SPORTS
East Oregonian
Page 2B
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Auto Racing
Points-leader Truex on track for NASCAR championship
By PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Martin
Truex Jr. believes being far away
from NASCAR’s hub has helped
him during the most successful
stretch of his career, a run he hopes
ends with a championship this
season.
Truex, the Monster Energy
NASCAR Cup Series points
leader, also is tied for the series
lead with three victories. Already
locked into the playoffs for a third
straight season, Truex believes he’s
better prepared to end the year with
NASCAR’s trophy.
“It just seems like consistency
has gotten better as we go down
this road together as a team,” Truex
said Tuesday. “Last year was a
good and this year so far seems
even better so hopefully we can
continue that upward trend.”
A big reason, at least in Truex’s
mind, is his Furniture Row Racing
team’s headquarters in Denver,
two time zones from the NASCAR
center outside of Charlotte, North
Carolina. The location gives the
team an all-in-the-same-boat
feeling that has made them bond
into a winning group.
“I think it’s a great team, a great
situation,” Truex said. “Being in
Denver, all by ourselves out there,
my crew chiefs, my engineers,
we’re just like a family and we
get better and better as we work
together.”
That’s certainly apparent this
season.
Along with his three victories,
Truex has had eight top fives and
14 top 10s in 21 races this season.
He’s lead the most laps of any
driver (1,291) and has been out
front in 16 of 21 events so far this
year.
“You don’t know what
tomorrow is going to bring, you
don’t know what next weekend is
going to bring, so we’re enjoying
while we have success,” he said.
“We’re working hard to stay where
we’re at.”
The next step is running for a
title.
Truex made the final four two
years ago, yet finished 12th at
Homestead to fall to fourth in the
points race. In 2016, Truex came
in as a playoff powerhouse with
crown jewel victories in the Coca
Cola 600 in Charlotte and Southern
AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File
NASCAR series points leader Martin Truex Jr. has been among the
most consistent drivers this season. He’s hoping that helps his
latest bid for a championship as the regular-season winds down.
500 in Darlington . He then won
two of the first three chase races to
move out front. But problems in the
round of 12 ended Truex’s run as
he finished 11th overall.
This time around, Truex isn’t
looking ahead. He thinks a focus on
the week-to-week racing will keep
himself and his crew sharp so when
the playoffs come, they’ll be ready.
“The last two years we had
some good success in the playoffs
and we did that by not changing our
strategy,” Truex said. “Obviously,
we haven’t got a championship yet
so we’ve got some work to do on it.
But I feel good about this year and
we’ll see how it ends up.”
Truex was outside of the track
“Too Tough To Tame,” at Ramsey’s
Outdoors
Montana woman swims way to history
Associated Press
KALISPELL, Mont. — A Montana
attorney fought through headwinds,
high waves and exhaustion to become
the first person to swim the length of
the West’s largest freshwater lake and
back, a 56-mile feat that took 40 hours.
Emily von Jentzen, 34, set off at
dawn Saturday from Somers on the
northern shore of Flathead Lake, a
200-square mile body of water in
northwestern Montana.
The attorney from nearby Kalispell
was accompanied by a support crew
in a boat that gave her food and kept
other vessels away, but otherwise
didn’t assist her.
Strong headwinds began to rise in
the middle of the first day, slowing her
down and putting her hours behind
her schedule. She told the Daily Inter
Lake that she cried in frustration, and
that her exhaustion led to strange and
negative thoughts.
“I am going so slow, and every-
one’s going to laugh at me,” she said
she recalled saying to the support crew
at one point.
She made up her mind to at least
make it to the halfway point, the town
of Polson on the south shore. There,
John Cole, a 35-year-old pediatrician,
was waiting to swim with her on the
return trip.
Cole’s positive attitude when she
arrived encouraged her to start the
long swim back in the dark, she said.
On Sunday, huge swells began to
form, battering the swimmers and
making the water so choppy that their
support crew became sick and had to
be replaced.
“To have those big waves when
we were both exhausted was really
challenging,” she said. “I don’t think
we could have done it without each
other.”
A crowd of 50 people greeted the
two swimmers when they arrived in
Somers at 10 p.m. Sunday, about 10
hours behind their projected finish.
Von Jentzen and Cole had trained
together for 10 months for the swim.
They spent four hours a day in a pool
during the cold winter, then donned
wetsuits to train in the lake when the
weather began to warm.
Von Jentzen was the first woman to
swim the length of Flathead Lake in
2010, and the first person to swim the
55-mile Lake Chelan in Washington
state in 2011, according to the Flathead
Beacon.
In 2013, she swam 30 Montana
lakes in 60 days.
The Flathead Lake double-crossing
raised money for a 5-year-old boy
with a congenital heart defect and
a 4-year-old girl with cancer. Von
Jentzen has raised about $50,000 for
six different children through charity
swims and her nonprofit organization,
Enduring Waves.
By accompanying Von Jentzen on
the return trip, Cole became the sixth
person to swim the length of Flathead
Lake.
CHANCELLOR: Has been starter since 2011
In this Oct.
18, 2015 file
photo, Car-
olina tight
end Ed Dick-
son, left, flies
toward Se-
attle strong
safety Kam
Chancellor
(31) after
Chancellor
intercepted a
pass during
a game in
Seattle.
Continued from 1B
started, both sides in a great agreement.
Bygones be bygones. I’m ready to play
football.”
Without a new deal, Chancellor
could have left Seattle in free agency
after this season. Chancellor’s first
contract extension, signed in 2013, is
set to expire after the 2017 season.
“I think it’s another illustration of, if
you have deep relationships sometimes
you don’t see things eye-to-eye and
sometimes you get going in a different
direction and stuff doesn’t quite make
sense. We got there,” coach Pete
Carroll said. “But because of the depth
of the relationship, because of the
commitment to one another to really
the individual and to us as well, we
worked our way through it and it made
sense. He’s been better for it. We’ve
been better for it even though it was as
really hard thing.”
Chancellor has been Seattle’s
starting strong safety since 2011. He
is a two-time second-team All-Pro
selection and a four-time Pro Bowler.
Known as one of the biggest hitters
in the defensive backfield, Chancellor
is also a highly respected voice in Seat-
tle’s locker room, even after his holdout
two years ago where he missed the first
two games of the regular season. Any
wounds from that decision were healed
when Chancellor was voted a team
captain last season.
“He came back like we didn’t miss
AP Photo/Stephen
Brashear
a beat. ... He came back like he never
left. We accepted that,” teammate Earl
Thomas said. “He’s a leader, we listen
to him and he’s very valuable to this
defense.”
The contract extension was also
taken as a signal to some of Seattle’s
other veterans who could be in the same
position a year from now. Thomas, for
example, has two years remaining on
his current contract. The same goes for
Richard Sherman.
Seattle also spent four draft picks
this past spring on defensive backs.
“I was watching very closely,”
Thomas said. “You want to see because
we’re all right around the same age.
They’re bringing a lot of new guys in.
If the writing is on the wall I want to
be able to see it because I know I’ll be
next.”
NOTES: Rookie DL Malik
McDowell has arrived in the Seattle
area after being involved in a vehicular
accident a few weeks ago, Carroll said.
Carroll had yet to meet with McDowell
as of midday Tuesday but said the
process of determining McDowell’s
status begins now. “We’re really
anxious to really let everybody see
him and take care of him, look after
him and find out first hand,” Carroll
said. “Everything has been through
communications with the doctors at the
other end, which have been in-depth.”
... WR Tyler Lockett is getting closer
to coming off the PUP list and could
return to practice in the next few days,
Carroll said. Lockett broke both bones
in his lower right leg late last season.
Pond to do a little down-time
fishing. Truex, sponsored by Bass
Pro Shops, sat in a boat alongside
Darlington President Kerry Tharp
and Bass Fishing Hall of Famer
Guy Eaker. He made a few casts in
the pond that local lore says led to
Darlington’s misshapen, egg-like
layout because the Ramsey family
did not want track creator Harold
Brasington to get rid of the pond.
“The word environmentalist
wasn’t created back then,” said
Jim Ramsey, whose grandfather
was credited with saving the pond.
“But I would say he thought about
it years ago. He wanted to save that
little pond.”
Truex fished some with the
South Florida High fishing team
that has won state and national
angling titles on the prep level.
“Wished we could’ve caught
some,” Truex joked after coming
up empty.
A bigger concern for Truex is
staying on track with five races
left in the regular season, including
the Southern 500 at Darlington on
Sept. 3.
“Can’t wait for 30-some days
to come back here and try again,”
Truex said.
OLYMPICS:
Continued from 1B
In embracing the 2028
date that is expected to be
finalized later this year, city
Olympic organizers ceded
the 2024 Games to Paris,
which both cities had craved.
But Garcetti and other
supporters argued that the
four-year delay was advanta-
geous, giving the car-choked
city more time to build
rail lines. Additionally, the
delay comes with financial
sweeteners that, among other
things, will pump millions of
dollars into youth sports.
But time rushes on, and
major changes are bound to
happen.
Los Angeles County is
home to 10 million people,
and that population could
increase by more than
500,000 by 2028, state
demographers project. The
cutting-edge technology in
the new NFL stadium, now
scheduled to open in 2020,
will probably look like the
forgotten Blackberry by
2028.
Many athletes in their
prime today will be in the
bleachers in a decade. And
how can officials accurately
estimate ticket prices and the
revenue they will generate?
Events that happened 11
years ago can seem part of
a faded, distant past. Face-
book was a mere two years
old. Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein was executed.
Taylor Swift released her
first album, and “Game of
Thrones” was years into the
future.
Consider the Los Angeles
Memorial Coliseum. The
nearly century-old iconic
structure — which would
be used in an Olympics for
a third time after the 1932
and 1984 Games — was
constructed long before
modern building codes. It
was also severely damaged in
a 1994 earthquake. The coli-
seum is currently undergoing
an extensive makeover, but
experts have warned it could
still be vulnerable to shaking.
Estimates vary widely on
what the federal government
would need to spend on secu-
rity for the two-week event,
by some accounts $1 billion
or more. It’s only a guess
what the price tag will be in
2028, or the level of threat at
that time.
Higher construction costs
are likely, too. One example
of the work that needs to be
done: the Coliseum, a foot-
ball stadium, would need to
be converted into a venue for
Olympic track events, then
back again.
Over the years Olympics
have been notorious for cost
overruns, and studies have
questioned if host cities
benefit economically. Russia
has struggled with costs from
the 2014 Sochi Olympics,
which have been called the
most expensive Olympics of
all time.
But Andrew Zimbalist, an
economist at Smith College
in Massachusetts, said LA
was better positioned for a
longer wait than other recent
Olympic cities because its
plan calls for no new major
construction
“They will be able to run
an operating surplus,” he
predicted.
In the shorter term, the
private committee behind
the LA bid must retool its
initial 2024 plans for four
years in the future, including
renegotiating contracts for
housing athletes and tempo-
rary venues, which were all
hooked to 2024.
Another hurdle: With the
change in date, LA appar-
ently needs to renegotiate
and extend financial guaran-
tees approved by the city and
state to cover potential short-
falls connected with the 2024
bid. Gov. Jerry Brown signed
legislation in September that
puts California taxpayers
on the hook for up to $250
million if Los Angeles were
awarded the 2024 Games and
they ran over budget, and the
city has promised the same.
Chicago-based sports-fi-
nance consultant Marc Ganis
said the overall outcome was
favorable for LA, given that
Paris was in line for the 2024
Games. Additionally, finan-
cial sweeteners will help
cover costs over the longer
wait time.
Still, facilities age, tech-
nology advances and costs
rise.
“There is always going to
be financial risk,” Ganis said,
“when you are targeting 11
years into the future.”
MARINERS: Erasmo Ramirez lasts just 3 1/3 innings in 2017 debut with team
Continued from 1B
DeShields
tried
to
advance from first on a
single by Nomar Mazara,
but was beaten by a precise
throw from Dyson.
“We can’t get thrown out
in that situation,” Rangers
manager Jeff Banister said.
“Not with our best hitter
coming up.”
Nelson Cruz homered and
Leonys Martin had two hits
and two RBIs for Seattle.
Joey Gallo had two
homers and four RBIs, and
Rougned Odor also went
deep for the Rangers, who
lost their fourth straight.
Casey Lawrence (1-3)
picked up his first MLB win
after after entering the game
in the fourth inning. Edwin
Diaz earned his 21st save
after working a 1-2-3 ninth.
Nick Martinez (3-4) gave
up seven runs and eight hits
in 5 1/3 innings. He was
recalled from Triple-A to
fill the void after Yu Darvish
was traded to the Dodgers.
“I kind of lost my timing
a little bit,” Martinez said.
“It would come back and I
would lose it again.”
Cruz led off the second
inning with his 22nd home
run to give Seattle an early
lead. Martin doubled the lead
to 2-0 on an RBI single later
in the inning.
Seattle scored three times
in the third inning as Cano,
Danny Valencia, and Martin
all drove in runs to make it
5-0.
Dyson set the stage for
Cano’s RBI double when he
stole his 200th career base.
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Texas’ Joey Gallo (13) follows through on a three-home
run swing as Seattle’s Mike Zunino, right, watches
during the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game in Arlington.
Dyson now has a successful
steal rate of 85.1 percent,
second in MLB history
behind Carlos Beltran (86.4
percent) for players with a
minimum of 225 attempts.
“I’m going for 300 now,”
Dyson said. “It’s a good
milestone for me, especially
being a backup guy basically
my whole career. Getting a
chance to play every day is
special to me.”
Odor and Gallo countered
in the bottom of the fourth
inning. Odor hit a two-run
homer, his seventh in his last
nine games, and Gallo hit a
solo shot 456 feet over the
batter’s eye in center field.
That ended the night
for Erasmo Ramirez, who
made his first start since
returning to Seattle in a July
28 trade. He allowed five hits
and struck out five in 3 1/3
innings.
Two innings later Gallo
hit a three-run homer to
trim Seattle’s lead to 8-6,
responding to an RBI single
by Dyson and two-run
double by Cano in the top
of the inning. Mike Napoli
had an RBI single that pulled
the Rangers to 8-7 in the
seventh.
TRAINERS ROOM
Mariners: Mariners GM
Jerry Dipoto said OF Mitch
Haniger could return to
the lineup by mid-August.
Haniger was hit in the face
with a fastball on Sunday
against the Mets and is
dealing with a mild concus-
sion and a nasal fracture.
UP NEXT
Mariners: LHP Ariel
Miranda (7-5) will make his
team-leading 22nd start and
has recorded four straight no
decisions.
Rangers: RHP Andrew
Cashner (6-8) will make his
18th start and has won back-
to-back starts for the second
time this season.