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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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BASKETBALL
Three Warrenton girls selected all-league
As of Wednesday morning, Feb. 21
TOP 10 MEDAL
WINNERS
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Norway
Germany
Canada
Netherlands
United States
France
Sweden
South Korea
Austria
Japan
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B
13
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9
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7
5
9
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The Daily Astorian
The Warrenton girls basketball
team landed three players and a coach
on the Lewis & Clark All-League
girls basketball team, released last
week.
Head coach Robert Hoepfl shared
the girls’ Coach of the Year award
with Rainier’s Doug Knox.
Warrenton senior Tyla Little was
one of six players named to the first
team. Junior Claire Bussert was
selected second team, and junior
Olympics coverage at bit.ly/DAOlympics
Fernanda
Alva-
rez earned third
team honors. Six
more players were
selected honorable
mention, giving the
league 24 players on
Tyla
the all-league team.
Little
Rainier senior
Desirae
Hansen,
who will play next year at Portland
State, was named the league’s Player
of the Year.
League champion Rainier and
second-place Clats-
kanie each had
just three play-
ers selected to the
squad. Fourth-place
De La Salle led with
five players on the
Robert
all-league team.
Hoepfl
Little is War-
renton’s first player
named to the first team since Mady
Hanna (2011 and 2012).
It’s the seventh time that a War-
renton coach has been named as
a league Coach of the Year, with
Hoepfl joining Don Lampi (1993,
1994) and John Mattila (1998, 1999,
2009, 2010).
No Warrenton players were
selected to the 26-player all-league
boys’ team. Player of the Year was
De La Salle senior Emmanuel Rei-
ley, and Coach of the Year was De La
Salle’s James Broadous. The league
champion Knights had six players
named all-league.
For complete teams, see
Scoreboard.
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OLYMPICS
IN BRIEF
Czechs eliminate
US in shootout
in quarterfinals
Associated Press
GANGNEUNG, South Korea
— Pavel Francouz stopped all five
shooters and Petr Koukal scored
the shootout winner as the Czech
Republic eliminated the United
States from the Olympics with a
3-2 victory in the quarterfinals
Wednesday.
Jan Kovar and Tomas Kun-
dratek scored in regulation for
the Czech Republic, which was
fresher after winning its group
and getting a bye into the quarter-
finals. The U.S. looked fatigued
after facing Slovakia in the qual-
ification round a day earlier and
was outshot 29-20.
Ryan Donato and Jim
Slater scored for the U.S, which
again was led by its youngest
players, including speedster Troy
Terry.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls basketball — Seaside at Asto-
ria, 4 p.m.; Southwest Christian at Jew-
ell, 7 p.m. (weather permitting)
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lewis & Clark All-League
Player of the Year: Desirae Hansen,
Rainier
Coaches of the Year: Robert Hoepfl,
Warrenton; Doug Knox, Rainier
First Team
Desirae Hansen, Sr., Rainier
Shelby Blodgett, Fr., Clatskanie
Tyla Little, Sr., Warrenton
Emma MacLachlan, Sr., P.Adventist
Olivia Sprague, Fr., Clatskanie
Zoe Zurasky, Jr., Riverdale
Second Team
May Brannon, Sr., De La Salle
Claire Bussert, Jr., Warrenton
Sarygh Dalton, Sr., De La Salle
Lauren Han, Fr., OR Episcopal
Jaela McKinney, Jr., P.Christian
Aspen Norman, Sr., Rainier
Third Team
Fernanda Alvarez, Jr., Warrenton
Journie Conard, So., P.Christian
Dedaes McGautha, Sr., Catlin Gabel
Raven Pearce, Fr., De La Salle
Josie Petersen, Jr., P.Adventist
Olivia Warren, Sr., Clatskanie
Honorable Mention
Grace Borbon, Fr., OR Episcopal
Hannah Farrell, So., Rainier
My’Zhane Fesser, Jr., De La Salle
MinYaun Miller, Jr., De La Salle
Megan Ruoff, Sr., OR Episcopal
Sophia Spry, Fr., Catlin Gabel
Sportsmanship: Catlin Gabel
DROUGHT OVER
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth
United States’ Jessica Diggins, left, and Kikkan Randall celebrate after winning the gold medal in women’s team sprint freestyle
cross-country skiing.
US women win 1st Olympic cross-country medal
By STEVE REED
Associated Press
P
YEONGCHANG, South Korea — As
she headed up the steepest, most gru-
eling hill of her life in third place, Jes-
sica Diggins thought to herself just winning an
Olympic medal was no longer good enough.
She wanted more. She wanted gold.
Diggins dug deep, remembering all the
years of training she had put in, and of all her
teammates waiting for her at the finish line to
bring home the United States’ first medal ever
in women’s cross-country skiing — and then
she let loose.
Diggins reached the peak of the hill in
third place but sped past Norway’s Maiken
Caspersen Falla on the last big, winding
downhill. She rounded the final corner and
took dead aim at Sweden’s Stina Nilsson on
the final 100-meter homestretch.
The crowd in the grandstand was on its
feet sensing history, and at that moment Dig-
gins said she felt “unstoppable.”
“Around that final corner I felt like I was
uncoiling a spring and letting it go,” Diggins
said. “Giving it everything I had, digging as
deep as I could and putting it all out there.
When your team is counting on you, you don’t
give up ever.”
Diggins certainly didn’t give up.
She blew by Nilsson in a blur to capture
gold in the team sprint, bringing the United
States its first gold medal ever in cross-coun-
try skiing.
As she crossed the line she collapsed in
exhaustion as teammate Kikkan Randall tack-
led her in the snow. Randall lay on top of a
crying Diggins shaking her ski jacket in pure
excitement and utter joy.
“That feeling of being able to cross the line
and have Kikkan tackle me was the coolest
thing ever,” Diggins said.
It was fitting Randall was her partner on
the two-woman team. She has been through
all of the tough times, competing with the
American cross-country ski team since the
2002 Salt Lake City Games. She said it was
also fitting that the American women won
their first medal in a team event.
“I got to see in 2013 when we won the
world championships ... that team gold is
worth far more than any individual accolade,”
the 35-year-old Randall said. “What really
kept me going over the last four years was try-
ing to contribute toward a team medal. To do
it with Jessie one more time is just amazing.”
So move over Bill Koch, you have com-
pany — finally.
Koch was the only other American to win a
medal in cross-country, taking home silver at
the 1976 Innsbruck Games.
Diggins and Randall ended that 42-year
drought and surely gave a huge boost to all of
the young cross-country skiers back home in
the United States.
Goggia beats Vonn; Bjoergen sets Winter Games medals mark
BOYS BASKETBALL
Lewis & Clark All-League
Player of the Year: Emmanuel Reiley,
De La Salle
Coach of the Year: James Broadous,
De La Salle
First Team
Emmanuel Reiley, Sr., De La Salle
Sasha Agapiev, Jr., Catlin Gabel
Tyshawn Ford, Sr., P.Adventist
Ian Holzman, Sr., OR Episcopal
Caymon Rea, Sr., Rainier
Dusten Sewald, Sr., Clatskanie
Second Team
Kadren Addy, Sr., De La Salle
Colby Bullard, Sr., OR Episcopal
Dawson Carr, Sr., Rainier
Ubedei McGautha, Fr., Catlin Gabel
Kadeem Nelson, Jr., De La Salle
Dee Pennington, Sr., P.Christian
Third Team
Dylan Irvine, Jr., P.Adventist
Rowan Hoffman, Sr., Catlin Gabel
Kai Munoz, Jr., P.Christian
Clayton Pelz, Jr., Riverdale
Joey Tripp, Jr., Rainier
Lucas VanderPloeg, Jr., P.Christian
Honorable Mention
Theo Aclan, Jr., De La Salle
Brad Antal, Jr., P.Christian
Whit Horning, Jr., Riverdale
Devon Jones, Jr., Clatskanie
Anthony Mosley, Jr., De La Salle
George Sadi, So., De La Salle
Jett Sheng, So., Catlin Gabel
Ryan Watson, Sr., Clatskanie
Sportsmanship: Portland Adventist
By DENNIS WASZAK JR.
Associated Press
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea
— Sofia Goggia refused to let Lind-
sey Vonn catch her. Or, anyone else.
The Italian skier won the wom-
en’s downhill Wednesday , holding
off Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway
by 0.09 seconds and Vonn by 0.47
seconds.
“I was really focused — I moved
like a samurai,” Goggia said. “Usu-
ally, I’m really chaotic, but I wanted
to take in every little detail, every
particular in the morning. I believed
in myself. And then what counts,
counts.”
Speaking of counting, Marit Bjo-
ergen has had to do plenty of it during
her Olympic career. She became the
most-decorated Winter Olympian of
all time with 14 career medals, get-
ting the latest when Norway won the
bronze in the women’s team sprint in
cross-country skiing .
“When you’re still an athlete you
just have focus on other races,” Bjo-
ergen said. “I think I’ll need to have
time to myself and look behind me
AP Photo/Christophe Ena
Lindsey Vonn wipes her face
while speaking at a press con-
ference after winning the bronze
medal in the women’s downhill.
and look how I’ve been able to do
this. It’s still hard to understand it
when I’m standing here.”
While Bjoergen’s milestone was
the highlight, the United States’ vic-
tory in the event was its first Olym-
pic gold in women’s cross-country
skiing.
Norway won the men’s sprint, giv-
ing the country its 13th cross-country
medal at the games to tie an Olympic
record, and added gold in the men’s
speedskating team pursuit with a win
over South Korea in the final. Japan
beat defending champion the Nether-
lands in an Olympic record to win the
women’s team pursuit, and the U.S.
women picked up bronze.
Mariama Jamanka won the wom-
en’s bobsled, giving Germany its fifth
gold medal in eight sliding events so
far at Pyeongchang.
Meanwhile, the Russian athletes
are still sitting at zero in the gold
medals column. But that number
could change soon.
Teen figure skaters Alina Zagitova
and Evgenia Medvedeva were in first
and second place , respectively, in the
women’s short program after earning
the highest scores ever. That leaves
them both in good position to come
up with gold heading into the free
skate Friday.
“I was very happy when I saw the
score, but I did not expect it,” said the
15-year-old Zagitova, who had 82.92
points. “Now my name will be con-
nected to that record.”
Brady Leman of Canada won the
men’s skicross , beating Marc Bis-
chofberger of Switzerland in a wild
final — after some scary elimina-
tion rounds during which a handful of
crashes forced several men to leave
the course on medical sleds.
Finland won the bronze in wom-
en’s hockey with a 3-2 victory over
the Russian team. The gold-medal
game between the United States and
Canada is Thursday.
At Jeongseon Alpine Center, Gog-
gia was behind on the leaderboard
at the top, but sped up near the bot-
tom of the hill. It was enough to keep
Vonn just out of reach when she raced
two spots later.
“I gave it all today, skied a great
race,” Vonn said. “Sofia just skied
better than I did.”
Meanwhile, the 33-year-old Vonn
likely completed her final Olympic
downhill race. She will compete in
the combined, along with American
teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, and that
will be her last race in Pyeongchang.
“It’s sad,” Vonn said. “It’s my last
downhill. I wish I could keep going.
I’m having so much fun and I love
what I do, but my body just can’t take
another four years. But I’m proud to
be competing for my country, giving
it all and proud to come away with a
medal.”