SPORTS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2017
1B
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STATE CHAMPIONS!!!!
Staff photos by E.J. Harris
TOP LEFT: Hermiston’s Valen Wyse throws Milwaukie’s Mikel Bremner in his 170-pound class 5A state championship match win Saturday in Portland. TOP RIGHT: Hermis-
ton’s C.J. Hendon throws Sandy’s Brody Diaz de Leon in his 138-pound class 5A state championship match win Saturday in Portland. BOTTOM LEFT: Heppner’s Cord Flynn
attempts to pin Culver’s Jaiden Jones in him 195-pound class 2A state championship match win Saturday in Portland. BOTTOM RIGHT: Riverside’s Aristotle Rockwell pick
up Glide’s Kasey Collier in his 132-pound class 3A state championship match win Saturday in Portland.
Four local wrestlers victorious at OSAA fi nals
Wyse, Rockwell win
second titles; fi rst for
Hendon, Flynn
East Oregonian
The Bulldogs’ hope for another
team state title may not have come
to fruition, but two Bulldogs,
a Pirate and a Mustang all still
ended their high school wrestling
careers as champions on Saturday
at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in
Portland.
Hermiston’s C.J. Hendon and
Valen Wyse each won their weight
class in the 5A OSAA State Cham-
pionships, Riverside’s Aristotle
Rockwell brought back his second
3A title, and Heppner/Ione’s Cord
Flynn secured his fi rst title at the
2A/1A level.
Wyse improved to 8-0 at the state
meet and won his second champi-
onship. Just one of his matches in
the 170-pound bracket went the
distance, and that one wasn’t close
either.
Coming off a pair of fi rst-round
pins on the tournament’s fi rst day,
Wyse started his second day in
the semifi nals against St. Helens’s
Colton Beisley, made Wyse go the
full six minutes for a 22-9 major
decision victory.
That matched him up against
Milwaukie’s Mikel Bremner in the
championship, where Wyse would
get his quickest victory of the
tournament and pinned Bremner in
1:29.
Hendon, at 138 pounds, had a
much more tense fi nal earlier in the
day going against Brody Diaz de
Leon of Sandy.
After nearly getting pinned at
the end of the fi rst round, Hendon
was able to score a reversal in the
second that tied the score at 4-4.
Neither scored in the third round
as Hendon was unable to get any
hold to stick from the top position,
and the wrestlers stood back up to
start the sudden victory round.
Hendon immediately shot in for
a single leg takedown, and although
he landed his shot, Diaz de Leon
was also quick with a headlock and
when Wyse drove forward the two
wrestlers tumbled to the mat in a
tangle.
Hendon’s momentum briefl y
carried him onto his shoulders,
drawing an eruption of cheers from
the Sandy fan section, but Diaz
de Leon’s hold was too high and
See WRESTLING/3B
Prep Basketball
Back to Baker: Golden Eagles begin fi nal countdown
Nixyaawii,
Arlington advance
to fi nal bracket;
Weston-McEwen
stuns Faith Bible
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — And then
there were three.
Just
three
Girls: 1A
more games stand
between the Nixy-
aawii Golden Eagles
girls basketball team New Hope
and its ultimate goal
of a 1A state champi-
onship after another
blowout victory on Saturday at
Sunridge Middle School.
Hosting No. 16 seed New Hope
Christian for a second-round game,
No. 1 Nixyaawii showed no signs
of slowing up now and remained
undefeated with a 57-34 rout that
34
was never close.
Kaitlynn Melton
scored eight of her
17 points in the
Nixyaawii
fi rst quarter to help
establish the lead,
and Mary Stewart
added seven of her
game-high 20 points in the opening
frame as the Golden Eagles (24-0)
jumped out to a 21-6 advantage.
A defensive shift by the Warriors
(18-9) was able to slow the Eagles
down in the second quarter, but
another run after halftime quickly
Round 2
57
put the score out of reach.
It was yet another lopsided
win for a team that has averaged
a 16-point margin of victory
this season, but after the game
the Golden Eagles were more
concerned with how they could get
better.
“Blocking out was one of our
things that we want to work on.
We didn’t really block out too
great today, but we’ll get to it. I’m
sure we’ll be running for it later,”
Melton said. “We’re always looking
for improvement, watching tape,
looking for what we can do better.”
Nixyaawii coach Jeremy Maddern
said that’s an attitude the coaching
staff hasn’t had to work hard to
develop.
“With the way we’re winning
I think it comes with a lot of
self-motivation so we just talk
about improvement every day in
practice both as an individual and
as a team,” he said. “I like that this
group is looking to get better and
not satisfi ed. Just like today, we’re
happy to be going to Baker again,
See BASKETBALL/2B
Sports shorts
Joey Delgado qualifi es for NCAAs
CORVALLIS — Joey Delgado was one of
fi ve Oregon State wrestlers to qualify for the
NCAA Championships on Sunday at the Pac-12
Conference Championships at Stanford.
It is the third time the 149-pound Hermiston
product has reached the NCAAs,
and he did so with a third-place
fi nish when he beat Joshy Cortez
of Cal Poly 3-1.
He had already beaten him
once, 10-0 in the fi rst round. He
went 3-1 and his other victory was
12-5 over Dakata Wall of Boise
Delgado
State. Delgado is 1-4 overall in his
previous two NCAAs.
Joey Palmer (133) and Corey Griego (197)
won Pac-12 titles for the Beavers, and Jack
Hathaway (141) and Cody Crawford (Hwt.)
also qualifi ed for the NCAAs.
Freshman Bob Coleman (174), also of
Hermiston, placed fi fth in the Pac-12.
“It was not necessarily
the most fun situation, but
there were so many things
I learned. Everything
happens for a reason; that
situation happened for a
reason. I learned from it.
I’m grateful for it. I can
honestly say that.“
— Tim Tebow
Former NFL quarterback on his sea-
son with the New York Jets. Tebow
is attempting catch on with the New
York Mets in spring training, and hit
nine home runs in batting practice
Monday in his fi rst workout.
OSU women win regular season
CORVALLIS (AP) — Sydney Wiese scored
19 points and No. 10 Oregon State clinched
the Pac-12 regular season title outright with a
71-56 win over California on Sunday.
Marie Gulich added 14 points while Kolbie
Orum had 11 for the Beavers
(27-3, 16-2 Pac-12).
Jaelyn Brown came off
the bench to score 21 points
and Kristine Anigwe had 15
points and eight rebounds for the Golden Bears
(18-12, 6-12).
Oregon State took control of the game with
a 10-2 run after halftime that made the score
51-36. Gulich scored six points during the
stretch.
California never got closer the nine points
the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 19
in the second half.
The Beavers outrebounded California 39-22
and had 20 assists on 25 fi eld goals.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1922 — In the fi rst
formal college conference
basketball
tournament,
North Carolina beats Mercer
40-26 to win the Southern
Intercollegiate Conference
championship. The 13-team
conference keeps standings
in its second season.
1981 — Houston’s Calvin
Murphy makes the last of his
78 consecutive free throws
in a game against San Diego,
setting what was then an
NBA record.
1987 — Los Angeles
Lakers broadcaster Chick
Hearn calls his 2,000th
consecutive game for the club,
a streak spanning 22 years.
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