Glenwood athletes honored

Here’s exciting news about another Glenwood kid. If you know Glenwood high school sophomore Wyatt Patterson, you know he loves basketball. Wyatt, son of Shane and Billie Patterson, was a varsity player on the Klickwood (Klickitat/Glenwood) team last year and will soon begin the 2025-26 high school basketball season. Last weekend, Wyatt had the opportunity to be part of an all-star team, the Savage Warriors, made up of players from several Tribes, including Yakama, Coeur d’ Alene, Colville, and Spokane.

The Savage Warriors recently competed in the World Tribes Invitational Tournament in Las Vegas. There were many teams from across Indian country participating in the tournament. Wyatt’s team played against two Apache Tribes, a team from Las Vegas, and another team from Arizona. The Savage Warriors made it to the semi-finals and finished fourth in the tournament. Wyatt made many new friends and some great memories. What an awesome experience for a 15-year old Glenwood athlete. We are all very proud of you and your team, Wyatt.

While we’re celebrating Glenwood High School’s great kids, here’s more great news to share. Anthony Avila, a junior, and Blaine Arnold, a sophomore, were the only two members of the Glenwood Eagles cross-country team this season. They attended meets far and wide with their coach, Aaron Oldenburg, setting new personal records at each meet. On October 31st, they competed at the District Cross-Country meet in Pendleton. Both had their best times of the year in their last race of the season. Anthony set a new school record since Glenwood High School restarted the cross-country program a few years ago. Way to go, Anthony and Blaine. Now we can look forward to watching you in basketball this winter.

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As we head into the winter holidays, here are two events to look forward to. The Klickitat County High School Rodeo Club will, once again, be selling Christmas swags to help fund their travel expenses as they compete around the state during this 2025-26 high school rodeo season. The cowgirls and cowboys and their families make the swags themselves and they’re always very creative and beautiful. The club will be selling swags on November 23rd beginning at 10:00 a.m. in both Goldendale and Glenwood. Our westend high school rodeo cowgirls Bailey Rickman and Riley Eichman will have swags on East Main Street here in Glenwood that morning. The swags go quickly, so get up there and get one and support this great cause.

That same afternoon of November 23rd, the Glenwood Community Church will be hosting the annual Community Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner at 4:00 p.m. The dinner will be held in the school multipurpose room and all are invited to attend and bring a favorite side dish and/or dessert to share. The church will provide the meat, potatoes, and dinner rolls.

And since we’re talking about the holidays, here’s exciting news that Jennifer Throop will, once again, be spearheading the Christmas Light competition again this year. Jennifer says, “I’m going to keep the competition free again this year. I feel like the more lights, the merrier! If anyone would like to donate money prizes or anything along that line, or if you’d like to volunteer to help judge, you are welcome to do so.” Send Jennifer a message if you’d like to donate or if you have questions. She will be awarding a trophy along with a gift card for this year’s first place winner. She also plans to have awards for second and third place. She will add more information as it gets closer to Christmas. She says, “Let’s light up Glenwood!” Last year was great, but I have a feeling that this year Glenwood will be even more visible from the International Space Station.

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Mary Pierce writes about the community of Glenwood every other week in Columbia Gorge News. Please send any news items to gmpierce09@gmail.com.