10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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GIRLS WRESTLING
BOYS WRESTLING
Warrenton
sixth at
Lady Elks
Invitational
Knappa competes in Lumberjack Classic
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
LONGVIEW, Wash. — Knappa
scored 56 points to place eighth Sat-
urday in the Lumberjack Wrestling
Classic.
The Loggers were one of two
schools from Oregon in the 10-team
meet, along with ninth-place Clatskanie.
Centralia won the team title with
183.5 points, ahead of Castle Rock.
“The team competed well again,
considering we are a small school and
small team,” said Knappa coach Dan
Owings. “This is the competition we
need to help us do better at District.”
Knappa had two third-place finish-
ers. Isaac Goozee won three and lost
one for third at 182 pounds, and team-
mate David Patterson went 3-1 at 220.
Kaleb Roe added a fourth-place finish
at 170.
The Loggers compete Wednes-
day (4 p.m.) at Neah-Kah-Nie, a meet
which will seed wrestlers for the
upcoming district meet, Feb. 2-3.
Team scores: Centralia 183.5, Cas-
tle Rock 130.5, Fife 127, East Val-
ley Yakima 110.5, Mountain View
94.5, RA Long 91, Mark Morris 82.5,
Knappa 56, Clatskanie 41, Woodland
15.
HOOD RIVER — The War-
renton girls wrestling team tuned
up for this week’s state tournament
by taking part Saturday at the Lady
Elks Invitational in Hood River.
And the Warriors will have high
hopes at state following another
successful meet, as Warrenton
placed sixth out of 26 teams.
Wrestling powerhouses Thur-
ston (196 points) and Hood River
Valley (155.5) finished first and
second, respectively, followed by
Century (115), Columbia White
Salmon (110), Bend (87) and War-
renton (86).
‘We gained
valuable
experience.’
Corey Conant
Warrenton coach
“We gained valuable expe-
rience and stood toe to toe with
some of the better wrestlers in the
state,” said Warrenton coach Corey
Conant.
Highlights for the Lady War-
riors included a third-place fin-
ish (out of 21 wrestlers) for Alma
Bolanos in the 129-pound bracket.
Bolanos capped her day with a
pin (2:39) over Century’s Nawal
Maysi in the third-place match.
After a first-round bye, Bola-
nos scored falls over wrestlers
from Century and Scappoose,
before a loss to Hood River’s Lexie
McCafferty.
“Alma never quits, she tires
people out and frequently pins girls
when she is behind in the match,”
Conant said.
Teammate Anna Schenbeck
placed eighth in the same bracket.
Warrenton junior Sahanna
Rodriguez took fifth at 104. Soph-
omore Isabella Carr did not place at
139, but was leading the eventual
champion (Hood River’s Elena
Kroll) until the final seconds of the
third round.
At 184, junior Libby Rehnert
took third and sophomore Dom
Verley finished fifth.
At 224, sophomore Jade Fre-
niere finished third, pinning Aryah
Nelson of Columbia White Salmon
in 1:11 in the consolation final.
Ruby Dyer was second out of two
wrestlers at 285.
“We pinned a lot of wres-
tlers and finished one point out of
the top five,” Conant said. “The
schools that finished above us have
four to five times as many students
as we do, but the girls that we bring
out have done a phenomenal job all
season. It’s on to state next week-
end and we look forward to seeing
how high this team can finish.”
The state competition will take
place at Thurston High School in
Springfield.
Team scores (top 10): Thurston
196, Hood River 155.5, Century
115, Columbia White Salmon 110,
Bend 87, Warrenton 86, Columbia
Burbank 53, Liberty 47, Lincoln
37, Scappoose 30.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Boys basketball — Astoria at Tilla-
mook, 6 p.m.; Seaside at Valley Catho-
lic, 6 p.m.; Portland Adventist at Warren-
ton, 6 p.m.; Neah-Kah-Nie at Knappa,
7:45 p.m.; Ilwaco at Raymond, 7 p.m.;
Naselle at Columbia Adventist, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball — Astoria at Til-
lamook, 7:45 p.m.; Seaside at Valley
Catholic, 7:45 p.m.; Portland Adventist
at Warrenton, 7:30 p.m.; Neah-Kah-Nie
at Knappa, 6 p.m.; Oregon School for
the Deaf at Jewell, 5:30 p.m.; Naselle at
Columbia Adventist, 5:30 p.m.
Swimming — Scappoose at Astoria,
4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Wrestling — Astoria/Banks at Sea-
side, 5:30 p.m.
THURSDAY
Girls basketball — Knappa at Ver-
nonia, 6 p.m.; Life Christian at Ilwaco,
7 p.m.
Boys basketball — Knappa at Ver-
nonia, 7:45 p.m.; Firm Foundation at
Naselle, 7 p.m.
AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati
Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States loses her balance during a World Cup giant slalom in San Vigilio di Marebbe, Italy.
Shiffrin opens up on
struggles in recent races
By ANDREW DAMPF
Associated Press
SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy —
Mikaela Shiffrin doesn’t need to look at social
media to see what people are saying about her.
After failing to finish two straight races
with next month’s Pyeongchang Olympics rap-
idly approaching, the overall World Cup leader
knows what her critics are thinking.
“I can see it in my mind, ‘Mikaela Shif-
frin faltering before the Olympics.’ And, ‘The
streak is coming to an end,’” Shiffrin said Tues-
day after an uncharacteristic fall in the first run
of a giant slalom. “But I’m not really worried
about what other people think. That’s a differ-
ent place that I’m in this year compared to last
year.
“I’m not invincible. I’m fighting every sin-
gle race and you start to hear people say, ‘It’s
boring because Mikaela is winning everything.’
Well, it’s not boring today,” Shiffrin said in an
interview with The Associated Press. “I am in a
good place mentally and I don’t feel like today
or the race in Cortina (Sunday’s super-G, in
which she missed a gate) is a sign. There are
logical explanations for why I DNF’d in both
races.”
In the GS, Shiffrin lost control of her inside
ski coming around a turn as she entered the
toughest section of a slope named Erta, which
translates as steep. With a gradient of 61 per-
cent in that section, Shiffrin slid a long way
down the course but immediately got up and
was not injured.
“These things happen,” said Jeff Lackie,
one of Shiffrin’s coaches. “They don’t typically
happen with Mikaela because she’s so consis-
tent. But anytime you add speed you have to be
that much more diligent about being well bal-
anced over the outside ski.”
It marked the first time in more than six
years that Shiffrin failed to finish two consecu-
tive races. The last time came in back-to-back
slaloms in Courchevel, France, and Flachau,
Austria, in December 2011 — before the Amer-
ican registered her first World Cup podium.
“Now is a good time if it has to hap-
pen,” Lackie said. “I would rather it happen
now and give her the opportunity to
recalibrate and refocus.”
Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany returned
from two weeks in bed with the flu to claim
her third win of the season, while Ragnhild
Mowinckel of Norway and defending cham-
pion Federica Brignone of Italy came second
and third, respectively, at the Kronplatz resort.
Shiffrin had been undefeated this year in the
technical disciplines of GS, slalom and parallel
slalom with five straight wins. And while she
has been dominant in slalom with seven wins
in eight races this season, she has only won two
of six GS races — with Rebensburg and Bri-
gnone gathering the other victories.
“There are many strong girls in the
GS races,” Rebensburg said “It’s not just
(Shiffrin).”
Still, Shiffrin was distraught after her error,
retreating immediately to the team hotel with-
out first stopping to review the race with her
mother and coach, Eileen, as she usually does.
“I don’t think she should be too disap-
pointed,” Eileen Shiffrin said. “She made a
mistake getting on her inside ski. I’m sure she
won’t do that again.”
Murray’s 38 points lead Nuggets over Trail Blazers
By MICHAEL KELLY
Associated Press
DENVER — Jamal Murray
showed he can be the closer the Den-
ver Nuggets have been looking for all
season.
The second-year guard scored a
career-high 38 points, including a
go-ahead three-point play in the final
minute, and Denver beat the Portland
Trail Blazers 104-101 on Monday
night.
After a solid rookie season, Mur-
ray has emerged as a leader this year
on a team that lacks a go-to player in
the fourth quarter. He embraced that
role Monday in a game the Nuggets
needed.
“Jamal Murray’s a guy that can
make (shots) throughout the game
but he can also make big plays down
the stretch,” Denver coach Michael
Malone said. “It’s great to see a young,
20-year-old guard, second year in the
NBA, who’s not afraid of the moment.”
Nikola Jokic had 16 points and 12
rebounds, and Will Barton hit four free
throws in the final 10 seconds to secure
the win and spoil Jusuf Nurkic’s return
to Denver.
The Nuggets had lost six of eight.
Seahawks part
ways with
defensive
assistant Jones
Associated Press
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier, left, defends as Denver
Nuggets guard Jamal Murray drives the lane to the rim in the first half
of Monday’s game in Denver.
“We needed this win,” Murray said.
“It was a division game and we had
lost a few in a row. To come out here at
home and get this W, it’s going to get
us back started again.”
Nurkic had 19 points, 12 rebounds
and three blocks in his first game back
at Pepsi Center. Damian Lillard had 25
points and seven assists for Portland.
Nurkic played two-plus seasons
with the Nuggets to begin his career,
and was playing his first game in Den-
ver since getting dealt to Portland
last season. He received a smattering
of boos when he was introduced as a
starter and a few during the game.
RENTON, Wash. — The Seat-
tle Seahawks have “mutually
parted ways” with defensive assis-
tant coach Travis Jones after five
seasons with the team.
The Seahawks announced the
decision Monday. Jones served
as Seattle’s defensive line coach
from 2013-16 and moved into a
defensive assistant role with the
team for the 2017 season.
Jones, 45, joined Seattle the
year the Seahawks won the Super
Bowl with the best defense in
the NFL. Before joining the Sea-
hawks, Jones spent five seasons
as a coach with the New Orleans
Saints.
Clint Hurtt was Seattle’s defen-
sive line coach in 2017.
Jones is the fifth member of
Seattle’s coaching staff from
the 2017 season that will not be
returning.