Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2022)
INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS S PORTS B Stay connected with local sports! Get text alerts with up-to-date scores and schedules from Central Oregon high school sports events. Sign up at bendbulletin.com/text or scan the QR code. THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2022 bendbulletin.com/sports LOCAL NORDIC SKIING COLLEGE FOOTBALL Races scheduled for Jan. 23, 29 The Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Founda- tion’s Great Nordeen — the largest cross-country ski race in Central Oregon — is scheduled for Jan. 23 and runs from Mt. Bach- elor to Wanoga Sno-park on Deschutes National Forest trails. The 19th edition of the MBSEF Great Nordeen includes 30-kilometer and 18K options. The race starts in front of the West Village Lodge at Mt. Bachelor and descends to Wanoga. Also part of the Great Nordeen is a 15K fatbike race, starting from Mt. Bachelor’s Sunrise Lodge and following the same route as the 18K ski race. Following the race, MBSEF will host an awards party with beer, soda and appetizers for all participants. The Great Nordeen is a benefit for MBSEF, which offers youth skiing and snowboarding programs. Registration is available at www.mbsef.org or by call- ing 541-388-0002. On Jan. 29, the Tour of Meissner 30K classic nordic race will be held at Virginia Meissner Sno-park, just southwest of Bend. The race includes an 8 a.m. mass start, with four waves of 50 skiers per wave. There is also a wooden-ski division offered. Registration for the Tour of Meissner is available at www.web- scorer.com/register?ra- ceid=244164. The race is limited to 200 partic- ipants, and registration deadline is Jan. 24. The suggested donation to Meissner Nordic is $20. The top three male and female skiers receive a Free Range Equipment Phanny Pack with the Meissner logo. There are also age-group awards, with an awards party at the finish. For more information, email dhsmullin@gmail. com or call 541-390-8957. — Bulletin staff report YOUTH BASKETBALL Officials needed for rec league The Bend Park and Rec- reation District has more than 730 kids playing on 73 teams in the third- through fifth-grade bas- ketball league this season. With 34 games being played every Saturday this winter, there is a great need for paid officials, ac- cording to a news release from the Bend Park and Recreation District. Pay rate is $18 per game. Games are played at Bend-area middle schools on Saturdays from Jan. 22 to March 5. “Referees are an essen- tial part of the program,” said Rich Ekman, sports program coordinator for the Bend Park and Recre- ation District. “Potential ap- plicants must enjoy work- ing with youth and be able to create a positive, en- couraging environment.” Although prior referee experience is not required, all referees must have sound basketball knowl- edge. On-court training will be provided. Appli- cants must be 14 years of age and complete a crimi- nal background screening. Interested applicants must attend a mandatory meeting via zoom sched- uled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. For more information , contact Ekman at 541- 706-6126 or rich@bend- parksandrec.org. — Bulletin staff report Reser Stadium’s west grandstand brought down The implosion a ‘seminal moment’ in the $153 million reconstruction project at Oregon State Molly Rosbach/Oregon State University The west side of Reser Stadium is imploded as part of the stadium’s renovation on Friday at Oregon State University in Corvallis. BY NICK DASCHEL The Oregonian CORVALLIS — Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes has played college basketball and overseen four Division I athletic departments during his career. So he’s had some memorable moments. But the simple push of a couple buttons Friday morning was “maybe the coolest thing I’ve done,” he said. Reser Stadium’s West side came tumbling down at 8 a.m. Friday after Barnes pressed two buttons to ignite 200 pounds of explosives. There was a countdown, followed by a “Let’s do this!” and then a loud boom, which resulted in a quick crash of the aging west grandstand into an adjacent parking lot. It was heard as far as Lebanon, some 20 miles from Oregon State. A few thousand people lined nearby streets to watch the blast. “How awesome was that?” said Mark Rado, a Hoffman Construction superintendent. In 20 years with the company, Rado said, it was the first time he’s been involved in an implosion. Reser Stadium’s west side didn’t implode in the traditional sense. The grandstand fell backward, which caused Barnes to ask while watching the blast “was that supposed to happen?” Steve Hatch of Dykon Blasting Corp. assured COLLEGE FOOTBALL | FCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PREVIEW Barnes and others the demolition went exactly as planned. Hatch said he does about 15 implosions each year and rated the Reser Stadium implosion as small in scale. More common and often larger projects include the demolition of bridges, smoke- stacks and power plants. Aside from the “cool” factor, Barnes called the event “a seminal moment,” as it showed tangible progress in the $153 million reconstruction proj- ect. It is expected to be completed by late spring 2023. The project includes seating and game day amenities, as well as a wellness center for Oregon State students, faculty, staff and local community. Friday’s event took months of planning and help from Corvallis and Benton County officials. City and county police and fire officials were prominent throughout the area all morning. See Reser / B2 GOLF | U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN Purse soars to $10 million, to NDSU looks for its 9th title against upstart Montana State be played on fabled courses BY STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press BY DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer FRISCO, Texas — Mon- tana State advanced to its first championship game since 1984 after consecutive playoff wins over the two teams that played for the FCS title less than eight months ago. Now the Bobcats face North Dakota State, with a record eight Football Cham- pionship Subdivision titles the previous 10 seasons and never a loss when making the trip from Fargo to Frisco, Texas. The Bison also ended Mon- tana State’s last two playoff appearances, both by lopsided margins at the end of the 2018 and 2019 seasons. “To have NDSU as our op- ponent … I think our guys looked at this opportunity when it was laid out with the brackets,” said first-year Mon- tana State head coach Brent Vigen, an NDSU alumnus. “We’d love to be the team that goes down there and beats them,” said NFL prospect and senior FCS All-America line- backer Troy Andersen, a quar- terback earlier in his career. The Bobcats (12-2) and Montana-born break- out freshman quarterback Tommy Mellott get their shot Saturday. The 12th FCS title game in a row at 20,500-seat Toyota Stadium is sold out. North Dakota State (13-1) won five consecutive titles in North Texas from 2011-15, Long considered the big- gest event in women’s golf, the U.S. Women’s Open now has prize money and future sites to match. The U.S. Golf Association announced Friday the purse will nearly double this year to $10 million, by far the richest in women’s golf and challenging top prizes in women’s sports. The purse was $5.5 million when Yuka Saso won at Olym- pic Club in San Francisco last year. Helping to make it possible was the USGA bringing on a presenting sponsor — Ohio- based ProMedica, a not-for- profit integrated health organi- zation serving 28 states. With ProMedica’s backing, the U.S. Women’s Open purse plans to increase to $11 mil- lion and eventually $12 million over the next five years. Along with a massive jump in money, the USGA is send- ing the women to some of the classic U.S. Open designs that for decades have hosted the men. That list includes a return to Oakmont and Pinehurst No. 2, along with Riviera, Oakland Hills, Merion, Inverness and Interlachen. The USGA said Pinehurst would host the men’s and women’s Open in successive weeks in 2029, just as it did in a highly successful debut in 2014. Martin Kaymer won the Bruce Kluckhohn/AP file North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz watches his team play against Central Arkansas in 2020, in Fargo, North Dakota. and three more from 2017-19 before missing the champi- onship game in the pandem- ic-altered spring season. Ti- tle-winning quarterback Trey Lance opted out of the un- usual schedule to prepare for the NFL draft, and was picked third overall by the San Fran- cisco 49ers. Like Vigen is trying to do now, North Dakota State’s Matt Entz won the national ti- tle in his head coaching debut two seasons ago in the only 16-win season in any division since Yale in 1894. “It’s much more difficult than I think people think,” Entz said Friday. “All of a sud- den, you’re a lifelong assistant and you’re kind of looking at things through maybe differ- ent-colored glasses and now to be the guy in the front of the room trying to … sell the vision every day. There is a different set of demands.” Montana State didn’t even play the spring season after Vigen was hired from Wyo- ming in February, when Jeff Choate left to become co-de- fensive coordinator at Texas. Entz was the Bison DC for four titles in five years before succeeding Chris Klieman, who left to be Kansas State’s head coach. Vigen was an NDSU grad assistant from 1998-2000 and on the staff until going with Craig Bohl in 2014 to Wyoming. See FCS / B2 U.S. Open, and Michelle Wie captured her first major at the U.S. Women’s Open the follow- ing week. It’s the first major initia- tive by the USGA since Mike Whan, the former LPGA Tour commissioner, took over as CEO last summer. “The USGA prides itself on conducting championships that not only provide an in- credible stage for the athletes, but also give younger players something to dream about,” Whan said. “For more than 75 years, the U.S. Women’s Open has been the one that ev- ery little girl, in every country around the world, has dreamed of winning.” He said the partnership with ProMedica helps make that happen. The health group also will be a marketing partner of the USGA, and its “ProMed- ica Impact Fund” will be the official charity of the Women’s Open. The fund is committed to raising more than $1 billion over eight years for programs geared toward improving indi- vidual and community health. “We’ll push to change the game and what it means to young women worldwide in order to reach new heights ev- ery year,” Whan said. The Women’s Open is June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge in North Carolina, and then it moves to Pebble Beach for the first time the following year. See Golf / B2
