Enterprise’s James, Harguess race to victories

Published 8:14 pm Monday, April 24, 2023

ENTERPRISE — Nevaeh James and Owyhee Harguess have asserted themselves as two of the top athletes for the Enterprise girls track and field team this spring, with their prowess on the track again on display last weekend at meets in both Milton-Freewater and La Grande.

They are asserting themselves as two of the top athletes in the 2A classification, as well.

The two had multiple victories on the weekend to help Enterprise to a pair of fourth-place finishes and are continuing to rack up solid results. Already this season, James, a sophomore and the defending state champion in the girls 300-meter hurdles, has six victories, four second-place finishes and two third-place efforts in individual events, while Harguess, a freshman, has eight wins, one runner-up and one third-place finish.

The two also have run legs on two Enterprise High School 4×400 relay teams that have taken top spots, including one that posted a time of 4:14.36 on Saturday, April 22, at the Cove 1A-2A-3A Regional Invite at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

That relay time, by the way, was the fastest in the state at the 2A level by nearly nine seconds, and only one other team — Salem Academy — has posted a time faster than 4:25 in the event.

James and Harguess also are claiming their share of top marks in the state. As of Monday, April 24, James has the top distance in 2A in both the long jump (16 feet, 7 inches) and the high jump (33 feet, 0.5 inches), and is second in both the 300 hurdles (50.36 seconds) and the 200 (26.86 seconds).

The runner ahead of her in the 200 is her teammate, Harguess, who has a time of 25.89 seconds posted in the event Friday, April 21, at the Carnival of Speed in Milton-Freewater. It’s an event she has already won five times this season, and in four of the races her time has been below 27 seconds, making her and James the only 2A girls athletes with that mark. In fact, the mark Harguess posted Friday is the fastest by any athlete in the state from Class 1A to Class 5A.

Harguess is also ranked first in the 400 with a time of 58.95 seconds — she is the only female from 1A-3A with a time of less than a minute — and is third in the 100 with a time of 13.14 seconds.

The two were far from the only Wallowa County athletes to perform well at Milton-Freewater or at La Grande. At the Carnival of Speed, where James took two firsts and a second, and Harguess a first and a third, teammate Zoe Hermens was second in the 300 hurdles, and the 4×100 relay team of Althea Komiskey, Maddie Nordtvedt, Mercy Peters and McKenzie Harguess was fourth. On the boys side, Lute Ramsden won the 200 for Enterprise, Tanner Kesecker was third in the discus, and two relay teams — Andrew Nordtvedt, Weston Wolfe, Ransom Peters and Ramsden in the 4×400, and Peters, Nordtvedt, Cory Walker and Ramsden in the 4×100 — placed third and fourth.

The Joseph boys got second-place finishes from Jett Leavitt in the 200 and Jonah Lyman in the pole vault, while on the girls side, Joseph got a first-place finish from the 4×400 relay team of Emmerson Hook, Molly Curry, Annie Rose Miller and Caleigh Johnson, a second-place finish from Mary Hellinger in the 1,500, a third from Miller in the pole vault and from the 4×100 relay team of Camdyn Weer, Curry, Miller and Johnson, and a fourth-place finish from Basey Dawson in the high jump.

Saturday at EOU, Owyhee Harguess won the 100 and 200 for the Enterprise girls and the combo of Nordtvedt, James, Hermens and Harguess posted the aforementioned 4:14.36 to win the 4×400 relay. James was third in the long and triple jumps, Nordtvedt was third in the 800, and Komiskey, Nordtvedt, Peters and McKenzie Harguess were third in the 4×100 relay.

The Enterprise boys, who took second, got a second-place finish from Peters, Nordtvedt, Walker and Ramsden in the 4×100 relay, a third-place finish from Nordtvedt, Wolfe, Peters and Ramsden in the 4×400 relay, a third from Peters in the 100, a third from Roan Flynn in the 300 hurdles and a fourth from Wolfe in the 300 hurdles, and fourths by Ramsden in the 200 and 400.

For the Joseph boys, Kale Ferguson won the discus and was third in the javelin, Leavitt was second in the 3,000 and third in the 1,500, and in the pole vault, Lyman was third and Colton Keffer was fourth.

The Joseph girls had four wins on the day, including from Weer, Curry, Miller and Johnson in the 4×100 relay. Individually, Johnson won the 400, Curry won the triple jump and Miller won the pole vault. Miller also was third in the 300 hurdles, and the 4×400 relay team of Hook, Curry, Miller, and Johnson was fourth.

Softball

The Wallowa Valley softball team feasted on McLoughlin pitching Friday, April 21.

Cooper Nave and Sophie Moeller combined for five home runs over two contests, and the Outlaws won 17-2 and 10-2 to maintain second place in Special District 4.

Moeller homered twice in the opener and Nave also went deep, and Nave followed with two more home runs in the nightcap to finish the day with three blasts and seven RBI. Moeller showed her versatility by also stealing four bases — two in each game.

Aimee Meyers shut the Pioneers down, allowing two runs on four hits in each contest with a combined 15 strikeouts — 12 in the second game.

BaseballOn the baseball diamond, Wallowa Valley took over first place in Special District 3 with a sweep of the Pioneers, eking out a 9-8 win in the opener before settling down for a 9-2 win in the nightcap.

Golf

At the Buffalo Peak Invitational in Union, the Enterprise girls golf team placed fourth and the boys team placed seventh.

The girls team posted a score of 470, with the best score coming from the Outlaws’ No. 5 golfer, Jordyn Stonebrink, with a total of 105, including a 49 on the front nine. Kimber Stein posted a 114, Ashlynn Greer had a 124, Codi Cunningham shot a 127 and Zella Moore had a 139.

For the Enterprise boys, the team posted a score of 461. Nathan Lamb led the way with a score of 112, and both Parker Siebe and Brady Brown had a score of 114. Wyatt Nash followed with a 121, and Pearce Schnetzky had a 129.

The Wallowa/Joseph boys were led by Owen Gorham with a score of 93. Jonas McKee had a score of 112, and William Clark shot a 129.

Baseball

On the baseball diamond, Wallowa Valley took over first place in Special District 3 with a sweep of the Pioneers, eking out a 9-8 win in the opener before settling down for a 9-2 win in the nightcap.

The Eagles rallied from a four-run deficit in the opener, scoring three runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings. The late runs were key, as the Pioneers scored three times in the seventh to pull within one, but couldn’t get the tying run across.

Gabe Nobles and Lane Rouse powered the offense, with Nobles going 3-for-4 with four RBI, and Rouse driving in three runs. The Eagles held on despite committing five errors, which led to five unearned runs.

Jaxon Grover pitched four innings for the win, allowing four unearned runs in four innings, walking three and striking out six.

In the nightcap, Wallowa Valley scored six runs in the first inning and got a solid performance on the mound from Drew Beachy, who struck out 14 batters to help power the Eagles to the sweep.

Beachy allowed two runs on four hits in six innings and walked three batters.

Grover, Beachy and Nobles each had two hits for the Eagles. Grover scored three times, Beachy twice, and Nobles had two RBI.