Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2000)
lone track team takes 13 to state Bss3i« ffetsoll U of O Kenspap'ir Libre ry Eugsn«. OH 9 7 4 J3 „ “ ,rack ,eam sta,e qualifiers left to right: Back-Assistant Coach Ryan Rudolf, Mike Andrew Rietmann, Dan Scott, Brad Burright, Nikki McElligott, Camie Burright, Korev Morgan McEWsM VOL. 119 NO. 20 16 Pages Wednesday, May 17,2000 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Cunha estate leaves big legacies for rodeo and hospital y“dl HCa8y’ N° nnee Wa'terS’ ° liVia Th0mpS'°n’ Ame,lia Peck' Diana A lucky 13 members of the lone Track Team have qualified for the state competition this Saturday at Western Oregon University at Monmouth and seven of them qualified in four events. Senior Nikki McElligott will compete in the triple jump, the high jump, 300 hurdles and 100 hurdles. Senior Camie Burright will complete in the long jump, high jump, pole vault and the 4x400 relay. Senior Dan Scott qualified for pole vault, 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4x100 relay. Sophomore Brad Burright qualified in the triple jump, long jump, 300 hurdles and the 110 hurdles. Amellia Peck will compete in the 4x100, discus, high jump and 300 hurdles. Two freshmen will also see action in four state events-Olivia Thompson, who qualified in the long jump, triple jump, 4x100 and 4x400; and Diana McElligott, who qualified in the 4x400,200,100 and 4x400. Juniors Nonee Walters will compete in the long jump, 100 hurdles and the 4x100 relay and Korey Morgan qualified in the triple jump and the 400 relay. Freshmen Mike Radie and Andrew Rietmann will finish out the 4x400 boys' relay team and Dejah Haskett will complete in the pole vault. Sophomore Cyndi Heagy will compete in the 1600 meter relay. The lone girls took first place in the Big Sky Conference/Distnct 3-1A meet on May 13 at Wahtonka High School. The Cardinal girls racked up 168 points, compared to runner-up Dufur with 123. South Wasco County took third with 95 and Condon was fourth with 64. Nikki McElligott tied the district meet record of 5 feet, 2 inches in the high jump, set by Mindy Davis of Echo in 1986. She, Camie Bumght and Amellia Peck took the top three spots in the high jump. McElligott's 100 hurdle time of 15.2 surpassed her school record of 15.23 and her meet record of 15.7 set last year. Her win in the 300 hurdles with a 45.9 was her fourth district title in that event. She also took first place in the triple jump with a 36.0. The 400 relay team of Peck, Thompson, Walters and Diana McElligott broke their school record of 51.5, the meet record of 52.1 set by Culver in 1988 and set an all-time 1A record with a time of 50.88. Bumght, Thompson and Walters took the first three spots in the long jump, with Bumght winning her third district title in four years. She also won the pole vault with a meet record of 8-0. Heagy, Diana McElligott, Camie Bumght and Thompson captured the district title in the 1600 relay, breaking their school record of 4:21.5 and the meet record of 4:21.9 set in 1988 by Culver. Thompson took second in the triple jump with a 34-7. Diana McElligott finished second in the 100 with a 12.78 and the 200 with a 26.9. Haskett was second in the pole vault with a 7- 0. Peck took second in the discus with 91-11. Brad Burright took first in the triple jump (42-3 this year) and the 110 hurdles (15.29 this year) the last two years and won the 300 hurdles (41.58) and the long jump this year. Morgan finished third in the triple jump with a 39 11-1/2. Morgan, Radie, Rietmann and Scott finished third in the 400 relay with 46.1. Scott was second in the 100 with 11.41 and in the 200 with 23.61. Heppner track team takes second at district Left to right: Morrow County Health District Board Chairman Larry Mills, MCHD administrator Victor Vander Does, Bill Boyd, Rodeo Committee Co-Chairman Ken Eckman. Barbara Cunha, an extremely shy woman, and her husband Joe, a good man under a gruff exterior, didn't say much and definitely didn't brag about what they had. After their deaths, however, the Cunhas' legacy speaks loud and clear. The Cunhas left two generous bequests that demonstrated their love of the Heppner community and the rodeo lifestyle. Their will bequeathed Pioneer Memorial Hospital $50,000 and the Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Committee, $30,000. Joe Cunha was originally from Salinas, California. He started rodeoing in 1927, when he was just 16 years old, and rodeoed full-time until 1941, riding rough stock and bull dogging. He came through the Heppner area for a rodeo and fell in love with it. So, when his family sold the family farm in Salinas, he took part of the proceeds and bought land here. He and Barbara lived 27 years on 4,000 acres out Willow Creek, before she passed away at 79 years old last August and he followed at 88 in November. "I don't think people realize just how much Barb and Joe felt about the community," said Larry Mills, Morrow County Health District Board chairman. Mills said the $50,000 bequeathed to the hospital will be used for the CAT scan included in the proposed hospital remodeling project. "Both Barb and Joe got wonderful care here at the end, but this bequest was made before this," said Bill Boyd, Chunhas' neighbor, friend and executor of their will. "They really treasured this community, but it's a shame they couldn't let anyone know while they were still alive." "Rodeo is all he wanted to do," added Boyd. "He loved the companionship and the competition." Ken Eckman, Rodeo Committee co-chairman, said that the money donated to the committee will be used toward the loan for the rodeo grounds bleachers and the committee has plans to honor the Cunhas. "The Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Committee is very grateful for the gift and will apply the proceeds directly to their loan for the rodeo grandstands," said OTPR Secretary/Treasurer Marlene Currin. "The Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Committee took a sizable loan out to purchase the all-metal grandstand nearly five years ago. The payments on the grandstands are made annually following the OTPR and VIP seating has, for the most part, been able to finance the grandstand. However, with the generous gift from Joe and Barbara Cunha, OTPR continued page 2 School levy goes down The Morrow County School District's $1 million local option ievy went down by a two to one margin on election day, Tuesday May 16. Voters turned down the levy 1227 'no' to 564 'yes'. However, even if the 'yes' votes outnumbered the 'no' votes, the levy could not have passed, because only 38 percent of registered voters in the county voted in the election. The law requires a "double majority" in that a majority of registered voters, not just those voting, must approve a measure. If approved, the school district local option levy would have funded 10 teaching positions- seven for Boardman-Irrigon schools, two for Heppner Elementary School and one for lone Schools-that were cut to balance the district's budget. A more detailed report will be published in next week's G-T. RAnUT« 1HTIHFF7F S SUMMER COOUUtT SALE $3.99 per gallon — regular $4.99 per gallon Sa* good through Saturday. May 27th v M orrow C ounty Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 I G r a in G row ers For (arm equipment »nit our wtb me « www.mtn.ntt Heppner High School track team qualifying for state left to right: Back-Brian Rust. Craig Scott, Levi Geer. Michael Schonbachler. David Piper: Front-Coach Dale Conklin, Trisha Adams, Abby Kahl. Paula Spicerkuhn, Assistant Coach Steve Brownfield. Not pictured is Brett Barber. Down by three points entering the final event of the District 7 2A track and field meet, the Heppner High School boys 1600- meter relay team ran to a first- place finish and the second-place trophy at The Dalles last Saturday. The relay team of Craig Scott, David Piper, Michael Schonbachler and Levi Geer qualified for the state 2A meet with the win in a time of 3:41.7 a season’s best time. High-point performer for the Mustangs was Piper who qualified to the state meet in four events. In addition to the relay, Piper won the high jump, long jump and triple jump. All marks were personal bests. He high jumped 6' 4", jumped 19-11 Vi in the long jump and soared 40' 62" in the triple. Scott qualified in both of the hurdle races, placing second in the 110-meter high hurdles and racing to a 42.5 clocking in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. The 400-meter relay team of Scott. Brian Rust, Schonbachler and Geer also qualified for state. Trisha Adams led the local girls at district, winning two events. She won the high jump and 300-hurdle race to qualify for state. Her :48.9 clocking in the hurdles was a personal record. Adams also placed third in the 400-meter dash. She led off the 1600-meter relay team that also qualified for state with a time of 4:23.1. The other team members were Paula Spicerkuhn, Brett Barber and Abby Kahl. Their time was a season's best. Kahl turned in one of the top performances for the Heppner athletes, clocking a 11:28.0 in the 3,000 meters. It was her personal record and the second fastest time ever run at HHS. Barber placed in two other events at district, finishing fifth in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Spicerkuhn placed fourth in the 800. One of the big disappointments in the meet came in the boys' discus throw. Schonbachler threw 129' 9" in the discus, the eighth best throw at HHS, for a third place. Also placing were Jake Roy, fourth, and Chris Peck, sixth, in the shot put. Geer was third in the javelin and third in the 400- meter dash. Sam Van Liew collected a fifth-place result in the 110-meter hurdles and was sixth in the longer hurdle race. Qualifying for the finals of the 100-meter dash but not placing was Dawn DeBoer. Matt Jepsen competed in the 400-meter dash and 300-hurdles. Justin Nelson threw the shot put and Isiah Stillman ran both distance races. "On paper, at least, our qualifiers should score some points at state," said coach Dale Conklin. "Piper is seeded in the top eight in all three jumping events, earning the second top seed in the high jump. Kahl has the fourth top seed in the 3,000- meters, Adams is sixth seed in the long hurdles and Scott the fifth seed. I also like our chances in the long relays. If the kids run like they are capable, they can make the finals in both relays." The two-day state meet begins Friday, May 19, at Western Oregon University in Monmouth at 12 noon with the girls' pole vault. The boys high jump starts at 1 p.m. with running events at 2 p.m The 1A athletes join in the competition on Saturday, May 20 . »
