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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, MAy 23, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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HOMETOWN REPORT
Barnett heads to track nationals
first baseman/third baseman, has a .976
fielding percentage and assisted in 13
double plays, with a team-leading 175
putouts. Was recently named second
team all-conference.
Darian Hageman, freshman, Ore-
gon State track: Not competing this
spring, but Hageman had three of Ore-
gon State’s top seven jumps in the tri-
ple jump in the indoor season, includ-
ing a 36-4 in the Don Kirby Classic.
Trey Hageman, freshman, Linn-Ben-
ton baseball: Batting .255, with 12 hits
(three doubles) and eight RBIs. Splits
time at first base with Fremstad.
Halie Korff, junior, Western Oregon
track.
McKailyn Rogers, freshman, Mt.
Hood softball.
Kyle Strange, freshman, Lane CC
baseball.
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
he NAIA has officially
announced the complete entry
list for the upcoming track
and field national championships,
and the list includes a former Astoria
Fisherman.
Tim Barnett, a freshman at the Ore-
gon Institute of Technology in Klamath
Falls, is one of a school-record 14 ath-
letes from OIT who will make the trip
to nationals, scheduled to run Thursday
through Saturday.
This year’s NAIA championship
meet will take place at Mickey Miller
Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores,
Alabama, where approximately 127
schools will compete for the national
title.
Oregon Tech will be represented by
seven men and seven women athletes,
while Barnett is one of three freshman
who will compete for the Owls.
The former Astoria athlete had a
busy two days in the recent Cascade
Collegiate Conference championship
meet, May 10-11 in Ashland.
His best finish was in the shot put,
where he had a toss of 14.34 meters
(just over 47 feet) for fourth place and
five team points.
Barnett added a fifth-place show-
ing in the discus (44.90 meters, or 147
feet, 4 inches), and seventh in the jav-
elin (53.96).
And it was the javelin in which
Barnett qualified for nationals, where
he will be seeded 27th going into the
meet.
OIT also happens to have the
defending national champion in the
javelin, in sophomore Hunter Drops.
T
Hinton helps
Bearcats to record finish
Seaside graduate Sam Hinton, now
a senior at Willamette University, tied
for 32nd overall in the individual stand-
ings of the NCAA Division III men’s
golf championships at the Keene Trace
Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Final round action took place May 17.
Willamette finished 13th in the team
standings, in its first trip to the NCAA
Division III championships. It was
also the best-ever finish at a national
championship event for the Bearcats in
men’s golf.
Hinton finished in a six-way tie with
Jackson Arnsdorf,
Corban
Niqui Blodgett,
George Fox
Seaside
Jackson Kunde, freshman, SW Ore-
gon golf.
Brad Rzewnicki, sophomore, Gon-
zaga track.
Danielle (Willyard) Buhler, junior,
NW Christian track.
Laura (Sibley) Lovell, Linfield
assistant track coach.
Warrenton
Niqui Blodgett (Jewell HS), fresh-
man, George Fox softball.
Knappa
Oregon Institute of Technology
In his first year at OIT, freshman Tim Barnett will throw the javelin in the national
championship track meet for the Owls.
an overall score of 302. He earned Wil-
lamette’s low round of the tournament
with a 71 in the second round, and
carded a 77 in the first, third and fourth
rounds.
Senior teammate Kenneth Shel-
don, from Ilwaco, shot 315 during the
championships. Sheldon shot 77, 81,
79 and 78.
The final round included two eagles
for Willamette, both by the local golf-
ers. Sheldon recorded a three on the
par-5, 552-yard 14th hole. Hinton, who
had an eagle on the 14th hole in Thurs-
day’s round, added an eagle three on
the par-5, 515-yard sixth hole Friday.
Danielle (Willyard)
Buhler, NW Christian
Natalie Cummings,
Portland State
Besides Barnett and Hinton, other
locals competing at the collegiate level
this spring:
Astoria
Jackson Arnsdorf, sophomore, Cor-
ban baseball: Started three games for
the Warriors, and finished his soph-
omore season with a 3-4 record, with
two saves.
Natalie Cummings, sophomore,
Portland State track.
Fridtjof Fremstad, sophomore,
Linn-Benton baseball: In 34 games,
hitting .304 (31-102) with 24 runs
scored, four doubles and 16 RBIs. As a
Sam Hinton,
Willamette
Halie Korff,
Western Oregon
Reuben Acosta Cruz, freshman,
Linn-Benton baseball.
Devin Lewis-Allen, senior, Eastern
Oregon track: At the recent Cascade
Collegiate Conference championships
in Ashland, Lewis-Allen led the EOU
men’s team with a second-place finish
in the 400 meters, despite running with
a sore calf muscle. He crossed the fin-
ish line in 49.20 seconds to earn all-
CCC honors.
Kaleb Miller, freshman, Clark
baseball.
Dale Takalo, freshman, Blue Moun-
tain baseball: Has made 15 appear-
ances on the mound for the Timber-
wolves, with a 9.17 earned run average.
Has allowed 25 hits and 18 runs in 17.2
innings pitched, with seven strikeouts
and six walks.
Ilwaco
Kenneth Sheldon, senior, Willa-
mette golf.
Jackson Kunde,
SW Oregon
Brad Rzewnicki,
Gonzaga
Trail Blazers’ cohesiveness helped them to conference finals
Coach Stotts signs
multiyear contract;
Lillard in line for
supermax extension
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — The Portland
Trail Blazers faced a number of
challenges on the journey to their
first Western Conference finals in
19 years.
But there was one they couldn’t
overcome: The Golden State
Warriors.
Portland’s run in the playoffs,
which captured fans’ imaginations
after Damian Lillard’s buzzer-beat-
ing 3-pointer to clinch the open-
ing-round series over the Thunder,
ended with a sweep by the defend-
ing champions.
“We put together a great season
and we put ourselves in position to
go to the Finals,” Lillard said. “I
think every other team in the league
would wish they could be in our
shoes; not only making the play-
offs but playing for an opportunity
to get a chance to go to the Finals.
We just ran up on a team who has
been there the last four years.”
Portland was coming off two
straight seasons that ended with
first-round playoff sweeps. The
team, which had surprisingly lit-
tle turnover over those years, came
AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer
Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, and Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard
talk at the end of Game 4.
into the season unified and deter-
mined to take the next step.
But before the first game was
played, the Blazers were hit by the
death of owner Paul Allen after a
battle with non-Hodgkins lym-
phoma. The co-founder of Micro-
soft was a hands-on owner and a
familiar face at the Moda Center,
and Portland dedicated its season
to him.
Injuries would challenge the
Blazers down the stretch. Lil-
lard’s backcourt partner CJ McCo-
llum missed 10 games with a knee
injury.
But it was center Jusuf Nurkic’s
injury that caused the most con-
cern going into the playoffs. Port-
land’s 7-foot big man broke his left
leg after crashing awkwardly in an
overtime victory at home over the
Brooklyn Nets on March 25.
Nurkic was averaging 15.6
points and 10.4 rebounds a game
and many considered Portland’s
playoff prospects dim without him.
Fortunately, the Blazers were
able to turn to Enes Kanter, who
was waived by the New York
Knicks following the trade dead-
line and signed by Portland for the
rest of the season. Kanter averaged
13.1 points and 8.6 rebounds in
23 regular-season games with the
Blazers, including eight starts.
Portland finished 53-29 and
clinched the third seed in the West-
ern Conference, earning home
court for the first round — and a
series with the Thunder. The Blaz-
ers wrapped that series up in five
games — capped by Lillard’s
walkoff 3-pointer.
But even in the playoffs the
Blazers couldn’t escape misfor-
tune. Kanter separated his left
shoulder in the final game against
Oklahoma City. He was question-
able for the conference semifi-
nals against Denver but played,
although he often winced in pain.
Jonathan Yim, Portland’s video
coordinator and player develop-
ment coach, was in a serious car
accident before the series with the
Nuggets. The Blazers coaching
staff wore bow ties in his honor in
Game 2.
That series went to seven games,
with the Blazers sealing their date
with Golden State on Denver’s
home court.
The Warriors were simply too
much for the Blazers, climbing
back from double-digit deficits in
each of the final three games. Lil-
lard played with separated ribs in
the final two.
The team’s on-court leader, Lil-
lard averaged 25.8 points and 6.9
assists and earned his fourth All-
Star nod during the regular sea-
son. He averaged 33 points in the
opening round against the Thunder,
but his production fell against Den-
ver and Golden State when he was
double-teamed.
Lillard said the past few seasons
of relative stability — after four
of Portland’s five starters moved
on to other teams in 2015 — have
bonded the team.
“Each year we’ve come back
with the right attitude,” Lillard said
Tuesday. “We’ve been able to stick
together through a lot of adversity
and I think just what we’ve hung
our hats on, what we’ve believed
in, our culture, the togetherness,
we’ve been able to truly build on
that. And I think we should be
encouraged.”
Lillard could be in line for a
hefty raise in the offseason. If he
is named to one of the postseason’s
All-NBA teams, he’ll qualify for a
supermax contract extension worth
$191 million. Lillard has two years
remaining on his current contract.
Asked about the prospects of a
big extension, Lillard laughed and
said: “I don’t understand why that’s
even a question.”
Coach Terry Stotts already bene-
fited from the team’s run in the play-
offs, signing a multiyear contract
with the team that was announced
at exit interviews. Terms of the deal
were not released.
“The guys in the locker room
are special, it’s been a special sea-
son,” Stotts said. “Always tough to
lose the last game of the year, but
I couldn’t be more proud of the
group that we’ve had.”