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THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021
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A8
HERMISTON BASKETBALL
Jay Ego to
take over
girls team
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
A GOOD FIT
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton’s Isaac Urbina, top, wrestles with Abraham Tinejaro, of Hood River Valley, to a 16-8 major decision win on Saturday, June 12, 2021,
during the Clash in the Canyon at the Happy Canyon Arena, Pendleton. Urbina recently signed to wrestle for Pacifi c University.
Pendleton’s Urbina to put his wrestling
skills to work at Pacifi c University
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
P
EN DLETON —
Isaac Urbina has
been having a hard
time trying to fi nd
someone to wrestle.
He has just as many forfeit wins
as matches wrestled this spring,
but his already sterling resume is
enticing.
That was enough for Pacifi c
University, which recently signed
Urbina to wrestle for the Boxers.
Urbina, who also played foot-
ball and golf for the Pendleton
High School Bucks, said wrestling
was the right fi t for him.
“I really like football, but wres-
tling seems more fi tting as to how
my life has gone with sports,”
Urbina said. “It seems more right
to continue that and better myself
as much as I can. I want to go to
Pacifi c and be one of the top wres-
tlers on the team.”
Urbina did talk to Willamette
University about playing football,
and had a word with Worcester
Polytechnic Institute in Massa-
chusetts about wrestling, but chose
to stay in the Pacifi c Northwest.
“I didn’t visit any other places,
but I talked to others about wres-
tling and another about foot-
ball,” he said. “I chose Pacifi c. I
like how the classes were laid out
with the pharmacy program, and
the money I would be able to get.
Forest Grove is a good distance
away to be independent, but close
enough in case anything goes
wrong.”
Urbina, who is wrestling at 220
years of the program are under-
grad, followed by three years of
pharmacy school.
“I’m going to take some college
classes at BMCC this summer to
lighten my load,” said Urbina, who
scored a 710 on the math portion
of the SAT. “I will take economics
and communication.”
“FOREST GROVE IS A GOOD DISTANCE
AWAY TO BE INDEPENDENT, BUT
CLOSE ENOUGH IN CASE ANYTHING
GOES WRONG.”
— Isaac Urbina, Pendleton High School wrestler
pounds for the Bucks this season,
fi nished fourth at state his junior
year at 182, and was fifth as a
sophomore at 160.
“I weigh 205, but we didn’t
need a 195-pounder,” he said. “We
needed a guy at 220, and I was able
to fi ll that role.”
On the football fi eld, Urbina
was a second-team defensive line-
man for 5A Special District 1.
It’s all math and science
Urbina will be part of the
accelerated pharmacy program at
Pacifi c University. The fi rst three
Pharmacy wasn’t always his
fi rst option, but it was the right
option.
“I was focused on physical
therapy,” he said. “I was looking at
other health occupations, but I am
not good with blood and needles.
I wanted to go into something that
not everyone has the opportunity
to do and make good money.”
Attending Pacifi c University
comes with a hefty price tag, but
Urbina’s academic prowess has
landed him some pretty good
scholarships. He received a Found-
ers Scholarship from Pacific,
which amounts to $27,000 a year
for four years. He also has student
aid and a handful of various schol-
arships.
“I got a lot of scholarships,”
Urbina said. “On scholarship
night, I got like 10 awards.”
There is one scholarship that
comes with a little fun.
Urbina, along with Pendleton
teammates Chelsea Kendrick and
Morgan Schumacher, and Madi
McClannahan of Hermiston, all
received a $750 scholarship from
the Kings and Queens scholarship
committee. The scholarship also
comes with an invite to play July
17-18 in the Kings and Queens
Couples Golf Tournament at Big
River Golf Course.
“That will be fun,” said Urbina,
who was the Bucks’ top golfer this
season with a 112 average in his
fi rst full year on the links. “Hope-
fully I won’t embarrass myself.”
As Urbina moves from high
school to college, he will take all
the special moments with him.
“All of my sports were memo-
rable to me,” he said. “I was
surrounded by people similar to
me, kids I have known my whole
life, on long bus rides for five
hours. There are some really good
memories.”
ON THE SLATE
THURSDAY, JUNE 17
Prep boys basketball
Redmond at Pendleton, 6:30 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
Pendleton at Redmond, 6:30 p.m.
Wrestling
Heppner at district tournament, Culver, TBD
FRIDAY, JUNE 18
Prep boys basketball
Pendleton at Hood River, 6:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Umatilla, 7:30 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Riverside, 7:30 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
Hood River at Pendleton, 6:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Umatilla, 6 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Riverside, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 19
Prep wrestling
Pendleton at IMC district tournament, Red-
mond, 10:30 a.m.
Prep swimming
IMC district swimming, Hood River, 10 a.m.
HERMISTON — Jay Ego is
coming home.
The 1987 Hermiston High
School graduate will take over the
girls basketball team next season.
He will replace Maloree Moss, who
is moving out of the area.
“We are very excited that coach
Ego has decided to return home
to Hermiston and coach our girls
program,” Hermiston Athletic
Director Larry Usher said in a news
release.
Ego said he has
been interested in
the job before, but
the timing wasn’t
right.
“I had some
family tell me it
was open,” Ego said
Ego
of the job opportu-
nity. “Every time it has come open,
there has been some intrigue. The
time just had to be right. This is the
right time now.
“I go back (to Hermiston) a few
times a year. It has changed, and it
has grown. The facilities in Herm-
iston are as good as there are in the
state. They have done an amazing
job.”
Ego, 52, comes to Hermiston
after a long run of coaching basket-
ball in the Portland area.
He was the head coach at Beaver-
ton High School from 2005-15, and
was named the Metro League Coach
of the Year four times (2009, 2011,
2013 and 2014), and led the Beavers
to the state semifi nals in 2014.
In his time at Beaverton, Ego had
a record of 171-89. Beaverton (24-5,
12-2 Metro) fi nished fourth in Class
6A during the 2014-15 season.
“We had a good run there,” Ego
said. “By the time I left, every team
in the Metro League had had three
to fi ve coaches. People just don’t
coach as long as they used to.”
After he left Beaverton, Ego
landed at Tualatin High School from
2016-19. The Timberwolves were
29-46 under his guidance.
The past two years, Ego has been
an assistant at Wilsonville High
School.
Ego’s love of basketball goes
back to when he was 5 years old and
a ball boy for his dad, Dave, at Park-
rose High School.
He played for his dad at Herm-
iston, then got into coaching in the
Portland area.
“I have never been much of a city
guy, but it has aff orded me some
jobs over the past few years,” Ego
said. “I’m looking forward to taking
advantage of living in a small town.
There is a sense of community.”
Ego will inherit a team with some
experience, including Bailey Young,
Haylee Mercer, Katelyn Heideman
and Morgan Brown.
“I have watched video and
watched a game in person,” Ego
said. “They have some talent. It has
been a very sustainable program
with success and tradition. I hope to
continue what has been established.”
SPORTS SHORT
Runner says tainted burrito led to test for banned substance
The Associated Press
Shelby Houlihan, the Ameri-
can record holder in the 1,500 and
5,000 meters, was banned for four
years after failing to prove that
tainted pork caused her positive
test for an anabolic steroid, sport’s
highest court said Tuesday, June
15.
Houlihan blamed a pork burrito
bought at a Mexican street food
truck when she revealed her
doping case in an announcement
on her Instagram account June 14.
A case that went ahead in secret
for fi ve months was published days
before the start of U.S. Olympic
track and fi eld trials in Eugene,
where the top three in each event
earn a spot to the postponed Tokyo
Games. Houlihan fi nished 11th at
the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics
in the 5,000 meters.
The Court of Arbitration for
Sport confi rmed on June 15 its
panel of judges “unanimously
determined that Shelby Houli-
han had failed” to prove how the
anabolic steroid nandrolone got
into her system.
The case was fast-tracked with
the consent of all parties to be
heard on June 4 by video link with
the court in Lausanne, Switzer-
land. The verdict was announced
without a detailed verdict.
It stayed confidential until
Houlihan’s own announcement
of the positive doping test and
ban that runs to January 2025.
It also rules her out of the 2024
Paris Olympics and the fi rst track
worlds to be held in the United
States, next year in Eugene.
The 28-year-old Houlihan
said she received an email from
the Athletics Integrity Unit on
Jan. 14, notifying her a drug test-
ing sample returned a fi nding for
nandrolone.
She said she’s since learned
it has “long been understood by
WADA (World Anti-Doping
Agency) that eating pork can lead
to a false positive for nandrolone,
since certain types of pigs produce
it naturally in high amounts. Pig
organ meat (off al) has the highest
levels of nandrolone.”
Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press, File
Shelby Houlihan crosses the fi nish line July 28, 2019, as she wins the
women’s 5,000-meter run at the U.S. Championships athletics meet in
Des Moines, Iowa.