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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 2021)
A5 S PORTS THE BULLETIN • MoNday, JUNE 14, 2021 bendbulletin.com/sports WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD Tennis | French Open USC wins team title, but Norris rules day The Oregon athlete with the best perfor- mance on the final day of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships doesn’t go to school in Eugene. Take a bow, Mahala Norris, the Air Force Acad- emy senior who prepped at Roseburg High School. She outkicked an all-star field to win the steeple- chase in 9 minutes, 31.79 seconds on Saturday at Hayward Field. Norris began seriously competing in the event only this year. She spent much of Saturday’s race in lane two because she didn’t want to get tangled up with other runners in- side. She won anyway. After scooting down the home straight to vic- tory, Norris looked at the results board to make sure she really had won. When she saw her name go up in first place, she said, “It was like the cherry on top.” USC won the women’s team title on a muggy afternoon, scoring 74 points before a crowd of 6,065. “They gave up everything to be a cham- pion,” USC coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said of the Women of Troy. Texas A&M was sec- ond with 63 points. The Aggies were paced by Athing Mu, who broke her own collegiate re- cord while winning the 400 in 49.57 and then anchored Texas A&M to a collegiate-record time of 3:22.34 in the 4x400. The women ‘s 4x400 relay record had been held by Oregon, which clocked a time of 3:23.13 while winning the race at the 2017 NCAA meet. The Oregon Ducks women, who finished tied for 11th with 19 points, struggled all day. The problems started with the 4x100 relay, the day’s first running event. The Ducks, who had the second-best time in Thursday’s qualifying heats, exited the event via disqualification. The men’s competition wrapped up Friday. — The Oregonian NBA Serbia’s Novak Djokovic kisses the cup after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during their final match of the French Open at the Roland Garros stadium Sunday. Michel Euler/AP NOVAK’S 19TH Djokovic claims another Slam with 5-set comeback BY SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press ARIS — Novak Djokovic left the court to go the locker room for a little chat with himself after dropping the first two sets of the French Open final Sunday. Part of him worried he was too diminished and depleted to overcome that deficit against his younger, fresher foe, Stefanos Tsitsipas. And another part of Djokovic insisted he would. Guess which side was right? Aided by flawless serving down the stretch, a determined Djokovic summoned his imperious best and came all the way back to beat Tsit- sipas 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 for his second championship at Ro- P Thibault Camus/AP Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece falls on the clay at the French Open on Sunday. land Garros and 19th Grand Slam title overall — one away from the men’s record shared by Roger Fed- erer and Rafael Nadal. “There’s always two voices in- side: There is one telling you that you can’t do it, that it’s done, it’s finished. That voice was pretty strong after that second set,” Djokovic said. “So I felt that that was a time for me to actually vo- calize the other voice and try to suppress the first one that was saying I can’t make it. I told my- self I can do it. Encouraged my- self. I strongly started to repeat that inside of my mind, tried to live it with my entire being.” After ending the match with a leaping volley, Djokovic who spread his arms, tapped his chest and crouched to touch the red clay at Court Philippe Chatrier. When he went to the sideline, he handed his racket to a boy in the stands he said had been offering advice throughout. Once the third set was un- derway, Djokovic felt better and played better. “After that,” he said, “there was not much of a doubt for me.” Yes, his triumph went from in danger to inevitable: Djokovic did not face a break point in any of the last three sets. Djokovic became one of three men — alongside Rod Laver and Roy Emerson — to have won each major twice. As the reigning champion at the Australian Open and French Open, he heads to Wimbledon, which starts June 28, eyeing another rare achievement: He is halfway to joining Laver and Don Budge as the only men with a calendar-year Grand Slam. See French Open / A6 Bucks tie series as Nets lose Irving Giannis Antetokoun- mpo and Khris Middleton finally are getting a little more help, while Kevin Durant keeps seeing his superstar cohorts get hurt. And now a sec- ond-round playoff series that once looked like a Brooklyn Nets runaway suddenly is up for grabs. Antetokounmpo scored 34 points and the Bucks rolled to a 107-96 Game 4 victory Sunday to tie the series, while the Nets lost Kyrie Irving to a sprained right ankle. The Bucks erased a 2-0 deficit by winning two straight in Milwaukee. Game 5 is Tuesday night at Brooklyn. “We’re very happy, but we’ve got to keep getting better, keep playing to- gether and hopefully we can go into Brooklyn and take one,” Antetokoun- mpo said. Brooklyn’s immediate concern is the health of its superstar trio. Irving was hurt mid- way through the second quarter and didn’t return. The Nets already are miss- ing nine-time All-Star and 2018 MVP James Harden. That puts even more pressure on Durant. — Associated Press COLLEGE FOOTBALL | OREGON DUCKS U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING | COMMENTARY Phelps is gone; others are ready to fill the void BY PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Columnist Rick Scuteri/AP file Oregon safety Jamal Hill (19) at the Fiesta Bowl against Iowa State on Jan. 2 in Glendale, Arizona. ‘Huge year coming up’ for Hill BY JAMES CREPEA The Oregonian The most critical position in most mod- ern defenses, nickel is also where one of Or- egon’s biggest rising stars is emerging. Jamal Hill had a breakout 2020 in his first year as a starter and closed the season par- ticularly strong. He’s one of three returning starters in the UO secondary and one of the most important to the entire defense. The nickel is asked to handle the greatest variety of matchups in coverage and help in run support and Hill was able to handle that as a true sophomore. Oregon also has experienced veterans in Jordan Happle and Bennett Williams that are capable of playing nickel and box safety roles and Jeffrey Bassa is beginning his ca- reer at the nickel spot. Post-spring depth chart Jamal Hill: 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, sophomore Jordan Happle: 5-foot-11, 205 pounds, graduate-senior Bennett Williams: 6-foot-1, 203 pounds, junior Jeffrey Bassa: 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, freshman See Hill / A6 OMAHA, Neb. — Not long after rolling into town, Michael Phelps would dutifully pop into the interview room to muse on his outlandish accomplish- ments in the pool. There was al- ways an extra bit of excitement in the arena when he arrived, even if he rarely revealed any- thing of great importance. Like Jordan and Ali and Biles — any athlete who looms over his or her sport like a supernova — Phelps’ mere presence was all that was needed to signal an event was something special. Now, he is gone. For the first time since 1996, the U.S. Olympic swimming trials are being held without the sport’s biggest star, the guy who won a staggering 23 gold medals and 28 medals overall. “We were actually just tex- ting about it …” said Bob Bowman, who was Phelps’ longtime coach and is now at the trials with a new group of swimmers. “I was like, ‘It’s kind of weird to be in here without you.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I know. It’s going to be strange.’” Change is always hard. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s time for others to have their much-deserved time in the spotlight. “Everyone knew he wasn’t go- ing to be here forever,” Bowman said. “In basketball, Michael Jordan left, they moved on, and other sports have done the same when their icons have finished their careers. I think swimming will do the same. We have some very good young swimmers here, a very good crop of young people coming up. So I think in the years to come, there will be plenty of things for people to be excited about.” See Swimming / A6