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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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WINTER OLYMPICS
Russians
earn their
1st gold
As of Friday morning, Feb. 23
TOP 10 MEDAL
WINNERS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Norway
Germany
Canada
United States
Netherlands
Sweden
France
Austria
South Korea
Switzerland
B
T
G
S
13
14
10 37
13
7
6 26
10
8
9 27
8
7
6 21
8
6
4 18
6
5
0 11
5
4
6 15
5
2
6 13
4
4
4 12
3
6
4 13
Germany tops
Canada in hockey
By DENNIS WASZAK JR.
and DAVID BRANDT
Associated Press
Olympics coverage at bit.ly/DAOlympics
SPONSORED BY:
J&S Appliance &
Home Furnishings
JandSappliance.com
2nd Russian
athlete tests
positive for doping
Associated Press
GANGNEUNG,
South
Korea — A second Russian ath-
lete failed a doping test at the
Pyeongchang Games, a day
before the International Olym-
pic Committee’s executive board
is to decide whether to reinstate
the country for Sunday’s closing
ceremony.
Russian Bobsled Federation
President Alexander Zubkov told
The Associated Press on Friday
that a drug-test sample given by
Nadezhda Sergeeva on Sunday
was positive.
The Russian delegation said
in a statement the substance was
trimetazidine, a medication used
to treat angina. It affects metabo-
lism and is banned by the World
Anti-Doping Agency.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls basketball — Astoria at Molalla,
6:30 p.m.; Warrenton at Coquille, 7 p.m.
Boys basketball — Reedsport at
Knappa, 6 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Northwest All-League
Player of the Year: Maddie Lambert,
Neah-Kah-Nie
Defensive Player of the Year: Maddie
Lambert, Neah-Kah-Nie
Coach of the Year: Nicole Damazio,
City Christian
First Team
Maddie Lambert, Sr., Neah-Kah-Nie
Katie Fajer, Sr., Faith Bible
Sarah Fajer, Sr., Faith Bible
Charity Hall, Sr., Gaston
Emilee Owens, So., City
Jordan Walters, So., Vernonia
Second Team
Joyce Everett, Jr., Vernonia
Shasta Faria, Sr., City
Holly Ishibashi, So., City
Lilly Johnson, So., Gaston
Olivia Leslie, So., Nestucca
Paris Vanderburg, Sr., Knappa
Honorable Mention
Courtney Barklow, Sr., Vernonia
Sophia Carlson, So., Knappa
Delilah Carter, Sr., Columbia
Nene Castillo, Jr., City
Shamilee Chatelain, Fr., Nestucca
Anna Goodloe, Fr., Faith Bible
Diana Lewis, Sr., Gaston
Aiko Miller, So., Knappa
Yatzari Ozuna, Jr., Nestucca
Yolanta Penn, So., Faith Bible
Avery Smith, Jr., Neah-Kah-Nie
Mara Soans, Jr., Neah-Kah-Nie
Izzy Steerman, Fr., Faith Bible
Madelynn Weaver, So., Knappa
Sportsmanship: Nestucca
BOYS BASKETBALL
Northwest All-League
Player of the Year: Clay Sullivan, Ver-
nonia
Defensive Player of the Year: Isiah
Mariscal, Columbia
Coach of the Year: Bart Valentine
First Team
Clay Sullivan, Sr., Vernonia
Ben Gregg, Fr., Columbia
Isiah Mariscal, So., Columbia
Riley Marshall, Jr., Gaston
Cole Strober, Sr., Nestucca
Dale Takalo, Sr., Knappa
Eli Takalo, So., Knappa
Second Team
Dominic Blake, Jr., Columbia
Chase Dorsey, Jr., Neah-Kah-Nie
Jakob Handegard, Jr., Vernonia
Ian Knox, Jr., City
Blake Lambert, So., Life
Mitchell Richwine, So., Nestucca
Colton Weirup, Sr., Knappa
Honorable Mention
Ethan Bishop, Sr., Columbia
Dylan Carpenter, Jr., Faith Bible
Max Fox, Jr., Gaston
Sam Holm, Sr., Neah-Kah-Nie
Tristan Lund, Jr., Gaston
Luca Marrazzo, Jr., Delphian
Elijah Munyan, Fr., Columbia
Caleb Predmore, Jr., Faith Bible
Joe Ramvick, So., Knappa
Nik Rex, Jr., Faith Bible
Ytbarek Solomon, Jr., City
Kale Sullivan, So., Vernonia
Wayne Yang, Sr., Delphian
Sportsmanship: Nestucca
Photos by Krissy Barendse-Goodman/For The Daily Astorian
Knappa’s Eli Takalo, left, and Dale Takalo were both first-team all-league selections.
Knappa hosts Reedsport in
Sweet 16 game of playoffs
The Daily Astorian
I
t will be the state playoff vet-
erans against the postseason
rookies Friday night at Knappa,
where the Loggers are set to host
the Reedsport Braves in a Sweet
16 game of the Class 2A boys bas-
ketball state playoffs.
Tip-off is at 6 p.m. Doors open
at 5 p.m., $6 for adults, $4 for
students.
And the Braves (16-6 overall)
are facing a near-impossible task
— beating Knappa on the Log-
gers’ home floor in a state playoff
game.
Knappa (22-4 overall) is 11-1
at home this season, including
wins over No. 1-ranked West-
ern Mennonite and No. 2-ranked
Columbia Christian. Their only
loss was to Toledo in the season
opener, when the Loggers had less
than a week of practice following
the football season.
Knappa lost three games at
home last season, to Columbia
Christian, Astoria and 4A state
champion Seaside.
The Loggers’ playoff record is
also just plain impressive. Knappa
has missed the post-season just
once in the last 14 years, with six
trips to the state tournament since
2006-07.
“That’s just something when
you play or coach for Knappa —
you expect to be in the playoffs,”
said Knappa coach Chris Spencer.
“Our players have that experience.
Even Dale as a freshman saw sig-
nificant time his first year and has
been there.”
Reedsport’s state playoff his-
tory? The Braves lost a first-round
game at Westside Christian on
Feb. 22, 2005. That was Reed-
sport’s last appearance in the state
playoffs.
Even more daunting for the
Braves — the Loggers have not
only won their last four Sweet 16
playoff games at home, the scores
have been 70-45 over Union,
86-47 over Yoncalla, 95-34 over
Monroe and 84-67 over Heppner.
From left to right, Knappa sophomores Aiko Miller, Madelynn
Weaver and Sophia Carlson all earned all-league honors.
Knappa’s Paris Vanderburg
was selected to the all-league
second team.
Still, “(The Braves) have three
good guards and a couple of good
posts,” Spencer said. “They have
an athletic point guard (Tyreece
Gardner), a good heady player
(Marc Chaney, son of coach Alan
Chaney) and another (Korde Par-
menter) who shoots well and plays
good D.”
Knappa has not played since a
64-44 loss to Columbia Christian
last Saturday, in the league playoff
tournament at Forest Grove.
The Loggers did come away
with their usual handful of all-
league players.
Knappa placed four players on
this year’s all-league squad. Their
fifth starter also would have been
included, but missed three weeks
of the league season.
Senior Dale Takalo narrowly
missed the league’s Player of the
Year award, which went to Verno-
nia senior Clay Sullivan.
Takalo was joined on the first
team by sophomore (and brother)
Eli Takalo.
Senior Colton Weirup earned
second team honors, and sopho-
more Joe Ramvick was selected
honorable mention.
The Knappa girls also had four
starters named all-league.
Senior Paris Vanderburg
earned first-team honors, while
sophomores Sophia Carlson, Aiko
Miller and Madelynn Weaver were
all selected honorable mention.
The NWL Player of the Year
was Neah-Kah-Nie senior Mad-
die Lambert, while league cham-
pion Faith Bible had all five start-
ers earn all-league honors.
Silent Shani: Davis finishes 7th in 1,000 at 5th Olympics
By BETH HARRIS
Associted Press
GANGNEUNG, South Korea
— Shani Davis let his skating do his
talking in his last event at the Pyeongc-
hang Olympics.
The four-time Olympic medalist
finished seventh in the 1,000 meters on
Friday, waved to the fans inside Gang-
neung Oval and disappeared below the
ice.
Whether Davis had just skated in
his fifth and final Olympics at age 35
remains to be seen.
He declined to speak to media
when asked to by a U.S. Speedskat-
ing spokesman and instructed his
sometime-coach Tom Cushman of the
American staff not to talk to reporters
either.
Davis’ time in Pyeongchang
involved a mix of controversy and
public silence.
He declined to attend the opening
ceremony after losing a coin toss to
decide the U.S. flag bearer in a process
he said was handled “dishonorably.”
His tweet about it implied race might
have been an issue, but he chose not to
explain further.
Davis was assailed online in what
became one of the few controversies of
the games.
He finished 19th in the 1,500, his
only other event in South Korea.
He briefly talked to reporters after
that race, saying, “The ice is super-fast.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t.”
However, when questions turned to
his tweet about the tie-breaking pro-
cedure used to choose the flag bearer,
Davis said he only wanted to focus on
skating queries.
Davis skated his signature dis-
tance in 1 minute, 8.78 seconds. He
still holds the 1,000 world record of
1:06.42 set nine years ago in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
After coming off the ice Friday,
Davis dodged waiting reporters and
took another route to the locker room.
Athletes are required to walk through
the media mixed zone after their events
whether they talk or not, and those who
don’t can be subject to sanction by the
International Olympic Committee.
PYEONGCHANG,
South
Korea — The Russians finally
won a gold medal at the Pyeo-
ngchang Olympics. The Cana-
dian men’s hockey team won’t
even get the chance after losing
to Germany.
Alina Zagitova edged train-
ing partner Evgenia Medvedeva
on Friday in figure skating, giv-
ing the Russians a reason to cele-
brate a 1-2 finish.
“I haven’t fully realized yet
that I’ve won,” the 15-year-old
Zagitova said. “I think I need
some time to understand that I
won the Olympic Games.”
She and Medvedeva tied in
the free skate with 156.65 points,
but Zagitova had won the short
program Wednesday — giving
her the edge by only 1.31 points.
“I can’t believe I am the cham-
pion,” Zagitova said.
The
Russians’
gold
drought had been one of
the ongoing story lines of the
games, and they were running
out of time to get one — although
those concerns were eased a bit
by Zagitova and Medvedeva
coming into the day in prime
position to win.
Now, the Russians should
have a great shot at another gold
medal with the men’s hockey
team advancing to the final after
a 3-0 victory over the Czech
Republic. They’ll face the Ger-
mans, who shocked two-time
defending champion Canada
4-3 to advance to Sunday’s title
game.
Germany jumped out to
leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before
Canada rallied to get back in
the game during the third
period. They came close, but will
do no better than bronze when
they face the Czech Republic on
Saturday.
“We deserve to be there and
the best team will win,” Russian
forward Ilya Kovalchuk said.
“We will be ready for the game,
for sure.”
Switzerland topped Canada to
win the bronze medal in men’s
curling. The gold-medal game
between the U.S. and Sweden is
Saturday.
Kelsey Serwa of Canada won
the gold in women’s skicross,
adding to the silver she won four
years ago in Sochi.
Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands
took the men’s 1,000 meters in
speedskating, edging Havard
Lorentzen of Norway by 0.04
seconds. Nuis also won the 1,500
last week.
Martin Fourcade fell short in
his bid for his fourth Olympic
gold medal in South Korea as
France finished fifth in the men’s
4x7.5-kilometer biathlon relay,
won by Sweden.
In Gangneung, Zagitova
skated first and she nailed every-
thing during her program to “Don
Quixote.” The 18-year-old Med-
vedeva matched Zagitova — but
that wasn’t good enough to bring
home the gold.
“I put everything out there
that I had,” Medvedeva said. “I
left everything on the ice. I have
no regrets.”
Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada,
who had considered retirement,
won the bronze.
A few hours later, Vasily
Koshechkin stopped all 31 shots
he faced to help the Russians
advance in men’s hockey.
Nikita Gusev and Vladislav
Gavrikov scored goals 27 sec-
onds apart in the second period,
and Kovalchuk added an emp-
ty-netter with 20.9 seconds left to
seal the Russians’ first trip to the
final since 1998.
“It is huge for us and the play-
ers and for the country,” Russian
forward Mikhail Grigorenko said
of playing for the gold. “It would
mean everything to us.”