Central Oregonian

CCHS graduates lead EOU

Team overcomes tragedy to have a great season

Lon Austin

It is nice to be able to report on outstanding athletic achievements made by Crook County High School alumni.

This year, three Crook County High School graduates are making significant contributions to the success of the Eastern Oregon University volleyball program.

The Mountaineer season began with tragedy. Head Coach Hailey Pearce died in a car crash in July. With no coach and the season rapidly approaching, EOU called on Kaki McLean Morehead to coach the team. McLean Morehead, a graduate of Crook County High School, played volleyball at Eastern Oregon, and was the head coach during the 2009 season. After the season, she resigned to move to Idaho with her husband.

With the season rapidly approaching and no coach in place, McLean Morehead agreed to take the reins of the volleyball program for a second time.

Since taking over the program, McLean Morehead has relied heavily on a pair of Crook County graduates to lead her volleyball team.

The team struggled early in the season, dropping their first six matches in a row. Since then, they have been on a roll, winning 13 of the last 14 matches.

Senior, Jessica Lea, a 5-8 Crook County High School graduate is leading the team in kills and is also second on the team in assists.

Lea has 189 kills so far this season, and has added 337 assists. The 5-8 setter has been named hitter of the week once earlier this season by the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

Libero Kaitlyn Duncan, also a CCHS graduate, has made a huge impact defensively for the team. Duncan passed a career milestone earlier this week when she passed 1,000 digs for her career. The 5-5 junior already has 313 digs this season. Duncan is rapidly closing in on both the career and season dig records at Eastern Oregon. She is expected to pass the career record tonight when EOU takes on Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash.

The Mountaineers have their best chance in years to make it to the national tournament. However, there are still challenges ahead of them. Both Southern Oregon and College of Idaho are nationally-ranked and are part of the Cascade Collegiate Conference. So to qualify for the national tournament the Mountaineers will have to find a way to get past both teams.

McLean Morehead has done a great job for the Mountaineers under difficult circumstances.

Eastern Oregon University (10-1 in conference play) has already defeated Southern Oregon once this year, but lost in their first meeting to College of Idaho, who are ranked sixth in the latest National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics poll.

College of Idaho also has a Crook County connection with former CCHS middle blocker Cassie Low coming off the bench for the Coyotes.

Here’s hoping for continued success for both programs.