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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, June 11, 2016 NCAA Track & Field Championships Lawson triples, Florida takes men’s team title Oregon’s Devon Allen, middle, inishes irst in the men’s 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA outdoor track and ield champi- onships in Eu- gene, Ore., Friday, June 10, 2016. By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press EUGENE — There was no single win that Jarrion Lawson was most proud of, and he had three to choose from. Lawson won the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump at the NCAA track and ield championships, becoming the irst athlete to win all three since Jesse Owens did it 80 years ago. “I’m proud of everything. This is just amazing, just to come out and win three events and be put in the same sentence as Jesse Owens,” he said. Lawson, now a six-time national champion, won the 100 in in 10.22 seconds, closing to the victory over the inal 30 meters. Less than an hour later he claimed the 200 in 20.19. He won the long jump Wednesday, the irst day of the meet. He accounted for 31.5 total points for the Razor- backs, also the most since Owens scored 40 in 1935 and 1936 for Ohio State. It was just the third time SALAS: Continued from 1B Irrigon athletic director Steve Sheller said the school interviewed several worthy candidates, but knew all along that Salas was the best it. “Davy was an obvious choice because he was already in the program, he’s terriic with the kids, and he knows the game well,” Sheller said. “He represents the kids well, the team well, the school well. He has everything we wanted.” With the move to 3A, Salas said that his irst order of business in the offseason will be building strength in the weight room to prepare for the physicality of the Eastern Oregon League and the rest of the state. “It is going to be a chal- lenge. The league has some big-time football kids so physicality is a major, major concern,” he said. “We’ve told the kids it’s not going to be more ‘one hit and that’s it’ when going for rebounds and baskets anymore. But it’s a new group and they’re up for the challenge.” He also said Irrigon fans will see a very similar playing style to what the teams put on the loor under Thompson, whom Salas called a great teacher for him over the past two seasons. “I loved (Thompson’s) system and the energy that he brought to the team,” Salas said. “We’re going to be a very athletic team that runs up and down the loor as well as anybody and we’re going to defend like crazy because that’s where it all starts.” The Knights team must replace all-state irst team point guard Fredy Vera, whom they lost to graduation. The Knights still have a solid returning core, however, with forward Hayden White and guards Daniel Vera, Omar Vera, and Austin Rice all coming back. “They are an excited group and ready to take the next step on their own,” Salas said. “They’ve played behind guys like Fredy, Adrian Romero, Anthony Landeros, Zach Rice, and they’re ready to make names for themselves and keep the Irrigon program going strong.” The school’s move to Class 3A also alleviates a little bit of conlict for Salas, who also remains the head football coach at Stanield, a former Columbia Basin Conference rival. Salas said there was never an issue with the players on allegiances, and that he’s looking forward to having an even busier schedule now. “It’s what I enjoy doing,” Salas said. “I’ve always been a big sports guy and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. There’s no better place to spend a Friday night than at football games and there’s no better place for winter week- ends than basketball games.” Sheller said that the possible rivalry was never a factor in their decision. “When you’re trying to hire someone, you always want to hire the best candi- date,” Sheller said, “and sometimes, as it goes in Eastern Oregon, you have to think outside of the box.” AP Photo/Ryan Kang Lawson ran all three events at one meet. But Florida ultimately won the men’s team title, its third in ive years, pushed into the points lead (62) with a second-place inish in the inal event, the 1,600 relay. The Gators, who also won team title in 2012 and 2013, spoiled hometown Oregon’s attempt at a third-straight team title at Hayward Field. The Ducks (48) inished fourth behind Arkansas (56) and Texas A&M (50). “I think even coming into today that nobody thought that we’d be here — except us,” Gators coach Mike Holloway said after cele- brating the victory. Lawson wasn’t the only record breaker as the athletes navigated periodic showers and the occasional stiff breeze. Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier set a collegiate record in the 800. His mark of 1:43.55 broke Kansas star Jim Ryun’s NCAA record set in 1966 and was the second- fastest time in the world this year. Oregon’s Devon Allen won the 110 hurdles, his second NCAA title in the event Allen, also a receiver on the Ducks’ football team, made a splash at the NCAA championships two years ago as a freshman. His time of 13.16 seconds set a meet record, besting Olympic gold medalist Aries Merritt’s mark of 13.21 set in 2006 for Tennessee. “Decent race, pretty consistent for the season, so I’m happy,” said Allen, who was sidelined last year — from both the track and football teams — because of a knee injury. Arman Hall helped the Gators with a victory in the 400, inishing in 44.82. Hall was also the one who spurred Florida for the title- clinching relay at the end of the night. “Arman said it best, ‘Let’s go run,”’ Holloway said. Akron junior Clayton Murphy, who inished third in the 800 last year, pulled away down the stretch to win the 1,500 in 3:36.38, a personal best and a school record. Washington senior Izaic Yorks was second and Oregon sophomore Sam Prankel, a volunteer at the NCAA championships here two years ago, was third. “That’s cool, but it’s all about coming back in two weeks and running fast,” Murphy said, referring to the Olympic Trials in July. Lawson, who had previous NCAA titles in the relays and indoor long jump, plans to run all three of his events at the trials. A inish in the top three will earn him a trip to the Rio Olympics. “I came here expecting to win three events,” he said. “Obviously it’s hard, but I did all the events because I love to do ‘em.” LSU won the 400 relay in 38.42, a new Hayward Field record. The women’s team cham- pionship will be decided Saturday. This is the second year the NCAA has divided the iled; the men primarily competed Wednesday and Friday, while the women go Thursday and Saturday. It’s the fourth straight year the championship has been set at Hayward Field, which will also host the trials. HODGEN: Bower’s three-RBI double caps six-run third inning Continued from 1B T.J. Haguewood, manager of the 18U American Legion ballclub. “He hasn’t thrown for a couple weeks, and had a couple inconsistencies, but there were deinitely batters where he was able to overpower them.” Bower batted 3 for 4 with four RBI, Naughton and Caleb Cary were both 2 for 3, and Wyatt Morris didn’t get a hit but scored twice and drove in two runs to lead the Hodgen offense. “Just getting our feet wet was good, but I thought we had some good solid at-bats,” Haguewood said. “We had some guys that really spanked the ball and we took advan- tage of opportunities they gave us. We did what we had to do and it’s a good way to start the summer.” After Naughton struck out the inal two batters in the top of the irst, he drove in the eventual game- winner in the bottom of the frame when his hard grounder to second allowed Morris to score from third. Cary singled to score Hayden Villers later in the inning. A sacriice ly by Morris added to Staff photo by Matt Entrup Hodgen Distributing’s Wyatt Morris, left, is congratulated by Caleb Cary (14) and Jared Beveridge after scoring on Nick Bower’s double in the third inning to give Hodgen a 9-0 lead over Central Valley in their irst game at the Ashlee Hodgen Memorial Tournament on Fri- day at Bob White Field in Pendleton. Hodgen would win 10-0 in ive innings. the lead in the second, and Hodgen rallied for six runs in the third to go up 9-0. Johnny Malcom and Cary hit back-to-back singles to start the at-bat, then after a line-drive out Mathan Bliss walked to load the bases. Jared Beveridge singled to score Malcom, then Morris walked to push in Cary. Central Valley brought out reliever T.J. Madden at that point, and he struck out the irst batter he faced. But then Bower crushed the ball high off the wall in center ield for a bases-clearing double to make it 9-0. Neither team scored in the fourth and Naughton ended Central Valley’s at-bats in both the fourth and ifth with looking strikeouts. Villers led off with a single in the bottom of the ifth, then Bowers ended the game with a double off the wall in left ield. Hodgen’s scheduled game against Baker from Friday afternoon was rained out. Also on Friday, Baker defeated Milton-Freewater 7-1. Other tour- nament scores were not available at press time. Tournament play continues today with ive games at Bob White Field and one at BMCC Field. Hodgen will again close out the day facing Milton-Freewater at 6:30 p.m. at Bob White. ——— R H E CV 000 00 — 0 2 2 HD 216 01 — 10 10 0 N. Van Etten, T. Madden (3) and J. Lewis. D. Naugh- ton and J. Beveridge. W — Naughton. L — Van Etten. 2B — N. Bower 2 (HD). NBA FINALS: Warriors’ 12-1 run during fourth quarter seals win Continued from 1B points, 11 rebounds and 9.3 assists in this series. He told the Cavaliers to follow his lead, took the blame when they fell behind 2-0 in the series, has tried to say and do all the right things. But the Warriors are one win from denying him again. It went six games last year when the Cavaliers didn’t have Kevin Love for the entirety of the series and Kyrie Irving for most of the matchup. This one could end in ive even though Irving has played well for much of this matchup and Love returned to the lineup for Game 4 after missing essentially six quarters with a concussion. Cleveland was threat- ening to take control early in the third of Game 4, leading by eight. Less than 30 seconds later, the lead AP Photo/Tony Dejak Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) drives on Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson, left, and Draymond Green (23) during the second half of Game 4 in Cleveland, Friday, June 10, 2016. was down to two. Stephen Curry 3-pointer. Splash. Klay Thompson 3-pointer. Splash. The Warriors suddenly had life. Cleveland’s lead was 83-81 when James scored with 10:21 left, and it was about seven minutes before the Cavaliers managed another ield goal. A 12-1 run in the fourth put the Warriors on top for good, and that 11-point margin was the exact difference between the teams when time expired. All James could do then was glumly slap hands with a few of his teammates, his face hardly showing any emotion. Fans started leaving long before the inal horn, quite possibly for the inal time this season. The Eastern Conference championship banner for this season is already swaying from the rafters in Quicken Loans Arena, and “2015-16” has been added to the banner displaying Central Division titles next to that one. A team that calls the Cavs’ arena home might win a championship this weekend, though it won’t exactly become worldwide news if the Lake Erie Monsters — the Columbus Blue Jackets’ afiliate in the American Hockey League — inish off a four-game sweep of the Hershey Bears and win the Calder Cup on Saturday night. It’ll be nice, but it’s not the title Cleveland craves. Since the Cleveland Browns won their last football title in 1964 — the championship game wasn’t even known as the Super Bowl then — Cleveland has experienced 147 NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL opening days with title dreams that ultimately were dashed. (Yes, an NHL team was briely here.) Over that span, 56 different fran- chises in the four biggest U.S. sports leagues have at least one championship. James came back to Cleveland after four wildly successful years in Miami to end that drought. His summer might start as early as Monday, the drought still there. ALL-STATE: Mac-Hi softball garners six selections, Pendleton earns four In this June 1, 2016 ile photo, Pendle- ton’s Ellie Richards waits for a throw to third base as Churchill’s Avery Daniels goes into a slide during a state semiinal softball game at Steve Cary Field. Continued from 1B pitcher Levi Thieme and Weston-McEwen outielder Vince Roff both earned third team honors, while Heppner’s Weston Putman was an Honorable Mention. ——— CLASS 5A First Team P R.J. Robles, Hermiston, sr. Second Team OF Kai Quinn, Pendleton, sr. Honorable Mention 1B Tyler Sexton, Hermiston, sr. CLASS 4A First Team UT Hunter Yensen, Mac-Hi, sr. SOFTBALL In any household, siblings like to compete against one another in almost every activity they do. The younger siblings would give anything to beat their older counterparts, and the older counterparts would give anything to keep the younger ones at bay. The Richards household in EO ile photo / Kathy Aney Pendleton is one of those settings, with senior Ellie and sophomore Lauren competing to be the best Buckaroo softball player. Both players had outstanding seasons in 2016, working their way to the irst team all-CRC team following the conclusion of the regular season. Ellie, an inielder, was second on the team with a .506 average on the season and also tallied 27 RBIs and 41 runs scored while Lauren, a pitcher, shut down opposing offenses with a 1.81 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 81.1 innings. But neither player can claim bragging rights this year, as both Richards sisters were selected to the irst team all-state roster in 2016 as two of three Pend- leton representatives. Senior outielder Alexis Morrison, the CRC Player of the Year, also was named to the irst team roster for the second- straight year. And at the Class 4A level, the Mac-Hi Pioneers came up just a few feet short of reaching the inish line on their trek for a state title three-peat, but two of the Pioneers top players were recognized for their efforts by the state voters. junior inielder Micha Fortune and senior outielder Jenny Field both were named to the irst team all-state roster, as Fortune hit .480 with 8 home runs and 56 RBI while Field hit .432 with 25 runs scored and 15 stolen bases. ——— SOFTBALL CLASS 5A First Team P Lauren Richards, Pendleton, soph. INF Ellie Richards, Pendleton, sr. OF Alexis Morrison, Pendleton sr. Second Team C Jamie Hinkley, Hermiston, sr. UT Mikayla Kopacz, Hermiston, sr. Third Team INF Kiersten Murphy, Pendleton, sr. CLASS 4A First Team INF Micha Fortune, Mac-Hi, jr. OF Jenny Field, Mac-Hi, sr. Second Team P Mallory Copeland, Mac-Hi, jr. INF Shannon Carter, Mac-Hi, sr. OF Brooke Kralman, Mac-Hi, sr. Honorable Mention UT Abi Biggs, Mac-Hi, sr. CLASS 3A SECOND TEAM P Jessica Lambert, Weston-McEwen, sr. OF Amie Coffman, Weston-McEwen, fr. DP Raychel Campana, Echo/Stanield, sr. HONORABLE MENTION C Sydney Peal, Weston-McEwen, jr. INF Isabelle Dillow, Weston-McEwen, sr. OF Hannah McCarty, Echo/Stanield, jr. 1B Kenzie Blankenship, Echo/Stanield, sr.
