SPORTS
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2016
1B
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Olympics
Team USA runs away with Olympics medal race
The USA’s
4x400-meter
relay team
celebrate
winning the
gold medal
during the
2016 Summer
Olympics in
Rio de Janei-
ro, Brazil on
Saturday.
Women win 27 of
Team USA’s 46
gold medals
By TIM REYNOLDS
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — The
U.S. Olympic Team made itself
right at home in Rio.
The British, they had a
Games to savor as well.
AP Photo/Martin
Meissner
The host Brazilians got
soccer gold that they craved, the
Russians struggled on the heels
of the exposure of a state-spon-
sored doping program, and the
Chinese fi nished well below
expectations.
So went the medal race at the
Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where
the Americans - with women
leading the way - dominated
both the gold and overall totals.
The U.S. fi nished with 46 gold
See TEAM USA/2B
MLB
PENDLETON
Buckaroo line dance
Pend-
leton
lines up
before
the snap
by center
Everett
Willard
during
practice
on Mon-
day at
Pendle-
ton High
School.
Willard
is one
of three
new
starters
on the
offen-
sive line
for the
Bucka-
roos this
season.
Pendleton
offensive
line has three
new starters
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Pendleton offensive line
coach Josh Linehan doesn’t
typically
have
players
knocking on his door looking
to join his position group.
“Offensive lineman is
not the fl ashiest position,
obviously,” said the seventh-
year Buckaroo assistant after
practice Monday. “Because
they’re not getting any yards,
any touchdowns. But they
can take pride that they’re
working harder than every-
body else.”
It’s a tough sell, and it
leads Linehan to look for
a specifi c trait when he’s
scoping out future talent on
the line.
“Kids that’ll whack you.
First and foremost is tough-
ness,” he said. “If you start
with toughness you can build
on that. If you don’t have that
base … you can’t really teach
it. It’s there or it’s not, and if
you don’t have that as a base
everything else is harder.
“We tell these guys,
‘Aggression and violence
will make up for a lot, if
you lack anything in athleti-
cism.’”
With three two-way
starters, athleticism isn’t
Staff photo by
Matt Entrup
Offense
powers
M’s over
Yankees
Seager, Zunino
each crush three-
run home runs
By JIM HOEHN
Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — Mike
Zunino and Kyle Seager each
hit a three-run homer and
Nelson Cruz added a solo shot
as the Seattle Mariners rallied
to beat the
New York
Yankees 7-5
Monday
New York
night.
T h e
Yankees got
two homers
apiece from
r o o k i e
Seattle
catcher Gary
Sanchez
and Starlin
Castro — all
off starter Cody Martin — but
three of them were solo shots.
New York took a 5-3 lead in
the sixth inning on a two-run
shot by Sanchez, his eighth
homer of the season and sixth
in the last seven games, and
Castro’s second solo homer, his
17th.
Zunino, recalled from from
5
something
Pendleton’s
starting offensive line will
lack in 2016.
Tackle Cade Anderson,
and guards Grant Kennedy
and Greg Lee all start at line-
backer, and center Everett
Willard provides depth at
defensive line.
But with just two
returning starters (Anderson
and Lee), a converted tight
end (Kennedy) and two fi rst-
year varsity players (Willard
and right tackle Jakob
Harshfi eld), the line will
have to mature quickly in
order for the Bucks offense
to be effective. Senior and
projected starter at tackle
Jacob Dickerson should
bolster the unit when he
returns from surgery to have
his appendix removed, but
Pendleton head coach Erik
Davis said he likes what he’s
seeing from the group as is.
“They’re starting to come
along. They’re tough kids,
especially those older kids,”
he said. “I see juniors and
seniors coming together, and
they fl y around.
“It’s just getting on the
same page, understanding
concepts and where they’re
going in our zone blocking.
They’re smart kids, they’re
football players, and I have
See BUCKAROOS/2B
7
Staff photo by Matt Entrup
Pendleton senior Cade Anderson blocks during a
drill at football practice on Monday at Pendleton
High School. Anderson is one of two returning
starters on the Buckaroos offensive line.
See MARINERS/2B
NFL
Running back Troymaine Pope turning heads with Seahawks
Rookie making
most of chance in
crowded backfi eld
By CURTIS CRABTREE
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. —
Despite urging from family
members to seek a job in the
real word, Troymaine Pope
continued to hold out hope
for an NFL opportunity.
A tryout with the Kansas
City Chiefs in May didn’t
yield a contract offer.
Instead, the former Jack-
sonville State running back
returned home to Anniston,
Alabama, far from the
practice fi elds of an NFL
team. Finally, he gave in and
interviewed to work at a car
factory.
Then his phone rang.
With injuries mounting
early in training camp, the
Seattle Seahawks needed
help at running back. They
gave Pope the opportunity
he had been holding out
hope for.
“They called me and I
just like, oh man, starting
broke down crying like it’s a
blessing. It was God’s plan,”
Pope said.
Pope is trying to make his
stay with Seattle a long one.
He has been one of the unex-
AP Photo/John Froschauer
Seattle Seahawks running back Troymaine Pope (26)
scores a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings
during a preseason game in Seattle.
pected stars during Seattle’s
fi rst two preseason games.
Pope rushed for 86 yards
and a touchdown on just 10
carries against the Minne-
sota Vikings on Thursday
night. He also scored the
winning two-point conver-
sion against the Chiefs in
the Seahawks’ preseason
opener.
“I ain’t ever going to get
past this game,” Pope said.
“This is something I love.
My family was trying to
convince me to get a job.
I took a long time to even
attempt for a job because
this is what I wanted to do.”
With a three year-old
daughter, Cassidy, at home,
Pope began looking for jobs
outside football. He had
attended an orientation at a
factory that works on cars
and builds tools earlier that
day.
“It was like hard labor,”
he said. “I didn’t really want
to work the job, but I had to
provide for my daughter so
I was willing to do anything
for her.”
Pope was on his way
to pick up his car from the
shop with his mother when
the Seahawks called to give
him the job offer he wanted.
In three weeks with the
team, he’s made an impres-
sion in practice and the two
preseason games.
“I’m not surprised,”
head coach Pete Carroll
said of Pope’s performance
against Minnesota. “I really
thought we saw some stuff
See SEAHAWKS/2B
Sports shorts
EOU’s Mills garners Defensive
Player of the Week honors
LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon libeiro
Malia Mills was chosen by the Cascade
Collegiate Conference as the
FACES volleyball defensive player of the
week.
Mills, a junior, collected a total
of 50 digs to help her No. 8 ranked
Mountaineer team to a 3-1 record
at the Biola Summer Slam tour-
nament in La Miranda, California
over the weekend. In the season
Mills
opener she recorded 20 digs in a
3-0 loss to No. 16 Westmont in the
season opener and then turned in 14 digs in an
easy 3-0 victory over The Master’s.
Mills and the Mountaineers will hit the court
again on Friday when they kick-off the Big Sky
Invitational in Butte, Montana with a match
against Carroll College at Noon.
“I’m all for raising the
bar for global basketball
... I love the game.
Basketball is the No. 2
sport in the world (but)
we just need to see
these other countries
get their acts together
and become more
competitive.“
— Jerry Colangelo
USA Basketball chairman af-
ter the USA took down Serbia
XX-XX to win their third straight
gold medal in men’s basketball,
challenging the other countries to
push the US on the global stage.
Bend team fi nishes Little
League World Series with win
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) Isaiah
Jensen allowed just two hits and no earned
runs in 4 1/3 innings to help Bend, Oregon beat
Emilia, Italy 6-2 on Monday in
a consolation game of the Little
League World Series.
Oregon put runners on
second and third with no outs
in the second inning but scored
just once on Chase Terry’s sacrifi ce fl y. Jensen
kept Italy scoreless through four innings and
didn’t give up a hit until Samuele Gamberini
singled off the center-fi eld wall in the fourth.
Oregon scored fi ve runs in the bottom of
the fourth to make it 6-0. Julian Mora sliced a
RBI single to right fi eld, and Bowen Nelson
and Zack Reynolds hit back-to-back RBI
triples with two outs.
Bend fi nished the tournament at 1-2.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
2001
—
Arizona
Diamondbacks
pitcher
Randy Johnson strikes out
16 batters in seven innings
to become the fi rst MLB
pitcher to strike out 300 in
four straight seasons.
2012 — Lance Armstrong
chooses not to pursue
arbitration in the drug case
brought against him by the
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
That’s his last option in his
bitter fi ght with USADA and
his decision sets the stage for
the titles to be stripped and
his name to be all but wiped
from the record books of the
sport he once ruled.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com