BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER WRESTLING
Bulldogs dominate Ontario to wrap up dual season
BAKER CITY HERALD
The Baker High School
wrestling team continued its
preparations for the regional
and state tournaments by trav-
eling east on two straight days
earlier this week, winning two
of three duals.
On Thursday, Feb. 3, Baker
headed to Ontario and won
eight of 12 matches to beat the
Tigers, 49-18.
The Bulldogs concluded
their dual season with a 15-5
record, and finished second in
the Greater Oregon League.
The previous day, Wednes-
day, Feb. 2, the Bulldogs
traveled to Idaho to take on
Homedale and Weiser in sepa-
rate duals.
Ontario
Baker had a few close
matches, including Cole Hes-
ter, who went to triple overtime
in beating Jamis Gonzalez in
the 132-pound match.
“In the final overtime the
wrestler that scored first in the
match gets to choose which
position they would like to
wrestle from, either top or bot-
tom,” Baker coach Brandon
Young said. “If the bottom
wrestler can get away, they win,
if the top person can hold them
down for 30 seconds then the
top wrestler wins. Ontario
chose down and Cole was able
to ride him out for the 30 sec-
onds which gave him the win.”
At 138 pounds, Baker’s Riley
Martin wore down Marcos Ro-
driguez to earn a 3-1 decision.
“Riley is really coming
along mentally and physi-
cally,” Young said. “If Riley can
wrestle with that intensity at
regionals he will be a definite
contender.”
Baker’s Gavin Stone moved
up from 145 pounds to 152 to
take on Ontario’s top wrestler,
Ruben Hernandez.
The match was close
throughout.
Stone couldn’t quite finish
multiple takedowns, and Her-
nandez won 5-2.
“Gavin took on the chal-
lenge — he knows he needs it
to push him to the next level,”
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Jaden Martin, on top, shown here against La Grande’s Cole Jorgensen on Jan. 25, 2022, in the Baker
gym, won two matches earlier this week.
Young said. “Gavin is very
driven.”
The 160-pound match pit-
ting Baker’s Ben Coburn
against Martin Benites was an-
other close one, with Coburn
trailing most of the match.
But he secured a takedown
and turned Benites at the end
to earn a 5-2 decision.
“Ben has really come a long
way this season,” Young said.
“He has a great attitude and he
really got the team and the fans
fired up.”
In other matches against
Ontario:
• 106: Baker’s Joey Duncan
defeated Nick Sandberg by fall.
• 113: Baker’s Marcus
Chamberlain defeated Nathan
Marcelino by fall.
• 120: Baker’s Aldo Duran
defeated Ethan Calderon in a
major decision, 9-0.
• 126: Baker’s Sage Darling-
ton won by forfeit.
• 145: Baker’s Jimmy Sullivan
defeated Ethan Rangel by fall.
• 170: Baker’s Cody Eskew
defeated Julian Fischer by fall.
• 182: Ontario’s Leonardo
Becerra defeated Jacob Mills,
6-3.
• 195: Ontario’s Alexander
Sigrah defeated Billy Kargianis
by fall.
• 222: Ontario’s Tommy
Ishida defeated Alex Ritter by
fall.
• 285: Baker’s Jaden Martin
won by forfeit.
There were also several extra
matches after the dual.
• 126: Ontario’s Ethan
Calderon defeated Michael
Endersby by major decision,
11-0.
• 138: Ontario’s Marcos Ro-
driguez defeated Samuel Nel-
son by fall.
• 152: Ontario’s Aiden Rocha
defeated Julian Garcia by fall.
• 152: Baker’s Jimmy Sul-
livan defeated Aiden Rocha
by fall.
• 160: Baker’s Ryan Brown
defeated Martin Benites by fall.
• 220: Ontario’s Nicholas
Sigrah defeated Jayden Clark,
11-5.
• 220: Baker’s Jayden Clark
defeated Raul Macias by fall.
• 285: Baker’s Russell Walden
defeated Alan Romero, 1-0.
• 285: Baker’s Russell Walden
defeated Jorge Ortiz by fall.
At Homedale
Homedale had just four
wrestlers in its varsity lineup,
which resulted in multiple for-
feits as Baker won the match
77-6.
In the four contested
matches, Baker won three
by fall — Aldo Duran at 113
pounds, over Wyatt Stewart;
Gavin Stone at 145 pounds
by technical fall over Andrew
Marston; and Alex Ritter at 220
pounds over Brodie White.
Willie Haun had Homedale’s
lone win, by fall over Adrian
Allen at 195 pounds.
At Weiser
After the teams exchanged
forfeits at 98 and 106 pounds,
Duran pinned Weiser’s Billy
Nevarez to give Baker a 12-6
lead.
The Wolverines evened the
score at 12 with Rafael Dell-
gadillo’s win by fall over Sage
Darlington at 120 pounds.
At 126, Baker’s Cole Hester
pinned Aemon Keegan late in
the second period.
“We were proud of Cole
as his opponent was a decent
wrestler and Cole had built
a comfortable 9-1 lead, but
continued to score points and
earned the fall,” Young said.
Weiser won two straight
matches, with Kash Cobb win-
ning by fall over Riley Mar-
tin at 132 pounds, and Jace
Buescher winning by fall over
Samuel Nelson at 138.
WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES BEGIN
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Gavin Stone wrestles on Jan. 19, 2022, in the Baker gym.
Baker won by forfeit at 145
points, and then Stone, at
152 pounds, had one of the
most exciting matches of the
night against Weiser’s Clay-
ton Beesley.
“Beesley was able to use his
length to prevent Gavin from
scoring on his takedowns
and then ride Gavin out in
the third period,” Young said.
“Gavin was close to scoring
on his feet several times but
unable to finish. We liked his
effort, he just kept working
the entire match. That what
he does all the time, he’s a
workhorse.”
Weiser extended its lead
at 160 pounds with Maddox
Stevens winning by fall over
Ben Coburn.
At 170 pounds, Baker’s
Cody Eskew dominated with a
10-1 major decision over Wil-
lie Sudderth.
Weiser won the next three
matches, all by fall.
At 182 pounds, Malachi
Hoobery pinned Jacob Mills,
at 195 pounds Kaleb Grove
beat Adrian Allen, and at 220
Rylee Willet pinned Alex Rit-
ter.
In the 285-pound match,
Baker’s top-ranked Jaden
Martin had a rematch against
Jesse Lockett, who has fin-
ished second and third in Ida-
ho’s state meet.
It was their third match this
year, with Martin winning by
fall both times.
On Wednesday, Feb. 3, Mar-
tin built a large lead and then
pinned Lockett in the third
period.
That wasn’t enough to over-
come Weiser’s lead, as the Wol-
verines won the dual, 51-34.
“We wrestled pretty well
against Weiser,” Young said.
“Right now the focus is keep-
ing everyone healthy going
into regionals and putting the
best lineup we can out there
with who we have available. We
were proud of our effort.”
Gauge Bloomer, a defend-
ing state champion at 195
pounds, missed the three du-
als to get healthy for regionals,
Young said.
The Baker girls traveled to
Redmond on Saturday, Feb.
5, for their regional tour-
nament, with the top three
wrestlers in each weight class
qualifying for the state cham-
pionships in Culver.
The boys varsity and JV
wrestlers traveled to Hep-
pner on Saturday, Feb. 5, for a
shootout against Culver.
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
Young scores 21 to
A hug, a wave, a big win for
power
Oregon
past
American mixed doubles curlers Colorado 66-51
BY BERNIE WILSON
Associated Press
BEIJING — American
mixed doubles curlers Vicky
Persinger and Chris Plys sur-
vived an extra end against
Sweden for a much-needed
victory in the Olympics
on Friday, Feb. 4, quickly
hugged and then found two
friendly faces to wave to in a
far corner of the eerily quiet
and mostly empty Ice Cube.
Masked faces, of course, but
definitely friendly faces. Pers-
inger and Plys were pretty sure
they were waving at team psy-
chologist Carly Anderson and
dietician Kaela Colvard, who
were among the few spectators
who saw the Americans take
an 8-7 victory in the round-
robin competition to even
their record at 2-2.
“It’s hard to tell with the
masks on. I think it was
our sports psychologist and
our dietician who were in
the stands,” Persinger said.
“They’ve kind of been our
team around our team and
were cheering us on espe-
cially coming back after a
two-loss day.”
Every little bit helps in these
Games, which are being con-
ducted in a bubble environ-
ment because of COVID-19.
That means family can’t at-
tend. With few spectators al-
lowed in, it’s a far different
atmosphere than at the 2008
Summer Olympics, when rau-
cous crowds watched Michael
Phelps win a record eight
swimming gold medals in the
same venue, which was then
called the Water Cube.
“We can’t even say enough
good things about Carly our
sports psychologist and Kaela
and our whole team,” Plys
said. “It’s been hard on every-
body. It’s been hard on them,
but they’ve taken a back seat
to the way they’re feeling and
really made sure that we’re
taken care of and in a good
spot to keep playing.”
The victory moved the
Americans into a tie for fifth
with China and the Czech
Republic in the 10-team
BOULDER, Colo. (AP)
— Jacob Young tossed in 21
points and Oregon beat Col-
orado on the road for the first
time, 66-51, on Thursday
night, Feb. 3.
Young knocked down 8 of
17 shots from the floor with
two 3-pointers for the Ducks
(14-7, 7-3 Pac-12 Conference),
who came in 0-10 all-time on
the Buffaloes’ home floor. Will
Richardson added 13 points
and Quincy Guerrier scored
nine with nine rebounds.
Colorado (13-9, 5-7) led 34-
29 after a layup by Nique Clif-
ford with 2:24 remaining in
the first half, but Young scored
all seven points in a 7-1 run by
Oregon and his 3-pointer with
a second left sent the Ducks to
intermission with a 36-35 lead.
Oregon’s De’vion Harmon
sank a 3-pointer to open the
second-half scoring and it was
all Ducks from there. Guerrier
and Richardson had back-to-
back buckets as Oregon pulled
away from a 40-all tie, outscor-
ing Colorado 26-11 over the
final 17:14.
Keeshawn Barthelemy
topped the Buffaloes with
16 points. Jabari Walker fin-
ished with 11 points and 12
rebounds for his Pac-12 lead-
ing 10th double-double of the
season. Evan Battey scored 10.
Colorado has lost five of its last
six games.
Oregon has won 8 of 9 with
its last loss coming to Colorado
82-78 on Jan. 25 in Eugene.
Prior to this season the home
team had won 13 straight in a
series the Buffs lead 14-11.
Oregon travels to play Utah
on Saturday, Feb. 5. Colorado
will host Oregon State that day.
OREGON STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL
Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images-TNS
USA’s Christopher Plys, left, and Victoria Persinger compete during a mixed doubles round robin
session against Australia in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games’ curling competition at the
National Aquatics Centre in Beijing on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022.
field. After the round robin,
the top four teams move
into the semifinals.
It also put Plys and Pers-
inger in a great mood heading
into the opening ceremony
a few hours later, when they
would follow men’s skip and
defending gold medalist John
Shuster, the first curler voted
to carry the American flag,
into the Bird’s Nest.
“Hell yeah, man, it’s going
to be awesome,” said Plys, a
two-time Olympian who is
also on the men’s team. “Be-
fore we left for this trip, being
able to walk in the ceremo-
nies was already going to be a
highlight. Getting to do that
with my teammate holding a
flag, it’s going to be a night to
remember. I’ll probably have
the phone strapped to my
chest just so I can still soak it
all in and be there and enjoy
that experience with all of
our teammates.”
The Sweden-U.S. game was
the last of Friday’s four games
to end. The teams swapped
leads through the eight ends,
including Sweden jumping
ahead after a three-ender to
go up 5-4 in the sixth and the
United States coming back
with a three-ender of its own
in the seventh for a 7-5 lead.
Sweden tied it in the eighth
and the Americans won it
in the ninth. Plys had a huge
shot that cleared two Swedish
stones out of the house.
“It’s as exciting for us as it
is for the people back home,”
Plys said. “I over-swept Vicky’s
to give them a shot for three,
but I went right down to the
other end and it was just like,
‘Let’s get it right back.’ That’s
mixed doubles curling. You
don’t see that as much in
men’s or women’s, but mixed
doubles, man, it’s volatile and
the swings are crazy and a
lot of times it’s which team
can manage their emotions
through those swings better.”
The Americans lost twice
on Thursday, Feb. 3.
“We lightened up a little
bit,” Plys said. “We had a talk
before in the locker room,
had some good jams going
and just decided that we were
going to forget about all the
pressure and everything that
happened yesterday and play
for each other and play for our
families and just have as much
fun as we can out there.”
Italy moved to 4-0 with
a 10-2 victory against the
Czech Republic. Australia,
making its first appearance in
Olympic curling, remained
winless after losing 9-8 to
Britain in an extra end.
Stefanovic helps Utah
roll past Beavers to
end losing streak
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)
— Lazar Stefanovic made five
3-pointers for his 15 points and
Utah ended a school-record
10-game losing streak with an
84-59 win over Oregon State
on Thursday night, Feb. 3.
David Jenkins Jr. and Rol-
lie Worster scored 13 points
each and Branden Carlson
had 12 points and 10 rebounds
for Utah (9-14, 2-11 Pac-12).
Both Gach added 11 points
with 10 assists and Marco An-
thony grabbed a game-high 11
rebounds. Utah made a sea-
son-high 15 3-pointers.
Jarod Lucas scored 12 points
on four 3-pointers, Roman
Silva also scored 12 points and
Maurice Calloo added 11 for
Oregon State (3-16, 1-8). Sec-
ond-leading scorer Warith
Alatishe was limited by knee
issues to five minutes and
scored two points.
Utah’s program-record los-
ing streak began with an 88-76
loss in Corvallis on Dec. 30
when Lucas scored 25 points
and shot 53%. The streak
reached 10 in a 77-73 dou-
ble-overtime loss at Washing-
ton on Saturday. Thursday’s
win also ended a five-game
losing streak to the Beavers,
who have lost six straight since
beating Utah in December.
The Beavers cut a dou-
ble-digit halftime deficit to
eight on a couple occasions
before a 17-2 run that in-
cluded consecutive 3-point-
ers by Riley Battin extended
the Utes’ lead to 23 with eight
minutes remaining.