SPORTS
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3B
NICHOLS: Hunter representing Mustangs at state meet on Saturday
Continued from 1B
to just get the kids something
else to do,” Toni Nichols said.
“We weren’t totally sure what
our own kids would decide,
but it’s been really good for
a lot of the kids. We’ve seen
them grow so much in the
last three years, giving some
of those kids that didn’t have
sports at all that didn’t quite
fit into the football or fit into
this, it’s been good for them.”
Now, in the program’s
third season another Nichols
is the star of the show.
Hunter Nichols, a junior at
Heppner High, qualified for
state after finishing in the
top-5 (17:01.3) at the district
meet Friday. Hunter took
the fifth-and-final individual
qualifying spot, despite not
running his best.
“It was a really loaded
race,” he said. “I’ve never
really competed with that fast
of a group before, but we’ve
always ran together. I didn’t
have the best race of my life,
but I throw everything out
there.”
Hunter was well prepared,
clocking miles throughout
the week of practice leading
up to the district meet. But
he felt under the weather the
day of the race, something he
says is no excuse. He knew
the Union boys he’d be up
against we’re going to push
the pace and provide tough
competition, something he
never expected from the
sport.
“I didn’t think it was as
competitive as it is,” he said
when asked what he thought
of the sport before he joined.
Nichols, like his parents,
grew up in an athletic family.
He tried multiple sports and
often with his parents as
coaches.
At the start of his freshman
year, he played on the football
team and competed in cross
country’s inaugural season.
He admitted that he wasn’t
much of a football player,
although Heppner did win its
second state title in program
history that year. He did,
however, find some success
on various cross country
courses throughout eastern
Oregon.
In 2015, Hunter ran sub-18
minutes twice. In 2016, he
only clocked 18 minutes or
more twice and finished in the
top five all but two races. This
year, he set a new personal
record at 16:25.8 and finished
in the top five all but one race.
“He’s just been running
real well,” Russ Nichols said.
“He’s just really tough and
determined and ... he’s just
gotten a lot tougher.”
Hunter attributes his
success to what he calls the
“usual stuff.”
“Just hard work and dedi-
cation,” he says.
It also doesn’t hurt that his
parents are there to give him
an extra push, when needed.
It’s something he is used to,
TRADES: Miami sends
former Boise State star
RB Ajayi to Philadelphia
Continued from 1B
first round next year or try
to acquire a proven starter
such as Kirk Cousins in free
agency.
Instead, coach Kyle
Shanahan
and
general
manager
John
Lynch
decided to strike early and
put the fate of their franchise
in the hands in a quarterback
who has started just two
games in four NFL seasons.
Garoppolo, a second-
round pick in 2014, is in the
final year of his contract.
By acquiring him now, San
Francisco gets a head start
on negotiating a long-term
deal to keep him or can use
the franchise tag on him in
free agency.
Garoppolo won two starts
in place of a suspended Tom
Brady at the start of the 2016
season. He completed 42
of 59 passes for 496 yards,
four touchdowns and no
interceptions. He got hurt
in the second quarter of his
second start and has thrown
just four passes since then.
The Eagles sent a 2018
fourth-round pick to the
Dolphins for Ajayi, who
has 465 yards rushing and
is averaging 3.4 yards per
carry with no touchdowns.
He went to the Pro Bowl
last season after running for
1,272 yards, including three
200-yard games.
Dolphins coach Adam
Gase signaled his displea-
sure with Ajayi last week
after Miami was routed 40-0
at Baltimore, noting missed
blocking assignments in
pass protection.
LeGarrette Blount leads
Philadelphia with 467 yards
rushing and is averaging
4.7 yards a carry with two
touchdowns.
The Eagles (7-1) have the
fifth-ranked run offense and
have won six straight games
heading into Sunday’s game
against Denver (3-4), which
has lost four of five.
Benjamin immediately
becomes the Bills leading
receiver with 32 catches
for 475 yards and two
touchdowns this season.
Overall, he’s scored 18
touchdowns in 40 games,
and the 6-foot-5, 245-pound
Benjamin provides quar-
terback Tyrod Taylor a big
target, particularly in the red
zone.
It’s the fourth significant
trade by Buffalo since
August, when the Bills
dealt
starting
receiver
Sammy Watkins to the Los
Angeles Rams and starting
cornerback Ronald Darby
to Philadelphia. On Friday,
Buffalo traded its high-
est-paid player, defensive
tackle Marcell Dareus, to
Jacksonville.
Also, the 49ers sent
cornerback
Rashard
Robinson to the New York
Jets for a 2018 late-round
draft pick.
It was unclear if Robinson
would be available for the
Jets’ game Thursday night
against Buffalo. He provides
depth — and a potential
starter — for New York.
Morris Claiborne is dealing
with a sore foot and Buster
Skrine is in the league’s
concussion protocol.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Heppner’s Madelyn Nichols leads a group of runners
during the Kyle Burnside Memorial Invite at Wildhorse
Resort golf course recently in Mission.
and it’s something that moti-
vates him.
“It gets kind of hard
sometimes not that I need the
attention, but I try to make
them feel good — making
them feel like they’re doing
the right thing,” he said.
“I’ve never really experience
anything other than my
parents coaching.”
For his parents, coaching
in a small town means
coaching the same kids in
various sports. Toni explains
that two and three sport
athletes are common and its
often because there is a need
for players to fill rosters. But
whatever the sport, whom-
ever the child, the message is
the same.
“The things we try to
teach them: responsibility,
being respectful, having fun
and building relationships
with other kids — that’s our
big thing — and work hard.
It just always amazes me how
hard they push themselves
and how good they are
because they push themselves
and work hard and take a lot
of pride in the work that they
have done.”
The hard work is paying
off, as the success of runners
like Hunter has helped grow
the team from only seven
runners to more than 20.
Proving that being a good role
model is just as important as
being a good runner.
“That’s another thing we
try to teach them,” Toni said.
“We tell them, ‘remember
those kids you admired so
much that were older when
you were younger, you want
to be that.’”
Hunter has a chance to be
just that. As he gets ready for
the 3A/2A/1A state champi-
onship meet on Saturday at
Lane Community College in
Eugene, he was one goal in
mind.
“Top-10,” he said. “I want
to medal, I would love to get
top eight.”
Is he nervous?
“Not as nervous as I was
for districts. Going into
districts I was scared because,
you know, if I had a bad race
I knew there would be people
behind. At state, you’ve got
nothing to lose.”
Hunter will return to state
for the second consecutive
year — last year he finished
in 15th (17:19) — and when
he enters his senior year he
will pass on the torch to his
younger sister, Madelyn, who
as a freshman at Heppner is
one of the top runners on the
girls team.
“She’s another good role
model,” Hunter says of his
younger sister, who despite
not qualifying for state has
finished as Heppner’s No. 1
or No. 2 runner all season.
The one thing that is tough
for Madelyn is she never had
anyone to run with before
joining the team, her father
explains.
“If you train with tough
people and fast people, you
get yourself faster,” Russ
said. “We didn’t have that
for a while, especially on the
girls side but we do now.”
———
Contact Alexis at aman-
sanarez@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4542. Follow her
on Twitter @almansanarez.
WORLD SERIES: Darvish will start Game 7 for
Los Angeles, McCullers gets the ball for Houston
Continued from 1B
10-inning slugfest under the
roof at Minute Maid Park,
pitching dominated.
George
Springer’s
third-inning
home
run
against starter Rich Hill had
given a 1-0 lead to Verlander
and the Astros, trying for
the first championship in
their 56-season history. On
Halloween night, a cham-
pionship for a team with
orange in its colors seemed
appropriate.
But it served only to set
up the 10th blown lead of the
Series, the fifth by Houston,
as Verlander fell to 9-1 with
Houston.
Dodgers
relievers
combined for 4 1/3 scoreless
innings. Brandon Morrow
retired Alex Bregman on a
grounder to strand the bases
loaded in the fifth, winner
Tony Watson got Marwin
Gonzalez to fly out with two
on and two outs in the sixth,
and Kenta Maeda escaped
two-on trouble in the
seventh when third baseman
Justin Turner gloved Jose
Altuve’s grounder and threw
a one-hop throw that first
baseman Cody Bellinger
scooped just in time.
After wasting a ninth-in-
ning lead in Game 2 and
losing Game 5, Kenley
Jansen retired six straight
batters for the save and ended
by striking out 40-year-old
pinch-hitter Carlos Beltran.
This will be the third
World Series Game 7 in four
years. Ten of the last 12 teams
that won Game 6 to force a
seventh game also won the
title, but the Dodgers lost the
previous six World Series in
which they trailed 3-2. They
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Joc Pederson hits a home run
off Houston Astros relief pitcher Joe Musgrove during
the seventh inning of Game 6 of the World Series on
Tuesday in Los Angeles.
each time he batted,
Verlander has 11 post-
season wins but dropped to
0-4 in the Series with Detroit
and Houston, which acquired
him from the Tigers on Aug.
31 to win on nights like this.
The 2011 AL MVP and
Cy Young Award winner,
Verlander allowed just one
baserunner before Austin
Barnes singled leading off
the sixth. Verlander bounced
a pitch that hit Chase Utley
on the front of his right foot,
and Taylor sent a 97 mph
fastball down the right-field
line as Barnes came home.
Seager followed with a
sacrifice fly to the right-field
warning track, a ball that
likely would have landed in
the pavilion in last week’s
hot air.
Verlander prevented more
damage when Turner fouled
out and the right-hander
fanned Bellinger, who struck
out four times for the second
time in the Series.
Springer homered for
have won just one of their six
championships at home, in
1963.
A heat wave over, the
temperature dropped to 67
degrees at game time from
103 for last week’s opener.
The San Gabriel Mountains
were occluded by heavy
clouds.
Los Angelenos with a
laid-back reputation were
more energetic and on their
feet for two-strike counts
against Astros batters, a
wave in Pantone 294 — also
known as Dodger blue.
Stadium organist Dieter
Ruehle greeted the Astros
with “Hotel California” for
the start of batting practice,
but there was an un-LA-like
drizzle in the middle innings.
“We feed off the crowd,
for sure,” Taylor said. “We
feel we have a huge home-
field advantage.”
Yuli Gurriel, who made a
racist gesture toward Darvish
in Game 3, was booed loudly
during introductions and
the third straight game and
fourth time in the Series,
one shy of the record set by
Reggie Jackson in 1977 and
matched by Chase Utley
in 2009. While it silenced
the Dodger Stadium crowd,
Astros fans erupted at a
watch party in Minute Maid
Park. Los Angeles has
allowed home runs in all 14
of its postseason games.
Brian McCann singled
leading off the fifth and
Gonzalez doubled past
Turner and down the left-
field line. Hill struck out Josh
Reddick and Verlander, and
Springer was intentionally
walked to load the bases.
Morrow relieved as the
crowd booed Roberts’ deci-
sion, and Hill slapped at four
cups of liquid in the dugout,
sending them spraying
against the wall.
“With Verlander on the
mound, I felt that was going
to be the game,” Roberts
said.
Appearing in his sixth
straight
Series
game,
Morrow got Bregman to
ground to shortstop on his
second pitch.
Watson walked Reddick
leading off the seventh, Evan
Gattis pinch hit for Verlander
and Maeda relieved. Gattis
bounced to shortstop, just
beating Utley’s throw from
second to avoid a double
play. Springer reached on an
infield single that bounced
off Seager’s glove at short-
stop and into left field, and
Bregman’s fly to deep center
allowed pinch-runner Derek
Fisher to tag up and advance
to third, bringing up Altuve.
Walking down the dugout
steps after his groundout,
Altuve slammed his helmet.
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