FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • Fr Iday, JULy 2, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
TRACK & FIELD
Warholm breaks
400 hurdle record
OSLO, Norway — Two-
time world champion
Karsten Warholm broke a
29-year-old world record
in the 400-meter hurdles
Thursday in the Diamond
League meet.
The 25-year-old Nor-
wegian finished in 46.70
seconds to break the mark
of 46.78 set by American
Kevin Young in the 1992
Barcelona Olympics final.
“This was just the
perfect moment,” War-
holm said in an interview
posted by World Athlet-
ics. “Everybody’s talking
about this world record
that’s been standing for
many, many years — it’s
older than me, actually,”
Warholm said he was
excited to have broken
the record in front of
home fans, including fam-
ily members, at Bislett
Stadium.
“I knew I had it in me,
but of course it’s very spe-
cial to be able to do it,”
he said.
Warholm’s previous
best was 46.87 in Stock-
holm last August.
— Associated Press
INSIDE
WEST COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL
Mind
games
Pre-game meditation has
helped the Elks become
one of the hottest teams
in the West Coast League
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
A
bout three hours before the
first pitch against the Cor-
vallis Knights on Wednes-
day afternoon, the Bend
Elks looked as though they were col-
lectively taking a nap on the turf of
the fieldhouse at Vince Genna Sta-
dium.
But the two dozen or so players
were not napping, they were meditat-
ing, which has become common prac-
tice prior to their games over the past
couple of weeks.
“I would do it a little bit here and
there, but never as much as this,” said
Elks pitcher R.J. Gordon, who spends
his springs playing for the Oregon
Ducks. “It helps you out mentally. Ev-
eryone is good out here physically,
we are all college athletes. But it’s the
mental side that separates good teams
from bad.”
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Tyler Graham, an assistant coach with the Bend Elks, leads a meditation session for his players before starting pre-game practice at
Vince Genna Stadium on Wednesday.
“In a world where a lot of things are going on, you want to get to this
stillness, this calmness. You don’t let outside things distract you
from what you are thinking and feeling. We want to be in control
of our mind and not let our mind control us.”
— Kyle Nobach, Bend Elks head coach
With the players lying down or sit-
ting in the dim and quiet room, as-
sistant coach Tyler Graham maneu-
vered around, guiding them through a
15-minute meditation session. He told
the group to “bring attention to some-
thing that isn’t a thought” and “allow
your mind to get quieter, calmer.”
“In a world where a lot of things are
going on, you want to get to this still-
ness, this calmness,” said Elks head
coach Kyle Nobach.
“You don’t let outside things distract
you from what you are thinking and
feeling. We want to be in control of
our mind and not let our mind con-
trol us.”
On the baseball field there can be
plenty of chances for the mind to
wander — replaying a fielding error
or an earlier at bat that ended in a
strikeout, or reacting to heckling fans
in the stands.
See Elks / B4
Stephane Mahe/Pool via AP
Mark Cavendish cele-
brates as he wins the
sixth stage of the Tour
de France on Thursday.
OLYMPICS | GOLF
Olympic golf a bigger stage, priority for women
Tour de France
— On a historic day for
sprinter Cavendish, Tour
organizers also chose not
to file charges against
the woman whose sign
caused a crash during
Stage 1 on Saturday. De-
tails in Sports Briefing, B4.
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
WOMEN’S
COLLEGE HOOPS
Ex-Beav Goodman
lands post at Duke
Aleah Goodman is re-
maining in college basket-
ball, as Duke named the
former Oregon State star
as its director of recruit-
ing and player personnel
Thursday.
Goodman finished her
senior season at OSU in
March, completing a ca-
reer in which she was one
of the school’s top scor-
ers and 3-point shooters.
Goodman was selected
No. 30 in the 2021 WNBA
draft by Connecticut, but
didn’t make the roster.
Goodman joins coach
Kara Lawson’s staff at
Duke. Among Goodman’s
duties is assisting with
camps and clinics, prep-
ping scouting materials,
assisting with recruiting
and providing support on
game days.
Goodman has a re-
lationship with Lawson
through USA Basketball.
Goodman was a Pac-
12 first-team selection as
a senior guard this past
season, and earned the
Tom Hansen Pac-12 Con-
ference medal as OSU’s
outstanding female stu-
dent-athlete.
Goodman is OSU’s No.
16 all-time scorer with
1,162 points and third in
career 3-pointers.
— The Oregonian
INSIDE
• Another ex-Beaver, Mi-
kayla Pivec, discusses
the value of NIL for fe-
male student-athletes.
Details, B5
Tony Avelar/AP file
Danielle Kang tees off on the first hole at Lake Merced Golf Club during
the final round of the LPGA Mediheal Championship on June 13 in Daly
City, California.
Dustin Johnson was never
going to the Olympics. Jus-
tin Thomas was never going
to miss them. And then there
was Patrick Cantlay, who didn’t
have a choice.
No one really asked Cantlay
for his outlook on the Olym-
pics even as he returned to the
top 10 in the world by winning
the Memorial for his second
victory of the PGA Tour sea-
son.
That put him very much
in the mix for a spot on the
American team going to Japan.
The final week of qualifying
was the U.S. Open. The final
day provided an answer from
an astute member of his team:
“The decision has been made
for him.”
Four other Americans were
ahead of him, in the Olympic
ranking and at Torrey Pines
during the final round. That
meant there was no room for
Cantlay, the No. 7 player in the
world.
So when the final Olym-
pic ranking was released and
15 players decided not to go
— from Johnson at No. 2 to
Camilo Villegas of Colombia at
No. 225 — it was easy to con-
clude the men care far more
about green than gold, silver or
bronze.
But it’s progress.
For Rio de Janeiro, the top
four players in the world stayed
home. For Tokyo, there wasn’t
even room for for Nos. 7, 8 and
9 — Cantlay, Brooks Koepka
and Patrick Reed.
See Golf / B5
MOTOR SPORTS
Girl power: Female engineers pushing IndyCar teams to wins
BY JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
Danielle Shepherd grew up in Ohio
an auto racing fan, cheering wildly for
Jimmy Vasser in the 180-degree Key-
hole turn at Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course.
It didn’t hit her until she was in col-
lege and had ditched her plans to study
Spanish and international relations that
she realized she might someday work
with her favorite driver.
Angela Ashmore tagged along with
her father on weekends to Berlin Race-
way in Michigan, got hooked on cars
and NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt, and
set a path to work in racing. She first
thought she could be a driver, then her
dad honed in on her math and science
skills and suggested an engineering ca-
reer.
Both women now play key roles for
the IndyCar program at Chip Ganassi
Racing. Same for Kate Gundlach at Ar-
row McLaren SP and Nicole Rotondo
from Honda Performance Develop-
ment. The four female engineers are all
part of a streak in which women were
part of winning IndyCar victories the
past three races.
Ashmore made her first trip to vic-
tory lane alongside Rotondo at Detroit
when Marcus Ericsson won his first ca-
reer IndyCar race.
The next day, Pato O’Ward won for
Walter G. Arce/Chip Ganassi Racing via AP, file
Danielle Shepherd, at right with the clear sheet in her hand, works in the pit for driver
Alex Palou during the IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in April
in Birmingham, Alabama. Shepherd went over the wall when tasked with removing the
tear off from the aeroscreen on Palou’s car.
AMSP and Gundlach got to celebrate.
Then it was Shepherd in victory lane at
Road America with Alex Palou, a two-
time winner this season and the Indy-
Car points leader.
The series races Sunday at Mid-Ohio
— Shepherd’s home track — and it is
possible another woman will be cele-
brating a victory again.
The technical nature of open-wheel
racing gives IndyCar ample opportuni-
ties for women to advance in roles tra-
ditionally filled by men. Shepherd took
it a step further this season as the first
woman to go over the wall when she
was tasked with removing the tear off
sheets from the aeroscreen on Palou’s
car during pit stops.
All believe they have earned their
spots and are far more than symbols of
diversity on their respective teams.
“I think we’re here because the team
has hired good people for the roles be-
cause we’re proving that we can be on
cars and win,” Shepherd said. “I hope
what it says about Ganassi is he’s not
necessarily trying to be inclusive, but
he’s not trying to be disclusive, either.
He’s trying to put the right people in the
right roles and have the best team pos-
sible because he likes winners whether
they’re male or female.”
Shepherd started at KV Racing not
long after earning an engineering de-
gree from The College of Wooster and
found herself in a team debrief with
none other than Vasser, co-owner of the
now defunct race team.
“The first time you are like, ‘I’m in the
room with Jimmy Vasser, this is really
cool!’ Then you are like ‘Shake it off, do
your job, it’s fine,’ ” said Shepherd, who at
Ganassi was part of Scott Dixon’s 2018
championship team and is currently a
simulation engineer on Palou’s car.
Shepherd and Ashmore both aspire
to be lead engineers for an IndyCar
team. Ashmore’s journey took her from
Purdue with a mechanical engineering
degree to a two-year stop at Chrysler
and then her break in NASCAR with a
position at Roush Fenway Racing.
See Motor sports / B4