Annual Carnival of Speed Track and Field Meet

by ALICIA WALTER

    On April 1st, Mac-Hi held its annual Carnival of Speed meet. No, it wasn’t a joke. Our Pioneers strived to make new personal records, and score higher than the other 26 teams from Oregon and Washington that were in attendance. While we only compete at Districts with Ontario, LaGrande, and Baker, it’s great to have some competition that you don’t always see.

    As always, teams are praying for good weather, and like every other year, the temperature rose to the high 70’s. It was a beautiful day that allowed the athletes to perform well, and compete at their best.  

    Athletes want to strive to make the top eight in each event. Making the top eight means you receive points. Getting ten points in a season means you automatically make varsity, and we had quite of few athletes either making that mark on the second meet of the season, or getting really close to it.  

    We’ve had multiple athletes from our Track and Field program who placed in their events. Michael Odman placed second in triple jump, with a distance of 38-01.50 ft. Cole Skramstad placed third in Javelin with a throw of 148-10 ft. Landon Warne placed 1st in Discus with a throw of 136-7 ft. Donald Clark placed 3rd in discus with a throw of 123-06 ft. Landon Warne placed 6th in Shot put with a throw of 39-07 ft. Austin Leonetti placed in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 48.95 seconds. Those were all the boys who placed in the top 8 in a meet with 26 attending schools.

    For the girls, Delaney Karrels placed 8th in High Jump with a height of 4.02 ft. Amber wells placed 1st in Javelin, with a throw of 109-08 ft. Alicia Walter (yours truly), placed 5th in Javelin with a throw of 96 ft. Mindy Harmon, placed 7th in Javelin with a throw of 94-10 ft. Amber Wells placed 5th in Shot Put with a throw of 31-01.25 ft. The girls 4x400 relay girls placed 8th with a time of 4:58.96 seconds. The girls who ran it were Cynthia Flores, Bianca Garcia, Brianna Hernandez, and Celeste Moreno. Candelaria Maguregui placed 6th in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 54.96 seconds. She also placed 6th in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 19.05 seconds.

    Mac-Hi has a strong athletic department for all sports, not just Track and Field. We lost a lot of senior boys last year, so if you are a guy and are interested in Track, you should come out next year. More girls are welcome too. It’s a great place to make new friends, and push yourself to the limits.  

Wrestle Your Heart Out

by ANAHI CASTILLO & DIMITRI IVIE

Coach Chad Kilburg is impressed by how the wrestlers have done in their first two tournaments. Being able to have three of his wrestlers as Champions at the Muilenburg Tournament was something that hasn’t been done in a while. When asked what has been the biggest sacrifice he has had becoming the head coach, he answered, “This is the first year being head coach with all of the added responsibility, but that has made it challenging and fun.” Jerry Ewing, Chad’s high school wrestling coach, inspired him to become a wrestling coach. Chad Kilburg doesn’t regret becoming a coach, but he sure doesn’t like when one of his wrestlers gets hurt during a match they worked so hard for.

One of our top wrestlers this year is Riley Chester, Champion at the Muilenburg Wrestling Tournament. He was nervous but confident before the match to take the wrestlers on! His favorite moment was when he won his last match. One of the biggest sacrifices for Riley was giving up his free time and having to cut weight. His ambition for wrestling this year is the State Title. He wants to go big this year.

 Cole Skramstad, another Champion at the Muilenburg Wrestling Tournament, felt great and confident during the tournaments. The best feeling Cole got was when he pinned his opponent during the match. He has had to sacrifice drinking soda because of the strict diet the wrestlers need to have to stay at a certain amount of weight. “My dad, has been an inspiration since I was young and I have always wanted to surpass him in his accomplishments.”

Our third Champion, Alyx Shaw, in the Muilenburg Wrestling Tournament said, “I was nervous but I had a lot of people back me up.” He felt great after he won and everyone was excited for him. Alyx has gave up most of his free time because of the practices during weekdays and tournaments on weekends. He also says that it’s hard for wrestlers to lose or gain weight in such a short period of time.

Spencer Wells is one of the most improved wrestlers from last year. He was in as a 250 pound freshman and throughout managed to lose 50 pounds. His current weight is 202 pounds. Coach Chad Kilburg said, “I’m really proud of the improvement Spencer has had since the beginning of his freshman year to now.” Spencer himself is proud of the extreme weight loss he has had. The hard work that he puts in and what he gets out of it is his favorite part of being in wrestling.

Another greatly improved person on the Mac-Hi wrestling team is Zach Crismon. At the beginning of his freshman year he started at 85 pounds and then at the end of the season he weighed 95 pounds, but this year he is weighing 115 pounds. When it comes to tournaments he is a very nervous yet confident wrestler. Winning his first match and placing on the top four made Zach feel really good about himself. His inspiration to be a better wrestler would be Cole Skramstad, because he is a hard worker and usually places in state.