FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • WEdNEsday, JUNE 23, 2021
WCL
BASEBALL
Elks’ Linscott is
Player of the Week
For the first time this
season, a Bend Elk earned
West Coast League Player
of the Week.
Outfielder Sam Lin-
scott was selected for
that honor after scoring
eight runs and driving
in another nine runs on
nine hits (three doubles,
a triple and a home run)
during a six-game stretch
last week.
His .486 batting aver-
age over nine games this
season tops the WCL.
At Lewis-Clark State
College in Lewiston,
Idaho, Linscott hit .295 in
his last collegiate season.
Linscott has been a
key part of the Elks’ im-
provement at the plate
since joining the team.
The senior-to-be credited
Elks’ assistant coach Tyler
Graham for helping him
get off to a hot start in the
batter’s box this summer.
The Elks, coming off
their first WCL series win
at the Wenatchee Apple-
Sox, started a three-game
series on the road against
the Bellingham Bells
Tuesday evening.
The Elks return to Vince
Genna Stadium on Tues-
day, June 29, for a three-
game series against the
Corvallis Knights.
Knights left-handed
pitcher Ethan Ross was
named the Pitcher of the
Week in the WCL.
The Elks were 3-9 in
WCL play entering Tues-
day night’s game at Bell-
ingham.
— Bulletin staff report
INSIDE
Track — Oregon dis-
tance runners Cole Hocker
and Cooper Teare try to
bring collegiate success to
Olympic trials in Eugene.
Details, A7.
bendbulletin.com/sports
U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK & FIELD TRIALS
Surviving
the trials
Bend’s Rebecca Mehra reflects
on 1,500-meter final, and looks
ahead to possible 800 run
BY MARK MORICAL • The Bulletin
R
ebecca Mehra admitted she did
not have the ideal race on Monday
night, but she is buoyed by the
progress she has made in the last several
years.
Four years ago, the Bend runner’s
1,500-meter time was 9 seconds off the
qualifying mark for the U.S. Olympic Track
& Field Trials.
On Monday night, she found herself in the
1,500 final at the trials at Eugene’s Hayward
Field. She finished 11th, and was disappointed
Christopher Pietsch/The Register-Guard
Bend’s Rebecca Mehra competes in the women’s 1,500-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials at Hayward
Field in Eugene on Monday.
— but not deflated.
“There’s a weight behind the Olympic trials that
I haven’t experienced before,” Mehra said. “To see
how far I’ve come in five years and to be a part of
this spectacular event is very cool.”
Mehra, 26, said she was bummed when she
crossed the finish line, as she was hoping for at least
a top-eight finish. The top three runners qualified
for the Tokyo Olympics, set for July 23-Aug. 8.
“I thought that it was gonna take a super magi-
cal day to be third, but I really thought realistically
I could probably be top eight,” Mehra said. “It’s all
about the kind of day you have, and I didn’t realize
how physically draining the semifinal (on Saturday)
was for me. I kind of realized that as I ran, even in
the first 300 meters of the race.”
Mehra finished with a time of 4 minutes, 8.47
seconds, a little more than 6 seconds behind third-
place runner Heather MacLean. Elle Purrier St.
Pierre won the race in 3:58.03.
Despite some disappointment, Mehra said she
was proud to have reached the final.
“All you can ever really ask for is your best, and
this is disappointing,” Mehra said.
U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS
Bend runners
Thursday, 7 p.m., women’s 800 meters first
round: Rebecca Mehra, Sadi Henderson and Angel
Piccirillo.
Thursday, 8:47 p.m., women’s 3,000-meter stee-
plechase final: Mel Lawrence.
Television: NBC Sports Northwest, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Thursday.
See Mehra / A7
NFL
Seahawks ready
for full capacity
SEATTLE — The Seattle
Seahawks intend to have
full capacity crowds at
Lumen Field for the up-
coming season after the
team received approval
from the NFL and local
and state health officials
to completely reopen the
stadium.
Fans won’t be required
to be vaccinated against
COVID-19 to attend
games, per the state’s re-
opening guidelines for
outdoor events, but those
who are not vaccinated
will be required to wear
masks. The team said it
will not require proof of
vaccination for fans.
The Seahawks played
the entire 2020 season
without fans at their
home stadium. Seattle
went 12-4 in the regular
season and won the NFC
West title. The Seahawks
went 7-1 at home before
losing to the Los Ange-
les Rams in the opening
round of the playoffs.
Seattle’s first regu-
lar-season home game
is scheduled for Sept. 19
against Tennessee.
The Seahawks weren’t
the only football team in
Washington to announce
full capacity crowds for
the upcoming season.
Washington will have full
crowds at Husky Stadium
and Washington State will
have the same at Martin
Stadium.
The Huskies and Cou-
gars are scheduled to
open their seasons at
home on Sept. 4. Wash-
ington hosts Montana
while Washington State
hosts Utah State.
— Associated Press
TOKYO GAMES
U.S. Olympic skateboarding team
unveiled, rolling toward Tokyo
BY GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
Richard Vogel/AP
Members of the first U.S. Olympic skateboarding team arrive on their
boards for a news conference in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.
Skateboarding is an Olympic sport for the first time in Tokyo, and the
Americans are expected to be a strong team.
LOS ANGELES — The
12 members of the first U.S.
Olympic skateboarding team
stepped on their boards and
skated through a corridor of
tall American flags in a joyful
pack, headed toward an out-
door stage to meet the world
together.
It was an appropriate intro-
duction for a bunch of world-
class skaters who will represent
the best aspects of this Amer-
ican-born sport in Tokyo: No
leaders, no followers — and
plenty of love and support for
the whole crew.
“I don’t know if any of us
imagined we would ever be
up here getting ready to skate
in the Olympics,” said Nyjah
Huston, the five-time world
champion and California na-
tive recognized as the high-
est-paid skater in the sport’s
history.
“But we’ve all been working
for this from a young age, even
before it was possible.
“I love skateboarding be-
cause it’s the funnest thing on
Earth, not only if you’re one
of us getting ready to skate
in the Olympics, or just a kid
out there skating in your skate
park,” Huston added.
See Skateboarding / A6
NBA PLAYOFFS
Eastern Conference finalists Bucks, Hawks seeking to end long droughts
BY STEVE MEGARGEE
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — There’s
more than a berth in the NBA
Finals at stake when the Mil-
waukee Bucks and Atlanta
Hawks square off for the East-
ern Conference championship.
The winner of the series that
starts Wednesday also will end
decades of frustration.
Milwaukee won its lone
NBA title in 1971 and last
reached the Finals in 1974. The
Hawks won their only champi-
onship in 1958 and lost in the
Finals in 1957, 1960 and 1961
— and that’s when they were
still playing in St. Louis.
“This is obviously a great
chance, a great opportunity for
us,” Bucks center Brook Lopez
said. “But what is it, you can’t
put the cart before the horse
or whatever? We’ve got a lot
of business to take care of still.
We’ve got to go get Game 1.”
The Bucks got here by
sweeping the Miami Heat and
surviving a seven-game series
with the second-seeded Brook-
lyn Nets. Atlanta beat the New
York Knicks in five games and
knocked off the top-seeded
Philadelphia 76ers in seven.
Both the Bucks and Hawks
ended their second-round se-
ries by earning their first Game
7 road victories ever.
It’s been an impressive turn-
around for the Hawks, who
were 14-20 and 11th in the
East standings when they fired
coach Lloyd Pierce at the be-
ginning of March. The Hawks
closed the regular season by
going 27-11 under Nate Mc-
Millan and have followed that
up with an 8-4 playoff record.
Trae Young has led the way
by scoring 29.1 points per
game in his first postseason.
“I think our guys have done
a really good job of just lock-
ing in to that particular game
and not thinking about what
happened in the past and not
thinking about anything other
than what we need to do in
that game,” McMillan said.
The Hawks are in the play-
offs for the first time since
2017. The Bucks are more ac-
customed to this stage.
Milwaukee posted the
league’s best regular-season
record in 2019 and 2020 but
couldn’t translate that success
to the postseason. The Bucks
blew a 2-0 lead to Toronto in
the 2019 East finals and lost
in the second round to Miami
last year.
“I try not as much to focus
on the past and what hap-
pened,” Bucks forward and
two-time MVP Giannis Ante-
tokounmpo said. “I learn from
it and I just move on. This is a
totally different series, differ-
ent scenario, different players,
different time. It’s going to be
hard. It’s not going to be easy.”
Budenholzer vs. Hawks
Mike Budenholzer coached
the Hawks from 2013-18 be-
fore leaving for Milwaukee.
Budenholzer led the Hawks
to their last Eastern Confer-
ence finals appearance in 2015,
though they were swept by
LeBron James’ Cleveland Cav-
aliers.
But the Hawks have changed
quite a bit since Budenhol-
zer’s departure. John Collins is
the only Hawk who played for
Budenholzer in Atlanta.
“This is about the Bucks and
Hawks,” Budenholzer said.
“Our players have got to be
ready to play. Coaches coach.
At this stage, this time, it’s just
about playing and finding a
way to win and compete and
do whatever it takes. That’s re-
ally all this is about.”
Home vs. road
Of the 16 teams that reached
the postseason, only the Bucks
have gone undefeated at home
during the playoffs.
See NBA / A6