FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Mustang wrestlers
earn three medals,
take fifth in state
H e p p n e r h ad its
first state cham pions in
wrestling this last weekend
in the OSAA 1A/2A State
Championship at Veterans
M e m o ria l C o lise u m in
Portland.
Ryan Smith took first
place at 106 pounds and
Jared L em m on brought
hom e t he g o ld at 126
pounds, . T reston M aben
brought home a third-place
medal.
The Mustangs finished
fifth as a team at state.
behind C u lver, L ow ell,
Monroe and Crane.
P ■:
A
¿1
■ni
[ /-
f
T ~ ^ l
WRESTLING COACH
-Continuedfrom PAGE ONE
appears to have paid off, as
the Mustangs took two first
place and one third place
individual medals to claim a
team fifth place in the state
tournament in Portland last
week, the best the school as
ever done.
W restling has always
been part of Lemmon’s life.
"There were six boys in
our family; we used to tear
up the furniture wrestling
with each other,” he recalls.
He started w restling
in the first grade and later
enrolled at Stanfield High
S c h o o l b e c a u s e th e r e
was a wrestling program.
The p rogram w as late r
c a n c e lle d , h o w e v e r,
because o f Title IX, the
federal law in ten d ed to
bring equality to m en’s and
w om en’s athletics. From
there he attended college in
Idaho, where he wrestled in
open tournaments.
After college Lemmon
e n te r e d th e w o rld o f
b u sin e ss, and w hen he
considered taking the job
here in Heppner as the Bank
o f Eastern Oregon C hief
Financial Officer, the first
thing he asked was, “ Does
the school have a wrestling
p ro g ra m ? ” L u c k ily for
Heppner, Brian Harm on
and Ken Bailey had started
a program the p rev io u s
year, so the answ er was
“Yes.”
After Lemmon moved
here Harmon and Bailey
heard o f his experience in
the sport and asked him to
get involved in the program.
“ I thought they would
maybe say help out in the
snack shack or something,
but they asked me to coach,”
he says.
He spent two years as
the junior high coach and
then moved up to the high
school five years ago.
His w hole fam ily is
involved with w restling,
as his son Jared took first
at state in the 126 lb. class
and an o th er son, Brian,
is an assistant coach with
the team . M any fam ily
m em b ers a lso tra v e le d
to the state to u rn am en t
in P o rtla n d to w a tc h .
In a d d itio n L e m m o n ’s
brother-in-law Doug Tovey
has coached for Roseburg
and Hermiston w restling
programs.
L e m m o n s a y s he
enjoys the sport because
most anyone can become
involved and their success
is directly linked to how
hard they work.
"I lik e to se e th e
y o u n g m en w o rk h ard
and s u c c e e d ,” he says.
“ Your success is directly
proportional to what you
do. If you are w illing to
work you can see success.”
Lemmon had to back
up his vow to work as hard
as his wrestlers, as some o f
them wanted to go down
to the w eight room and
work out on Christmas Eve,
Christm as Day and New
Years Day.
A
(L-R): Champion Ryan Smith (106 lbs.). Coach Mark Lem
mon, champion Jared Lemmon (126 lbs.) and Coach Brian
Lemmon at the state tournament. -Photo by Kanch Boyd
“ I w a s th e r e w ith
them,” he says.
He also likes wrestling
because people are matched
up in equal categories. There
are 14 w eight categories
and a match for everyone.
Ryan Sm ith o f 1 leppner was
the other Mustang wrestler
taking first in the state, his
in the 106 lb. weight class,
Lemmon points out.
In his o ffic e on the
to p flo o r o f th e BEO
administrative building in
Heppner, Lemmon shows
a photo on the desktop of
his com puter he says is
inspirational. It is a picture
o f a wrestler with only one
leg winning a match.
O n th e f u t u r e o f
Heppner wrestling
L em m on says there are
som e lim itatio n s at this
point because of the number
o f students available at the
school, pointing out that in
order to win district more
numbers are needed. The
Mustangs have only had 10
to 12 boys out to fill the 14
weight classes so it makes
it more difficult to win team
championships at meets.
“ We have quality, we
just don’t have quantity,”
he says.
B ut t h i n g s are
apparently looking good
in the lower grades with 37
kids out in the Colt program,
which is necessary to gets
students prepared for high
school competition.
Lemmon also praised
the Heppner fans, saying
they many times outnumber
home team fans, and they
show up w ith “ to te s of
food” for the wrestlers to
eat after they make weight.
“ A l ot , o f o u r
to u rn a m en ts are a long
ways to travel and we really
appreciate our fans,” he
says.
Heppner athletes take charity on the road
Girls basketball teams joins other teams to help out North
Powder family during an away game
Reprinted with permission
f r o m t he La G r a n d
O b s e r v e r ; wr i t t en by
Observer staff.
The E nterprise High
S chool FC C LA c h a p te r
h e ld a b e n e fit fo r the
Bingham family o f North
Top: Ryan Smith took first in the 106-lb. class in the IA/2A
Powder.
state championship. Middle: Jared Lemmon on the second
T he a c tiv itie s to o k
day of the state tournament; he also took champion in his
place
Feb. 14-15 at the
126-lh. class. Bottom: Treston Maben placed third in the 152
hom
e
basketball gam es.
lb. class. The Heppner team took fifth in the state tourna
M em bers o f the visiting
ment. -Photos by Kandy Boyd
teams (Heppner and Grant
U nion) took part in the
fundraiser as well as the
Enterprise home fans.
A c tiv itie s in c lu d e d
in the event were a quilt
raffle, silent dessert auction,
T-shirt sales and two nights
o f “ M ira c le M in u te s .”
The clock was set for one
minute and fans filled bags
that were circulated around
the stands with money.
tftfi-
'i f '
Thursday, March 6,2014 •
1 p.m.
SELLING 41 YEARLING G 16 TWO-YEAfrOLD ANGUS BULLS -
FOR THE 2014 BREEDINGSEASOHdf
-'V i
The first night raised the im portance o f organ
$ 3 5 0 , a n d th e s e c o n d donation was also stressed
night raised $1,050. The and organ donor cards and
Bingham family attended brochures were available.
the games Saturday, and the The FC CLA said it has
two young girls who have raised $4.800 in total to
received heart transplants d o n ate to the B ingham
as w ell as th e ir m other fam ily to h elp pay for
spoke to the crowd.
m edications that are not
B e s i d e s r a i s i n g covered by insurance.
m o n ey fo r th e fam ily ,
Jordan Bailey named
to East Shrine team;
J.C. Putman alternate
Jordan Bailey, a 5’9”
160 lb. H e p p n e r H igh
School senior was selected
for the 2A Shrine East first
team. Bailey was a running
back, defensive back and
wide receiver for Heppner.
J.C . P utm an, a 6 ’3”
200 lb. HHS defensive end
and offensive lineman, was
selected to the alternate
team.
B ailey is the son o f
Jeff and Christine Bailey,
Heppner.
Putman is the son of
Sandi Putman, Lexington,
and Jim Putman, Clatskanie,
OR.
O th er 2A first team
m em bers include Colby
Moll and Jeremiah Grieser,
R egis; D alto n R eim ers
and Tucker Wright, Grant
Union; Josue Avi lez, Central
Linn; Blake Traeger, Mt.
Angel; and Thomas Nathan,
Myrtle Point.
36 Al BRED REGISTERED G 4 Al BRED COMMERCIAI HEIFERS.
---------♦♦♦---------
M LIIUUII'I
Connealy Confidence 0100
War Party 2417
Coleman Regis 904
Sydgen CC&7
HA Program 5652
Phenotypically Correct
Fit for Function, not Fat
These Bulls will get out there
and cover your cows
musíanos
-------- ♦♦♦---------
Jordan Bailev
JT
R e TJ b H
W-:i
[ilil
Steve & Jan Puntenney
66062 Hwy 74, lone, OR 97843
(503) 784-8691
www.corsairangus.com
'm s
Take Exit 147 off ofI-84. Follow
Highway 74 to Milepost 2114.
From Heppner,OR, were 22 miles
North on Highway 74.
J.C. Putman
OSP seeks info on
wolf pup shooting
Oregon State Police is
seeking inform ation and
asking to speak to anyone
with information on a male
w o lf pup that was found
dead near Lincton Mountain
in Umatilla County.
O n D ec. 5, O reg o n
D e p a rtm e n t o f F ish &
Wildlife (ODFW ) relayed
an anonym ous com plaint
to the Oregon State Police
regarding a w olf that had
been shot and killed near
M ilto n -F re e w a te r. The
dead w olf was recovered
and a genetic analysis of
the c a rc a ss show ed the
wolf had been bom into the
Umatilla River pack.
Anyone
with
information regarding this
investigation is asked to call
OSP N orthern Command
Center at 800-452-7888 or
email Senior Trooper Dain
Gardner at JDGardne@osp.
state.or.us.
Have a news story or photo for the
e-mail to editor@rapidserve.net, call 541-676-9228 or stop by the office on Willow St. in Heppner
i
i i
i