SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2017
1B
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HERMISTON
Farm-City ready to open new arena
Top rodeo
athletes, stock
to compete
this week
30th Farm-City
Pro Rodeo
By GARY L. WEST
EO Media Group
• When: Wednesday -
Saturday, 7:45 p.m.
• Where: Rodeo
grounds at EOTEC, 1705
E. Airport Rd, Hermiston.
• Tickets: General Ad-
mission - $17
The Farm-City Pro Rodeo
begins Wednesday with
456 contestants entered,
including some of the top
names in rodeo and a slew of
2016 champions.
“All the top cowboys
are coming,” said David
Bothum, co-founder of the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo and
former professional saddle
bronc rider.
“Bucking horse-wise and
bucking bulls-wise, it’s just
outstanding. It should be an
outstanding rodeo.”
Bothum said the timed-
event stock is also high
quality, for the timed roping
events.
Bothum has been busy in
recent weeks as a subcon-
tractor and rodeo board
member, getting the arena
and rodeo facilities ready for
this years rodeo.
“I think everyone —
cowboys, spectators — will
be impress with this facility.”
Bothum said.
He expressed apprecia-
Terrebonne, Oregon, who
is leading the all-around
race for the Columbia River
Circuit, is also slated to
compete in three events.
Returning
bareback
champion Jake Vold is
signed up to try to defend
his title, as is steer wrestling
champ Clayton Hass, who
sits seventh in the PRCA
all-around world standings.
He will also compete in the
team roping event.
Tyrell J. Smith, 2016
Farm-City saddle bronc
co-champion, is scheduled to
ride in defense of his buckle
from last year. The Sand
Coulee, Montana, cowboy
tied for the 2016 saddle bronc
title with Sterling Crawley.
Crawley is not entered in this
year’s show.
Tyler Prcin of Alvord,
Texas, who won the tie-down
roping last year in Hermiston
will also be back to attempt
a repeat win. Timber Moore
See FARM-CITY/2B
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Tie-down roper Rhen Richard, of Roosevelt, Utah, completes his run in 8.5 seconds during the 2016 Farm-City Pro
Rodeo in Hermiston. Richard went on to win the all-around title at Farm-City in 2016 and will return to defend his
championship at the 2017 Farm-City Rodeo and will compete in Thursday’s performance.
tion to the community for
its support in getting to this
point.
“The community should
be pretty amazed when they
come walking through,” he
said.
Among those scheduled
to compete in the new
Farm-City Arena at the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center are fi ve of the
cowboys in the Top 10 for the
Professional Rodeo Cowboys
Association all-around title
including current standings
leader, Tuf Cooper of Weath-
erford, Texas, and 13-time
All-Around Cowboy World
Champion Trevor Brazile.
The man who’s owned
the Farm-City all-around
title for two of the last three
years, Rhen Richard, is
also expected to compete in
defense of his 2016 Herm-
iston rodeo title.
Russell
Cardoza
of
MLB
Prep Football
Mariners rally for win in extra innings Study shows
Martin’s homer
pushes M’s into
wild card spot
By GIDEON RUBIN
Associated Press
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Seattle Mariners’ Leonys Martin hits a solo home run during the
10th inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics
Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. Seattle won 7-6.
OAKLAND, Calif. —
Leonys Martin homered in
the top of the 10th inning as
the Seattle Mariners rallied
from a four-run defi cit to
defeat the Oakland Athletics
7-6 on Tuesday night.
Martin hit a high arcing
shot to right off a 2-1 94 mph
fastball from Josh Smith (2-0)
with two outs.
His second home run of the
Seattle
Oakland
7
6
season pushed the Mariners’
record on their nine-game
road trip to 5-3.
Tony Zynch pitched out
of a jam in the bottom of the
10th for his second save.
Marc Rzepczynski (2-0)
pitched a scoreless inning in
the bottom of the ninth.
The A’s had runners at
fi rst and second with one out
but Zynch struck out Chad
Pinder swinging and got Matt
Chapman to fl y out to right.
See MARINERS/2B
College Football
Ticket sales for Oregon football still lagging
Ducks with nearly 1,000
fewer season tickets
purchased so far for 2017
By RYAN THORBURN
The Register-Guard
EUGENE — Oregon athletic
director Rob Mullens wants to go
streaking again.
The hard part is talking everyone
else into rejoining the party at Autzen
Stadium.
“We have a lot of work to do to start
another sellout streak,” Mullens said.
Oregon sold out 110 consecutive
games at Autzen Stadium (54,000
capacity) from 1999 until drawing
53,817 fans for the 2016 opener against
UC Davis.
Despite the buzz fi rst-year coach
Willie Taggart has created on the
recruiting trail and with his energetic
approach to retooling the program,
there are plenty of seats available for
six of the seven home games this fall,
including the Sept. 2 opener against
Southern Utah.
“The challenge we have typically
for that fi rst game is the students aren’t
back yet,” UO senior associate athletic
See TICKETS/2B
AP Photo/Thomas Boyd, File
In this Oct. 8, 2016, fi le photo, Autzen Stadium is
shown as Oregon plays Washington in an NCAA
college football game in Eugene
many high
school athletes
not protected
enough
Oregon ranks 15th in prep
sports safety policy by
Korey Stringer Institute
By BARRY WILNER
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — A high school sports
study conducted by the Korey Stringer Insti-
tute shows that many individual states are not
fully implementing key safety guidelines to
protect athletes from potentially life-threat-
ening conditions, including heat stroke.
More than 7.8 million high school
students participate in sanctioned sports
annually. KSI announced the results Tuesday
at a news conference at NFL headquarters.
The league partially sponsors the institute.
The state-by-state survey of all sports
played in high school showed North Caro-
lina with the most comprehensive health and
safety policies at 79 percent, followed by
Kentucky at 71 percent. At the bottom were
Colorado (23 percent) and California (26
percent). Those scores were based on a state
meeting best practice guidelines addressing
the four major causes of sudden death for
that age group: cardiac arrest, traumatic head
injuries, exertional heat stroke and exertional
sickling occurring in athletes with sickle cell
trait.
“The bottom line is that many simple
See STUDY/2B
Sports shorts
Seahawks’ Clark close to returning
to practice following scuffl e
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Frank Clark’s
discipline for punching teammate Germain
Ifedi during the Seattle Seahawks’ training
camp seems to be expiring.
Coach Pete Carroll said
Monday that Clark is expected
to return to practice later this
week after being sidelined since
the fi ght erupted during practice
last Thursday. Carroll called the
decision to keep the defensive
Clark
end out of practice “coach’s
discretion.”
Clark was sent off for the fi nal half hour of
practice Thursday after dropping Ifedi with the
punch to the face, which came after an earlier
fi ght involving defensive tackle Rodney Coe
and center Will Pericak. Ifedi also left practice
as he was being attended to by trainers.
“He’s a lot younger. When
you look at myself and
Conor McGregor on paper,
he’s taller, has a longer
reach, he’s a bigger man
from top to bottom. He’s a
lot younger, so youth is on
his side. And I’ve been off
a couple of years. And I’m
in my 40s. So, if you look at
everything on paper, it leans
toward Conor McGregor.“
— Floyd Mayweather
The boxing legend told ESPN’s
Stephen A. Smith that he believes
on paper Conor McGregor has the
advantage in their bout, but says he
believes he will still win easily.
Mariners acquire veteran
reliever from Rangers for $1
NEW YORK (AP) Right-hander Ernesto
Frieri was sold by the Texas Rangers to the
Seattle Mariners on Tuesday for $1.
Signed by the Rangers as a minor league
free agent on June 15, the
32-year-old was 0-1 with a 5.14
ERA in six relief appearances
for Texas. He was assigned
outright to Round Rock on July
7 and went 0-1 with a 1.42 ERA
in seven relief outings for the
Frieri
Triple-A club.
Frieri is 11-14 with a 3.59
ERA and 73 saves in 304 relief appearances
with San Diego (2009-12), the Los Angeles
Angels (2012-14), Pittsburgh (2014), Tampa
Bay (2015) and Texas. He did not play in 2016,
when he was released by Philadelphia after
spring training.
Seattle assigned Frieri to Triple-A Tacoma.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1936 — Jesse Owens
becomes the fi rst American to
win four Olympic gold medals
as the United States sets a world
record in the 4x100 relay at the
Berlin Games. The record time
of 39.8 seconds lasts for 20
years.
2007 — David Beckham
makes his long-awaited Major
League Soccer debut, entering
in the 72nd minute of the Los
Angeles Galaxy’s 1-0 loss to
D.C. United.
2010 — No American
player appears in the top 10 for
the fi rst time since the men’s
tennis computer rankings
began in 1973. Andy Roddick
drops from No. 9 to No. 11 in
the latest ATP rankings.
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