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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2022)
Sports A7 Tuesday, January 18, 2022 ON THE SLATE Tuesday, Jan. 18 PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Elgin at Nixyaawii, 5 p.m. Pilot Rock at Enterprise, 6:30 p.m. Powder Valley at La Grande, 7:30 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Pilot Rock at Enterprise, 5 p.m. Powder Valley at La Grande, 6 p.m. Elgin at Nixyaawii, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19 PREP BOYS BASKETBALL La Grande at Pendleton, 7 p.m. Nixyaawii at Imbler, 7:30 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL La Grande at Pendleton, 5:30 p.m. Joseph at Pine Eagle, 5:30 p.m. Nixyaawii at Imbler, 6 p.m. PREP GIRLS WRESTLING Ontario at La Grande Dual, 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20 COLLEGE WOMEN’S WRESTLING EOU vs. Southwestern Oregon Community College, Salem, TBA Eastern Oregon vs. Corban, Salem, 5 p.m. PREP BOYS WRESTLING La Grande at Pendleton Duals, 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21 COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL Oregon Tech at EOU, 7:30 p.m. COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Oregon Tech at EOU, 5:30 p.m. COLLEGE MEN’S WRESTLING EOU at Missouri Valley Invitational, TBA PREP BOYS BASKETBALL La Grande at McLoughlin, 7:30 p.m. Union at Stanfield, 7:30 p.m. Cove at Elgin, 7:30 p.m. Powder Valley at Wallowa, 7:30 p.m. Nixyaawii at Joseph, 7:30 p.m. Enterprise at Heppner, 7:30 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL La Grande at McLoughlin, 6 p.m. Union at Stanfield, 6 p.m. Powder Valley at Wallowa, 6 p.m. Nixyaawii at Joseph, 6 p.m. Enterprise at Heppner, 6 p.m. Cove at Elgin, 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22 COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL Southern Oregon at EOU, 5 p.m. COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Southern Oregon at EOU, 3 p.m. COLLEGE MEN’S WRESTLING EOU at Missouri Valley Invitational, TBA COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD EOU at Lauren McClusky Memorial Open, Moscow, Idaho, TBA PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Weston-McEwen at Union, 5:30 p.m. Pine Eagle at Elgin, 5:30 p.m. Joseph at Powder Valley, 5:30 p.m. Cove at Imbler, 5:30 p.m. Wallowa at Griswold, 5:30 p.m. Enterprise at Stanfield, 5:30 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Pine Eagle at Elgin, 2:30 p.m. Weston-McEwen at Union, 4 p.m. Joseph at Powder Valley, 4 p.m. Cove at Imbler, 4 p.m. Wallowa at Griswold, 4 p.m. Enterprise at Stanfield, 4 p.m. Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File Eastern Oregon University’s Paul Pennington (2) makes a layup attempt against defenders Jok Jok (10) and Treyton Paxton (14) during the second half of the match against Montana Western University at Quinn Coliseum, La Grande, on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. Via COVID-19 forfeiture, the Mountaineers men’s team has earned two victories and the women’s team has garnered three, as the Cascade Collegiate Conference remains intent on pushing through the 2022 winter season. Moving forward CCC pushing forward with winter season despite influx of cancellations By DAVIS CARBAUGH The Observer CORVALLIS — Fans across the country are crossing their fin- gers that sports seasons will not be postponed or canceled amid the recent increase in COVID-19 cases. With forfeited games counting as losses on a team’s record, health and safety is of the utmost importance for teams looking to compete for conference titles. In the Cascade Collegiate Confer- ence, Eastern Oregon Universi- ty’s league, officials are intent on moving forward with the season. “Our goal is to push through to the end, have our tournament and send our representatives on to nationals,” Cascade Collegiate Conference Commissioner Robert Cashell said. Timing and finance Through Saturday, Jan. 15, the Mountaineers’ men’s and wom- en’s basketball teams have expe- rienced a combined five cancel- lations. Evergreen State recently canceled its men’s basketball games against the College of Idaho on Jan. 14 and Eastern on Jan. 15. The conference has seen more than 20 cancellations between men’s and women’s bas- ketball, all of which took place from Dec. 18 through this past weekend. The Mountaineers women’s basketball team has three forfeit victories this season, all of which occurred in a span of four sched- uled games from Dec. 31 through Jan. 8. After wins against North- west and Evergreen State, Eastern stands at 9-2 in conference play and 17-2 overall. The Cascade Collegiate Con- ference’s policy for COVID-19 missing. After a single-game limitations is that a team unable weekend, the Mountaineers to field enough players for a con- dropped to 11-8 on the year and test will receive a forfeit. Cashell 5-6 in conference play. With the noted that the Cascade Collegiate Mountaineers men’s team fighting Conference decided to firmly for every win this year, forfeits establish forfeits and canceled could go a long way in deter- mining the outcome of Eastern’s games rather than postponing season. contests until further dates due Cashell stated that the NAIA to the logistics of completing a hands season in down strict time for limitations postseason to each competition. confer- “It ence when comes it comes down to to its post- the dis- season tance that policies. we have to The travel in Cascade our league, Collegiate the fact that Conference we don’t has little have bye wiggle weekends room for or anything canceling like that games or and that we moving the have dead- lines with schedule — Robert Cashell, Cascade Collegiate the NAIA,” around in Conference Commissioner Cashell order to said. “So meet those really, it’s a deadlines, balance between timing, finance hence the forfeit rule. and academics. We also want to “At this point, we have not said keep people in school as much as anything about putting a pause possible.” on anything,” he said. “We’re Eastern’s men’s team has seen beholden to some deadlines to the impacts of COVID-19 limita- complete our season and have tions, with two of its opponents our representatives make it to the forfeiting contests so far this NAIA national tournaments, so season. you kind of have to work back- ward from those deadlines.” The Mountaineers dealt with The three forfeit wins received COVID-19 shortages themselves, by the Eastern women’s team will relying on freshman Cooper count toward head coach Anji Lumsden to step up with 32 points in a 102-93 win over Mult- Weissenfluh’s career record as nomah when key players were she pursues 500 career wins. The “Ultimately, we don’t know week in and week out what the virus is going to do. Trying to reschedule things is problematic then, because you have no idea if we’d even get to that point.” Mountaineers moved to second in the Cascade Collegiate Confer- ence standings after recent forfei- ture victories. “Basically the rules in the NAIA state that forfeits do count towards overall stats,” Cashell said. “They do count towards your win-loss record as a team and as a coach.” Attendance policy The Cascade Collegiate Con- ference has no conference-wide policy for a potential limit on fan attendance, relying on member schools to make the best decision based on their location and the current status of COVID-19 in each community. “That is a school-to-school policy, so it’s all kind of depending on what’s happening at that particular location in terms of caseload and what the school feels comfortable with,” Cashell said. Cashell also noted that there is not currently a minimal threshold if multiple teams were dealing with COVID-19 shortages at the same time. “Ultimately, we don’t know week in and week out what the virus is going to do,” Cashell said. “Trying to reschedule things is problematic then, because you have no idea if we’d even get to that point.” It remains to be seen if COVID-19 cancellations will con- tinue to plague the winter sports season, now midway through. Fortunately for the Mountaineers, all five of the school’s involved cancellations have resulted in wins for Eastern. With that being said, the pan- demic is hardly predictable, and the script could quickly flip. Oregon lawmakers going big with new sports bills JOHN CANZANO TALKING SPORTS T urns out Oregon lawmakers are tuned into the sports scene in our state. I just hope they follow through and get a couple of bills they’re currently writing turned into laws in the upcoming legislative session. State Sen. Peter Courtney called me on Friday, Jan. 14. It was a highly entertaining and blustery call. Anyone who has ever interacted with the 78-year-old Senate President knows he could read the phone book and make it entertaining. But it’s what he shared that got my attention. Here are the details: • Lawmakers are proposing a bill that would allow student-ath- letes to collect royalty payments when a merchandiser (e.g., Nike, Adidas, etc.) makes a college jersey with their number on it. It would include royalties for video games makers that use their likeness and extend to trading card companies. Essentially, it boosts current name-image-like- ness legislation and puts Oregon at the opportunistic front in an ever-shifting college landscape. The bill mirrors legisla- tion in Pennsylvania and would give athletes in those two states more flexibility and opportuni- ties vs. college athletes in other states. Courtney brought up former Oregon Ducks standout Sabrina Ionescu as an example. The Nike-issued jersey featuring her number was a huge hit while she was in college and under this legislation Ionescu could have received a pile of royalties while playing. • Sen. Courtney confirmed that his office is also writing a bill that would clear the path for bettors in our state to gamble on college sporting events. Prior legislation outlawed it, but atti- tudes nationally have shifted and the Supreme Court legal- ized sports wagering nationally a couple of years ago. The NCAA used to frown on states that allowed sports wagering and avoided holding championship events in those locations. But that stance has moved dramatically in the last five years. What remains, though, is outdated legislation in Oregon that outlaws gambling on college events. Who knows if lawmakers will adopt and pass both bills, but I like that sports is top of mind right now. Oregon and Oregon State, particularly, are in a race against other universities for com- petitive advantages in the new world of Name-Image-Likeness. The first bill is a home run move that gives Oregon an advantage. The second feels like a no-brainer. The upcoming legislative ses- sion begins Feb. 1 in Salem. ——— John Canzano is a columnist for The Oregonian.