Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Ione students win regional
Battle of the Books
Ione High School students won the regional tournament in the Oregon Battle of the Books last
Saturday at Blue Mountain Community College. The winners will proceed to the state tourna-
ment in Salem next month. America’s Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program for
students in third through 12 th grades in which students read books and then come together to
demonstrate their abilities and test their knowledge of the books. Ione team members include
Frances Knop, Karsen Dumler, Henry Padberg, Breawna Teeman and Meighan Hall. Their
coach is Lea Mathieu. -Contributed photo
Heppner TSA dominates
winter competition
Front: Ethan Holmgren, Bryan Fowler, Kane Sweeney, Tim Gould, Elijah Fetter, Caitlyn
Scrivner. Back: Charles Cason, Taylor Hamby, Will Lutcher, Daichi Walters, Leo Waite. Far
back: Kai Arbogast. -Contributed photo
Both the middle school
chapter and the high school
chapter of the Heppner
Technology Student As-
sociation (TSA) competed
in six events recently at
the Oregon TSA Winter
Competition at BMCC in
Pendleton.
In catapult design, Jor-
dan Spaulding, Gavin Rob-
inson and Casey Fletcher
took irst, with Jason Rea
and Kael Osmin taking sec-
ond and, making it a cleans
sweep, Kenneth Troxell and
Kevin Rea taking third.
In the Junior Solar
Sprint (a model electric race
car) Kenneth Troxell and
Kevin Rea took first and
Casey Fletcher and Gavin
Robinson took third.
For Children’s Stories
(writing and illustrating a
children’s story based on
marine life), Madelyn Nich-
ols and Sage Ferguson took
irst and Gracey DeLoach,
Aimee Doherty and Hanna
Palmer took third.
In Architectural Ren-
ovation, which involves
designing a manufactured
house and building a model,
Kane Sweeney and Tim
Gould took irst with Kai
Arbogast, Daichi Walters,
Will Lutcher and Taylor
Hamby taking third.
Promotional Graphics
involves designing a poster
encouraging someone to go
into the teaching ield for
technology or engineering.
Elijah Fetter took irst and
Caitlyn Scrivner took third.
It’s been a busy year for
Heppner TSA. In January
and February, Heppner TSA
attended two VEX Robotics
Competitions. The group
also plans to have a loat
in the St. Patrick’s Day
parade.
The next state event is
April 21, after which the
group will attend the Na-
tional TSA Conference in
Nashville TN in late June.
FFA holds petting zoo
The Heppner FFA chapter had a petting zoo at the Morrow County fairgrounds last week to
celebrate FFA Week. The petting zoo was attended by elementary and infant center children,
as well as many children who were brought by their parents. FFA advisor Beth Dickenson said
the petting zoo was successful because of the participation of several FFA members as well as
the help of community members Angie Hughes, who loaned a calf, Terri Gentry, who loaned
ponies, Amy Kollman, who also loaned ponies, Staci Osmin, who took pictures, and student
teacher Kelsie White. Pictured are FFA members Emily Cecil, Kolby Currin, Patrick Collins,
Jocey Evans, CJ Kindle, Rylee Kollman and Shayna Osmin. Not pictured: Jaiden Mahoney.
-Contributed photo
Mustangs end bright season
with state tournament losses
The Heppner Mustangs
boys’ basketball team had
their season come to an end
at the OSAA 2A State Bas-
ketball Tournament. They
lost to the Bandon Tigers
by a score of 41-33 and
were beaten by the Burns
Highlanders 49-29. The
Mustangs finished a suc-
cessful season with a 21-5
record and a number-three
state ranking. Of the more
than 40 teams that compete
at the 2A level in Oregon,
only ive other teams in the
state won more games than
the Mustangs won. Only
three teams in the state
lost fewer games than the
Mustangs.
It was extremely close
throughout the game with
the Tigers. Bandon had the
lead at the end of the irst
quarter 8-7. The teams then
traded leads in the second
quarter ive times and the
score was tied 16-16 at
halftime.
Heppner held the lead
in the third quarter until the
Tigers made a three-pointer
with five seconds left to
tie the score at 32-32. The
Mustangs took a lead in
the fourth quarter at 33-32,
but that would be the last
point they would score in
the game. The Heppner de-
fense did a good job in the
quarter, holding Bandon to
only three points, but then
the Mustangs began to foul
to stop the clock with just
under a minute to play.
Bandon made several of
their free throws to make
the inal score 41-33.
Patrick Collins and
Logan Grieb led the team
in scoring with 8 points
each. Collins also had 7
rebounds and 2 blocked
shots. Grieb hauled down 4
rebounds and had an assist.
Weston Putman contributed
7 points, 7 rebounds and 2
steals. CJ Kindle netted 4
points, had a team high 8
rebounds, 6 assists and 2
steals in a good all-around
game. Kaden Clark had 3
points, 1 blocked shot and
1 steal. Caden Hedman
scored 2 points and had 1
assist. Kevin Murray had 1
point in the game.
The Mustangs only
shot 29 percent from the
ield for the game and they
held Bandon to 36 percent
shooting. Heppner did out-
rebound the much taller
Tiger team 31-27. Heppner
was 3-5 from the free-throw
line while Bandon was
13-17.
THE DALLES, Ore.—
The third annual Google
Wind Challenge is blowing
into the Gorge on April 30
at the Civic Auditorium in
The Dalles.
Area high school and
middle school students are
encouraged to sign up be-
fore the March 18 deadline.
The Wind Challenge is free
to attend and participate,
with all materials provided.
Teams of high school
and middle school stu-
dents throughout the local
area have a chance to race
against the clock to build
the strongest, fastest wind
turbines and compete for
exciting prizes, such as
trips to OMSI, pizza parties
and drones. A fun, hands-
on STEM fair will also be
on site with activities to
engage students and the
general public.
Volunteers from the
community are also needed
to assist students and help
with judging and event day
coordination.
Students and volun-
teers may register online at
www.windchallenge.org.
Heppner YCC crew offers
summer job opportunities
Area students get set for
for local youth
Heppner—The Hep- tion to and from the Hep- Google Wind Challenge
pner Ranger District is pner District Ofice; have a
recruiting for four students
between the ages of 15 and
18 for summer employment
in the Youth Conservation
Corps (YCC). Work will
include ield-going activi-
ties on the Heppner Ranger
District.
The program begins
June 20 and will last six
weeks. Youth are paid the
Oregon minimum wage rate
of $9.25 per hour. No previ-
ous experience is required.
Applicants must: ob-
tain parental or legal guard-
ian consent to enroll in the
program; have transporta-
social security number, or
made application for one;
and be at least 15 and not
turn 19 during employment.
Applications are avail-
able at the Forest Service
Ofice in Heppner and at
local high schools. Ap-
plications will be accepted
through 2 p.m. on April 15
and successful applicants
will be selected by random
draw at 4 p.m. April 15.
Applicants will be notiied
of selection status by mail.
For more information,
contact the Heppner Ranger
District at 541-676-9187.
NINE
The hard-fought loss
to Bandon moved the Mus-
tangs to a morning consola-
tion game with the Burns
Highlanders. The shoot-
ing woes continued in this
game for the Mustangs as
well. They only connected
on 23 percent of their ield
goal tries. Burns was not
much better, only shooting
at a 35 percent rate, but
Burns hit the big shots when
they needed to and ran away
with the win.
Heppner was in the lead
at the end of the irst quarter
9-8. They were outscored
15-4 in the second quarter
and trailed the Highlanders
23-13 at halftime. Burns
stretched the lead out sev-
eral times in the third quar-
ter only to see the Mustangs
trim it to single digits three
times. Burns then pulled
away late and made the
score 39-23 at the end of
the third quarter. Heppner
was again outscored in the
fourth quarter 14-6, and that
made the inal score of the
game 49-29.
Putman scored 10
points to lead the team. He
also had 5 rebounds and a
blocked shot. Collins had
7 points, 9 rebounds and
a steal in the game. Grieb
chipped in 5 points, had
4 rebounds, 3 assists and
a steal for the Mustangs.
Murray had 4 points and 2
rebounds for the team. Wy-
att Steagall came into the
game and scored 2 points
and had 2 rebounds. Kindle
had 1 point and 7 rebounds.
Clark contributed 2 re-
bounds and Kevin Smith
1. Hedman had a steal in
the game.
The losses brought a
disappointing end to a suc-
cessful season. The Mus-
tangs won the Columbia
Basin Conference regular
season title and the District
Tournament Champion-
ship. Heppner coach Jer-
emy Rosenbalm told his
team after the game, “We
can’t let these two games
define our whole season.
Going 21-5, winning the
conference and the district
titles and playing in the
state tournament is quite
an accomplishment.” He
also stated that, “This is a
special group of young men
that doesn’t come along
very often. They are even
better men off of the court
than they are on it.”
He noted that there was
some sadness in the locker
room after the inal game.
“These guys have been
together almost every day
since the start of football
practice in August. The
losses did hurt, but what
hurt them the most was the
realization that this would
be the last time they would
all be together as a team.
“This group has a spe-
cial bond that will last them
for the rest of their lives,”
Rosenbalm said.