runner at the Husky Invite, finished well for not having ran much long distance this season. He’s been on the football team this fall as well. The next race will be September 19th at Santiam Christian. The girl's race starts at 5:20pm and the boy's race starts at 6:00pm. The season is now in full swing, and the volleyball team has been playing games for the past two weeks. They are 0-6, but they still have a ways to go in the season and are seeing many improvements already. The volleyball has 12 games to go, excitement is very clear feeling as we approach mid season.
“We have gotten better at our serving and receiving, sets, and are serves are killing it!” This is a quote from Allyson West, a junior on the Eddyville volleyball team. The team has been working a lot on on receiving serves and keeping the ball in play. “I feel like we have a good chance against Mohawk.” said Jillian Johnson, a junior on the Eddyville volleyball team. The girls have a volleyball match tonight at Mohawk (9/13/18). They are really excited for the game tonight. Since they are 0-6 so far, they are really hungry to get a win. After tonight's game at Mohawk, next week’s games are vs. McKenzie, September 18th at Eddyville at 6pm. Then September 20th at Siletz also at 6pm. Come on out to the games to watch your Eddyville girls play some volleyball.Go Eagles! |