7A
Friday, August 23, 2019
The Observer
Ducks’ freshman
Thibodeaux
should get plenty
of playing time
By Anne M. Petersen
The Associated Press
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Imbler High School is fi nalizing a $19,000 upgrade of much of its weight room equipment. The majority of the funds
came from the Imbler School District and a grant from the Wildhorse Foundation.
Worth the weight
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Both middle school and high school
students returning to Imbler when the
2019-2020 school year begins Monday
will see a much-needed upgrade in one
of their classes — one that you could
say was worth the wait.
Or, maybe better said, worth the
weight.
The weight room in the mezzanine
above the Imbler High School gym
has about $19,000 of new equipment
that will be in place and ready for class
Monday.
It’s the culmination of a project
spearheaded by IHS instructor Tony
Haddock, who teaches weight classes
for both middle school and high school
students. Much of the old equipment,
he said, was aging — a lot of it had been
at the school for more than 30 years —
and was beyond the point of needing to
be replaced.
“We’ve had stuff break on us in the
last fi ve or six years,” said Haddock,
who also teaches algebra, health and
physical education and is the IHS
boys basketball coach. “Pulleys were
snapped, wires were frayed, dumb-
bells had fallen apart mid-lift. Squat
racks were really tough. You couldn’t
get down to proper depth because the
catch bars stopped you, and if you had
fallen forward or backward, you would
have hit your head on something. It was
pretty dangerous.”
Haddock reached out to the Imbler
Education Foundation and through
it inquired about a grant from the
Wildhorse Foundation a couple of years
ago. He learned in the process the IEF
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Imbler teacher Tony Haddock works on assembling new equipment in the
weight room at Imbler High School Wednesday.
had a grant outstanding at the time so
he applied once the old grant had run
its course.
“I talked to (Superintendent) Angie
(Lakey-Campbell) a lot and (Imbler
School District Deputy Clerk) Teressa
(Dewey) about getting money from the
school. I went through and itemized
everything I thought we could use and
what we needed to replace, and ended
up requesting half that amount (of
items on that list),” Haddock said.
Lakey-Campbell said once the fi nan-
cial side of the request was in order,
it was a quick decision by the school
board.
“Fortunately the board was quick
See Weights / Page 8A
EUGENE — Most college
freshmen struggle with
things like laundry. Oregon’s
Kayvon Thibodeaux is not
your typical freshman.
The 6-foot-5, 242-pound
defensive end enrolled early
so he could get a jumpstart
on his college career. He said
the biggest adjustment came
with the realization that no
one was going to coddle him.
“There’s no one to get
on you,” Thibodeaux said.
“There’s a lot more self-
discipline here, which for me
wasn’t that hard because I’m
more of a self-disciplined per-
son, but that was a challenge
that I faced.”
So, a bit more esoteric
than laundry and scheduling
classes.
“I’ve always been told I’m
ahead of my years as far as
my maturity so I guess you
could say it’s been different
for me than most freshmen,
but I feel like it’s been pretty
easy,” he said.
No. 11 Oregon landed
the fi ve-star recruit from
Westlake Village, California,
on the fi rst day of the early
signing period, beating out
Alabama along with a host
of other interested schools.
Thibodeaux was ESPN’s top
overall prospect and easily
the highest-ranked signee in
Oregon’s history.
He is among several
promising prospects in coach
Mario Cristobal’s 2019
recruiting class, considered
to be in the top 10 nationally.
Eleven of those recruits, in-
cluding Thibodeaux, enrolled
in school early.
“I’ve said this a few times,
and I really mean it, the
most impressive part about
Kayvon is not the fi ve stars
that sit beside his name, it’s
his fi ve-star attitude and
work ethic,” Cristobal said.
Known for his agility and
athleticism, even at his size,
Thibodeaux was impressive
in spring drills. He’s been
battling Gus Cumberlander
for the starting nod during
fall camp.
The Ducks open the sea-
son against No. 16 Auburn
on Aug. 31 at AT&T Stadium
in Texas.
Thibodeaux is brimming
with confi dence, proclaim-
ing that his aim is to get 10
sacks a season. The Pac-12
leader last year was Utah’s
Bradlee Anae with eight.
Thibodeaux said his men-
tality is “no excuses.”
“Even though you guys,
I’m answering questions
(but) I’m not gonna go watch
the video. I’m not gonna go
watch the videos or listen to
what’s being said or what’s
going on,” he said. “It’s just
about focusing on what we
have to do to get better, what
I have to do personally, what
we as a team have to work
on.”
Among the other new-
comers who stood out in
preseason camp was receiver
Mycah Pittman, but he
injured his shoulder during
a scrimmage and is not
expected to be back for six
to eight weeks. Pittman was
pushing for a starting role
before he was hurt.
Cornerback Mykael
Wright should also see am-
ple playing time, as should
stud end Mase Funa. An
intriguing prospect is tight
end Patrick Herbert, who is
senior quarterback Justin
Herbert’s little brother.
“I could go on and on about
guys like Mase Funa, Mycah
Pittman, Mykael Wright,
Kayvon. It goes on and on
and on, (running back) Sean
Dollars,” Cristobal said. “All
these guys, they’re really
talented guys, and we expect
these guys to be contribu-
tors, and we expect them to
contribute quickly. They’ve
played at high levels. They’ve
had extraordinary coaching
at the high school level.”
Thibodeaux said the fresh-
man class is ready to show
what it can do.
“I can’t really speak for
anybody else but I know that
Coach Cristobal pushes us.
And even for the guys that
might not play, he’s pushing
us like we’re gonna play,” he
said. “So regardless of how
it turns out on Aug. 31, ev-
erybody’s working hard and
getting ready for football.”
Grande Ronde Rodeo gaining following entering Year 3
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Ronald Bond/Observer fi le photo
The third running of the Grande Ronde Rodeo will be this Saturday and Sunday.
Though it’s only entering its
third year, the Grande Ronde
Rodeo has already gained a
positive reputation, and there
is a lot of excitement ahead as
the rodeo takes to La Grande’s
Mavericks Arena Saturday
and Sunday.
“A bunch of folks have
stepped up to be a part of the
committee and put the show
on,” said Bonnie Rasmussen,
an advisory board member
for the rodeo. “It takes a lot of
moving parts to make it hap-
pen. The other thing that is
really starting to show success
is the sponsor level. There are
a lot of folks stepping up and
becoming part of the show
as a sponsor. I really feel like
the community is becoming
aware of the show, and the
attendance will show that this
year.”
Rasmussen, who co-owns
the rodeo’s stock provider
— Tri-State Rodeo Com-
pany — played a vital role
in bringing the rodeo to La
Grande when it kicked off in
2017. She said the rodeo is
working to “get the com-
munity engaged and make
rodeo fun again,” pointing to
that as an original goal.
GRR has events that
cater to all ages in seeking to
meet that goal, including for
younger fans and participants.
“We have everything from
stick horse races to bucking
ponies and bucking steers,”
she said, adding that a VIP
tent will also be among the
fi rst-time amenities at this
year’s event.
And there’s plenty at the
Idaho Cowboys Association
rodeo for those seeking to take
home some cash.
“We’ll end up paying out
close to $30,000 this weekend,”
said Heather Paradis, GRR
rodeo secretary and ICA com-
mittee director.
She said the rodeo has
already earned a place among
the top fi ve ICA events of the
year.
“It’s defi nitely going in a
very positive direction. It’s
one of our larger rodeos for
being one of our newer (ones),”
Paradis said.
She noted that as of
Tuesday there were about 187
entries in the two days of ICA
competition, plus more than
70 entries in local events such
as local team roping and bar-
rel racing.
“It’s about location. It’s
about the stock. They defi -
nitely have done enough to get
a good reputation behind
this one,” she said of the high
number of entries.
The two-day event kicks
off at 6 p.m. Saturday with
youth competitions followed
by the ICA rodeo at 7 p.m. On
Sunday, cowboys and cowgirls
will compete in the 1 p.m. ICA
rodeo.