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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2016)
SPORTS TRACK: Foley wins dead heat in girls 800 meters Page 2B East Oregonian Delaney Clem, of Pendleton, led the entire way Thursday during the 1500 meter run at the Colum- bia River Conference Track and Field Cham- pionships, winning with a time of 5:05.89. Melany Solorio, on Clem’s shoulder, came in second. Continued from 1B Valley walked away with the district title as they squeezed out a three-point win over Hermiston. The Eagles inished the meet with 99 points and Hermiston was second with 96 points, which was a lot closer than Strot had expected. “I went through the projec- tions before and if we did everything we were supposed to I thought we’d be in second place by a wider margin,” she said. “I’m just so proud of the boys ... they did phenomenal.” Pendleton inished third in the boys standings with 59 points and The Dalles came in fourth with 10 points to round out the teams. The Bulldogs earned 13 spots in 12 events for the state meet, led by senior Tre Neal who earned Athlete of the Meet award for ield events, as he qualiied in the shot put, discus and javelin. Xavier Rambo had a big day in the jumping pits for Hermiston, as he earned a irst place inish in the triple jump with a personal record of 43-2.00, and a second place inish in the long jump. Also qualifying for state in the triple jump was Pend- leton’s Dylan Clemons as he jumped a personal record of 42-04.00 in the inals, beating out Hermiston’s Vaemu Ena by a very slim margin. Clemons has been to the state meet in each of the last two years as an alternate and Staff photo by Kathy Aney a competitor in Pendleton’s 4x400 relay, and says that he is happy to cap off his high school career with yet another trip back. “Oh man I feel really good,” he said. “I’m very thankful ... my friends have been pushing me to do better for myself and for my team and when you get individual sports like these there’s almost more of a sense of unity than in team sports because everyone works to get the team to the next level and it feels great to be a part of something so great.” Nolan Bylenga was strong as usual for Pendleton in the boys 800 meter run, taking irst with a time of 1:55.85, which was just off the pace of his CRC record of 1:55-lat set last year. Bylenga said he was pushed more than he expected to be by Hermiston’s Hayden Earl, who inished in second place. “In that irst lap, Hayden was right on my tail ... and then he took the lead from me and I knew the inish would be dificult,” he said. “I was thinking today about a really good seed time today, and Hayden pushed me and ran out of his mind today. We’re friends and I’m proud of him.” The Buckaroo boys earned seven spots at state, behind both relay teams and on the back of senior Garison Alger who qualiied in both the 110 meter and 300 meter hurdles. Two of the best races of the evening came within the last hour of competition, as the girls 800 meter run and the boys 4x400 relay brought great excitement for the hundreds of fans in attendance. In the 800 meter run, Hermiston’s Macey Foley and Pendleton’s Sokoloski battled neck-and-neck throughout much of the race, and were dead even as they came around the last turn to inish out the remaining 100 meters. The inish was too close to call as both appeared dead even at the line, and after looking at the inish line photos, it was determined that Foley was the winner with a time of 2:24.75 — one one-hundreth of a second over Sokoloski’s 2:24.76. And then in the boys 4x400, which was the last event of the meet, Pendleton’s team of Soren Wolf, Andrew Porter, Garison Alger and Nolan Bylenga blew the doors off the competition, winning by eight seconds over second place with a time of 3:23.97. But the excitement came at the second place battle, as Herm- iston anchor Alexis Mercado overtook Hood River Valley within the last 30 meters to grab the second place inish. “What a way to end the night,” Strot said. ——— Contact Eric Singer at esinger@eastoregonian.com or (541) 966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ByEr- icSinger. TOVEY: State semiinals produced favorite moment Continued from 1B Harry is the other Hermiston coach to be named NWCA Assistant Coach of the Year (2006-07). “Tovey’s an awesome guy, tons of help, very enthu- siastic and a lot of passion about wrestling,” Larson said. “He’s a great person to be around and a great person for kids to be around. “He’s trying to work with kids to help them grow as young men, help get these kids into college. That’s what Hermiston wrestling is about and he embodies it.” Hermiston went 17-2 in 2015-16, including a 5-1 record at The Clash National Wrestling Duals in Minne- sota, and then won its 10th OSAA state championship. It was the third in a row and Tovey’s ninth between his 27 years with Hermiston and Roseburg. He said the state tourna- ment produced his favorite moment of the season following a disappointing irst day of competition at Veterans Memorial Coli- seum in Portland. “We were nervous. We do our homework ahead of time and try to map out as much as possible,” he said. “We did not have a good irst day. We thought our role players would have done more, scored more points.” The Bulldogs had seven wrestlers still in the semii- nals, but Tovey said his many years of experience has taught him to expect about a 50 percent loss rate each round. “Going into the semiinals we were nervous, then we went seven for seven,” he said. “I’d never seen that happen before, 100 percent. The tournament was over, you know what I mean? “I think that was kind of a cool reward as a coaching staff. He just did a great job pulling guys that were in the community.” Tovey said he’s honored to represent the Bulldogs staff, paid and volunteer alike — Joe Delgado, Jase Houston, Clayton Cook, Kenny Valdez, Brian Tarvin, Jason Lambert — who Tovey says all deserve credit for his award. “As a coaching staff we really gelled and igured it our this year,” he said. “Kyle did a tremendous job as a irst-year coach illing out a coaching staff.” Tovey said he also owes a debt of gratitude to his wife Melinda. “I’ve been coaching forever and she’s had to share me for a long time, and she is just a great support,” he said. As a wrestler at Portland State, Tovey was part of the Vikings’ 1989 NCAA Divi- sion II championship team under Marlin Grahn. Pat Simpson of Father Ryan High School in Nashville, Tennessee, was named NWCA Head Coach of the Year. The Irish posted a 22-0 record and claimed state championships at the Division II individual and dual tournaments. “Both Coach Simpson and Coach Tovey have long careers in coaching at the high school level and have served as tremendous mentors for our next generation of teachers and coaches,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “One of the hardest things about recognizing great scholastic coaches is there are so many viable and deserving coaches to consider.” ——— Contact Matt Entrup at mentrup@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0838. Follow him on Twitter @ mattentrup. BLAZERS: Front ofice pushing for long-term deal with Stotts Continued from 1B that’s very common in the NBA now,” Lillard said. From a preseason bonding trip to San Diego, where the team hammed for photos on the beach, to Lillard’s team dinners and trips to a roller skating rink, the young Blazers became a cohesive group. Lillard was the lone starter to return from the 2014-15 Blazers, after LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews departed in the offseason. The group that was assem- bled was the third-youngest in the NBA and included players who, for whatever reason, hadn’t really caught on elsewhere. Many never thought the Blazers would win more than 30 games, let alone make the playoffs, but Portland went on to inish 44-38 with the ifth seed in the Western Conference. The Blazers beat the injury-depleted Clippers in the irst round. Portland had a daunting task in the defending NBA champion Warriors and MVP Stephen Curry in the second round but put up a ight. After dropping the irst two in Oakland, Portland claimed the third at home but lost the fourth in overtime — with Curry coming back from a knee injury and scoring 40 points, including 17 in the OT. The Warriors closed out the series with a nail-biter in Oakland on Wednesday night. Lillard averaged a career- high 25.1 points in the regular season, becoming just the third Portland player to average more than 25. He also averaged 6.8 assists. CJ McCollum averaged 20.8 points in his irst year as a starter, giving the Blazers their irst backcourt duo with an average of 20 or more points apiece in a single season. McCollum was named the league’s Most Improved Player for more than tripling his scoring average from the 2014-15 season. Those two will almost certainly be back next season, as will fellow starters Al-Farouq Aminu and Mason Plumlee. Forward Maurice Harkless, who started all 11 postseason games, backup guard Allen Crabbe and reserve forward Meyers Leonard are all restricted free agents. Gerald Henderson and Chris Kaman and Brian Roberts are unrestricted free agents. Leonard injured his shoulder late in the season and required surgery. He was still wearing a sling Thursday. “To be honest, I haven’t had a conversation with my agent about this (free agency),” said Leonard, who said his focus was on rehab. He and Crabbe said they’d like to stay in Portland. The Blazers have a team option on coach Terry Stotts for the coming season, but the team is looking to quickly irm up a long-term deal. The 58-year-old coach has a 182-146 record in four seasons with the team. He’s led the Blazers to the play- offs in each of the last three years, and to the conference semiinals twice. Stotts inished second to Golden State’s Steve Kerr in NBA Coach of the Year voting. “You just look at what he got out of his guys all year,” Plumlee said. “He should have been coach of the year.” Lillard and McCollum, meanwhile, are already plan- ning the team’s collective offseason getaway. “Coming into this season we weren’t even expected to be a playoff team. We didn’t accept what everybody expected of us. We had our own goals, we had own plan in mind,” Lillard said. “I think the next step is not accepting, ‘All right, let’s just get there, let’s get there and compete.’ Now it’s ‘Let’s get there and let’s go win it.”’ SCOREBOARD Local Slate PREP BASEBALL Today Stanield at Enterprise (DH), 1/3 p.m. Elgin at Umatilla (DH), 1/3 p.m. Weston-McEwen at Burns (DH), 2/4 p.m. Pendleton at Hermiston, 4:30 p.m. Saturday Pilot Rock at Grant Union (DH), 11 a.m./1 p.m. Irrigon at Sherman (DH), 11 a.m./1 p.m. Culver at Heppner (DH), 11 a.m./1 p.m. PREP SOFTBALL Today Echo at Enterprise (DH), 1/3 p.m. Elgin at Umatilla (DH), 1/3 p.m. Riverside at Grant Union (DH), 1/3 p.m. Baker at Mac-Hi (DH), 2/4 p.m. Pendleton at Hermiston, 4:30 p.m. Saturday Pilot Rock at Irrigon (DH), 11 a.m./1 p.m. Heppner at Culver (DH), 11 a.m./1 p.m. Vale at Weston-McEwen (DH), 1/3 p.m. PREP TRACK & FIELD Saturday Pilot Rock, Weston-McEwen, Heppner, Irrigon, Stanield at Districts (at Athena), TBD Echo, Helix, Ione at Districts (at Moro), 1 p.m. PREP TENNIS Today Pendleton (boys) at Districts (at Hermis- ton), 4 p.m. Pendleton (girls) at Districts (at Bend), 4 p.m. Weston-McEwen, Mac-Hi, Umatilla, Riverside, Helix, Ione, Condon/Wheeler, Stanield at Regionals (at Ontario), 11 a.m. PREP LACROSSE Saturday Hermiston at Hood River, 1 p.m. PREP RUGBY Saturday East Oregon vs. Polk County (Cup Semi-i- nals at Delta Park, Portland), 1:30 p.m. East Oregon vs. Centenniel (at Lents Park, Portland), 2 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Saturday Blue Mountain at Big Bend (DH), 1/4 p.m. COLLEGE SOFTBALL Today Blue Mountain at Yakima Valley (DH), 2/4 p.m. Saturday Blue Mountain at Wenatchee Valley (DH), Noon/2 p.m. Basketball NBA PLAYOFFS CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS EASTERN CONFERENCE Cleveland 4, Atlanta 0 Sunday, May 8: Cleveland 100, Atlanta 99 Toronto 3, Miami 2 Thursday: Toronto 99, Miami 91 Today: Toronto at Miami, 5 p.m. (ESPN) WESTERN CONFERENCE Oklahoma City 4, San Antonio 2 Thursday: Oklahoma City 113, San Antonio 99 Golden State 4, Portland 1 Today: Golden State 125, Portland 121 Hockey NHL PLAYOFFS SECOND ROUND EASTERN CONFERENCE Tampa Bay 4, N.Y. Islanders 1 Sunday, May 8: Tampa Bay 4, NY Islanders 0 Pittsburgh 4, Washington 2 Tuesday: Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT WESTERN CONFERENCE St. Louis 4, Dallas 3 Wednesday: St. Louis 6, Dallas 1 San Jose 4, Nashville 3 Thursday: San Jose 5, Nashville 0 Baseball MLB AMERICAN LEAGUE Thursday’s Games Baltimore 7, Detroit 5 N.Y. Yankees 7, Kansas City 3 Boston 11, Houston 1 St. Louis 12, L.A. Angels 10 Today’s Games Chicago White Sox at N.Y. Yankees, 4:05 p.m. Detroit at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. Houston at Boston, 4:10 p.m. Minnesota at Cleveland, 4:10 p.m. Oakland at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m. Toronto at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Atlanta at Kansas City, 5:15 p.m. L.A. Angels at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. NATIONAL LEAGUE Thursday’s Games Philadelphia 7, Atlanta 4, 10 innings San Diego 3, Milwaukee 0 San Francisco 4, Arizona 2 St. Louis 12, L.A. Angels 10 L.A. Dodgers 5, N.Y. Mets 0 Today’s Games Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs, 11:20 a.m. Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m. Miami at Washington, 4:05 p.m. San Diego at Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m. Atlanta at Kansas City, 5:15 p.m. N.Y. Mets at Colorado, 5:40 p.m. San Francisco at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. Soccer MLS Today’s Game New York at D.C. United, 4 p.m. Friday, May 13, 2016 NBA Playoffs Thunder return to conference inals By CLIFF BRUNT Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY — The Thunder lipped the script, and now they’re heading to the Western Conference inals. Tim Duncan doesn’t know yet where he’s headed as the San Antonio Spurs face an uncertain future. Kevin Durant scored 37 points, Russell Westbrook added 28, and Oklahoma City beat San Antonio 113-99 on Thursday night to win the Western Confer- ence semiinal series 4-2. Oklahoma City lost 124-92 in Game 1, but irst- year coach Billy Donovan led the Thunder to victory in four of the next ive. Oklahoma City controlled Game 6, leading by as many as 28 points. Westbrook said the Thunder never lost coni- dence. “We had that game, and we left it behind us,” he said. “We came out after that and had a different mindset. We knew what we had to do to win the series. They’re a great team. They’ve been winning for 10-plus years, same pace. I’m just proud of our guys.” Steven Adams had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Andre Roberson added Game 6 San Antonio Oklahoma City 99 113 • Thunder win series 4-2 14 points for the Thunder. Oklahoma City now will face defending NBA cham- pion Golden State, starting Monday in Oakland, Cali- fornia. “Golden State’s a great team,” Donovan said. “It will be a great challenge. We’ve got a little bit of time to prepare before we play, but right now, for us, it’s just to enjoy the opportunity to move on, get a chance to continue to play and get as prepared as we can going into Game 1.” The Spurs were trying to extend the winningest season in franchise history after going 67-15. The 40-year-old Duncan strug- gled for much of the series before scoring 19 points as San Antonio tried to ight back in the fourth quarter. Duncan didn’t clear anything up about his future after the game. He has a player option for next season. “I’ll get to that after I get out of here and igure life out,” he said. Athlete of the Week Twenty questions with Weston-McEwen’s Hunter Sater East Oregonian ATHENA — When the Weston-McEwen baseball team needed a boost in a pair of important league games on Saturday, junior Hunter Sater answered the call time and again. Sater pitched 8.2 innings of relief, allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts and also batted 4 for 6 to lead the TigerScots to wins of 6-3 and 7-6 over Grant Union. He has been named East Oregon Athlete of the Week for the week of May 1-7. East Oregonian: Favorite pro sports team? Hunter Sater: Seattle Seahawks Favorite college team? Oregon State Beavers Favorite sport to play/ watch? Baseball Who’s your favorite player? Manny Machado (Balti- more Orioles 3B/SS) What do you like to do in your free time? Hunt and ish, and play baseball. What’s your favorite ishing spot/species to target? Pretty much anywhere on the Columbia River. Bass. Favorite music genre? Country What was the irst concert you attended? Josh Turner Favorite subject in school? Biology What’s your dream job? Biologist What’s your favorite food? The beef stroganoff my mom makes. Favorite restaurant? Buffalo Wild Wings Favorite place to vacation? Alaska What’s your favorite junk food? Oreos If you could have a superpower what would you choose? Flying Do you have a favorite actor? Probably Will Ferrell What’s your favorite movie? American Sniper Favorite TV show? How I Met Your Mother What’s your best memory as a TigerScot? Winning in the state quarterinals (3-1 in nine innings over Umpqua Valley Christian) my freshman year and making it all the way to the cham- pionship. Who’s been the largest inlu- ence for you in baseball? My dad. ATHLETE OF THE WEEK HUNTER SATER Junior, Weston-McEwen Baseball Sater led Weston-McEwen to a doubleheader sweep of Grant Union on Friday, pitching a combined 8.2 innings in relief and allowing just three hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts, earning the win in both games. Sater also went 4-6 on offense with two runs scored and an RBI. 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