SPORTS
WEEKEND, APRIL 23-24, 2016
1B
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Prep Roundup
Harvick earns
pole at Richmond
Hilanders breeze by Rockets in sweep
RICHMOND, Va.
(AP) — Rain washed out
qualifying at Richmond
International Raceway
on Friday, giving Kevin
Harvick
the pole
position
Sunday for
NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series race
based on being the fastest
in an abbreviated morning
practice session.
Harvick won the pole
with a speed of 129.069
mph, edging Joey Logano
for the top spot. Logano’s
speed was 128.694. The top
¿ ve also includes Jimmie
Johnson, Carl Edwards and
hometown favorite Denny
Hamlin.
The race, which
traditionally has been run on
Saturday night, was moved
to Sunday afternoon this
year and will be the second
in a row in the spring at
Richmond run on a Sunday.
Baseball
Thieme racks up a
perfect day at the
plate for Rockets
Pilot
Rock’s
Levi
Thieme
waits for
the ball
as Burns’
Bryce
Goss
steals sec-
ond base
in the
Rockets’
12-2 loss
Friday
in Pilot
Rock.
Burns
12-16 2-4
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — The Pilot
Rock Rockets saw its losing
streak expand to a season-
worst ¿ ve games as the Burns
Hilanders dominated a double-
header on Friday winning 12-2
and 16-4.
Pilot Rock (11-6, 1-5 SD6)
had only given up more than
10 runs in a game once this
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
“I don’t really
have fans in San
Francisco; this
is my family.
This is where I
was raised, this
is where I grew
up, people that
stood behind me
through thick
and thin. And
so I always will
appreciate that
and always have
my love for San
Francisco.”
Strong start for rodeo locals
Herm-
iston’s
Preston
Pederson
chase
down his
calf on his
way to a
14.93-sec-
ond time
in tie
down rop-
ing Friday
at the In-
termoun-
tain High
School
Rodeo in
Hermis-
ton.
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
Adams roper Calgary Smith leads the pack in two events aft er one night
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
It may not have been their best
foot, but it was a darn good one.
Members of the Intermountain
rodeo team set themselves up for a
strong showing at their home rodeo
with some quick times in the ¿ rst
performance on Friday night at
Hermiston’s Farm-City Arena.
The evening was particularly
rewarding for the boys, which have
contestants leading three events.
Calgary Smith of Adams was the
¿ rst to put his name atop a leader-
board with a 12.71-second run in
tie-down roping that he feels leaves
plenty of room for improvement in
the remaining rounds.
“I kind of screwed up a couple
things but it ended up all right, so
we’ll see how the next one goes,”
he said. “I kind of missed my À ank
and I could have roped him a little
faster.”
Smith’s night followed an
upward trajectory, though, and
he teamed with Pendleton’s Trent
Sorey to post the leading time in
team roping four events later.
Smith released a piercing whoop
McCollum named
NBA’s Most Improved
— Barry Bonds
Miami Marlins hitting
coach speaking on his
fi rst baseball trip back to
San Francisco on Friday
since retiring from the
game in 2007. Bonds
played 15 seasons with
the Giants.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
into the brisk evening air as their
steer sprung from the gate, and
5.56 seconds later he and Sorey had
jumped into a commanding lead.
“I did that just to kind of keep the
steer going straight so he didn’t veer
off to the right, just to kind of hold
him over there and make it easier
for my partner to catch him,” Smith
said of battle cry.
No other team was able to get its
steer caught in less than 16 seconds,
and Kimberly Williams of North
Powder and Samantha Kerns of
Haines are second in 16.08.
Smith and Sorey are fourth in
the state in their ¿ rst season as high
school partners, although they did
rope together in junior high with
Smith as the header.
“We switched him this year with
him heading for me and it’s been
going all right,” Smith said. “The
¿ rst couple rodeos didn’t go so well
but these (recent) ones have went
real well.”
Between Smith’s events, another
Intermountain cowboy showed up
the ¿ eld as Heppner’s Kolby Currin
took the steer wrestling lead in
11.45 seconds.
See RODEO/2B
PENDLETON
Heugly signs to play at
Western Oregon
Sophomore forward
named NWAC All-Star in
2015-2016 season
East Oregonian
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1903 — The New York
Highlanders, later renamed
Yankees, win their ¿ rst game
as a major league team, 7-2
over the Washington Sena-
tors.
1954 — The NBA adopts
the 24-second shot clock.
2008 — The Chicago
Cubs win their 10,000th
game, joining the Giants as
the only franchise to reach
that mark with a 7-6 victory
in 10 innings at Colorado.
season prior to Friday, when
they allowed 14 to Heppner
on April 4. But the Burns
offense tore through Pilot
Rock pitchers Bryson Pierce
and Chris Weinke for 21 hits
to push across the 28 runs on
the day.
Levi Thieme was Pilot
Rock’s lone shining star for
See PREPS/2B
HERMISTON
Washington agrees
to terms with CB
Josh Norman
WASHINGTON (AP)
The Washington Redskins
signed cornerback Josh
Norman on Friday, two days
after the Carolina Panthers
cut him loose.
Agent Michael George
con¿ rmed the deal in an
to The
FACES email
Associated
Press.
Norman,
one of the
NFL’s top
corners,
became a
Norman
free agent
Wednesday
after the Panthers rescinded
the franchise tag, which
would have paid him $13.9
million next season. The
28-year-old was holding out
for a long-term contract.
Norman had a career-high
four interceptions, 16 passes
defensed and 56 tackles
last season for the NFC
champion Panthers.
Norman visited the
Redskins’ facility in
Ashburn, Virginia, on
Friday.
Pilot Rock
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum, center,
shoots during the fi rst half in Game 2 of a fi rst-round
NBA playoff series on Wednesday in Los Angeles
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
PORTLAND — Portland
guard CJ McCollum won the
NBA’s Most Improved Player
award in his ¿ rst season as a
starter for the Trail Blazers,
dramatically improving his
scoring average by more than
14 points over last season.
“In my mind I always
felt like I was a good player,
so when you hear ‘most
improved’ you think, he was
sorry, and he got better,”’
McCollum said Friday.
“But now I understand that
it comes from hard work.
It’s based on perception, not
having played, not having the
body of work to show for it.”
McCollum more than
See MCCOLLUM/2B
With her two years at Blue Moun-
tain Community College complete,
Savannah Heugly has found a new
home.
The
Timberwolves
women’s
basketball standout signed a letter
of intent to continue her basketball
career at Western Oregon University in
Monmouth starting this winter.
Heugly, a sophomore forward from
Tualatin, had a breakout season in
2015-2016 as she averaged 21.3 points,
11.3 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game
proving to be the go-to weapon for the
Timberwolves. Her offensive produc-
tion led her to ¿ nishing fourth in the
NWAC season scoring totals with 596
points, seventh in rebounding with 317
and seventh in ¿ eld goals with 253.
See HEUGLY/2B
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
In this Feb. 28, 2016 fi le photo,
BMCC’s Savannah Heugly shoots
the ball guarded by Walla Walla’s
Tabitha Wellsand in the T-wolves’
73-60 loss in Pendleton.