FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • FrIday, JUNE 18, 2021
COLLEGE
SPORTS
OSU projects a
budget deficit
CORVALLIS — The
pandemic is slowly loos-
ening its grip on Oregon
State athletics, but an-
other year that includes
some belt-tightening is
ahead.
Athletic director Scott
Barnes said the school
ends its 2021 budget year
on June 30 with a defi-
cit of about $33 million,
down from a projected
$35 million. The picture
brightened in recent
months with improved
conference revenue, OSU
baseball was allowed to
sell some tickets for home
games, and a few unex-
pected cost reductions.
A new budget year be-
gins July 1, with a far bet-
ter outlook on revenue,
driven by football. Barnes
is forecasting a deficit of
$15-17 million for the up-
coming year, but that is
assuming Reser Stadium
at 50% capacity. It is likely,
based on what Gov. Kate
Brown has said in recent
weeks, that OSU will be
able to sell every seat for
home games this season.
Next year’s budget
also includes full salaries
for athletic department
employees and coaches.
Last year, OSU cut 23 po-
sitions from the depart-
ment, with remaining
employees taking a salary
reduction. Coaches gave
up their contract bonuses
last year.
Barnes does not ex-
pect to have a deficit from
the 2023 budget that be-
gins July of 2022.
Oregon State’s most
prominent financial item
for the upcoming school
year is the start of Reser
Stadium’s west side ren-
ovation. Barnes said the
project is on track to be-
gin teardown when the
final 2021 home game is
completed.
bendbulletin.com/sports
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Cougars’
defense
shows up
Mountain View holds off Summit
to end a short, packed season
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
S
everal weeks ago, Mountain View
coach Megan Dickerson was hoping
that her squad would figure out
what kind of defensive team it wanted to be
down the final stretch of the season.
In the final half of the final game of the short-
ened girls basketball season played in late spring, the
Cougars put on a defensive clinic Wednesday night
to close their season with a 42-38 win at cross-town
rival Summit.
INSIDE
“I felt like we played it really
smart,” Dickerson said. “I thought
• High school
it went beyond the physical abil-
scores and
results in
ity to fly around, but also using our
Scoreboard,
heads and playing smart. We boxed
B4
out and rebounded, which was one
of our weaknesses, and we did well
limiting them to one shot at most possessions.”
Trailing 20-19 at halftime, the Cougars held the
Storm to just two points in the entire third quarter.
“It started on defense,” said Mountain View’s Julia
Towle, who scored a game-high 17 points. “Com-
municating brought a lot of energy, which translated
into offense. I think we were mentally in this game.
We really wanted this win.”
Towle, coming off an injured ankle, carried the
Cougars’ offense in the first half, as the 6-foot senior
scored 11 of their 19 points in the half.
See Cougars / B4
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Mountain View’s Julia Towle (22) shoots around Summit’s Healy Bledsoe (15) during the third quarter Wednesday
night at Summit High School.
— The Oregonian
TENNIS
Osaka, Nadal not
playing Wimbledon
Rafael Nadal and
Naomi Osaka are sitting
out Wimbledon, leaving
the oldest Grand Slam
tennis tournament with-
out two of the sport’s
biggest stars as it returns
after being canceled last
year because of the coro-
navirus pandemic.
Nadal, a two-time
champion at the All En-
gland Club, announced
via a series of social media
posts Thursday that he
would also miss the To-
kyo Olympics to rest and
recover “after listening to
my body.”
Osaka’s agent, Stuart
Duguid, said Thursday in
an email that the four-
time Grand Slam cham-
pion does plan to head to
the Summer Games after
skipping Wimbledon.
“She is taking some
personal time with friends
and family,” Duguid wrote.
“She will be ready for the
Olympics.”
Last month, Osaka was
fined $15,000 when she
didn’t speak to reporters
after her first-round vic-
tory at the French Open.
The next day, Osaka
pulled out of the tourna-
ment entirely, saying she
experiences “huge waves
of anxiety” before meet-
ing with the media and
revealing she has “suffered
long bouts of depression.”
In a statement at the
time, she said she would
“take some time away
from the court now, but
when the time is right I
really want to work with
the Tour to discuss ways
we can make things bet-
ter for the players, press
and fans.”
— Associated Press
GOLF | U.S. OPEN
TRACK AND FIELD
Chances fade for banned
runner to race at Olympic trials
BY EDDIE PELLS AND PAT
GRAHAM
AP Sports Writers
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Matthew Wolff plays a shot from a bunker on the 11th hole during the
first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
For Matthew Wolff, being
happy is the ultimate goal
BY TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Columnist
SAN DIEGO — The open-
ing tee shot was frightening,
and the three straight three-
putts maddening. Matthew
Wolff had no idea how things
would play out Thursday in
a roller coaster of a round at
Torrey Pines, but he was pretty
sure of one thing.
He was going to finish with
a smile on his face. Because 18
holes into the U.S. Open, Wolff
was already feeling like a win-
ner.
“No matter what happened
today — the score that I shot
— I just have been having fun,”
the former Oklahoma State
star said, pausing before add-
ing: “And I haven’t had fun out
here in quite a while.”
So little fun that Wolff was
questioning his career before
it even had a chance to really
take off. So little fun — includ-
ing a disqualification at the
Masters — that he walked away
from golf for two months to try
and get his head together.
Wolff wants to win the
Open, yes, just like any player
in the field. But what he wants
most is to simply be happy —
a word he repeated over and
over again as he spoke candidly
about the pressures of being on
the big stage at the age of 22.
Playing golf for a living isn’t
nearly as easy as it looks, even
for one of the top young talents
in the game.
“Unless you’re actually a
professional athlete or playing
a sport, you just don’t know the
emotions that come along with
it,” he said. “It’s just a lot. And
it’s really hard.”
See Golf / B5
EUGENE — The odds of
banned runner Shelby Hou-
lihan running at the U.S.
Olympic trials diminished
sharply late Thursday when
the country’s Olympic com-
mittee said it would follow
all antidoping rules and USA
Track and Field received long-
awaited official notice of her
suspension.
The developments capped
a whirlwind day that be-
gan with USATF saying it
would not bar the American
record-holder at 1,500 and
5,000 meters from running
in Friday’s preliminary heats
until she had exhausted every
appeal.
USATF stood by that prem-
ise at the end of the day, as
well, but said it was comfort-
able taking Houlihan off the
start lists since it had received
official word from the Ath-
letics Integrity Unit, which
conducted the test that led to
the suspension, that Houli-
han had been banned for four
years.
“Process is important, par-
ticularly when individuals’
careers and lives are at stake,”
USATF CEO Max Siegel said.
“The letter from the AIU, re-
ceived tonight, formally noti-
fying us of the consequences
of the decision is welcomed
and, in line with our pro-
cesses, we will act accordingly.”
Earlier this week, the Swiss-
based Court of Arbitration
for Sport upheld Houlihan’s
Tim Ireland/AP file
Shelby Houlihan, right, reacts after finishing a women’s 5,000-meter
heat during the World Athletics Championships in London in 2017.
The odds of the banned runner participating in the U.S. Olympic tri-
als in Eugene diminished Thursday after there had been some dis-
cussion about her ability to race while appeals are pending.
four-year ban for testing pos-
itive for trace amounts of the
performance enhancer nan-
drolone.
She blamed her positive
test on a pork burrito she ate
10 hours before a test in De-
cember. Contaminated meats
have led to positive tests in
other cases, many of which
have been dismissed. But
Houlihan did not receive any
leniency, and her ban would
keep her out of the upcom-
ing Olympics and the 2024
Games.
There remains a sliver of
hope for Houlihan, but it is
very slim. The 28-year-old
would have to appeal to and
receive fast-track relief from
Switzerland’s highest federal
court to conceivably be put
back in the races.
Her representatives re-
mained quiet about their
plans.
But victories in sports cases
at the Swiss tribunal are ex-
tremely rare, and barring that
sort of last-minute reprieve,
Houlihan is considered sus-
pended and ineligible to race
under international antidop-
ing rules.
“The U.S. Olympic and
Paralympic Committee, to-
gether with USATF, can con-
firm that we will adhere to
the (international antidoping)
code and any CAS decisions
that govern athlete partici-
pation in sanctioned events,”
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirsh-
land said late Thursday.
See Track / B4