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Saturday, March 6, 2021
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B1
EOU’s Nichols advances to finals at NAIA national meet
top 8 showing
earns heppner
grad all-america
honors
By ANNIE FOWLER
For the East Oregonian
yaNKtON, S.d. — Less than
two weeks ago, Hunter Nichols
found out he earned a trip to the
NAIA Indoor National Track &
Field Champion-
ships.
t he Easter n
Oregon Univer-
sity sophomore not
only ran at nation-
als on Thursday,
March 4, but made
Nichols
the finals of the
1,000 meters and earned all-amer-
ica honors for being in the top eight
of his event.
“I can’t complain,” the 2019
Heppner graduate said. “I wasn’t
even ranked in the top 16 to begin
with. I’ll take it.”
as to being an all-american?
“I was pretty happy about that,”
he said.
Running in the semifinals at the
Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Field-
house at Mount Marty University,
Nichols was in the second of two
heats.
He finished fourth in his heat in
a time of 2 minutes, 31.91 seconds,
and is seeded seventh going into the
finals.
“It was definitely slow,” Nich-
ols said of his heat. “Actually, the
whole field was slow. I don’t think
it was sluggish, people were just
trying to make it to the finals with-
out using everything up.”
The race was run on a f lat
200-meter track, which was a first
for Nichols.
“It was weird,” he said. “I have
never run on a flat 200. I haven’t
even run indoors in more than a
year.”
The 1,000-meter finals are at
11 a.m. Saturday, March 6. Nichols
said there is no clear-cut favorite.
“Everyone was right there,” he
said. “the times were not far apart.
There are a couple of guys who
have an edge, but it will be a toss-up
as to who races harder.”
the difference between the top
time and eighth is 2.50 seconds.
Nichols’ top time of the season is
2:30.53, which ranks eighth all-time
in the Mounties’ record book.
Nichols had March 5 off, which
consisted of a cOVId test in the
morning, watching his EOu team-
mates compete in the heptathlon,
and getting in an afternoon run to
prepare for the March 6 finals.
1A BASKETBALL
2A BASKETBALL
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald, File
Powder Valley’s Belle Blair, in blue, during
the 2018 Class 1A state basketball tourna-
ment at Baker High School.
State tourneys
take a year off
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Knappa fans cheer on a 3-point shot during the semifinal round of the Oregon School Activities Association 2A State Basketball Tournament
at the Pendleton Convention Center on March 6, 2020. The Toledo Boomers defeated the Knappa Loggers 69-46.
Pendleton coping
with cancellation
of Class 2A state
basketball tournament
due to pandemic
By ANNIE FOWLER
For the East Oregonian
ENDLETON — Pendleton should
have been jam-packed this weekend
with the annual 2A state boys and
girls basketball tournaments at the
Pendleton Convention Center.
Colorful jackets adorned with team names
and logos, full hotels, and waiting lines at
restaurants are generally the norm the first
weekend of March.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, none
of that will happen, much to the disappoint-
ment of the local businesses, basketball teams
and fans.
P
Beard
Rosenberg
Welch
“It’s a big loss without the 2A tournament,”
Pendleton Convention Center General Manager
Pat Beard said. “It’s the first tourism event of
the year. It wakes everyone up and gets them
ready. Not having them kick things off, it will
take longer to gauge everything.”
The tournament infuses more than $1
million into the local economy every year.
“Pendleton loves to have company, and
we are a great host,” Beard said. “We get to
welcome every small-school athlete to Pendle-
ton and make them feel at home.”
Oregon School Activities Association Assis-
tant Executive Director Kris Welch said Pend-
leton is committed to putting on a first-class
event.
“It’s the little details, he said. “I know the
amount of work and energy that goes into this.
They are meeting months in advance. It goes off
without a hitch. It’s fantastic.”
The venue holds 3,200 people, and the tour-
nament welcomes more than 10,000 paying fans
each year.
While it’s always good to have local teams
in the tournament, Beard said the big money is
made off the hotel taxes.
“When Heppner plays, the building is
packed and ticket sales are good,” Beard said.
“What the convention center lives on is the taxes
from lodging. When the west side schools show
up, we make money.”
A community event
The tournament is a collaboration between
the OSaa and the Pendleton chamber of
Commerce. The Round-Up City has hosted the
tournament for more than 50 years.
“The loss of this event is a big hit for busi-
nesses, not only in revenue but it kicks off our
event season,” Chamber Executive Director
Cheri Rosenberg said. “Given everything that
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BaKEr cIty — Kathy taylor is
supposed to be exhausted right now.
She should be rushing from one task to
another this week, with scarcely a spare
moment to rest.
taylor wishes that were so.
For more than a quarter century, the first
week of March has meant one thing for Kathy
and her husband, Rick — basketball.
Specifically, the Class 1A state basketball
girls and boys tournaments at Baker High
School. It’s the culmination of the season for
Oregon’s smallest high schools, the week
when players from towns, some of which
lack a single traffic signal, try to win one of
those glossy trophies carved in the shape of
the state.
Kathy taylor has been co-director of the
annual tournaments, which Baker County
Tournaments has run since 2017. But she and
her husband have volunteered to help with the
events since 1994.
The tournaments themselves have an even
longer legacy at BHS. The boys tournament
has taken place there every year since 1974,
and the girls tournament moved to Baker City
in 1977.
then came the pandemic.
And with high school basketball not
scheduled to start in Oregon until May, and
no state tournaments planned, 2021 will be
the year of the asterisk.
See Class 2A, Page B2
See Class 1A, Page B2
SPORTS SHORT
Grosjean hit barrier at 119 mph with 67 G force in F1 crash
Associated Press
ParIS — romain Grosjean
was going 119 mph when he hit
a metal crash barrier and his car
exploded into a fireball around him
at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
the impact was estimated at 67
Gs, a force equivalent to 67 times
his body weight. By compari-
son, heavy braking in an F1 car
produces about 6 Gs.
the findings came from an
investigation into the horror crash
in November 2020 by govern-
ing body the FIA that concluded
on Friday, March 5, and will be
presented to the drivers’ commis-
sion on Tuesday, March 9.
The French driver made an
astonishing escape from the raging
furnace.
Grosjean’s Haas car sliced in
half after penetrating the barrier
and quickly caught fire. He was
trapped inside the cockpit for 27
seconds before scrambling out,
yanking his jammed foot out of his
racing boot in order to do so.
He suffered only minor burns to
the back of his hands and a sprained
left ankle, and was discharged from
hospital soon after.
the crash happened on the
opening lap when the right rear
wheel of his car clipped the left
front wheel of Russian driver
Daniil Kvyat’s AlphaTauri, when
attempting to pass from the left to
right-hand side of the Sakhir track.
“The fuel tank inspection hatch
on the left-hand side of the chassis
was dislodged and the engine fuel
supply connection was torn from
the fuel tank ... providing primary
paths for the escape of fuel,” the
FIA said in a statement. “Fire was
ignited during the final moments
of the barrier impact, starting from
the rear of the survival cell and
progressing forwards towards the
driver.”
The ring-shaped halo device
at the front of Grosjean’s cockpit
protected his head by withstanding
the huge impact, and he credited it
with saving his life.
Brynn Lennon/Associated Press, File
Staff extinguish flames from Haas driver Romain Grosjean of France’s
car after a crash during the Formula One race in Bahrain International
Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Nov. 29, 2020.