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