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EOU brings home four All-Americans in track and field
East Oregonian
BrOOKINGs, s.d. —
Eastern Oregon university’s
track and field team wrapped
up the 2021-22 indoor season
Saturday afternoon, March 5,
with four athletes garnering
All-American status.
The team competed
March 3-5 in Brookings,
South Dakota, at the National
Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics Indoor National
Championships.
TJ Davis and Sam
Roddewig earned All-Amer-
ican status on March 4 in
the heptathlon, according to
EOU Athletics. Davis won the
National Championship in the
multi-events with 5,439 points
scored. Roddewig was fifth
overall with 4,820 points. For
Davis, it is his second straight
All-American honor in the
heptathlon while Roddewig
earned his first career indoor
All-American award in the
heptathlon.
And earning a podium
finish and All-American
titles on March 5, the final
day of Indoor Nationals,
Connor Bracken/Eastern Oregon University
Eastern Oregon University’s TJ Davis competes in the heptathlon on Friday, March 4, 2022,
at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor National Championships in
Brookings, South Dakota. He was one of four EOU track and field athletes to earn All-Ameri-
can status at the season’s crowning competition.
was Michelle Herbes in the
800-meter run and Maggie
Ledbetter in the shot put.
With the four, EOU tallied
226 All-Americans and 29
National Champions under the
direction of head coach Ben
Welch. As a team, the EOU
men finished 22nd with 14
points, while the EOU women
were 28th with nine points.
In the first event of the
day, the 60-meter hurdles,
Davis dominated the field,
EOU reported. He ran 8.24,
getting past second place by
.23 seconds. In the pole vault,
Davis had a valiant effort as he
held on for a tie for fifth place.
He cleared the bar at 13 feet 7½
inches to secure the top-five
spot. In the final event, the
1,000-meter run, Davis left
no doubt in winning the over-
all title as he placed second
in the race. He ran a 2:41.42
and became the second ever
Heptathlon National Cham-
pion in EOU history.
Davis joins Robbie Haynie
as the only other National
Champion in the Heptathlon
for Eastern. Haynie won the
Heptathlon title back-to-back
years in 2011 and 2012.
Roddewig surged from
eighth after day one up to fifth
with 4,820 points to earn his
first career indoor All-Amer-
ican accolade. He finished in
the top-five in his final two
events to help finish in the
top-five.
He got his biggest boost
from his efforts in the pole
vault. He cleared the bar at a
height of 14-3¼ to secure a
third place finish, which was
his best finish of any event.
He wrapped up the day with
a fourth place finish in the
1,000, running a 2:46.93 to
secure his fifth place finish
and All-American status.
Herbes qualified for finals
the day prior, solidifying her
status as an All-American, and
had to run again to see where
she placed. In her second go at
the 800, Herbes ran a 2:15.87
and placed sixth overall. She
is now a three-time indoor
All-American as an individ-
ual and has tallied six total for
her indoor career. She was an
individual All-American in
the 1,000-meter run in 2020
and 2021. according to EOu
Athletics, she has also been
on two All-American relay
squads in the 4x400 (2019 and
2020) and the 4x800 (2020).
Ledbetter finished third in
the shot put with a throw of
45 feet 10½ inches in finals.
In prelims, she hit 43-10¾ on
her second throw to advance.
In the finals, Ledbetter sealed
her spot in the top-three on her
first throw. For Ledbetter, this
is her second career indoor
All-American honor for the
shot put. She was third in the
same event back in 2020 with
a career best throw of 47-4¼.
Davis entered the day as
the event leader with 3,000
points. He kept his momen-
tum from day one placing
in the top-five in the final
three events to walk away
with 5,439 points and as the
NAIA’s best and top heptath-
lete. He edged second place
by 55 points.
Steer wrestler Jesse
Brown wins $100,000
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton’s Muriel Hoisington (34) puts up a shot Feb. 18, 2022, during the Bucks 55-31 win over The Dalles at Pendleton
High School. Hoisington was named to the Intermountain Conference first team.
2 Bucks named to IMC first team
Pendleton’s Sams
earns second-team
honors for boys
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
IMC GIRLS TEAM
Hoisington
Taber
Samp
Sams
P
ENdLETON — Pend-
leton seniors Muriel
Hoisington and Chloe
Taber were named to
the Intermountain Confer-
ence first team, while senior
Jaden Samp was selected to
the honorable mention team
by the conference coaches.
The Bucks, who played
most of the season with
senior Daisy Jenness on the
injured list (knee), finished
6-4 in IMC play and 8-16
overall. They advanced to
the first round of the 5A state
playoffs, where they dropped
a 47-36 game to Silverton.
Hoisington led Pendle-
ton in scoring with 13 points
per game, along with 4.3
rebounds, three assists and
four steals.
Taber was right behind
her with 11 points, five
rebounds, two assists and
one steal, while Samp added
six points, three steals, 2.5
rebounds and 1.5 assists.
Player of the Year honors
went to Ridgeview’s Jenna
Albrecht. The No. 4-ranked
Ravens (19-6) reached the
state quarterfinals and will
play Corvallis on March 10.
On the boys team, Pend-
leton senior Greyson Sams
was named to the second
team.
The Bucks finished the
season 0-10 in the IMC and
1-21 overall, but Sams had an
outstanding year. he aver-
aged 17.3 points a game,
along with 3.7 rebounds,
3.8 assists and 1.9 steals. He
made 62 3-pointers on the
year.
“He was our captain and
did it all for us,” Pendle-
ton coach Zach Dong said.
“Most nights, he led us in
scoring and defended the
Player of the year: Jenna
Albrecht, sr., Ridgeview.
Coaches of the Year: Bob
Boback, Crook County and
Alicia Love, Ridgeview.
First Team: Muriel
Hoisington, sr., Pendleton;
Katelynn Weaver, jr., Crook
County; Emma Bales, sr.,
Crook County; Chloe Taber,
sr., Pendleton; Marina
Castaneda, so., Hood River
Valley.
IMC BOYS TEAM
Player of the Year: Garrett
Osborne, sr., Redmond.
Coach of the Year: Reagan
Gilbertson, Redmond.
First Team: Evan Otten, jr.,
Redmond; Styles Deleon, jr.,
The Dalles; Emanual Romero,
sr., Hood River Valley; Jeremi-
ah Schwartz, jr., Ridgeview;
Eddie Freauff, so., Crook
County.
opponent’s best player. He
has a high basketball IQ
and is a tremendously hard
worker and competitor. He
was always the last guy to
leave the gym.”
Second Team: Grace
Brooks, sr., Crook County;
Faye Davis, sr., Ridgeview;
Kyrah Daniels, jr.,
Ridgeview; Rilea Mills, sr.,
Redmond; Brynn Capps, so.,
Redmond.
Honorable Mention:
Lauren Harding, jr.,
Ridgeview; Brooklyn
Homan, jr., Ridgeview; Zoe
LeBreton, so., The Dalles;
Sydney Newby, fr., The
Dalles; Jaden Samp, sr.,
Pendleton.
Second Team: Tommy
Ziegler, sr., Hood River Valley;
Greyson Sams, sr., Pendleton;
Yoshi Saito, sr., Redmond;
Andre Niko, so., The Dalles;
Henry Begay, so., The Dalles.
Honorable Mention:
Nathan Wachs, jr., Redmond;
Clayton Cook, sr., Hood River
Valley; Logan Mathews, so.,
Crook County; Ryan Asplund,
sr., Ridgeview; Ryles Buckley,
sr., Hood River Valley.
Redmond senior Garrett
Osbor ne wa s na med
IMC Player of the Year.
The top-ranked Panthers
opened state play March 9
against Ashland.
BaKEr cITy — Jesse
Brown hasn’t had a chance
to calculate what the hourly
wage would be based on the
$100,000 he earned for his
most recent 3.76 seconds of
work.
Suffice it to say it would be
an ample sum.
(About $95.7 million,
which most people could get
by on.)
Brown, a steer wrestler
from Baker City, had the
biggest payday of his profes-
sional career on Sunday,
March 6.
Brown won the steer wres-
tling event at The American,
a rodeo in Arlington, Texas,
earning a $100,000 check.
The American is a unique
competition with a total
payout of $3 million, includ-
ing $100,000 for the winners
in several events.
“What a day,” Brown
said in phone interview
on Monday, March 7,
from Weatherford, Texas,
where he’s taking a rest day
before heading to Hous-
ton for another big rodeo
March 10-11.
That one has a more
modest purse, at $50,000, but
unlike The American, the
results will count toward the
season standings leading up
to the Super Bowl of rodeo,
the National Finals Rodeo in
December in Las Vegas.
Brown, a 2011 Baker
High School graduate, has
competed in the past two
National Finals Rodeo events.
He entered the 2021 compe-
tition as the world’s second-
ranked steer wrestler, and
finished sixth for the season
with winnings of $165,061.
Brown, who competes for
Resistol, a maker of cowboy
hats, brought down his steer
in 3.76 seconds at The Amer-
ican.
Brown said he’s watched
the event on TV since he
started in rodeo several years
ago.
He competed in the event
for the first time in 2021.
“It’s one of a handful of
those rodeos that a guy wants
to win in his career,” Brown
said.
The event began with 10
contestants in each event, and
the top four times and scores
advanced to the champion-
ship round. In the sudden-
death format, the top time and
score earned the $100,000
payday.
Brown said the atmo-
sphere in AT&T Stadium,
where the Dallas Cowboys
play their home football
games, was electric.
“The stands were packed,”
he said. “It’s a huge stadium,
and I was pretty juiced up.
There was pressure, but it felt
awesome.”
Brown, who played foot-
ball at Washington State
University before transfer-
ring to Montana state univer-
sity and taking up rodeo full
time, spends much of the year
traveling around the country
to compete in rodeos.
One of his favorites is
Oregon’s most famous — the
Pendleton Round-Up.
In the 2019 Round-Up
Brown set an event record
by bringing down his steer
in 3.7 seconds.
ON THE SLATE
FRIDAY, MARCH 11
College women’s wrestling
Eastern Oregon at NAIA National
Invite, Jamestown, North Dakota,
TBA
College softball
Southwestern Oregon at Blue
Mountain (2), noon
British Columbia at Eastern Oregon
(2), 1 p.m.
College softball
British Columbia at Eastern Oregon
(2), 11 a.m.
College baseball
Eastern Oregon at Corban (2),
11 a.m.
Grays Harbor at Blue Mountain (2),
11 a.m.
College women’s lacrosse
Eastern Oregon at Boise State Tour-
nament, TBA
SATURDAY, MARCH 12
SUNDAY, MARCH 13
Boys soccer
Hermiston at Walla Walla, 12:30 p.m.
College baseball
Grays Harbor at Blue Mountain (2),
11 a.m.
College women’s wrestling
Eastern Oregon at NAIA National
Invite, Jamestown, North Dakota,
TBA
MONDAY, MARCH 14
Prep baseball
La Grande JV at Heppner (2), 2 p.m.