E AST O REGONIAN
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
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B1
Stanfield
ends season
with losses
to Grant
union
DISTRICT WRESTLING
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Chris Chambers, of Pendleton, wrestles Redmond’s Junior Downing in the finals of the 138-pound weight class Saturday during the IMC District
Wrestling Championships.
Chambers locks down IMC title
Pendleton will send 14
athletes to the Class 5A
state tournament Feb. 22-23
in Portland
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
The Pendleton wrestling team sent five
boys to the finals of the 5A Intermountain
Conference district tournament, but only
one came out with a gold medal.
senior Chris Chambers registered a 9-1
major decision over Junior Downing of
Redmond on Saturday afternoon to win the
138-pound title.
“Overall, I was pleased,” said Bucks
coach Fred Phillips, whose team hosted the
tournament.
“We came out and competed today,
which was something I didn’t think we did
a great job of last night,” Phillips said.
The Bucks will send 14 to the 5A state
tournament Feb. 22-23 at Veterans Memo-
rial Coliseum in Portland.
It is the fourth time they have advanced
14 wrestlers, but it is the first time since
2012.
After Chambers, Pendleton had four
wrestlers place second, seven place third
and two finish fourth.
Eight guys will be making their first trip
to state.
“We wrestled tough and hard,” Phillips
said. “Our guys in the finals went the way
they were probably going to go. Most of the
kids wrestling for third and fourth came
back and got third.”
Crook County ran away with the team
title, rolling up an impressive 408 points.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton’s Alex Rendon, right, wrestles Crook County’s Hunter Mode in the finals of the
126-pound weight class Saturday during the IMC District Wrestling Championships.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton’s Blake Davis,
right, wrestles Redmond’s
Brayden Duke in the finals
of the 145-pound weight
class Saturday during the
IMC District Wrestling
Championships.
See State, Page B2
Before the Tigers hit the
court to send off their reg-
ular season, coach Devin
Bailey had one question for
them:
“Are you nervous?”
Saturday’s battle against
the visiting Grant Union
Prospectors would deter-
mine whether Stanfield
would claim the No. 3 or 4
spot in the Blue Mountain
Conference.
“I told them, ‘If you’re
not nervous, there’s some-
thing wrong. You just gotta
get past it. Get those nerves
out and play how you always
play,’” Bailey said.
And Stanfield, who
didn’t let the Prospectors
out of reach until the fourth
quarter, ended their season
with a 56-42 loss. But they
didn’t go down easy, and
made Grant Union fight for
the win.
“That’s what I liked
about it ― they never gave
up,” Bailey said of his team.
“They could’ve rolled over,
but they didn’t.”
The Prospectors ran out
to a 7-0 lead in the first 2 1/2
minutes before senior Elias
Esquivel and junior Mario
Sanchez poured in 10 points
for the Tigers, leaving them
down 13-10 going into the
second quarter.
Esquivel brought the
Tigers within one point at
the start of the second quar-
ter, and Sanchez scored
from outside the arc for a
brief 15-14 Stanfield lead. A
five-point run from Prospec-
tors senior Jacob Vaughan
and juior Tristan Morris
sealed their 23-18 halftime
advantage.
“They’re long and ath-
letic,” Esquivel said his
opponents. “And it helps
that they’re all decent play-
ers. They can all shoot the
ball, and they don’t foul.”
The Prospectors sunk
two more buckets to start
the second half, but the
Tigers outscored them 10-6
in the third quarter to pull
within one point of the lead
once again.
“We had a lapse at the
beginning of the game, but
we came together and fig-
ured it out in the third quar-
ter,” Esquivel said. “But
then we just ran out of gas.
See Stanfield, Page B2
Pendleton sends 11 swimmers to state meet
ryan barnard sets
school records on
way to three golds
By MIKE WEBER
For the East Oregonian
In a phenomenal perfor-
mance, the Pendleton High
Buckaroos boys and girls
swim teams combined to
win a total of nine first place
gold medals Friday at the
Intermountain Conference
District Swimming Cham-
pionships at the Hood River
Aquatic Center.
Led by boys’ three-time
district champion senior
Ryan Barnard and girls’
three-time district champion
Landry Huth, the Bucka-
roos swimmers peaked at
the right time of the season,
swimming faster and stron-
ger than they have all year.
Barnard and Huth earned
four medals each, with both
earning three gold and three
silver medals.
“It’s pretty exciting to
win three district titles,”
said barnard, who trans-
ferred to Pendleton this year
after attending Hermiston
the previous three years.
“This is by far the best per-
formance that I’ve had at
districts and I’m very happy
with the results today ...
My goal is to finish in the
top-three of the individual
events (200 IM, 100 breast).”
Barnard swam to first
place in the 200-yard indi-
vidual medley with a
Pendleton record time of
2:04.32. Barnard also broke
a 29-year-old PHS record
with a personal record time
in the 100-yard breastroke
(1:02.04) and combined with
teammates Matthew Milten-
berger, Cahill robinson and
Tyler spratling to help lead
the Buckaroos to victory in
the 200-yard medley relay
(1:49.62).
“I did OK, it wasn’t my
best performance though
and I could’ve done better
but it was cool,” said Milten-
berger. “I enjoyed compet-
ing with a lot of my friends
from Hood River and I’m
very glad that the RAC
(Roundup Athletic Club)
gave us the opportunity to
swim at their pool for our
practice. It’s feels good to
qualify for state for the first
time ever.”
Barnard will compete in
four events at state, includ-
ing the 200 medley relay and
the 200 free relay. The state
qualifying Bucks girl swim-
mers include Huth, Melinda
Photo by Mike Weber for the East Oregonian
See Swimming, Page B2
Hunter Reynolds (left) and Tyler Spratling celebrate Friday after Spratling won the 500-yard
freestyle race at the Intermountain Conference district swim meet in Hood River.