INSIDE: CLASSIFIEDS, MARKET RECAP & WEATHER
S PORTS
B
INSIDE TODAY’S
EDITION » 24-PAGE
GOLF PREVIEW
2021 Central Oregon
Golf Preview
THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
YOUTH MOVEMENT » P.8
PREP
TRACK & FIELD
Area athletes
claim 8 state titles
State track and field
meets were held across
the state on Friday and
Saturday, and Central
Oregon athletes brought
home eight individual
titles.
Summit’s Kohana Na-
kato won the girls javelin
with a heave of 155 feet,
1 inch, to help lead the
Storm girls to a third-place
finish at the 6A Track and
Field Showcase in Ore-
gon City.
It was a hurdles sweep
for Ridgeview at the 5A
Invitational in Wilson-
ville. Senior Cody Gehrett
won both the 110-meter
hurdles (14.60 seconds)
and the 300-meter hur-
dles (39.00) to lead the
Ravens to a third-place
team finish. Likewise,
freshman Kensey Gault
won both hurdles events
with a 15.40 in the 100
hurdles and a 46.12 in the
300 hurdles. With a time
of 51.11 seconds, Jere-
miah Schwartz won the
boys 400 meters, giving
Ridgeview five total state
winners on the weekend.
Also at the 5A Invita-
tional, Crook County’s
Marjorie Hutchins won the
triple jump with a mark of
35-00.5.
Sisters’ Ethan Hosang
won the 3,000 meters at
the 4A State Track and
Field Championships in
Florence, finishing with a
time of 8:44.39.
Central Oregon had
six teams finish in the top
10 in team scores in their
respective classifications.
Summit girls (62) and
Ridgeview boys (50) each
finished third to boast the
highest placings among
area teams.
Crook County girls
finished with 30 points,
good for sixth at the 5A
meet, and Ridgeview was
eighth with 28 points. In
the 4A state meet, Sisters
boys finished fifth with 40
points, while the girls fin-
ished sixth with 33 points.
MLB COMMENTARY
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Judging the
Mariners on
vaccination
progress
Ravens
rolling
BY LARRY STONE
The Seattle Times
Ridgeview caps off first
week of ‘winter’ season
with a pair of wins
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
REDMOND —
F
riday night’s game
between Ridgeview and
Summit girls basketball
teams started not with a tipoff, but
with Summit passing the ball in to
start the game — a sight as strange
as starting a shortened winter sports
season weeks before Memorial Day.
While certain aspects of life
prior to COVID-19 are trending
toward normalcy, the effect of the
pandemic on high school sports has
taken a toll.
See Ravens / B3
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin photos
Ridgeview High School’s Paige Pentzer (30) attempts to dribble around Summit High
School’s Whitney West (24) during the first quarter at Ridgeview on Friday night.
— Bulletin staff report
SEATTLE — As a
grim-looking Scott Servais
said numerous times Fri-
day in his pregame Zoom
session, the decision by
Mariners’ players to get vac-
cinated or not is a personal
choice.
That is indeed true — and
the Major League Baseball
Players Association was so
adamant on that point that
they insisted vaccination not
be made mandatory. Union
chief Tony Clark has said
they did so at the strong be-
hest of players as expressed
via polling.
So, yes, players have the
right to do what they want
and what they feel is best.
That includes rejecting the
vaccine that is now readily
available across the coun-
try, and which medical
experts agree gives us our
best chance of eradicating
COVID-19 and returning to
normal life.
Their beliefs are their be-
liefs. But I have the right
to point out my belief that
such a decision is mis-
guided, shortsighted and
potentially dangerous to
others. Frankly, it smacks of
selfishness.
Fans have the right to be
upset that the already-strug-
gling Mariners will now be
short-handed for an inde-
terminate time with Friday’s
unsettling news: Four re-
lievers were placed on the
injured list due to a positive
COVID-19 test within the
ballclub and the subsequent
contact tracing. Results of
further COVID-19 testing
will be available Saturday,
meaning more fallout could
be forthcoming.
See Mariners / B3
NBA
Vaccinated coaches
are able to unmask
Just in time for the
playoffs, the NBA told its
head coaches Saturday
they may work without
masks during games if
they have been fully vac-
cinated.
Assistant coaches
and players are still re-
quired to wear masks
in the bench area. Head
coaches — if vacci-
nated — may choose to
go without masks after
pre-game introductions
through halftime, then
again after halftime until
the game concludes.
The memo, sent Sat-
urday just a few hours
before the postseason
opener between Miami
and Milwaukee and ob-
tained by The Associated
Press, also said that head
coaches will have to wear
masks during halftime,
during warmups and
shootaround before the
start of the third quarter
and postgame. If oppos-
ing coaches choose to
meet briefly on the court
after a game, masks are
encouraged.
Coaches will still need
to participate in the NBA’s
testing regimens, the
league said.
Meanwhile, for the
playoffs, the NBA is going
to see its largest crowds
of the season. While
many arenas have begun
expanding capacity, the
NBA hasn’t ruled out the
possibility of arenas re-
turning to 100% capacity
for the NBA Finals in July.
— Associated Press
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Summit High School’s Sam Coronado (23) drives to the basket during the third quarter against Ridgeview High School on Friday night.
Alex Forsyth
leads Ducks’
offensive
line on and
off the field
BY JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
about Elliott’s season, but his
Hendrick Motorsports team-
mates have all been to victory
lane this year.
Kyle Larson and William
Byron have one win each,
while Alex Bowman’s victory
last week was his second of the
season.
“I’m not one to guarantee
things in my life,” Elliott said
when asked this week if he’d
expected to win by now. “We
all want to win as a team. I
want to win as much as anyone
else. But we haven’t and that’s
really the bottom line.”
In normal conditions, Elliott
should feel as comfortable as
anyone on a new track. His five
career road course wins are the
most among active drivers and
he’s won four of the last five
outings on road tracks.
With spring practice over,
The Oregonian is reviewing
Oregon’s depth chart position
by position. We continue the
series by looking at the cen-
ters.
Centers are typically the
leaders on the offensive line
and Alex Forsyth is no dif-
ferent.
The fifth-year junior was
already taking on that role
when he worked with the
second team in 2019, wait-
ing along with most of the
other eventual starters in
2020 behind more expe-
rienced players, most of
whom made it to the NFL.
Forsyth took over as the
starter in the spring of 2020
and hasn’t looked back.
He makes the protection
calls up front for a group
that allowed 11 sacks over
seven games, which ranked
29th nationally. Consid-
ering Oregon’s entire line
was new starters, that’s an
impressive debut albeit in a
shortened season.
See NASCAR / B6
See Ducks / B3
MOTOR SPORTS | NASCAR CUP SERIES
Elliott still chasing 1st win of season in Texas
BY JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — NASCAR
is set to race the Circuit of the
Americas for the first time
and all eyes are on both Chase
Elliott and
INSIDE
an unsettling
weather fore-
• Penske driv-
cast of rain that
ers struggle
with speed
could make
at Indy 500
the inaugural
qualifying,
Texas Grand
B6
Prix a wild one.
Elliott,
NASCAR’s defending cham-
pion and most popular driver,
will start Sunday as the favor-
ite given his career mastery of
road courses. And he needs a
win. NASCAR’s season of par-
ity has so far produced 10 win-
ners through 13 races but none
from Elliott.
Elliott’s been close with five
Chuck Burton/AP
Chase Elliott prepares for practice for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race
at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Saturday .
top-five finishes and he was
runner-up at the Daytona 500
and at Martinsville. He led a
race-high 44 laps on the road
course at Daytona but a late
yellow flag ruined his chance
at victory.
It may not be time to worry