BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER TRACK AND FIELD
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Memphis holds off
Baker has strong
start to track season Boise State rally
Anna Belding wins
2 events, Emma
Baeth wins 1
Krieger also finished second
in the high jump, and Reece
Dixon was second in the long
jump.
Cole said she’s excited about
BY JAYSON JACOBY
the rest of the season for Baker,
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
in part because she has the larg-
The Baker track and field
est contingent of assistant and
teams opened the season with a volunteer coaches she’s had in
series of strong performances at more than 20 years.
the Ontario Icebreaker meet on
That’s immensely helpful in
Thursday, March 17.
ensuring that athletes have more
“I was really pleased with our individual attention as they
veteran kids, and we saw a lot
hone their technique, she said.
of promising things from our
Assistant coaches are Laurel
younger kids,” Baker coach Suzy Luschen, Robbie Langrell and
Cole said.
Karissa Kingsbury. Volunteers
Baker junior Anna Belding
are Dakota Keys, Jill Snow, Noah
won two events — the 200 and Cheney and Mike Johnson.
400 dashes.
“She’s looking great,” Cole said Boys (Baker and Powder Valley
of Belding. “She was very ag-
results)
gressive. She had a great meet.” • 100: 1st, Kaden Krieger, PV, 12:12;
4th, Reece Dixon, PV, 12:23; 5th, Mal-
Baker’s other individual
champion was senior Emma Ba- aki Myer, Baker, 12:32; 8th, Wyatt
Hawkins, Baker, 12.47;
eth in the 800.
“That’s what we were hoping • 200: 1st, Kaden Krieger, PV, 24.30;
from her,” Cole said.
2nd, Jackson Chandler, PV, 24.95; 8th,
Sophomore Ryann Paulsen
Malaki Myer, 25.52; 13th, Angel DeAr-
was second in the javelin.
cos, 26.04;
Freshman Sofia Kaaen placed • 400: 1st, Jackson Chandler, PV, 55.84;
third in the 1,500, and senior
2nd, Angel DeArcos, 56.46; 3rd, Malaki
Sydney Lamb was third in the
Myer, 56.96
3,000.
• 800: 9th, Jordan Mills, 2:27.21; 10th,
Team scores were not avail-
Peyton Waters, 2:28.62
able.
• 1,500: 4th, Seth Mastrude, 4:51.92;
On the boys side, freshman
7th, Daniel Brown, 5:01.49; 8th, Pey-
Daniel Brown placed second in ton Waters, 5:07.46; 13th, Karsten
the 3,000, and sophomore Dash Cikanek, 5:20.73; 17th, Tanner Lu-
Bloomer was second in the tri- cas, 5:48.89; 20th, Allen Bedolla, PV,
ple jump.
6:04.43
Bloomer also finished third in • 3,000: 2nd, Daniel Brown, 10:41.72;
the javelin and 300 hurdles.
6th, Seth Mastrude, 11:14.40; 8th,
Junior Thaddeus Pepera also Karsten Cikanek, 12:18.86; 13th, Wade
competed in multiple events,
Hawkins, 15:55.92; 14th, Tanner Lucas,
placing third in the high jump 15:56.27
and seventh in the 110 hurdles.
• 110 hurdles: 7th, Thaddeus Pepera,
He was also a member of the
24.72; 8th, Jacob Mills, 29.86
4x400 relay team that finished
• 300 hurdles: 3rd, Dash Bloomer,
third.
Sophomore Malaki Myer took 45.93; 5th, Thaddeus Pepera, 46.75;
on the challenge of running the 13th, Angel DeArcos, 58.43
100, 200 and 400 dashes, placing • 4x100 relay: 7th, Baker, 57.68 (Gaige
fifth in the 100, eighth in the 200 Birmingham, Reeve Damschen, Izek
Cleveland, Kayden Gavin)
and third in the 400.
Baker junior Angel DeArcos • 4x400 relay: 3rd, Baker, 4:05.47 (Dan-
iel Brown, Jordan Mills, Thaddeus
was second in the 400.
Powder Valley also competed Pepera, Angel DeArcos)
• Shot put: 19th, Jacob Mills, 30-8;
in the meet, and the Badgers
23rd, Izek Cleveland, 29-0; 33rd, Dillon
swept the sprints.
Multon, 26-7; 40th, Tristan Mulkey, 25-
Senior Kaden Krieger won
2; 45th, Kevin Gutierrez, 19-11
the 100 and 200, and junior
Jackson Chandler was first in
• Discus: 12th, Dillon Multon, 86-9;
the 400.
14th, Jacob Mills, 85-1; 28th, Colton
Birmingham, 70-2; 30th, Izek Cleve-
land, 66-8; 33rd, Tristan Mulkey, 65-9;
51st, Kevin Gutierrez, 46-1
• Javelin: 3rd, Dash Bloomer, 113-7;
4th, Colton Birmingham, 112-4; 21st,
Izek Cleveland, 84-6.5; 25th, Gaige Bir-
mingham, 78-5; 36th, Tristan Mulkey,
63-8
• High jump: 2nd, Kaden Krieger, 5-8;
3rd, Thaddeus Pepera, 5-6
• Pole vault: 5th, Reeve Damschen,
8-6; 6th, Gaige Birmingham, 7-6
• Long jump: 2nd, Reece Dixon, PV,
19-1.5; 4th, Jackson Chandler, PV, 17-
11.5; 6th, Wyatt Hawkins, 17-8; 20th,
Reeve Damschen, 16-2.5
• Triple jump: 2nd, Dash Bloomer, 39-
6.5; 7th, Reeve Damschen, 34-6.5;
17th, Gaige Birmingham, 28-7; 18th,
Dillon Multon, 19-.5
Girls (Baker and Powder Valley
results)
• 100: 7th, Ayla Bingham, PV, 14.32;
12th, Alexis Conant, 14.81; 25th, Lillee
Henry, 15.70; 38th, Lani Pierce, 17.31
• 200: 1st, Anna Belding, 28.31; 5th,
Ayla Bingham, PV, 29.21; 21st, Lillee
Henry, 33.24; 25th, Lilly Collins, 34.08;
28th, Lani Pierce, 35.05; 33rd, Avery
Collier, 37.75
• 400: 1st, Anna Belding, 1:05.79; 16th,
Lilly Collins, 1:22.70
• 800: 1st, Emma Baeth, 2:31.38; 4th,
Emma Timm, 2:51.75
• 1,500: 3rd, Sofia Kaaen, 5:56.03
• 3,000: 3rd, Sydney Lamb, 12:18.25
• 100 hurdles: 7th, Alexis Conant,
20.96; 8th, Jayden Whitford, 22:20
• 300 hurdles: 5th, Jayden Whitford,
1:00.85
• 4x100 relay: 8th, 1:00.09 (Lani Pierce,
Jayden Whitford, Annastasia Johnson,
Alexis Conant)
• 4x400 relay: 3rd, 4:48.73 (Anna
Belding, Emma Baeth, Emma Timm,
Jayden Whitford)
• Shot put: 5th, Abby Cox, PV, 26-5.5;
11th, Ryann Paulsen, 24-1; 18th, Mon-
tana Williams, 22-1; 22nd, Lilly Collins,
21-0; 33rd, Hadley Wallace, PV, 18-7
• Discus: 13th, Abby Cox, PV, 58-4;
16th, Montana Williams, 56-6; 19th,
Evan Rexroad, 53-0; 22nd, Lilly Collins,
48-2; 31st, Hadley Wallace, PV, 35-9
• Javelin: 2nd, Ryann Paulsen, 97-0;
10th, Montana Williams, 60-0
• High jump: 6th, Alexis Conant, 4-2;
11th, Evan Rexroad, 4-0
• Pole vault: 4th, Sofia Kaaen, 6-0
• Long jump: 20th, Sofia Kaaen, 12-2.5
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Les-
sons from a tough start to
the season helped Mem-
phis weather a second-half
challenge by Boise State on
Thursday, March 17.
DeAndre Williams had
14 points, Jalen Duren made
a crucial basket down the
stretch and the ninth-seeded
Tigers survived their first-
round game against the
Broncos with a 64-53 victory
in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers (22-10), whose
poor start to the season had
coach Penny Hardaway
dropping expletives in a
press conference, are into the
second round in the West
Region and will play top-
seeded Gonzaga on Saturday.
The Bulldogs downed No. 16
seed Georgia State, 93-72.
“I just felt like (Hardaway)
did a great job of prepar-
ing us for that moment. Just
throughout my past and my
history, I’ve always been in
games where I could be up
20 or down 20, and the game
is never over,” Duren said.
“Coach Penny put us in the
right spots, that always help
us get through every time.”
Duren finished with 10
points and 11 rebounds for
the Tigers, who were 9-8 af-
ter 17 games but went on a
late-season charge to reach
the tournament for the first
time since 2014. The Tigers
have now won 13 of their
past 15 games.
Abu Kigab had 20 points
to lead the eighth-seeded
Broncos (27-8), the Moun-
tain West regular-season and
tournament champs, who
were making their first ap-
pearance in the tournament
since 2015.
Boise State trailed by 19 at
the half but, taking advan-
tage of a cold snap by the
Tigers, narrowed the gap to
42-35 with 9:45 left. The Ti-
gers had scored just four sec-
ond-half points before Wil-
liams’ dunk with 9:18 left got
them going again.
Kigab hit a 3-pointer and
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian-TNS
Memphis forward DeAndre Williams (No. 12) dunks past Boise
State forward Mladen Armus as the Tigers face the Broncos in the
first round of the NCAA Tournament at Moda Center in Portland
on Thursday, March 17, 2022.
a short jumper to get Boise
State within 49-43 with
5:55 remaining, but Wil-
liams answered again with a
3-pointer for the Tigers. And
when the Broncos closed to
56-51 with 1:26 left on Naje
Smith’s layup, and the teams
traded foul shots, Duren’s
layup pushed the margin to
60-53 to give Memphis some
breathing room.
Alex Lomax, hobbled in
the first half by an ankle in-
jury, added some clinching
free throws for the Tigers.
It was a disappointing fin-
ish to a dream season for
longtime coach Leon Rice,
whose Boise State teams
had been dumped from
the NCAA Tournament in
First Four games their past
two trips. The Broncos beat
San Diego State to win the
Mountain West tourney ti-
tle and their 27 wins set the
school record for a single
season.
“That’s a team that’s put-
ting it together,” Rice said of
the Tigers. “I know they had
a rough stretch and I know
they started out in top 10 in
the nation, and you see why.
But they worked through
some stuff throughout the
year and they’ve turned it on
right now and they’ve got it
going.”
Memphis had the nation’s
top recruiting classes, led
by Duren and fellow five-
star talent Emoni Bates, but
Hardaway struggled to find
a solid lineup until January
— Bates had not played since
Jan. 27 because of a back in-
jury.
The Tigers have hit their
stride down the stretch,
though, reaching the title
game of the American Ath-
letic Conference tourney be-
fore losing to Houston. And
they kept that momentum
going into Thursday’s first-
round game, going on an 8-0
run early to take a 27-17 lead
when Bates hit a 3-pointer
with 4:26 left in the half.
Lomax hit a 3 a few min-
utes later that gave Memphis
a 38-19 lead at the break,
but he came down hard and
appeared to injure his left
ankle. He was limping as he
headed for the Tigers’ bench
but returned to start the sec-
ond half.