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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017
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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
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