LA GRANDE — Pendleton freshman Liam Pennington is turning heads in the Greater Oregon League after placing fourth Thursday at the Tiger Invite at the La Grande Country Club.

Pennington turned in a time of 16:53.40 to lead the Bucks and help them to a third-place finish in the team standings with 94 points, placing behind La Grande (37) and Nyssa (60).

Also figuring into the scoring for Pendleton were sophomore Farley Hill (18th, 17:49.10), freshman Gabriel Rock (23rd, 18:12.10), sophomore Ryan Simpson (26th, 18:16.50) and senior Autry Robinson (27th, 18:18.60).

La Grande’s Kaden May won the race with a time of 15:51.30, 27 seconds in front of teammate Cooper Altenburg, who was second.

Union, led by Bryce Burton (5th, 17:02.50), was fourth in the team standings with 96 points, while Heppner was eighth (243), Riverside 10th (273), Weston-McEwen 11th (274), McLoughlin 12th (283), and Pilot Rock 13th (398).

Weston-McEwen’s Arden Shaul was 30th in the field of 162 runners with a time of 18:30.60, followed by teammates Tyler Smith (59th, (19:49.30), Tristan Gilliam (72nd, 20:55.50), David Webb (76th, 20:31.60) and Grant Waldher (131st, 24:15.30).

Pilot Rock was led by Landon Norton (81st, 20:51.50), with Parker Bucher 128th (24:07.40), Elisha Sanchez 136th (25:29.30), Emmet Hofbauer 142nd (26:27.80) and Mason VanHouten 157th (33:17.60).

Nixyaawii, which did not have a complete team, was led by senior Sun Schimmel, who was 34th with a time of 18:42.40. Also for the Golden Eagles, Delbert Brunoe was 67th (20:17.10), Harley Schofield was 105th (22:01.90) and Joseph Higheagle was 153rd (29:21).

In the girls’ division, Imbler’s Piper Braseth, Weston-McEwen’s Evelyn Hodgson and Union’s Gian Savage all placed in the top 10 in the field of 112 runners.

Braseth was fifth overall (19:49.80), while Hodgson was sixth (20:03.30) and Savage was 10th (20:50.80).

La Grande’s Lindsey Brown won the race with a time of 18:32.40, and led the Tigers to the team title with 28 points. Union was third (91), while Heppner was sixth (169), Pendleton eighth (174), and Weston-McEwen ninth (206).

While Hodgson placed in the top 10, the rest of the TigerScots were in the middle of the pack. Stella Wolf was 47th (25:21.40), followed by Ashlyn Hoehna (70th, 27:02.20), Victoria Kosirog (87th, 29:56) and Nelly Barahona (99th, 33:31.50).

Freshman Isabella Allen led Pendleton, placing 15th with a time of 21:41.90. Also scoring for the Bucks were Evelyn Hayes (28th, 23:17.20), Kimberly Tinoco (51st, 25:40.30), Kirsten Blackburn (56th, 26:04.30) and Seely Hemphill (60th, 26:23).

Pilot Rock had a trio of runners, led by Paige Hansen (84th, 29:14.20), followed by Rylee Bedard (98th, 32:28.80) and Liz Hearn (107th, 35:49.50).

Emma Star-Nez was the first Nixyaawii runner across the finish line, coming in 74th with a time of 26:42.90. Also for the Golden Eagles, Abigayle Kordatzky was 79th (28:11.80) and Ayanna Star was 102nd 34:17.10).

Volleyball

PENDLETON 3, HOOD RIVER 0 — Sophomore MJ Gomez had 17 kills with a 47% kill percentage to lead the Bucks to a 25-16, 25-18, 25-17 nonleague road win over the Eagles.

“This was a great win over a good team tonight,” Pendleton coach Jodi Primus said. “We started so strong and didn’t allow any setbacks to get us down. We kept our energy high the whole match. Our bench was so loud and everybody played their role well tonight. We hit our serve spots, we were super scrappy on defense, picking up tough hits, and we put up some big blocks to keep a lot of pressure on their hitters.”

Braelyn Gunter had 18 service points, three aces and five blocks, while Caitlin Cooley had 23 assists and 14 digs, McKinley Lieuallen 16 points, McKinley Moore a 2.1/3 serve receive average with 22 digs, and Olivia Allen six blocks.

“Our hitters did a great job of keeping the ball in play on the out-of-system balls, pounding the great sets and hitting the holes in their defense,” Primus said. “Caitlin did a great job of knowing when to set who and was digging like crazy. We had a phenomenal match tonight. I enjoyed every minute of watching these girls have fun while playing really hard.”

WESTON-MCEWEN 3, STANFIELD 0 — The TigerScots proved they are one of the top teams in the state after handing the host Tigers a 25-15, 25-9, 25-22 Blue Mountain Conference loss.

“We served well tonight and got some timely runs that helped us out,” W-M coach Marie Cain said. “Good three-set win to end the week with.”

Charlotte Hansell led No. 9 Weston-McEwen (10-4 overall, 2-2 BMC) with 11 kills, 13 digs and two aces, while Addy Hall had 19 digs, five kills, three aces and 20 assists, Kayli Choin three blocks, four digs and two kills, Reagan Pickard 10 aces and three kills, Eloise Hansell 12 digs, two kills and two aces, Bree Perkins six digs and one ace, Lola Hastings two blocks and two kills, and Brianna Romero four digs. 

ECHO 3, PILOT ROCK 0 — The fifth-ranked Cougars moved to the top of the Old Oregon League standings with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-15 road win over the Rockets.

Sydnee Wade led Echo (10-5 overall, 3-0 OOL) with 10 kills while Ava Davis had nine kills and 10 digs, Lilah Miller 13 assists, Matison Hendrix 12 assists and Pryor Thew had four service aces.

For Pilot Rock, Gracee Hemphill had six kills and 16 digs, while Stevee Osborn had four kills, Kessa Litfin 10 digs and 11 assists, and Abbigail Johnson 26 digs.

“I’m so proud of how these girls played together tonight,” Pilot Rock coach Shelby Journot said. “We battled through some tough hitters and played hard.”

Boys soccer

ONTARIO 5, PENDLETON 0 — The Tigers moved to 3-0 in Greater Oregon League play with a road win over the Bucks.

Pendleton, which got eight saves from goalkeeper Thor Case,  dropped to 1-6-1 overall and 0-3-1 in GOL play.

Girls soccer

PENDLETON 1, ONTARIO 1 — Khimora Scott scored in the second half to help the Bucks to a draw in Greater Oregon League action with the Tigers in Ontario.

“Despite having way more shots than Ontario, we just could not find the back of the net,” Pendleton coach Katherine Ryder said. The score was 0-0 at the half as Autumn Severe kept every Ontario shot out of the net. Sophia Estrada allowed one goal in the second half for Pendleton (2-5-1 overall, 1-2-1 GOL).