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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2022)
INSIDE: CLASSIFIEDS, MARKET RECAP & WEATHER B S PORTS THE BULLETIN • SUNday, aUgUST 21, 2022 bendbulletin.com/sports PGA TOUR Will Zalatoris WDs with sore back WILMINGTON, Del. — Will Zalatoris felt pain in his lower back and withdrew after four holes Saturday at the BMW Champion- ship, saying he wanted to be ready for the FedEx Cup finale next week. Zalatoris is coming off his first PGA Tour victory last week to start the PGA Tour’s postseason. The win moved him to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and to No. 9 in the world. He was 1 under for the day and 4-under par for the tournament — four shots out of the lead at the time — when he tweaked his lower back on a shot on the third hole. He got treatment on the course, played the next hole and the pain did not subside. “He felt that it was best to withdraw from the BMW Championship so he can work with his trainer the next few days. Will looks forward to play- ing next week in Atlanta,” Zalatoris’ manager, Allen Hobbs, said. The PGA Tour season ends next week with the Tour Championship at East Lake. Patrick Cantlay rode six birdies and an eagle to a 6-under 65 and had a one-shot lead over Xan- der Schauffele and Scott Stallings, who both shot 66, after Saturday’s third round. — Associated Press BOXING Usyk tops Joshua in split decision KING ABDULLAH SPORTS CITY, Saudi Ara- bia — Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk retained his world heavyweight titles with a split decision win over Anthony Joshua on Saturday in a rematch in Saudi Arabia that was closer than last year’s first fight. Both fighters held up the Ukrainian flag as the judges’ scores were read out at King Abdullah Sport City arena near Jeddah. When he was declared the winner, Usyk hid his face behind the flag. The 35-year-old Usyk kept his WBA, WBO and IBF belts six months after serving in the Ukrainian army as part of the coun- try’s defense against Rus- sia’s invasion. Encouraged by a pre-fight message from Ukraine’s president, Usyk carried the weight of a war-torn nation in a fight that was on free-to-air TV in his native country and he had to weather a sus- tained body attack from an improved Joshua to secure the win. Both boxers looked ex- hausted at the final bell. Usyk fell to the canvas and looked to the sky and was soon joined there by Joshua, who embraced his opponent and ap- peared to offer his help to the plight of Ukraine. In an expletive-laden speech inside the ring, Joshua praised Usyk for fighting so well in the circumstances. Usyk also claimed the Ring Mag- azine belt with the win. There’s only one heavy- weight title that Usyk doesn’t own — the WBC one that was vacated this year by Tyson Fury, who says he is retired. Two judges gave it to Usyk, one 115-113 and the other 116-112. The other gave the fight to Joshua, 115-113. Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion, fell to his third loss in 27 fights. — Associated Press COLLEGE FOOTBALL SWIMMING Speed and confidence Trikweze Bridges gives flexibility to Oregon Ducks secondary BY JAMES CREPEA The Oregonian Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin photos Diggory Dillingham is heading to Hawaii to compete the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. Mountain View High’s Diggory Dillingham set to compete in Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin T here are two things that Diggory Dillingham has no shortage of while swimming in a pool: speed and confidence. The Mountain View senior, who also swims for the Bend Swim Club, had yet to race at the Speedo Junior National Championships in Irvine, California, but he was already planning what meal he was going to eat after his win. See Swimming / B3 Diggory Dillingham dives off a starting block while practicing at Juniper Swim & Fitness on Friday. Trikweze Bridges was re- cruited to Oregon as a safety, but finding a fit for him on the field was INSIDE initially a chal- lenge. • Offseason At 6-foot-3 work paying off for Ore- and 175 gon State pounds as a DB Kitan Ol- senior at La- adapo, B2 nett (Ala.) High, Bridges led Alabama in interceptions. He got closer to 200 pounds in the fall of 2019, but appeared in just one game while red- shirting. He played deep safety in a couple of games in 2020 and competed and ultimately won the starting job at boundary cornerback last season, when he had 26 tackles with one for loss, an interception, force fumble and pass breakup. Bridges’ ability to play either cornerback or safety could be what keeps him in the start- ing secondary for the No. 11 Ducks. “I think anytime that you have a guy like him, and there’s multiple guys, just on the back end in general corner and safety that had that type of versatility,” safeties coach Matt Powledge said. “They’re a little bit bigger bodies. They run just like corners, they have coverage ability. You’re really just trying to find the right matchup and trying to play to your personnel. We’re not trying to fit a square peg into a round hole or anything like that. So really trying to play to our players. Kweze has done a great job of learning multiple spots and he’s done a great job competing early on this fall.” Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi was at Alabama in 2018 when Bridges was a senior in high school. The Crimson Tide did recruit Bridges and Lupoi sees the progress he’s made. See Ducks / B2 GYMNASTICS NBA COMMENTARY Skepticism, hope as USA Gymnastics The Trail Blazers plan to leave broadcasters enters the post-Larry Nassar era at home for road games is a terrible call BY WILL GRAVES Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — The blue and red flames of the new logo USA Gymnastics un- veiled this week are designed to symbolize rebirth. They might as well double as a metaphor for the self-in- flicted damage the organiza- tion has endured for the bet- ter part of a decade. The Larry Nassar sex- ual abuse scandal shook the sport’s national governing body to its core. Hundreds of victims of abuse at the hands of the former national team doctor came forward to tell their stories, some of them highlighting a toxic culture that allowed Nassar to hide in plain sight for decades. The fallout included send- ing Nassar to jail essentially for the rest of his life, a mas- sive leadership overhaul within the organization — more than half of the cur- rent staff has been with the organization for three years or less — and last December BY BILL ORAM The Oregonian Chris O’Meara/AP Shane Wiskus performs on the parallel bars during the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships Thursday in Tampa, Florida. a $380 million settlement between abuse victims, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The agreement included a series of provi- sions designed to promote transparency, accountability and safety within a program that used to be the gold stan- dard of the U.S. Olympic movement. The settlement assured the organization’s survival. And that process — as painful and public and humiliating as it was — might have been the easy part. Now comes a more dif- ficult task: making sure the changes — some imple- mented years ago, others still in the works — actually stick. See Gymnastics / B3 Damian Lillard pulls up from wayyyyyy downtown … And Kevin Calabro calls it from even farther away: A stu- dio in Portland. Jerami Grant fights through a tough screen … And Lamar Hurd struggles to make out what’s happening on a small monitor. The cost-cutting Portland Trail Blazers don’t think you’ll notice that their broadcast- ers won’t be on the road next season. It’s a decision, first brought to light by Dwight Jaynes and Chad Doing on their afternoon drive-time show on KPOJ-AM, that the team says is not final. Thank God for that. It should be reversed immedi- ately. To Blazers fans everywhere, wherever they may be, this is a total kick in The Schonz. Television broadcasters like Calabro, Hurd, Brooke Olzen- dam and radio play-by-play man Travis Demers are the connective tissue between the Blazers and their fans. Did you sit up at night lis- tening to Bill Schonely and Brian Wheeler, marveling at the fact that they were inches from the action, describing with breathless wonder — for you — what exploits Clyde Drexler and Brandon Roy had just performed? I know I did. Lickety brindle up the mid- dle and straight to your heart. The decision by the Blazers comes as many are question- ing Jody Allen’s financial com- mitment to the team. Sure, she’ll spring for the $122 mil- lion, two-year extension for Lillard, but what about really investing in the team, in the city, in the fanbase? See Blazers / B3
