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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 2016)
SPORTS THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON Olympics Landingham wins the night Idaho Former Pendleton resident continues strong season with top bareback time R.C. Land- ingham of Hat Creek, Ca- lif. rides Double Dippin for 81.5 points in bareback riding Wednes- day at the Farm- City Pro Rodeo in Hermis- ton. By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian For 10 years, bareback rider R.C. Landingham called Eastern Oregon — Pendleton, specifi cally — home. So every year the 25-year-old cowboy, who now resides in Hat Creek, California, makes sure he can make it back to his hometown rodeos. And he was, indeed, in Hermiston on Wednesday night to help open the 28th Farm-City Pro Rodeo at the Umatilla County Fairgrounds and gave many of his family and old friends a good show as he rode Kesler Rodeo’s Double Dippin for 81.5 points. His score was the best of the night and earned Landingham the $100 dollar dash bonus. “I’m glad to fi nally perform well for you,” Landingham said to the crowd following his victory lap around the arena. The performance was a contin- uation of what has become a breakout season for Landingham, who is in his seventh year on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tour. As of Wednesday, Landingham sits in fi fth place in the bareback Weather Guard PRCA World Standings with $79,178.43 in winnings and is poised for his fi rst-ever trip to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. He credits his success to a better understanding of how to take care of himself and his health. “I tried to workout more, eat more healthy, and learned to turn away a lot of horses,” Landingham said. “Guys give me heck about turning away so many, but I’ve learned if you don’t feel you can place, there’s no point in (hurting) yourself ... it’s worked and I’ve probably placed at 75% of the rodeos I’ve been to.” Another Oregon cowboy that was happy to be back on Wednesday was Terrebone native Russell Cardoza. The all-around cowboy, who recently vaulted into the No. 1 spot in the all-around World Standings with more than $82,000 in winnings, gushed about Farm-City following his turn in steer wrestling. “It (darn shure feels good to be back ... this is my 10th year here Staff photo by E.J. Harris RIO DE JANEIRO — Kristin Armstrong had just put together another golden effort in an Olympic time trial, this time slicing through driving wind and rain, when her 5-year-old son approached her at the fi nish. “Mama,” Lucas asked, “why are you crying? You won!” Once again. The American cyclist who lives in Boise, Idaho, made it three consecutive gold medals on Wednesday, the ageless wonder conquering a brutal course at the Rio Games. Her time of 44 minutes, 26.42 seconds topped reigning bronze medalist Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia by the slimmest of See OLYMPICS/2B and I’ll probably always come back as long as I’m rodeoing,” he said. Cardoza’s performances in the arena, though, didn’t end up where he had probably hoped, as he sat near the middle of the pack in tie down roping, steer wrestling, and team roping. He dazzled the crowd with a 5.2 second time in steer wrestling on Wednesday night, but South Dakota cowboy Taz Olsen bested that with a 4.5 second time to win the night. And in team roping, Cardoza and header Dustin Bird of Cut Bank, Montana had the best time in slack with a 5.0 and a solid 6.2 in the main event for a total time of 11.2 seconds. Full team roping standings were not available by press time. In saddle bronc, Tyrell Smith of Great Falls, Montana and Sterling Crawley of Stephenville, Texas tied with scores of 83 points to split the nightly prize. Crawley tamed Calgary Stampede’s Weary Joke for his score while Smith mastered Kesler’s Navajo Sun, which earned Smith an extra $500 bonus for riding in the randomly selected Coca-Cola showdown horse. Action picks back up on Thursday night with Mutton Bustin at 7:25 p.m. and main event rodeo at 7:45 p.m. ——— Contact Eric Singer at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or (541) 966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ ByEricSinger. Seahawks activate rehabbing Graham By TIM BOOTH Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — Jimmy Graham jogged out wearing his white Seattle practice uniform as usual on Wednesday. Except this time, Graham was wearing his helmet, too. “When you are away from it for as long as I’ve been, it’s very sweet when you get the opportunity to do it again,” Armstrong wins third straight time trials Associated Press NFL Versatile tight end recovering from torn tendon in knee cyclist strikes gold Graham said. Graham was activated off the physically unable to perform list by the Seahawks, another step in his recovery from his major knee injury last season. Coach Graham Pete Carroll kept saying Graham was inching closer to a return, and one day after running back Thomas Rawls got back on the fi eld, Graham joined in. Graham went through a light practice, doing some positional drills but not taking part in any full team work. It was his fi rst time on the fi eld with his teammates since Week 12 of last season when he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in a game against Pittsburgh. Graham had surgery almost imme- diately after the injury and his right knee was completely immobilized for 11 to 12 weeks. The recovery from a patellar tendon tear can sometimes take up to a year but Graham was back on the fi eld in less than nine months. “There were some dark days. It’s been eight months and it’s been a constant eight months,” Graham said. “I’ve never been through something where every day you had to do some- See GRAHAM/2B AP Photo/Patrick Semansky Cyclist Kristin Armstrong of the United States cel- ebrates after crossing the fi nish line to win the women’s individual time trial event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Pontal beach, Rio de Ja- neiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. MLB Cruz homers, M’s top Tigers Hernandez duels Verlander for seven Detroit Seattle Associated Press 1 3 SEATTLE — Nelson Cruz hit his 28th homer in the eighth inning after Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander dueled through the fi rst seven, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 3-1 on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. Cruz hit a 1-1 pitch from Justin Wilson (2-4) over the batter’s eye 421 feet away to help the Mariners get their season-high sixth straight victory. Hernandez and Verlander each pitched seven innings of one-run ball in a battle of former Cy Young Award winners. Hernandez struck out eight and allowed three hits and four walks, while Verlander allowed seven hits and two walks and struck out six. See MARINERS/2B Sports shorts Anthony becomes Team USA’s all-time Olympic points leader RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Carmelo Anthony is the most prolifi c scorer in U.S. men’s Olympic basketball history. The fi rst American male basketball to appear in four FACES Olympics, player Anthony passed LeBron James on the career scoring list during Wednesday’s game against Australia. Anthony moved past James with another 3 from the left wing with 1:08 left in the fi rst quarter. Anthony James scored 273 points during appearances in Athens, Beijing and London. David Robinson (270) is third on the scoring list followed by Michael Jordan (256) and Charles Barkley (231). Anthony has played in 26 Olympic games, another U.S. record. “At the end of the day, the time has been served. I’ve served that time … I’ve worked hard, all the way from the bottom when I had nothing. I worked hard to work back to where I am now.“ — Justin Gatlin United States Olympic team sprinter reacting to the argu- ment that athletes that have been doping in the past should not be allowed to compete at Olympics after serving their punishments. Gatlin recently served a four-year ban for testosterone use. EOU women picked 3rd in CCC LA GRANDE — Following a record- breaking season that featured the program’s fi rst trip to the Opening Round of the NAIA National Championships, the EOU women’s soccer team earned a third-place ranking in the 2016 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Mountaineers amassed one fi rst-place vote and 115 points overall. EOU went 17-3-1 last season, including a 9-2 mark in league action. Carroll brought home nine fi rst-place votes and 139 points to claim the top spot, while College of Idaho just edged EOU for second place with 117 points. The Mountaineers return three all-con- ference honorees in sophomore forward Zoe Anderson, junior midfi elder Makensie Forsyth, and senior goalkeeper Jessica Parker. EOU opens the season Aug. 27 at George Fox. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1995 — Michael Johnson wins the 200 meters in 19.79 seconds in the World Track & Field Championships to become the fi rst runner to capture the 200 and 400 meters in a major champion- ship. 2008 — In Beijing, Michael Phelps gets his second gold medal — thanks to a late comeback in the 400-meter freestyle relay by Jason Lezak, who lunges to the wall just ahead of the French anchor. The U.S. team’s time of 3:08.24 shatters its world record of 3:12.23 set the night before in preliminaries. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
