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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2017)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Thursday, February 16, 2017 SWIMMING: State meet starts on Friday Continued from 1B the Columbia River Conference championships, Hermiston knew who its top competition would be. “We knew at this meet it would be really close because (Pendleton was) bringing all of its swimmers and we were bringing all of ours,” Barnard said. Bulldogs coach Kevin Hamblin said he was doing the math in his head before the first event, which he also figured would make or break Hermiston’s title hopes. “Before the meet started I said our medley relay, we had two of them in there, I said, ‘This is where we’re going to win or lose the district meet.’” Hermiston’s two teams and Hood River Valley’s one were the only teams entered in the race. “I said, ‘If we don’t get DQ’d and get those second and third (place) points we’re going to do just fine,’” Hamblin said. The Bulldogs made it through the race and picked up 18 points that would indeed prove crucial as Hermiston was able to hold off Pendleton 93-91 at the end of the meet to claim its first-ever district championship. “I was looking at the Pendleton guys and they had some fire in their eyes,” said Hermiston senior relay swimmer Ryan Wiley. “Kevin (Hamblin) just kept telling us we’ve got to keep pushing. It’s not about time necessarily, it’s about passing the guy that you can see. And even the ones you can’t see.” “We knew it was going to be close, but we didn’t know quite how close,” said Bulldogs junior Carson Wrathall, a relay and freestyle swimmer. “That was just crazy. We kind of all went crazy. We’d never won at districts, it was our first time, we didn’t know what to do really.” The shimmer on the their first district crown was still sparkling bright on Wednesday as they wrapped up practice at Blue Mountain Community College, but the Bulldogs had turned their focus to another fast-approaching first — a berth in the OSAA state championships beginning Friday at Mt. Hood Community College. Barnard and Wrathall each qualified in three events. Along with making it in their individual strokes, they will be joined by senior Ean Buck and sophomore Seth Buck in swimming the relays at state. Wiley, junior Jose Roman, sophomore Alexis Perez and freshman Ivan Cardenas will be Contributed photo courtesy of Lukas Johnson The Pendleton High boys’ relay team won the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay at the Columbia River Conference District Swim Meet in Hood River on February 11. From left: Jon Jennings, Shane Miltenberger, Rylan Headley, Avery Madril. The Pendleton High girls’ won the 200 freestyle relay at the CRC District Meet in Hood River on Feb. 11. From left: Landry Huth, Sam Schmitz, Oceane Schreier, Abby Williams. Contributed photo courte- sy of Lukas Johnson their relay alternates. It is the first state meet for all of them. Barnard enters with the highest seed at No. 10 in the 200-yard individual medley after winning districts in two minutes, 11.84 seconds. “It’s some tough competition this year, and I know that I can drop some time,” said Barnard. “I could have dropped more time in finals at districts but I was really swimming just to get to state, and I really wanted to save some (energy) for my relays because I wanted to take some of these other guys with me to state.” Wrathall is seeded 11th in the 200 freestyle, and said his goals are to swim his hardest, soak up the atmosphere, and lay it all on the line in the relays. The Bulldogs are hoping to reach the finals in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relay, and figure they will need to shave several seconds from their 11th-seeded times in the prelimi- naries. “We’ve got to drop five seconds to make it there (to the finals), and hopefully keep going from there,” said Ean Buck, who will swim in both relays. The Bulldogs figure that with a pared down event list at state, fresher swimmers will naturally mean quicker relay times, and Pendleton knows firsthand how quickly things can change in the relays. “There was a couple years ago when our boys team went in as 10th and then we went into finals as first,” said Buckaroos senior Jon Jennings, who qualified for state in four events. “So it’s just whatever happens happens.” Jennings is making his fourth state finals, and as well as swim- ming for both of Pendleton’s freestyle relays he’s entered in the 50 and 100 freestyle. He’s the defending state cham- pions in the 50 free, and is seeded second with a time of 21.56. Lebanon junior Casey McEuen won his district title in 20.97, and the two swimmers tied for the quickest seed time in the 100 with 47.87. Jennings was third in that event last season. Also earning individual state berths for the Buckaroos boys were senior Shane Miltenberger in the 500 freestyle and junior Rylan Headley in the 100 backstroke. Senior Avery Madril joins those three for the relays, and their alter- nates are juniors Matt Larsen and Nick Johnson. Sam Schmitz made state in the 100 freestyle for the girls, and will also swim on Pendleton’s 200 freestyle relay team, which are the only two events in which the Buckaroos qualified girls for state. “It was actually a huge goal of mine,” said the senior of her first individual state berth. “I competed in the 100 (free) last year and the girl that I competed against out-touched me (at districts). “We’re great friends and we’d been joking about it all season, and then I don’t know, this year I came out of nowhere and I just had this huge surge of energy and dropped, I think like two seconds, and I saw that I won and I was so happy I just started crying.” Schmitz will make her second state meet in the relay along with senior Oceane Schreier, junior Abby Williams and sophomore Landry Huth. Seniors Brooke Lapp, MaKayla Lee and Olivia Broker are their alternates. Like the boys’ relay teams, the Bucks girls have been working hard on their turns and starts in an effort to reach the final heat. “We know we’re seeded 10th and you have to get to sixth to get to the finals,” Huth said, “but we know that it’s only a couple of seconds.” “We’re just going to try as hard as we can,” Schmitz said. “This is my last meet and I’m just going to give it everything I’ve got.” The 5A state meet will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday with prelimi- nary heats. Finals will begin on Saturday at 8:15 a.m. ——— Hermiston state qualifiers BOYS (Event, seed, name, district finals time) 200 freestyle — 12, C. Wrathall, 1:55.69. 200 individual medley — 10, R. Barnard, 2:11.84. 200 freestyle relay — 11, C. Wrathall, S. Buck, E. Buck, R. Barnard (J. Roman, A. Perez, R. Wiley, I. Cardenas), 1:37.97 400 freestyle relay — 11, C. Wrathall, E. Buck, S. Buck, R. Barnard (J. Roman, A. Perez, R. Wiley, I. Cardenas), 3:38.72 Pendleton state qualifiers BOYS (Event, seed, name, district finals time) 50 freestyle — 2, J. Jennings, 21.56 100 freestyle — 2, J. Jennings, 47.87 500 freestyle — 12, S. Miltenberger, 5:22.78 200 freestyle relay — 8, A. Madril, R. Headley, S. Miltenberger, J. Jennings (M. Larsen, N. Johnson), 1:37.25 100 backstroke — 12, R. Headley, 1:05.56. 400 freestyle relay — 9, A. Madril, R. Headley, S. Miltenberger, J. Jennings (M. Larsen, N. Johnson), 3:36.03 GIRLS 100 freestyle — 12, S. Schmitz, 58.94 200 freestyle relay — 10, O. Schreier, A. Williams, L. Huth, S. Schmitz (B. Lapp, M. Lee, O. Broker), 1:50.84 ————— Contact Matt at mentrup@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0838. BLAZERS: Continued from 1B and McCollum had 18. The Trail Blazers cut the lead to single digits in the third quarter, but never got closer than seven. “I just could never get it going,” Lillard said. “I felt like even when I got looks that I know I should make, it felt like the ball was rolling around the rim and rattling in and out. “We’re in a tough place. I don’t think we’ve ever been in this position. Even in my rookie year, we were at least playing good basketball. ... You got two options: You can either run from it or take this break and go rest up and do whatever we need to do and come back and man up. ... Period. That’s what needs to happen.” The Jazz led 40-37 at half- time despite continuing their shooting woes from the previous game. Utah shot a season-low 33 percent from the field in a loss to the Clippers on Monday. Fortunately for the Jazz, their top-ranked defense held the Blazers to 32.5 percent shooting from the floor in the first 24 minutes. A 12-0 first-quarter run gave Utah a 10-point lead that it extended to 14 midway through the second quarter after a three- point play from Hill. The Trail Blazers closed the half on an 11-0 stretch, including seven straight from McCollum. “I didn’t think we necessarily played that well offensively, but we were competing and at least kept it close until the (Jazz) 3-pointers came,” Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. TIP-INS Trail Blazers: Al-Farouq Aminu did not play due to a left knee sprain. ... Evan Turner missed his third straight game due to a right hand injury. ... Lillard has made a 3-pointer in a career-high 36 consecutive games, the third-longest streak in the NBA this season. DEBUT Center Jusuf Nurkic made his debut with the Blazers after being traded from Denver on Jan. 29. The Nuggets sent Nurkic and a 2017 first-round pick for Mason Plumlee, a 2018 second-round pick and cash considerations. Nurkic scored 13 points and had seven rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. UP NEXT Trail Blazers: travel to face the Orlando Magic and newly acquired Terrence Ross on Feb. 23. IWAKUMA: Declined invite to World Baseball Classic to focus on Mariners Continued from 1B Hernandez lose some velocity and miss a few starts due to injury. Iwakuma got to Arizona several days before the spring training report date to get a jump on preparation for this season. Iwakuma made 33 starts and fell an inning short of 200 in 2016. A couple of months shy of turning 36 years old, he’s eager to show he can still be counted on as often. “Kuma takes his offseason as serious as anybody. I think he wants to show people that he can carry that workload,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s hard for him, especially where he’s at in his career. We got prob- ably more out of him than we expected, which is great. We certainly needed it, and he wants to back it up again this year.” Servais said Iwakuma was disappointed in the start against Oakland with the season on the line. Servais said fatigue might have been a factor. “But he really carried us. Especially when Felix went down and we were struggling to get consistent innings out of our starters. He was our most consistent guy,” Servais said. An All-Star in 2013 with a no-hitter to his credit, Iwakuma is in his sixth season as a Mariner. He’s won consistently, with double-digit wins in three seasons. His win total and innings total last season were career highs. “I was able to pitch 33 games, a full season, and I’m very happy for that. That’s what you want to do as a starter,” Iwakuma said through interpreter Antony Suzuki. “I look forward to doing that again this year. Sixteens wins is great, I look forward to winning more than that this year. I don’t have a goal yet, but just staying healthy for an entire season and helping the team and contributing, that’s all I think about right now.” Iwakuma said he didn’t think much about whether fatigue was a factor in him going 2-5 from Aug. 18 to the end of last season. He did open the season 0-3 in April. “That’s another thing I have to work on, having a good September and finishing strong,” he said. Iwakuma feels healthy as camp begins, with pitchers and catchers set for their first workout on Wednesday. He spurned another chance to pitch for Japan in the World Baseball Classic — he represented his country in 2009 — to focus on his goal of making all of his starts for the Mariners in 2017. And this year, he’s confi- dent the Mariners can make the postseason for the first time since 2001. “Very happy. Very excited about this team,” he said. NOTES: Mariners pitchers committed 11 throwing errors last season, Servais pointed out, and he installed a new drill taken from a college football prac- tice he observed. Pitchers fielded comebackers and threw into a net with a target on it. “The numbers back up that we’ve got to get better there,” Servais said. ... Newly acquired LHP Drew Smyly could pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next month, but not until the second round if it advances. “We’ve got to get him ready for our season, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Servais said. “He does want to pitch for Team USA, I certainly respect that and understand that, but he’ll be available based on when the second round comes up.” SCOREBOARD Local Slate PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Today Echo vs. Wallowa (at Baker High School), TBA Helix vs. Joseph (at Baker High School), 8:15 p.m. Friday Irrigon at Umatilla, 6 p.m. Nixyaawii vs. Helix/Joseph winner (at Baker High School), 2:15 p.m. Powder Valley vs. Echo/Wallowa winner (at Baker High School), 8:15 p.m. Pendleton at The Dalles, 7 p.m. Hood River at Hermiston, 7 p.m. Arlington at Sherman (at Madras HS), 7:30 p.m. Heppner vs. Weston-McEwen (at Pendle- ton Convention Center), 7:45 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Today Joseph vs. Helix (at Baker High School), 6:30 p.m. Echo vs. Cove (at Baker High School), 1 p.m. Friday Powder Valley vs. Joseph/Helix winner (at Baker High School), 1 p.m. Weston-McEwen vs. Culver (CBC District Tournament, at Pendleton Convention Center), 6 p.m. Nixyaawii vs. Echo/Cove winner (at Baker High School), 6:30 p.m. Hermiston at Hood River, 7 p.m. The Dalles at Pendleton, 7 p.m. PREP WRESTLING Friday Heppner/Ione at 2A/1A District Tourna- ment (at Hermiston, Armand Larive Middle School), 10 a.m. Saturday Riverside, Irrigon, Echo/Stanfield at 3A District Tournament (at Nyssa), 10 a.m. PREP SWIMMING Friday Pendleton, Hermiston at state champion- ships (Mt. Hood C.C., Gesham), 9 a.m. Saturday Pendleton, Hermiston at state champion- ships (Mt. Hood C.C., Gesham), 8:15 a.m. COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL Today Eastern Oregon at College of Idaho, 6:30 p.m. Saturday Blue Mountain at Walla Walla, 4 p.m. Sunday Walla Walla U. at Eastern Oregon, 3 p.m. COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Today Eastern Oregon at College of Idaho, 4:30 p.m. Saturday Blue Mountain at Walla Walla, 2 p.m. Sunday Walla Walla U. at Eastern Oregon, 1 p.m. COLLEGE WRESTLING Saturday Eastern Oregon at NAIA Western Region- al (at Redding, Calif.), TBA COLLEGE SOFTBALL Friday Eastern Oregon vs. William Jessup (at Redding, Calif.), 11 a.m. Eastern Oregon at Simpson, 3 p.m. Saturday Eastern Oregon vs. William Jessup (at Redding, Calif.), 9 a.m. Eastern Oregon at Simpson, 11 a.m. Prep Standings BOYS BASKETBALL 5A Columbia River Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Pendleton 6-0 11-4 10 Hermiston 4-2 14-6 11 Hood River 1-4 6-11 29 The Dalles 1-6 4-14 27 4A Greater Oregon League Conf. La Grande 6-0 Ontario 4-2 Baker 2-4 Mac-Hi 0-6 Ovr Rank 18-2 3 10-8 14 9-15 25 6-14 34 3A Eastern Oregon League Conf. Umatilla 8-2 Irrigon 7-3 Burns 6-4 Nyssa 5-5 Riverside 2-8 Vale 2-8 Ovr Rank 16-7 10 15-7 13 14-10 23 8-13 22 6-14 35 4-18 34 2A Columbia Basin Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Stanfield 8-0 18-1 1 Weston-McEwen 4-4 13-9 15 Heppner 4-4 12-6 12 Pilot Rock 4-4 11-10 18 Culver 0-8 1-18 38 1A Big Sky League Conf. 14-0 12-2 7-6 7-7 6-8 6-8 3-11 0-14 Ovr Rank 20-5 1 17-3 9 15-10 22 12-11 25 11-12 31 9-12 30 4-18 46 1-19 59 1A Old Oregon League Conf. Powder Valley 13-1 Nixyaawii 12-2 Joseph 11-3 Echo 7-7 Wallowa 5-9 Helix 4-10 Cove 4-10 Pine Eagle 0-14 Ovr Rank 18-4 12 15-6 15 17-5 17 8-15 38 5-17 45 6-15 53 6-16 52 1-20 66 Sherman Dufur Horizon Christian Arlington Condon/Wheeler South Wasco Ione Mitchell/Spray GIRLS BASKETBALL 5A Columbia River Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Hermiston 5-1 11-9 11 Pendleton 5-1 9-7 12 The Dalles 2-5 7-10 22 Hood River 0-5 6-9 28 4A Greater Oregon League Conf. Baker 6-0 La Grande 4-2 Ontario 2-4 Mac-Hi 0-6 Ovr Rank 15-4 9 11-9 18 5-16 29 1-18 38 3A Eastern Oregon League Conf. Vale 8-2 Nyssa 7-3 Burns 6-4 Irrigon 5-5 Riverside 3-7 Umatilla 1-9 Ovr Rank 18-4 6 17-7 8 14-9 10 12-10 16 9-10 28 6-17 33 2A Columbia Basin Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Pilot Rock 6-2 17-4 7 Weston-McEwen 6-2 15-7 15 Culver 5-3 13-7 16 Heppner 2-6 7-11 26 Stanfield 1-7 4-16 33 1A Big Sky League Horizon Christian Arlington South Wasco Condon/Wheeler Sherman Dufur Conf. 13-1 13-1 9-5 8-6 6-8 4-10 Ovr Rank 19-5 20 18-5 15 12-9 27 11-12 34 8-16 48 6-14 47 Ione Mitchell/Spray 3-11 0-14 1A Old Oregon League Conf. Nixyaawii 14-0 Powder Valley 12-2 Joseph 9-5 Echo 8-6 Helix 5-9 Cove 5-9 Wallowa 3-11 Pine Eagle 0-14 3-19 2-17 Ovr Rank 21-0 1 18-4 6 15-6 13 15-8 19 9-12 25 9-14 31 3-19 43 0-18 51 Basketball NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pct Boston 37 19 .661 Toronto 33 24 .579 New York 23 34 .404 Philadelphia 21 35 .375 Brooklyn 9 47 .161 Southeast Division W L Pct Washington 33 21 .611 Atlanta 32 24 .571 Miami 25 32 .439 Charlotte 24 32 .429 Orlando 21 37 .362 Central Division W L Pct Cleveland 39 16 .709 Indiana 29 27 .518 Chicago 27 29 .482 Detroit 27 30 .474 Milwaukee 25 30 .455 WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division W L Pct San Antonio 43 13 .768 Houston 40 18 .690 Memphis 34 24 .586 New Orleans 23 34 .404 Dallas 22 34 .393 Northwest Division W L Pct Utah 35 22 .614 Oklahoma City 32 25 .561 Denver 25 31 .446 Portland 23 33 .411 Minnesota 22 35 .386 Pacific Division W L Pct Golden State 47 9 .839 L.A. Clippers 35 21 .625 Sacramento 24 33 .421 L.A. Lakers 19 39 .328 Phoenix 18 39 .316 52 60 GB — 4½ 14½ 16 28 GB — 2½ 9½ 10 14 GB — 10½ 12½ 13 14 GB — 4 10 20½ 21 GB — 3 9½ 11½ 13 GB — 12 23½ 28½ 29 ——— Wednesday’s Games Cleveland 113, Indiana 104 San Antonio 107, Orlando 79 Boston 116, Philadelphia 108 Detroit 98, Dallas 91 Milwaukee 129, Brooklyn 125 Toronto 90, Charlotte 85 Miami 117, Houston 109 New Orleans 95, Memphis 91 Minnesota 112, Denver 99 Phoenix 137, L.A. Lakers 101 Utah 111, Portland 88 Oklahoma City 116, New York 105 L.A. Clippers 99, Atlanta 84 Golden State 109, Sacramento 86 Today’s Games Washington at Indiana, 4 p.m. Boston at Chicago, 5 p.m. Friday-Saturday No games scheduled. Sunday’s Games NBA All-Star Game at New Orleans, LA, 5:30 p.m. NCAA Men’s AP Top 25 Wednesday’s Games No. 10 North Carolina 97, NC State 73 No. 12 Duke 65, No. 14 Virginia 55 No. 18 Cincinnati 68, South Florida 54 No. 19 SMU 80, Tulane 75 Seton Hall 87, No. 20 Creighton 81 Arkansas 83, No. 21 South Carolina 76 No. 23 Maryland 74, Northwestern 64 No. 24 Butler 110, St. John’s 86 Thursday’s Games No. 1 Gonzaga vs. San Francisco, 6 p.m. No. 5 Arizona at Washington State, 6 p.m. No. 7 Oregon vs. Utah, 6 p.m. No. 11 Wisconsin at Michigan, 4 p.m. No. 22 Saint Mary’s vs. Loyola Mary- mount, 8 p.m. Women’s AP Top 25 Wednesday’s Games No. 2 Maryland 89, Wisconsin 40 West Virginia 66, No. 24 Kansas State 59 Today’s Games No. 3 Mississippi State vs. Georgia, 5 p.m. No. 4 Florida State at Virginia, 4 p.m. No. 6 South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt, 4 p.m. No. 7 Notre Dame at Clemson, 4 p.m. No. 10 Stanford at California, 8 p.m. No. 12 Ohio State at Nebraska, 5 p.m. No. 13 Duke at Wake Forest, 4 p.m. No. 15 N.C. State at Boston College, 4 p.m. No. 20 Michigan at Indiana, 3 p.m. No. 23 Texas A&M at LSU, 5 p.m. Hockey NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division GP W L OT Montreal 58 31 19 8 Ottawa 54 29 19 6 Boston 58 29 23 6 Toronto 56 26 19 11 Florida 55 26 20 10 Buffalo 57 24 23 10 Tampa Bay 56 25 24 7 Detroit 57 22 25 10 Metropolitan Division GP W L OT Washington 56 39 11 6 Pittsburgh 55 35 13 7 Columbus 56 36 15 5 N.Y. Rangers 56 37 18 1 Philadelphia 57 27 23 7 N.Y. Islanders 55 25 20 10 New Jersey 56 24 22 10 Carolina 53 24 22 7 WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division GP W L OT Minnesota 56 37 13 6 Chicago 57 35 17 5 St. Louis 57 30 22 5 Nashville 56 27 21 8 Winnipeg 59 26 29 4 Dallas 58 22 26 10 Colorado 54 15 37 2 Pacific Division GP W L OT San Jose 58 34 18 6 Anaheim 58 30 18 10 Edmonton 57 30 19 8 Calgary 58 29 26 3 Los Angeles 55 28 23 4 Vancouver 57 25 26 6 Arizona 55 19 29 7 Pts 70 64 64 63 60 58 57 54 GF GA 165 150 145 146 157 155 174 167 140 158 141 161 154 160 141 171 Pts 84 77 77 75 61 60 58 55 GF GA 192 121 197 155 182 138 192 147 148 171 162 165 131 159 140 156 Pts 80 75 65 62 56 54 32 GF GA 187 130 166 147 163 165 158 151 171 187 160 187 109 184 Pts 74 70 68 61 60 56 45 GF GA 161 141 152 147 162 148 152 165 138 136 135 164 131 174 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. ——— Wednesday’s Games Columbus 5, Toronto 2 St. Louis 2, Detroit 0 Calgary 3, Philadelphia 1 Florida 6, San Jose 5 Thursday’s Games Ottawa at New Jersey, 4 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at N.Y. Islanders, 4 p.m. Winnipeg at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. Colorado at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. Vancouver at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Dallas at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Philadelphia at Edmonton, 6 p.m. Arizona at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m.