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Tuesday, February 22, 2022
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A10
Hermsiton’s Gribskov, Cadenas win state wrestling titles
eseta sepeni becomes
first Hermiston female
wrestler to place at state
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
TaCOMa, Wash. — Winning
a state wrestling championship
is no easy feat, but two Hermis-
ton wrestlers added their names to
the school’s champions’ wall after
winning titles saturday, Feb. 20,
at the 3a state tournament at the
Tacoma dome.
Jaxson Gribskov became the first
Hermiston wrestler to win a Wash-
ington state title when he won by a
12-4 major decision over deklen
agloinga of Mead at 182 pounds.
senior sam Cadenas, who pinned
his first three opponents at state, was
pushed in the 285-pound champion-
Kyle Larson/Contributed Photo
The Hermiston Bulldogs celebrate their second-place finish in the 3A state
wrestling team standings on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, in Tacoma, Washington.
ship match before he came away with
a 5-4 decision over burak bowers of
bonney Lake.
To top off the weekend, the Bull-
dogs finished second in the team
stands with 171 points. Mead won
the team title with 236.5 points.
“everyone contributed,” Hermis-
ton coach Kyle Larson said. “We are
just really happy.”
The fact that Gribskov made the
trip to state is impressive, to say the
least.
He lost in the first round of region-
als the week before, then had to win
five loser-out matches to earn a berth.
He won all five matches to finish
third and punched his ticket to state.
In his title match, Gribskov domi-
nated agloinga from the start. He led
5-2 after the first period, 8-2 after
two, and recorded two takedowns in
the third to seal the win.
Gribskov left the mat in tears of
joy.
“He was so happy,” Larson said.
“He just broke down. He went to his
team and they gave him a big hug.
He made it happen. When he got
off the mat, he said, ‘Coach if you
would have told me I would have
been a state champion 3 weeks ago,
I wouldn’t have believed you.’ I hope
the rest of them see that. buy into the
program, trust your coach and good
things will happen.”
To reach the finals, Gribskov
knocked off top-ranked Navarre
dixon of Lincoln 7-6. Gribskov went
into state ranked eighth.
“Now I’m No. 1,” Gribskov said.
Gribskov said he went into state
hoping to place.
“I was literally going there hoping
I could get top six or top four and I
came out a state champion,” he said.
“First from Hermiston — that’s
crazy. you would think there would
be others. I was getting pretty fired
up before the match. It was awesome,
a great environment and great
energy.”
Gribskov said he couldn’t control
the tears.
See Wrestling, Page A11
EOU BASKETBALL
Teams head to
championships
with high hopes
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
La GraNde — as winter’s end gradually
approaches, basketball season is reaching its
culmination.
The eastern Oregon university men’s basket-
ball team has overcome a series of obstacles
under first-year interim head coach Chris Kemp,
while the women’s team sparked a major run in
the second half of the season to finish near the
top of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
“I think our guys are playing the best basket-
ball they’ve played all year,” Kemp said. “I have
high hopes that we’re peaking at the right time.”
Overcoming adversity
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton Rhythmic Mode dancers perform Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, during halftime of a basketball game at Pendleton High School.
Rhythmic Mode performs
at Hearts in Motion
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
P
eNdLeTON — Pendleton High
school’s rhythmic Mode dance
team has been entertaining fans
at basketball games for more than
30 years.
Fans will get another chance to watch
the team perform saturday, Feb. 26, at the
34th annual Hearts in Motion competition
at Pendleton High school.
The competition includes dance teams
from kindergarten to high school, with
rhythmic Mode competing against teams
from Grant union, Hermiston and Molalla.
“Just having the opportunity to have
a competition again is a big step,” said
rhythmic Mode coach debbie Kishpaugh.
“COVId kind of killed our program last
year. There was a lot of hard work and
nothing to show for it. Last year at this
time, we were working on tennis courts in
stillman Park with masks on. It was really,
really tough.”
This year rhythmic Mode is in a
rebuilding phase with one senior, two
juniors, one sophomore and seven fresh-
men.
They recently went to Canby and placed
third in the 5a division and received the
Greatest showman award for showman-
ship (costumes and facial expressions).
The Hearts in Motion serves as a fund-
raiser for rhythmic Mode to help defray
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Members of the Pendleton Rhythmic Mode perform Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, during half-
time of a basketball game at Pendleton High School.
costs of traveling to the state competition,
which this year is March 19 at Oregon City
High school.
“They moved it from the (Memorial)
coliseum (in Portland),” Kishpaugh said.
“The magic will be that we have state,
which we haven’t had in two years. That
is a long time in the life of a kid. They are
resentful and angry. They feel cheated.
Two years have been stolen from the kids,
in my opinion.”
admission is $10 for adults, and $5
for those 12 and younger. doors open at
10 a.m., with dancing beginning at 11 a.m.
There also will be a raffle with items
donated by local merchants.
rhythmic Mode team members are
Natalie bentley, Miranda Case, Madi eric-
son, Paige Gard, Madelyn Lieuallen, ava
redding, sammie stills, aubrey Wadling-
ton, Cassie Wiegand, Gabe Gorbett and
asia Tachella.
The eastern men’s season has been far from
predictable.
Just four games into the year, the program’s
all-time leading scorer, Max McCullough,
suffered a season-ending injury. Experienced
guard Paul Pennington was injured early on as
well, missing the first half of the year. The inju-
ries were a recipe for disaster for a first-year
coach, but the Mountaineers buckled down and
found a way to succeed.
Transfers Phillip Malatare and Xavier Love-
lace have stepped up in a big way, helping the
Mountaineers clinch a spot in the 2022 confer-
ence tournament.
eastern will enter the tournament as the
No. 6 seed in the conference and face Lewis-
Clark state on the road in the opening round.
The Mountaineers lost to the Warriors 76-72 on
dec. 17 and 65-55 on Feb. 5. eastern wrapped up
the regular season with a 12-10 conference record.
Kemp noted that Malatare and Lovelace have
been the team’s two most solid contributors this
season, as expected when the program signed
the transfers. Malatare is averaging 19 points
and 5.7 rebounds per game, while Lovelace is
putting up 13.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per
contest.
Kemp expressed that the team’s success
and mentality have been spawned from much
more than the team’s top scorers. rotation play-
ers including Preston Chandler, Pennington,
Justin Jeske, Cooper Lumsden, Zane Wright
and Ismael Valdez also have contributed to the
team’s success.
“a lot of those returners have stepped into
newer roles and really blossomed,” he said.
“That whole returning group has been a huge
plus for us, just how they’ve played together and
gelled as a group.”
In the wake of early-season injuries and
the COVId-19 pandemic playing a big role in
player availability, the Mountaineers managed
to secure a winning record. as the postseason
approaches rapidly, the team is as healthy as it
can be and has its eyes set on a playoff push.
See EOU, Page A11
ON THE SLATE
TUESDAY, FEB. 22
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23
THURSDAY, FEB. 24
1A state playoffs: Nixyaawii vs. TBD
Prep boys basketball
Pendleton at Hood River Valley, 5:45 p.m.
1A state playoffs: Trinity Academy at
Ione/Arlington (at Ione), 6 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
1A state playoffs: North Clackamas Chris-
tian at Ione/Arlington (at Arlington),
6 p.m.
Prep girls wrestling
Riverside at state tournament, Culver,
9 a.m.
College softball
Eastern Oregon at William Jessup, noon
Eastern Oregon vs. Hope International,
Rocklin, California, 4 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
3A state play-in game: Peninsula at
Hermiston, 7 p.m. (loser out)
Pendleton at Hood River, 7:30 p.m.
College women’s basketball
Warner Pacific at Eastern Oregon, Cas-
cade Collegiate Conference Tourna-
ment, Quinn Coliseum, 7 p.m.
College men’s basketball
Walla Walla at Blue Mountain, 7:30 p.m.
Eastern Oregon at Lewis-Clark State,
Cascade Collegiate Conference Tourna-
ment, 7 p.m.
College women’s basketball
Walla Walla at Blue Mountain, 5:30 p.m.
College softball
Eastern Oregon at Menlo College (2),
10 a.m.
FRIDAY, FEB. 25
Prep girls basketball
Pendleton at Baker, 7 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
2A state playoffs: Stanfield at Western
Christian, 6 p.m.
2A state playoffs: Bandon at Heppner,
6 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEB. 26
Prep wrestling
Pendleton at 5A state tournament, Rid-
geview High School, 9 a.m.
McLoughlin at 4A state tournament,
Cascade High School, 9 a.m.
Riverside, Irrigon at 3A state tourna-
ment, La Pine High School, 9 a.m.
Heppner/Ione, Echo at 2A state tourna-
ment, Culver High School, 9 a.m.
Prep girls basketball
1A state playoffs: Echo vs. TBD
1A state playoffs: Nixyaawii vs. TBD
2A state playoffs: Stanfield at Verno-
nia, 1 p.m.
College men’s basketball
Big Bend at Blue Mountain, 4 p.m.
College women’s basketball
Big Bend at Blue Mountain, 2 p.m.
College baseball
Eastern Oregon at Lewis-Clark State
(2), noon
College women’s lacrosse
Eastern Oregon at Whitman, 10 a.m.
SUNDAY, FEB. 27
College women’s wrestling
Eastern Oregon at Cascade Collegiate
Conference Championships, Great Falls,
Montana, TBA
College baseball
Eastern Oregon at Lewis-Clark State (2),
11 a.m.
College softball
Eastern Oregon vs. Marymount Califor-
nia, Rocklin, California (2), 10 a.m.
College women’s lacrosse
Eastern Oregon vs. Whitworth, Walla
Walla, 1 p.m.