EOU’s Ryan Booth finished in 125th place at the NAIA national cross country championships in Vancouver, Wash., Saturday. The Mountaineers finished 14th as a team. MADDISON STAPLETON - For The Observer

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Unlike two weeks ago when Mother Nature won, the Eastern Oregon University men’s cross country team got the better end of the stick at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships Saturday at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site.

Rain and a soggy course couldn’t hold back the Mountaineers as they ran to a 14th-place finish over the 8,000-meter course. St. Francis of Illinois (138) upset No. 1-ranked Southern Oregon (153) to pick up the team title. 

EOU’s Tony Eackles Jr. scored 13 points in the Mountaineers’ 77-60 win over Montana Tech Saturday in the Carroll College Classic in Helena, Mont.

HELENA, Mont. — The Eastern Oregon University men’s basketball team is off to its best start in program history after picking up two more wins this weekend.

The Mountaineers’ 9-0 mark ties the school’s record for the best start in the team’s 82-year history.

EOU defeated Montana Tech 77-60 Saturday in the Carroll College Classic.   

Denise Comfort / 2012 GOL player of the year

Perfect Lady Tigers place four on Greater Oregon League’s first team 

After another perfect season in the Greater Oregon League, the La Grande volleyball team (19-6, 9-0) has racked up plenty of postseason awards. 

According to the GOL coaches, the Tigers dominated all-league awards.

Randy Warner (second from left) and Howard Scates (third from left) hold buckles and stand in front of the saddles they won at the American Cowboys Team Roping Association national finals in Reno, Nev., Oct. 27. ANDY SCATES photo

RENO, Nev. — A miracle.

That’s all Robin Warner could say after her husband, Randy Warner of Cove, roped his way to a roping championship with teammate Howard Scates of La Grande at the American Cowboys Team Roping Association national finals in Reno, Nev., Oct. 27.

And considering what Warner and Scates had to overcome to win that title, miracle might be an understatement. 

David Ribich, a junior at Enterprise, is competing in the Nike Border Clash this weekend in Beaverton. EMMA SHEEHY photo

David Ribich and the Wallowa County boys cross country team went to the state meet and came home with trophies for their effort. The team took third and Ribich placed second on the Lane Community College course in Eugene.

Ribich has come on strong since he started racing in junior high, but it was different then. 

He was the only boy on the team. 

IMBLER — Top-seeded Imbler will try to get one step closer to a state title when it hosts fourth-seeded Perrydale Saturday in a quarterfinal match-up.

Perrydale will be coming in to the game with just two losses — both to teams in the quarterfinals.

SPOKANE, Wash. -— After defeating a pair of Frontier Conference teams last weekend in Spokane at the Frontier-Cascade Challenge, the Eastern Oregon University men’s basketball team will put its 7-0 record on the line against two more Frontier teams this weekend in Helena, Mont., at the Carroll College Classic.

The Mountaineers will face Carroll Friday and Montana Tech Saturday.

CASEY LOPER, middle hitter

In one of the closest votes in recent times, The College of Idaho’s Torrey Hulsey was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s Player of the Year by a vote of the conference coaches.

The 6-foot-1 senior middle blocker from Sutter, Calif., ranked third in the CCC in hitting percentage at .292 and 10th in total kills per set with 2.76. Hulsey recorded double-digit kills in 14 of the 25 matches the Yotes have played this season and has tallied at least one block in 24 of those 25.

EUGENE —  The second-ranked 4A team handed La Grande its final loss of the season Saturday, 3-0.

Sisters may have gone into the playoffs and the state 4A volleyball tournament at Lane Community College as the second- ranked team behind perennial power Crook County, but a 3-2 loss to Astoria in the opening round of the tournament Friday knocked the team into the consolation bracket.