FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • TUEsday, JUNE 29, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
LOCAL
FOOTBALL
High Desert Storm
defeat Rush, 44-41
REDMOND — The
Oregon High Desert
Storm defeated the Tri-
City (Wash.) Rush 44-41
on Saturday night in an
American West Foot-
ball Conference game at
the First Interstate Bank
Center.
With the win, the
Storm improved to 4-2
overall at the midpoint of
the season.
The Storm have two
consecutive home games
coming up, this Satur-
day at 7 p.m. against the
Wenatchee Valley Sky
Hawks, and July 10 at
7 p.m. against the Yakima
Canines.
The regular season
runs through July 30.
The AWFC is a pro
arena football league
with five teams from the
Northwest. Arena football
is exclusively played in-
doors on a 50-yard field,
with eight players on
each team. Players can be
tackled into walls that run
up against the sidelines
of the field.
Prep Wrestling
CULVER, LA PINE BRING
HOME STATE TITLES
—Bulletin staff report
TRACK & FIELD
World record caps
Olympic trials
EUGENE — The close
of the U.S. Olympic Track &
Field Trials was worth the
wait on Sunday night at
Hayward Field. The meet
finished with a flourish
after a delay of about five
hours because of extreme
heat in Eugene as hurdler
Sydney McLaughlin set
a world record, Oregon
Ducks star Cole Hocker
kicked to victory and sev-
eral other young stars
made their first Olympic
teams.
McLaughlin passed
Dalilah Muhammad late
in the women’s 400-meter
hurdles final and clocked a
world-record time of 51.90
seconds to break Muham-
mad’s 2019 mark of 52.16.
In the men’s 1,500 final,
Hocker used a big kick to
overtake Olympic cham-
pion Matthew Centrowitz
on the final straightaway.
Centrowitz finished sec-
ond, with Notre Dame’s
Yared Nuguse third.
Meanwhile, LSU’s Ju-
Vaughn Harrison won
both the high jump and
the long jump, 19-year-
old Athing Mu raced to
victory in the women’s
800 and 17-year-old Err-
iyon Knighton made the
Olympic team with a third-
place finish in the men’s
200 final.
“It’s one of those mo-
ments you think about
and dream about and
play in your head that
you’ll put it together,” Mc-
Laughlin said of her world
record.
Her record was the
highlight of a day that
included other kinds of
history.
Harrison became the
first American to make it
in both the high and long
jumps at one Olympics
since Jim Thorpe in 1912,
according to Olympic his-
torian Bill Mallon.
Harrison shared the
spotlight with Knighton,
who is the youngest male
member of the U.S. Olym-
pic track team since Jim
Ryun in 1964.
Noah Lyles won the
200 meters to punch his
Olympic ticket, then cel-
ebrated by kneeling on
the track and clasping his
hands together.
Earlier on Sunday Tem-
peratures at Hayward
Field reached 108 degrees
and the surface of the
track exceeded 150. Ac-
tion was halted at 3 p.m.
and resumed at 8:30 p.m.
—Bulletin wire report
La Pine’s Dylan Mann (top) attempts to pin Dayton’s Kaiden Abell while wresting in the 132-pound bracket of the 3A state championship in Redmond on Saturday.
Mann would go on to win the 132-pound state title.
Bulldogs win 2A/1A state title,
while Hawks take 3A crown
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
ate June 2021 felt like winter 2019, as two Central
Oregon wrestling teams brought home state titles.
For the 13th time since 2007, Culver won the
Class 2A/1A team state championship, while La
Pine won its second 3A title in three years on Saturday
night.
Because the Oregon School Activities Association did
not sanction state events due to the pandemic, the Oregon
Wrestling Association organized the state tournaments
that were staged across the state over the weekend.
Culver dominated the field scoring at Sweet Home
High School with 231.5 points, 137 points more than sec-
ond-place Pine Eagle.
“It is always a great day to be a Bulldog — some days
are better than others,” said Culver coach J.D. Alley. “It
was a bit of a redemption year for us. We left no doubt
who the best 2A team was.”
L
See Wrestling / A7
Photos by Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
La Pine’s Dylan Hankey waits for the call while wrestling against Riverside’s Tony Jimenez in the
182-pound bracket of the 3A state championship in Redmond on Saturday.
TENNIS
NBA | PORTLAND
Welcome back, Wimbledon
Billups gets
first chance as
head coach
Slam returns after
being canceled in 2020
BY CHRIS LEHOURITES
Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England —
Shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Mon-
day, two years minus two weeks
from the last time a meaningful
match was played at Wimbledon, a
voice blared over the loudspeakers:
“Good afternoon and welcome to
Centre Court.”
Then came an announce-
ment welcoming “special guests
in the Royal Box,” including a
woman who developed one of the
COVID-19 vaccines, prompting
the first of the day’s several stand-
ing ovations from spectators. And,
eventually, came the words, “We’ve
waited awhile for this,” before the
introduction of Novak Djokovic
and the opponent he would go
on to beat 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 with
the help of 25 aces, Jack Draper, a
19-year-old wild-card entry from
England ranked 253rd.
It was, in some respects, as if
Wimbledon had never left, as if the
Trail Blazers make hire offical
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates winning a first round men’s singles match
against Britain’s Jack Draper on day one of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
in London on Monday.
All England Club hadn’t decided
to cancel the oldest Grand Slam
tournament for the first time since
World War II a year ago because of
the pandemic. There was raucous
cheering from the stands. There
was rain — so much rain that play
on courts without a roof was de-
layed more than 4 1/2 hours and at
least 20 matches were postponed
until Tuesday.
See Wimbledon / A7
PORTLAND — The Portland Trail Blaz-
ers have hired Chauncey Billups as their
new coach.
Billups, a five-time NBA All-Star over
a 17-year playing career, has never been a
head coach. He has served as an assistant
with the Los Angeles Clippers for the past
season.
“Portland is a special place and a unique
franchise,” Billups said in a statement Sun-
day night. “As a player I always loved playing
here because the passion and knowledge of
the fans brought out the very best in me as
a competitor. Now I’m looking forward to
being on the other side of that energy and
engaging with the Portland community on a
whole other level.”
The Blazers have scheduled a Tuesday
press conference to introduce Billups, 44. He
becomes the 15th head coach of the fran-
chise.
See Billups / A7