SPORTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017
1B
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HERMISTON
Prep Wrestling
Bulldogs working for No. 11
Hermiston hopes
to add another
title to collection
EO fi le photo
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
At 5:30 a.m. on school days,
many Hermiston High students
are still fast asleep in their beds,
enjoying the fi nal minutes of
rest before the dreaded alarm
clock sounds to start their day.
Meanwhile, at that same
time the Hermiston wrestling
team is already awake and at
school, getting in their grueling
morning workout. Whether it’s
running sprints, laps around the
gymnasium or even a fun game
of basketball as a change-of-
pace, the Bulldogs meet up to
get their bodies going and their
day started right.
Now having a morning run
on top of a typical strenuous
two hour practice after school
may seem excessive for a bunch
of teenagers, but the Bulldogs
embrace it. Sure they would
like to grab a few extra hours
of sleep before the school day
or even on days when school is
out, but it’s all part of the team’s
winning tradition.
“Of course you’re tempted
(to sleep), but while you’re
asleep someone else is already
up and getting better,” Herm-
iston junior, and state qualifi er
Riverside’s Aristotle Rockwell won the 3A
state title at 126 pounds in 2016, and is
the No. 1 seed at 132 pounds this year.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston Bulldog senior wrestler Valen Wyse is looking to defend his state title this
weekend at the state wrestling championship in Portland.
at 182 pounds, Joe Gutierrez
said after practice on Monday.
“So it’s just kind of that drive
that leads you.”
“You have to have that drive
to be better and that want to
improve,” added Corey Mason,
a senior and qualifi er at 220
pounds. “And just know if you
don’t come to practice it’s a
match you might lose or a state
title you didn’t win.”
It is habits such as those
plus hundreds upon hundreds
of hours in the weight room,
in practice and in offseason
training that have pushed
the Hermiston Bulldogs to
wrestling dominance in the
state of Oregon over the past
two decades. Since 2000, no
school has won more wrestling
team state championships than
Hermiston’s 10 and only Burns
at the 3A level has matched
that total. Hermiston has won
See BULLDOGS/3B
2017 OSAA State Wrestling
Championships
• When: Friday 8:30 a.m.-
9:30 p.m. & Saturday, 8:30
a.m.-10 p.m.
• Where: Veterans
Memorial Coliseum in
Portland.
• Admission: $40 for two-
day pass, $20 for
single-session passes
Oregon’s
Dillon
Brooks
(24)
shoots
against
Califor-
nia’s Ivan
Rabb,
left, in
the fi rst
half of
an NCAA
college
basket-
ball game
Wednes-
day, Feb.
22, 2017,
in Berke-
ley, Calif.
Men’s College Basketball
Brooks sinks Bears
Last-second 3-pointer
caps Ducks’ comeback
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
BERKELEY, Calif. — Dillon
Brooks hit a 3-pointer with 0.2
seconds to play to cap a comeback
from 16 points down and No. 6
Oregon beat California 68-65 on
Wednesday night to keep its hopes
alive for a Pac-12 title.
The Ducks (25-4, 14-2) trailed
by 16 points early in the second
half and were down 10 with just
over 4 minutes left before rallying
for the win that moved them a
half-game behind Arizona for fi rst
place in the conference. Oregon
holds the tiebreaker.
#6 Oregon
California
68
65
Brooks led the Ducks with 22
points and Chris Boucher added
18.
Jabari Bird scored 20 points to
lead the way for the Golden Bears
(18-9, 9-6), whose hopes for an
NCAA Tournament berth were
dealt a big blow with this loss.
Consecutive 3-pointers by
Boucher, Dylan Ennis and Payton
Pritchard cut Cal’s 10-point lead to
one with just under 3 minutes left.
Boucher then gave the Ducks their
fi rst lead of the game with a layup
that made it 62-61 with 1:48 to go.
See DUCKS/2B
AP Photo/Ben
Margot
Rockwell
leads herd
of locals to
state meet
Forty-three local athletes
competing this weekend
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — The last name ‘Rockwell’
has become synonymous with great wrestling
in Eastern Oregon.
Riverside High alumnus Hans Rockwell is a
four-time state title winner and now competes
collegiately at Oregon State. And over the past
four years, Aristotle Rockwell has elevated
himself to elite status, qualifying for the state
tournament in all four years, earning two
runner-up fi nishes and fi nally a state champi-
onship last season.
Now Aristotle hopes to close out his high
school career with his second career state
championship, and his road begins on Friday
morning. Rockwell breezed through his season
to the tune of a perfect 31-0 record, and won his
district title with two pins and a major decision
victory last weekend. That combination helped
Rockwell earn the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A
132-pound bracket for the weekend tourna-
ment.
“It’s (this season) had a lot of ups and downs
defi nitely, being my senior year I’ve felt a lot
of pressure on my shoulders,” Rockwell said
on Wednesday. “Now that state is right around
the corner I feel more prepared than ever, I’ve
had a couple of close matches but as long as I
perform to my ability I will be able to dominate
this weekend.”
Rockwell will be joined by six of his
Riverside teammates at the state tournament,
including fellow senior Anthony Kernal who
is the No. 4 seed in the 220 pound bracket.
Kernal (17-10) is in his third trip to the state
tournament, where he most recently earned a
sixth place fi nish in 2016.
See WRESTLING/2B
Women’s College Basketball
Wiese putting fi nal touches on legendary Beavers career
In this Jan.
29, 2017,
fi le photo,
Oregon
State
guard Syd-
ney Wiese,
middle,
breaks
through
Oregon
defense
to score
during a
game in
Corvallis.
Anibal Ortiz/The
Gazette-Times
via AP, fi le
OSU senior already
Pac-12 record holder
for 3-pointers made
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
CORVALLIS — Four years
ago, Sydney Wiese put her trust in
Oregon State coach Scott Rueck.
She’s never once doubted the
decision.
“Coach Rueck had the vision
of doing something that had never
been done at Oregon State before.
And I had faith, with his character
and the way he was handling the
recruiting end, that it would be
possible,” Wiese said. “It was defi -
nitely a leap of faith but I wanted
to be part of something special
— and that’s defi nitely what it has
been the past few years here.”
Weise is playing out the fi nal
season of a legacy-making career
for the Beavers. She has been a
constant in recent years as the team
has enjoyed a dramatic rise as one
of the nation’s elite.
In December, she passed
Stanford’s Candice Wiggins to
claim the Pac-12 record for career
3-pointers and she currently has
352 to rank 18th on the NCAA’s
all-time list. She more recently
passed Leilani Estavan’s school
record for career assists with 592
and climbing. She’s seventh in
school history with 1,696 career
points.
The 10th-ranked Beavers (25-3,
14-2) close out the regular season
this weekend at home with games
against Stanford and California.
Oregon State is tied with the No.
8 Cardinal atop the conference
standings.
After the conference tourna-
See WIESE/2B
Sports shorts
Ex-Ducks coach resurfaces in Pac-12
SEATTLE (AP) — Matt Lubick has returned
to the Pac-12 at Washington, the assistant
coach’s fourth job in three months after brief
stops at two other Power Five conference teams
since the end of last season.
Washington coach Chris Petersen on
Wednesday announced the addition
of Lubick as wide receivers coach
and co-offensive coordinator.
Lubick spent the past four
seasons at Oregon, serving as
offensive coordinator last year
before Ducks head coach Mark
Helfrich was fi red Nov. 29. Lubick
Lubick
then took a job as receivers coach
at Ole Miss, but was there only two weeks
before going to Baylor in early January.
His departure from Baylor came just a week
after new Bears coach Matt Rhule announced
titles for his assistants. Lubick was to be
co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach.
“I take it from the
students all the time ...
but from an adult? And
then to turn his back on
me like he’s a coward?
And he is a coward,
but North Carolina is
a classy place and he
doesn’t speak for the
rest of the people.“
— Rick Pitino
Louisville’s men’s basketball
coach after a North Carolina
adult male fan was ejected after
saying something vulgar to Pitino
in the locker room tunnel at half-
time that the coach didn’t like.
MLBPA approves pitchless
intentional walks for 2017
NEW YORK (AP) — There won’t be any
wild pitches on intentional walks this season.
The players’ association has agreed to Major
League Baseball’s proposal to have intentional
walks without pitches this year.
While the union has resisted
many of MLB’s proposed
innovations, such as raising
the bottom of the strike zone,
installing pitch clocks and limiting trips to
the mound, players are willing to accept the
intentional walk change.
There were 932 intentional walks last year,
including 600 in the National League, where
batters are walked to bring up the pitcher’s spot.
“I’m OK with it. You signal. I don’t
think that’s a big deal,” Yankees manager
Joe Girardi said. “For the most part, it’s not
changing the strategy, it’s just kind of speeding
things up. I’m good with it.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1968 — Wilt Chamberlain
becomes fi rst player to score
25,000 points in the NBA.
2002 — The Americans
end nearly a half-century
of Olympic frustration for
the U.S. men’s bobsled
team, driving to the silver
and bronze medals in the
four-man race.
2013 — Ronda Rousey
and Liz Carmouche makes
history just by stepping into
the UFC cage. Rousey wins
the UFC’s fi rst women’s bout,
beating Carmouche on an
armbar, her signature move,
with 11 seconds left in the fi rst
round of their bantamweight
title fi ght at UFC 157.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com