E AST O REGONIAN
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @EOSPORTS |
FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS
A12
MCC TRACK AND FIELD
Caden Hottman caps strong spring season
Hermiston thrower
named the MCC
boys Field athlete
of the year
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
HeRMIsTON — Before the
track season began, Mid-Columbia
Conference throwers didn’t know
who Caden Hottman was.
after a sensational spring, Hott-
man will be hard to forget. The
Hermiston junior was named the
MCC boys Field athlete of the year.
Hottman had a monster throw of
178 feet in the discus on april 15,
which broke Tre Neal’s Hermiston
school record of 169 feet, 2 inches,
set in 2016. He also had a season
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Hermiston’s Caden Hottman prepares to throw the discus at the MCC track
and field championship on May 6, 2021, at Fran Rish Stadium in Richland,
Wash. Hottman took first with a throw of 165 feet even.
best 50-6 in the shot put.
a junior, Hottman won MCC
titles in both events, winning the
discus with a mark of 165 feet, and
the shot put with a toss of 49-8.
“He was quite the surprise,”
Hermiston coach emilee strot said.
“In class the other day, he said he
was surprised he won. It was fun
to see him find out and be excited
about that. I reminded him he broke
a school record, was a two-time
MCC champ and he has one of the
best throws in the nation. He had a
really great year.”
Hottman is joined on the first
team by the Bulldogs’ 4x100 relay
team of deryk anderson, Thomas
Reagan, dJ Wilson and Riley Clark.
The team won the MCC title with a
school record time of 42.85 seconds.
Clark also was named to the first
team as a long jumper (22-5½) and
triple jumper (44-6). He won MCC
titles in both events.
“Riley came out and had fun,”
strot said. “He is a competitive
young man and he wants to be great.
PREP BASKETBALL
LOCKED AND LOADED
Pendleton girls
return six key
players, have good
depth from 16-7
team last season
See Track, Page A13
Oakland A’s set to
come to Portland on
a fact-finding mission
JOHN
CANZANO
OTHER VIEWS
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
T
P
eNdLeTON — When Kevin
Porter looks at his roster, he
likes what he sees.
The Pendleton girls basket-
ball coach returns six key players from
last season, and will add three talented
players from the junior varsity team to
add depth and size.
“The bulk of our scoring came from
the sophomore class last year, and we
return all of those kids,” Porter said.
“Natalie (Neveau) and sami (spriet)
will be missed. sami was a great leader
for us, and Natalie was a three-year
starter.”
spriet graduated last year, while
Neveau decided not to play this season.
Pendleton opens Intermountain
Conference play on Tuesday, May 25,
at Crook County. The Bucks will host
defending IMC champion Ridgeview
on May 27.
Returning players for the Bucks,
who finished 8-2 in IMC play and 16-7
overall last year, include senior Josie
Wilson and juniors Jaden samp, Brie
youncs, Chloe Taber, daisy Jenness
and Muriel Hoisington.
“Muriel is an outstanding player,
and Chloe was our sixth person last
year.” Porter said. “she was a second-
team all-conference player coming off
the bench. daisy will be our premier
post player, but she is a hybrid player
we can move out to the wing. These
three juniors have played three years of
varsity ball. They understand the pace
of the game and what you need to do at
this level.”
Coming up from the JV team, and
expected to have an immediate impact,
are juniors Olivia Corbett and Lindsey
Pasena Little sky, and senior Jordyn
Murphy.
“Olivia will be a two guard,” Porter
said. “She sees the floor well and has
a high basketball IQ. Lindsey is an
To be able to see him continue his
career (at Western Oregon univer-
sity) is great. I don’t think he has
tapped his potential.”
The Bulldogs’ 4x400 relay team,
comprised of the same runners on
the 4x100, earned second-team
honors, as did anderson in the 200
meters (22.74), Wilson in the triple
jump (42-2¼), and Garrett Hendon
in the long jump (19-11¾).
Kamiakin’s Isaac Teeples was
named the Track athlete of the
year. He was the top man all year
in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
Walla Walla’s eric Hisaw was
named Coach of the year for the
boys and girls.
On the girls team, Hermiston
senior Kaylee Young was a first-
team selection for long jump. she
won the event in all five meets,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton’s Chloe Taber (20) puts up a shot against the Panthers. The Pendle-
ton Buckaroos defeated the Redmond Panthers 74-25 at Pendleton High School
on Feb. 4, 2020.
outstanding soccer goalie and she is
kind of a hybrid post. she is a bigger
bodied player, which I like down low.
she doesn’t mind the contact. It’s her
time to show she belongs.”
With softball and track ending last
weekend, Porter has not had the luxury
of having his entire team together at one
time for a structured practice. He had
practice times scheduled for May 23
and May 24.
“Four of our players just ended their
softball season (May 22),” Porter said.
“To say I haven’t seen my entire varsity
roster together yet is not an understate-
ment.”
The Bucks’ season also will extend
past graduation and the end of the
school year. Their final game is June 18.
“There are going to be big life
moments for kids like scholarship night
and baccalaureate,” Porter said. “How
do you as a coach say you can’t do those
things? some have a senior trip planned
that was paid for months ago. We will
play most of our season after school is
out. We will make the most of what we
have.”
Pendleton boys face a
rebuilding year
The Bucks had an outstanding
season last year, finishing 8-2 in the
IMC and 19-6 overall.
See Basketball, Page A13
he Oakland a’s
are visiting Las
Vegas this week. a
four-person travel party led
by owner John Fisher will
make the trip. They’ll talk
about relocating the Major
League Baseball franchise.
I expect 82-year old Mayor
Carolyn Goodman will
greet the baseball contin-
gent at a private airstrip
wearing a hard hat and hold-
ing a blank check.
This is a recruiting
mission now.
The a’s contingent will
also make an official visit
Portland next month. an
MLB source confirmed
that Fisher along with team
president dave Kaval, vice
president Billy Beane and
executive sandy dean are
planning to come to Oregon
to do some fact finding.
The Portland diamond
Project confirmed it all on
Monday. Founder Craig
Cheek and managing part-
ner Mike Barrett issued a
statement to The Orego-
nian/OregonLive that said,
“PDP can confirm that we
have engaged in talks with
the athletics, and plans for
a visit by team officials are
underway.
“PdP will have no
further comment at this
time.”
This is an encouraging
development — one that
begs a comparison between
the efforts in Las Vegas and
Portland.
Vegas comes to play.
Nobody is fooled by the
lack of an organized effort
there. The city doesn’t have
a MLB-to-Las group. No
headquarters. No websites,
bumperstickers or signa-
tures. No stadium render-
ings, MLB rallies or Russell
Wilson and Ciara, either.
But Las Vegas has Mayor
Goodman, who often gets
her way.
she’s the wife of former
long-time Vegas mayor
Oscar Goodman. He’s the
ex-mob lawyer who became
a wildly popular mayor
who won re-election over
and over with more than 80
percent of the vote. Oscar
left office after his 12-year
term limit expired in 2011.
Carolyn took over and is
now on her third term.
Be sure, Team Goodman
dreams big, knows where
the money is buried, and has
a nose for opportunity.
Mayor Goodman —
the wife — plays a mean
poker game, too. We know
because she went public
immediately after the a’s
announced they had permis-
sion from MLB to seek
possible relocation cities.
Goodman said, “Las Vegas
is excited.” also, the mayor
claimed she had been in
contact with a’s representa-
tives as early as 2019.
That last part may be
technically true. But we
all know nuance is served
up as a speciality on The
strip. The a’s have been
engaged in a number of
failed stadium proposals
in Oakland, patience with
local politicians is wearing
thin, and the organization
would be foolish to not stay
in touch with a variety of
possible relocation cities
all along. Officials with the
Oakland a’s have also been
in touch with Portland for
some time, turns out.
See Mission, Page A13
SPORTS SHORT
Women’s International Champions Cup pairings announced
Associated Press
PORTLaNd — Barcelona and
Lyon will meet to open the Women’s
International Champions Cup in
august, while the host Portland
Thorns will play the Houston dash.
The winners of both matches
will also meet, with the losers play-
ing in a third-place game at Port-
land’s Providence Park.
The tournament, to be held
aug. 18-21 and broadcast on the
esPN networks, will be the third
WICC. Last year’s event was
canceled because of the coronavi-
rus outbreak.
Lyon, the 2020 ueFa Champi-
ons League winner, is the defend-
ing champion from the 2019 WICC.
The Thorns qualified for the tour-
nament as winners of the NWsL’s
fall series, while the dash won last
summer’s Challenge Cup in utah.
Barcelona, the 2020 spanish
league leaders, won this year’s
Champions League final against
Chelsea.
New york-based Relevent sports
Group, which puts on the Interna-
tional Champions Cup for men’s
club teams each summer, added
the women’s competition in 2018.
The 2019 edition was held in Cary,
North Carolina, and hosted by the
North Carolina Courage. The inau-
gural event was held in the Miami
area.
Relevent plans to add two addi-
tional teams to the women’s tour-
nament next year and eight clubs in
2023.
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian, File
The Portland Thorns face the Chicago Red Stars during an NWSL soc-
cer match on Sunday, May 16, 2021, in Portland.