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Show Wednesday, November 29, 2006 A7 Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition Spur of the moment fishing trip yields state record from Palisade By Bob Bahlmann Staff writer PALISADE STATE PARK—New Palisade State Park Ranger, Kevin Taylor, finished his shift last week and decided to do a little fishing before heading home. But his “little fishing” had big results. Grabbing what he called a kid’s rod and reel, he began casting a red and white daredevil from the shore. He was reeling in, with his lure close to shore, when things got exciting. “It felt like I’d snagged the bottom,” he said, but it didn’t take long to realize that what he’d hooked was a fish. It was a fairly short, but intense battle. “He took off and jumped four times. It was fun to see a fish that size clear the water.” In a last ditch effort to throw the hook, the trout started rolling in the shallows, but Taylor was able to land the fish. Taylor took the fish home, snapped some pictures, and cleaned it before putting it in the freezer. He placed the innards in a plastic bag and deposited them in the garbage. The next day, Park Manager, Shon Trip asked Taylor how he’d done fishing the night before. “I only caught one,” Taylor said as he showed Trip the photos. He identified the 30-inch catch as a tiger trout, an aggressive hybrid between a brook and brown trout. For the first time Taylor became aware that he might have landed a new state record. “You didn’t eat it did you?” Trip asked. They contacted Brad Bradley, local Division of Wildlife Conservation Officer, and met at Kent’s Market in Ephraim to weigh the fish. The trout tipped the scale at 7 pounds 3 ounces, which was 6 ounces short of the state record. When they added the innards, which Taylor had retrieved from the garbage, the scales crept past 9 pounds. The fish was big enough to surpass the old record, set in 2005 by a catch from the Boulder Mountains, by more than a pound. The official weight of the new record was 9 pounds 1 ounce. Although fishing for tigers and rainbows at Palisade has been good, Taylor said that a fish this big is “kind of a fluke.” “They’ve been catching some 18 inchers,” he said, but word has apparently gotten out about the new record. “When I got here at eight this morning [last Saturday] there were already half a dozen people fishing.” New Palisade State Park Ranger Kevin Taylor displays the 9 pound tiger trout that earned him a place in the state record books. Hawks boys win season opener Bulldogs’ success will depend against North Sevier, 55-50 on growth in the pre-season By Doug Johnson By Sean Hales Staff writer Associate editor MT. PLEASANT—The North Sanpete Hawks’ basketball team came firing out of the gate last Tuesday at home, winning its season opener 55-50 over the North Sevier Wolves. Both teams looked to be in midseason form, without a hint of the sloppiness usually associated with season-opening games. “The thing I’m most excited about is the way the kids played as a team,” said North Sanpete’s firstyear head coach Bull Keisel. In what was an exciting, wellplayed game in front of a large, appreciative crowd, there were seven ties and ten lead changes. Neither team ever led by more than five points all night. “Our goal is to have a team effort every night, and if we do that we should always have a chance,” Keisel said. North Sevier shot 65 percent from two-point range, but a 37-26 rebounding edge for North Sanpete nullified the Wolves’ advantage. North Sevier had only 14 turnovers to North Sanpete’s 17, but half of the Wolves’ turnovers came in the deciding fourth quarter when the Hawks outscored them 15-10. After North Sevier’s Josh Robinson got things started with a jumper, senior Skyler Zabriskie drained a pair of free throws for the Hawks’ first points of the season. Midway through the first quarter, senior guard Matt Jacobson hit a 10-foot jumper to give the Hawks their first lead of the season at 8-7. The Wolves’ Tyrel Torgerson scored seven of his team’s 13 opening period points, while Hawks’ junior forward Russell Christensen canned three buckets to score six of his team’s 12. Torgerson finished with a game-high 22 points, and Christensen tied for scoring honors for North Sanpete with 14. North Sanpete went up by four, 22-18, midway through the second period on a basket-and-one by senior guard Tyler Johansen. But junior forward Tyson Newman came right back with a trey to pull the Wolves back to within one. North Sanpete led at halftime, 30-28. Neither team could get a lead of more than three in the third period, which ended tied at 40. In the fourth quarter North Sevier went on a 7-0 run, started by Newman’s second three-pointer, GUNNISON—How far the 2006-2007 Gunnison boys’ basketball team goes depends entirely upon how much it grows. “We just don’t have a lot of guys with varsity experience,” said first-year head coach Doug Birk. “We’ve got to seize on these preseason games and grow from them.” Leading the team in terms of experience will be junior Kevin Nay, who saw significant time last year coming off the bench in the forward and center positions. The starting seniors are Brendan Davis, who will play center, and Sam Judd, who will play forward. Birk said practice has been good, and players have shown intensity. He said the team’s third starting forward, junior Taylor Newman has “stepped up” and should contribute. However, the team shows nearly all of its depth in the front court positions, and Birk will be starting a freshman in the guard spot. “I might as well let him fail early,” said Birk. “By halfway through league play he should have a lot of experience.” Another freshman, Erick Rosenvall, will be the first off the bench, said Birk. The team should be good defensively, Birk said, which is the result of physical size and mental and physical toughness. “I saw some good things defensively,” said Birk. “There’s a certain toughness about this team that I like. Hopefully that will win a couple of ball games for us.” Birk said he plans to run a man-to-man defense, which might test this team’s overall quickness. Offensively, Birk said he expects some struggles early on. He said no player has established himself as a “lights-out shooter.” “We’re going to have to take it inside and force the refs to make a decision and hopefully get to the line,” Birk said. TROY FIELDING -COURTESY SALINA SUN PHOTO North Sanpete’s Karl Bailey blocks a North Sevier shot during season opening 55-50 win over the Wolves last week. The team looked in mid-season form against the Wolves. which put the Wolves ahead 48-43 with four minutes to go. North Sanpete’s seniors then took charge with Johansen canning a three followed by Jacobson getting a score and a foul shot, which put the Hawks back on top, 49-48, with 2:36 remaining. The Hawks had the momentum, but a needless turnover told Keisel his troops were on the verge of being out of control. He called a timeout with two minutes remaining. “I just wanted the kids to be smart,” said Keisel. “I let them know that if we didn’t foul, they couldn’t beat us.” When play resumed, Jacobson hit Zabriskie with a great feed, and the senior forward put the Hawks ahead by three. A basket by Torgerson pulled the Wolves to within one, but Jacobson drained a 10-foot runner with 23 seconds remaining, and Garrett Gordon nailed a pair of free throws to seal the win for North Sanpete. “It was a total team effort,” said Keisel after the game. “I’m not going to single out any one player. I thought the kids played with a lot of composure for the first game.” Jacobson and Christensen led the Hawks with 14 points, with Jacobson adding six assists and Christensen pulling down a gamehigh 13 rebounds. North Sevier’s Torgerson added seven boards to go with his game-high 22 points. Johansen scored 13 for North Sanpete including a pair of threes. Gordon added five points for North Sanpete, Zabriskie had four, Karl Bailey scored three and Creed Ebell rounded out the scoring with two. Tonight North Sanpete welcomes the Grantsville Cowboys, who beat Rowland Hall last Tuesday. The Cowboys are 1-1 after losing to Dixie 79-35 on Wednesday. On Friday the Hawks will go on the road for the first time when they travel to Park City to take on the 0-1 Miners. On Tuesday, Dec. 5, North Sanpete travels to Ogden to take on the Ben Lomond Scots. Gunnison junior Kevin Nay, who has the most varsity experience among the Bulldogs, will be a leader on this year’s team. In light of the hurdles ahead of his team, Birk has set some reasonable goals. He said since the current league was established, no Gunnison team has won more than two league games, so even three regular season wins would be a success. But even three region wins could be a tall order in Region 12. Birk notes South Sevier’s trap, that eventually won them last year’s championship, is always tough to get through. Juab and Grand should have good teams, and, as always, Manti will be tough. “I would like to position ourselves to be in the middle of the pack in the region,” Birk said. “If we could win five region games I would be a happy camper.” |