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Wednesday, July 17, 2019
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Hermiston’s renovated weight room is
TOP NOTCH
A8
BRITISH OPEN
Mickelson
awarded for
25 straight
years in top 50
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Hermiston High School’s newly renovated weight room offers an expanded variety of equipment and 14 stations, an
increase from the five previously available.
Track coach emilee
strot was a driving force
behind the renovation
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
H
eRMIsTOn — you could
see it in her eyes. Paige Palz-
inski is in her happy place in
the weight room, and now that
Hermiston High school has renovated
its facility from the ground up, the
incoming junior is in seventh heaven.
“I love lifting weights,” Palzinski
said. “It makes my day. The people I
work out with, I feel I can accomplish
anything.”
Hermiston track coach emilee strot
was the driving force behind getting
the weight room redone. At first, she
was hoping to get the floors fixed for
safety reasons, and maybe a few new
benches.
“I brought larry (usher, athletic
director) and Tom (spoo, principal)
in here, and our original idea was to
replace the floor,” Strot said. “I showed
them the benches that were breaking
down and a few other things.”
It wasn’t long before strot got the
OK put together a proposal for an
entirely new weight room (in the same
space).
“Tom and larry were big support-
ers of this,” strot said. “They saw the
potential, and what it could do for
our student athletes and classes. This
would not have happened without their
support.”
strot and Hermiston football coach
david Faaeteete worked together
with Columbia Fitness in Kenne-
wick to design a layout and choose the
equipment.
“We had the same goal in mind,”
Strot said “We went from five plat-
forms and seven squat racks, to 14 sta-
tions that you can do almost everything
on. We doubled the amount of equip-
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Kaylee Young, left, spots Jazlyn Romero as she bench presses in Hermiston
ment in here that we had before. We
will be able to have a lot more kids in
here at one time, with everyone doing
something.”
Worth the wait
Once strot had her proposal together,
it didn’t take long to get the approval
from the school district.
“It had been 17 years since the weight
room had updates,” said Tricia Mooney,
the superintendent of the Hermiston
school district. “It was a safety issue.
I have been through there; they did a
great job. It is much appreciated by our
kids.”
The renovation cost right about
$98,000, according to Mooney. The
money came from the general fund.
“Over the course of the past year,
there has been some belt tightening,”
Mooney said. “some positions were not
filled. We got a good deal and it worked
out well.”
strot waited until she got the green
light from the school district before tell-
ing her students and athletes.
“I didn’t want to jinx anything,” strot
said. “This is every coach’s dream. We
want it to last a long time. We have some
rules. I’m trying to create a culture in
here.”
The revamped weight room has a
new rubberized surface on the floor,
there is a rack of free weights on the far
end of the room, and there are 14 purple
and black multi-use stations in the mid-
dle of the room. There also are plenty
of bars and plates to go around. There
are even 15-pound bars (the regular
ones are 45 pounds) for those just start-
ing out.
“It’s important that they learn proper
form,” strot said. “Technique and safety
are important.”
senior Jazlyn Romero, a point guard
on the basketball team, and a state
champion in the javelin, was impressed
by the new facility.
“It’s one of the best high school
weight rooms in the state,” she said.
“Coach strot has brought a new culture
PORTRusH, northern Ireland
— Phil Mickelson received a crys-
tal award Tuesday at the British
Open.
no, it wasn’t for most days
without eating.
One of the hallmarks of Mickel-
son’s career is playing for so long
at a consistently high level, and
the Official World Golf Ranking
board honored him for a feat that
might be as remarkable as his 47
wins worldwide or his five majors.
Starting with a runner-up fin-
ish at the Casio World Open in
Japan in november 1993 — the
same year Jordan spieth and Jus-
tin Thomas were born — Mickel-
son has never been outside the top
50 in the world. The award was for
25 consecutive years, and he’s still
going.
“To play for this long, I’m very
thankful and appreciative,” Mick-
elson said.
Peter dawson, the former R&a
chief who now chairs the OWGR
board, said Mickelson has been
among the top 50 for 1,338 con-
secutive weeks. The second-lon-
gest streak belongs to ernie els, at
965 weeks. among active streaks,
Rory McIlroy is next at 556 weeks.
How has Mickelson done it?
“I don’t have a great answer
for that,” lefty replied, though he
suggested a long swing has led to a
long career because it has kept him
largely free of injuries.
as for the motivation, Mickel-
son has never lacked that.
“I love that I do,” he said, refer-
ring to golf as being a soothing,
almost spiritual feeling. “I need it
to function.”
even with this remarkable
accomplishment, Mickelson can’t
avoid questions about his six-
day fast in which he says he lost
15 pounds. He posted a message
on Twitter that begins, “let’s get
real.”
He says he hasn’t been at his
best and wanted a “hard reset.”
so he did a six-day fast, drinking
nothing but water and a special
coffee blend designed for wellness.
Mickelson says he craved food for
the first day but was fine after that.
“I don’t know if it will help me
play better, but it makes feel better
about myself,” he said.
TIGHT SCHEDULE
Justin Rose isn’t alone in trying
to adjust to a schedule that stacks
one major on top of the next one
during four months — the Masters
in april, PGa Championship in
May, u.s. Open in June and Brit-
ish Open in July.
He mentioned earlier this year
that previously, no one had to
think about a major for nearly two
months after the Masters. That’s
no longer the case with the PGa
moving to May, and Rose said he’s
had a hard time finding a rhythm.
See Hermiston, Page A9
See Mickelson, Page A9
SPORTS SHORTS
Legal sports betting begins in upstate New York
By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press
sCHeneCTady, n.y. — new
york joined the growing list of states
allowing wagering on sports after an
upstate casino cut the ribbon on a new
betting lounge Tuesday and took its first
bet — $20 on the seattle Mariners.
The state’s entry comes more than a
year after the u.s. supreme Court lifted
the ban that had restricted sports betting
outside of Nevada. Gambling officials
and casino executives in new york are
eager to catch up to new Jersey, where
gamblers have placed more than $3 bil-
lion worth of sports bets in the first full
year since wagering became legal in
that state.
“Right now, Jersey is cleaning our
clock when it comes to sports betting,”
said state assemblyman Gary Pretlow,
d-Westchester County, who placed the
inaugural bet Tuesday morning at Riv-
ers Casino and Resort in schenectady.
“We’re a little bit behind.”
several other upstate casinos —
both state-licensed and tribal facilities
— plan to begin offering sports betting
in the coming weeks and months, in
time for the fall football season. Tioga
downs Casino Resort in the southern
Tier has announced plans to offer sports
wagering starting Friday.
Rivers’ betting operations will
employ 25 people, general manager Jus-
tin Moore said.
new york is the ninth state to per-
mit and regulate sports betting after the
state’s Gaming Commission approved
regulations earlier this year.
In May, new Jersey edged ahead
of nevada in the amount of monthly
sports bets placed, with $318.9 million
wagered, about $1.5 million more than
nevada.
In new york, some lawmakers want
to authorize wagers at sporting ven-
ues or on mobile devices, but the pro-
posal didn’t get a vote before lawmakers
adjourned their session last month.
AP Photo/David Klepper
Employees at Rivers Casino and Resort prepare for the
opening of its sports betting lounge on Tuesday in Sche-
nectady, N.Y.