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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Lady Fishermen shoot past Scappoose The Daily Astorian The Astoria Lady Fishermen kept their state playoff hopes alive with a 42-28 win over Scappoose Monday night at the Brick House. Astoria returns to action tonight for a Cowapa League girls basket- ball playoff at Valley Catholic (time to be announced) in hopes of secur- ing a berth in the Regional play-in round, as the Lady Fish improve to 9-15 overall. Scappoose finishes its season at 3-19 overall, although the Indians made Astoria work for Monday’s victory. Sophomore Sierra Stafford had two 3-pointers in the opening min- ute to give the Indians an early 6-4 lead, but unfortunately for the Indi- ans, those were the only two field goals Scappoose made in the first half (2-for-11). Trailing 7-4 after one quarter, Astoria scored the first nine points of the second period, highlighted by a layup from Gracie Cummings off a steal, and a jumper by Hailey O’Brien. Astoria’s biggest lead of the first half was 21-10, following a short jump shot by Brooklynn Hankwitz. Scappoose had 32 turnovers after three quarters (and finished with 37), yet the Indians were still only trailing 30-24 early in the fourth. The difference came at the free- throw line, where Astoria was 8-of- 10 in the final quarter, and finished 17-for-28, to 9-of-15 for Scappoose. When she wasn’t on the bench with foul trouble, Hankwitz was scoring, a team-high 12 points. Her three-point play with 3:00 left in the game locked up the win for the Fishermen. Astoria finished with almost twice as many shots from the field (12-for- 52), while Scappoose was 8-for-27. Sam Hemsley added nine points and Rylee DeMander scored eight for Astoria, which defeated Scap- poose by a similar score (40-28) just four days earlier. How long should injured athletes get workers comp? By KIANNAH SEPEDA-MILLER Associated Press Evan Sutherland/For EO Media Group Alec Bell is honored as Washington state champion wrestler in his weight class. Ilwaco wrestlers team up for third-place finish at classic The Daily Astorian TACOMA, Wash. — Two state champions and a host of placers helped the Ilwaco wrestling team place third in the team standings at the Class 1B/2B level over the weekend, at Mat Classic XXIX. The Fishermen racked up 126.5 team points at the Tacoma Dome, to finish behind team champion Tonasket (184.5) and Reardan (141). Kittitas (100) was fourth. Leading the way for Ilwaco were two seniors, Jack Odneal and Alec Bell. Both went 3-0 in their respective weight classes to win state titles. At 138 pounds, Odneal opened with an 11-1 decision over Ethen Tesch of Wilbur-Creston, followed by his closest win — a 3-2 decision against Tony Nichols of Lake Roosevelt. In the championship match, Odneal posted a 7-4 decision over Caleb Cole of Reardan. Bell had a similar path to the title at 220 pounds. He opened with a 7-2 decision over Hunter Schurger of Mary Walker; pinned Sutton Moon of Kalama in 1:57; then scored a 6-2 decision over Liberty’s Jake Harrington in the title match. Adding big points for the Fishermen: Daylin Kemmer (Sr.), third at 170; Brandon McMullen (Jr.), third at 182; Wilfrido Mendez (Sr.), fifth at 120; Ghan- non Whelden (So.), sixth at 113; and Tony Merino (Sr.), sixth at 120. Evan Sutherland/For EO Media Group Jack Odneal is a picture of joy after winning his state wrestling championship. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Should injured pro athletes be allowed to earn worker com- pensation benefits until they are 67 years old, like other workers, even if their athletic careers normally would have ended more than 30 years earlier? That issue is being debated between the Chicago Bears and the NFL Players Associa- tion in the Illinois Legislature as one unlikely element of a compromise proposal to end a nearly two-year-long fight over the state’s budget. The Bears are leading other Chicago sports fran- chises in backing a mea- sure that would reduce a for- mer player’s ability to tap into workers compensation after a career-ending injury. They want to cap certain payments to athletes at no older than 35 or five years after their injury. Currently they can claim ben- efits up to age 67, like other workers. Neither the teams nor play- ers’ advocates will say how much money is at stake. They agree it is not a relatively big pot — while theoretically some could claim millions, most if not all athletes settle their claims for reduced sums up front, the players associa- tion says. Only a handful of pro play- ers filed for the benefit here in the past four years, although the association would not identify them or describe their individual cases. But one example in the public record of an athlete who claimed this compen- sation is former Bears offen- sive lineman Ted Albrecht, a first-round draft choice whose career ended with a back injury in 1982. An arbi- trator tried to deny his claim, but an appeals court ruled he was entitled to receive an award based on the differ- ence between his $130,000 Bears salary and what he later earned as a travel agent and sportscaster, which ranged from $87,000 to $36,000 between 1983 and 1986. The Bears say Illinois’ law regulating compensation is Mariners adopt ‘Whatever It Takes’ mantra By JOSE M. ROMERO Associated Press PEORIA, Ariz. — The words are displayed prominently inside the Seattle Mariners’ spring training clubhouse. In two languages. Whatever It Takes. Lo Que Sea Necesario. It’s a sign of raised expectations for the Mariners after coming close to a wild-card spot and finishing 86-76 last season. “We’ve got to stay on the process. It’s controlling the zone. It’s how we play. If you stay with that, the results kind of take care of themselves,” manager Scott Servais said before meeting with the team Sunday, when the first full-squad workout of spring training was held. “Chasing the num- bers of wins, chasing your ERA, chasing how many homers, that stuff, it takes care of itself. “Pressure’s a privilege,” Servais added. “Expectations are great. They should be. That’s what we’re shooting for. That’s what (GM) Jerry (Dipoto) spent all offseason working on, was to get our team a little bit bet- ter. It’s a good thing.” Robinson Cano and Nel- son Cruz are two of the team’s leaders, and both fig- ure to miss considerable bonding time with their many new teammates at camp while playing in the World Baseball Classic. They’ll join the Dominican Republic team the first week of March and could be gone a couple of weeks if the team makes another deep run in the WBC. “For all the guys that go there and represent their countries, we take a lot of pride in that,” Cruz said. “The whole country is excited. Wherever you go, kids to adults, everybody’s looking forward to the moment.” Another main presence in club- house, ace Felix Hernandez, will head off to join Venezuela’s team. “It’s not great, but import- ant for them, they’re not going to be on those teams sitting on the bench,” Servais said of the three. “They’re going to be playing and get- ting their at-bats. They’ll be in very competitive situations. It should help them once the season starts. “As far as the chemistry in the clubhouse, those guys are a big part of what we’re doing, so that’s a lit- tle bit challenging. But we’ll rev it up early here in camp to make sure they have a good feel, but more impor- tantly, the new players have a good feel for them. Because it’s their team and their clubhouse, and our leader- ship is really important to that.” Servais worked on developing that chemistry in the offseason when he made a surprise visit to Cruz in the Dominican Republic, where he had dinner with Cruz, Cano and new shortstop Jean Segura. Cruz, Seattle’s designated hitter, is coming off a 43-home run, 105-RBI season. For Cruz, the slogan “Whatever It Takes” means that even when a player doesn’t want to think about the higher expectations, they are there for the Mariners. He recalled how much fun he and his teammates had the last few days of last season, when every pitch and every at-bat was mean- ingful as the Mariners chased the postseason. overly generous. They also argue the existing rules attract players from other states to file claims in Illinois. “Will there be savings? Yes, there will be savings,” said Bears attorney Cliff Stein. But the Bears say the measure is really about being fair to other Illinois workers with longer careers in other fields. NFL Players Associa- tion spokesman George Atal- lah said the benefits provide a lifeline to players whose ath- letic careers end suddenly — especially lower paid ath- letes performing just on prac- tice teams or in minor leagues, who may lack sufficient sav- ings and education to fall back on. “The savings to these (team) owners are negligible whereas the benefits to these players are everything,” Rich- ard Gordon, an attorney who represents NFL players, told The Associated Press. Napoleon Harris, a former NFL linebacker and now a Democrat in the Illinois Sen- ate, opposes the provision. He said it would unfairly “carve out” professional athletes from laws meant to protect employees. “It almost feels like play- ers are being used,” Harris said. “The owner’s not limp- ing after the game, but the owner’s collecting billions of dollars in profits.” It’s not the first time NFL teams have urged lawmak- ers to rein in compensation claims. California passed a measure in 2013 pushed by the NFL that restricted out-of- state players from filing there. States differ in how much they require employers to compensate injured workers for decreased earning poten- tial. Bears officials argue that no state offers payment for as long or as much as Illinois does, but the players asso- ciation contends that some state compensation laws are comparable. The Illinois legislation is backed by Chicago’s other major sports teams — the National Basketball Asso- ciation Bulls, the National Hockey League’s Blackhawks and the Cubs and White Sox of Major League Baseball. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TUESDAY Girls Basketball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, TBA; Banks vs. Seaside (at Til- lamook HS), 6 p.m. Boys Basketball — Valley Catholic vs. Seaside (at Tillamook HS), 7:45 p.m. GIRLS BASKETBALL Astoria 42, Scappoose 28 SCP (28): Kaylie Kopra 10, Brodala 6, Stafford 6, Fisher 3, Dost 1, E.Ko- pra 1, Wills 1. AST (42): Brooklynn Hankwitz 12, Hemsley 9, DeMander 8, Wallace 4, O’Brien 4, Gimre 3, Cummings 2, Norris, Jackson. Scappoose 7 5 9 7—28 Astoria 4 18 6 14—42 The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. eomediagroup.com
