FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Heppner students advance to state chess
tournament
This weekend, local
youth will join hundreds
of other young competitors
hunched over boards, boys
and girls from kindergarten
up to high school, silently
staring at their array of
plastic royalty, plotting
their next few moves. In
fact, the Oregon Chess for
Success state tournament,
now in its 46 th year, will pit
nearly 600 kids against one
another in what many call a
game of wit.
“The chess players
also learn life skills. For
instance, once you touch
a chess piece, you must
play that piece. It’s one of
the first rules kids learn in
chess, but impulse control
is something even adults
struggle with sometimes.
Students also learn delayed
gratification and long-term
planning, because chess
strategy requires you to
visualize your end goal
to make your first move,”
says Julie Young, Director
of Chess for Success.
Like the game itself,
it was not a quick or easy
road that brought the Hep-
pner students to the state
tournament. On Feb. 11,
15 members of the Heppner
Chess Mates traveled to
Hermiston for the regional
Chess for Success Tourna-
ment held at the Armand
Larive Junior High School.
For some of these play-
ers, it was their first time to
compete in a tournament.
The coaches, volunteers
and parents said they were
extremely proud of their
players’ accomplishments.
In addition, this is an im-
-Continued from PAGE ONE
the Heppner Elementary
gym from 1:30-5:30 p.m.
Also in the afternoon will
be the Ceili, Ewe-Do-Bingo
and the O’Ducky Race; a
bus tour of Heppner’s Talk-
ing Rocks will begin at 2
p.m. (meet in front of City
Hall to ride the bus).
The evening will close
out with some special en-
tertainment—the Old Time
Fiddlers will perform at the
fairgrounds dance hall start-
ing at 6:30 p.m. At the St.
Patrick’s Catholic Church
parish hall there will be a
local children’s talent show
from 6-7:20 p.m. and The
Gothard Sisters will per-
form starting at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday will bring the
Sheep Dog Trials, as well
as a chance to participate
in the annual Road Bowling
Competition—as a par-
ticipant or spectator, there
is something for everyone.
The St. Patrick’s Com-
mittee says it hopes every-
one will participate in as
much of the weekend as
they can. For more infor-
mation, call 541-676-5536,
visit www.heppnercham-
ber.com or visit them on
Facebook at “St. Patrick’s
Celebration Heppner Or-
egon USA.”
Whether you are Irish
when you come, you will
certainly be Irish when you
leave…so come and join us
for a great weekend.
HAPPY CANYON
-Continued from PAGE ONE Charlotte, 2.
Top: The regional champions for junior high students are (L-R): Mackenzie Dowel, Daemon
Worden, Felix Matthew, Jacob Finch and Adan Guerra. Bottom: The regional champions for
grades kindergarten through five are (L-R): Claire Lindsay, Isiah Martin, Mason Seitz, Owen
Guerra and Maya Payne. -Contributed photo
portant tournament because
players and teams must
place at this tournament to
qualify to play in the state
Chess for Success Tourna-
ment.
Heppner’s junior high
team had some tough com-
petition from two Herm-
iston teams and still came
away with the first-place
trophy. Now Heppner’s
junior high team will move
on to the state tournament
to be held March 10 at the
Oregon Convention Center.
Jacob Finch and Felix Mat-
thew also qualified for the
individual state tournament
as the top sixth grader and
top seventh grader respec-
tively. Owen Guerra also
qualified as the top K-5
individual player.
The local elementary
team was the lone com-
petitor for the tournament;
however, advisors said it
was good experience for the
players to be in the tourna-
ment atmosphere. For the
state tournament the top
five players will be Owen
Guerra, Isiah Martin, Claire
Lindsay, Mason Seitz and
Maya Payne. The two alter-
nate players will be Austin
Willis and Joe McMasters.
The advisors of Hep-
pner’s Chess Mates—Mrs.
Morris, Mrs. Campbell,
Mrs. Matheny and Mrs.
Elguèzabal—volunteer
their time for this learning
experience. They also say
they would never be able
to have the program with-
out the expertise and many
hours of help from volun-
teers Wayne Seitz, Dick
Jones, Tomàs Elguèzabal,
Joe Jones, Joe Armato,
Bridget Waite, Logan An-
gell, Cherry Webber, Mary
Haguewood. and Brandi
Sweeney.
Junior high Mustang wrestlers compete
in regional wrestling
Two wrestlers qualify for state tournament
Three seventh grad-
ers from Heppner—Roen
Waite, Jace Coe and Conor
Brosnan—competed Satur-
day at the Oregon Middle
School Regional Wrestling
Championships at River-
side High School. This was
one of four regional cham-
pionships held throughout
Oregon to determine quali-
fiers for the 2017 Middle
School State Wrestling
Championships.
Roen Waite competed
in the 75-pound bracket. He
started his day with a loss,
which dropped him into
the consolation bracket.
The next match saw Roen
battle a wrestler from La
Grande. Roen dominated
his opponent and scored a
technical fall in the third
round by amassing a 12-0
score. The next match had
Roen competing against an
Elgin wrestler whom Roen
had battled several times
over the past season. Re-
grettably, the wrestler from
Elgin went on to win after
WEE BIT O’
IRELAND final chance to watch the
side outside of Pendleton
with a dog and a few horses.
He’ll serve as Bar Director
for Happy Canyon.
“Having the privilege
to serve on the Happy Can-
yon Board with the selected
individuals is an honor,”
Evans said. “They are all
driving in the same direc-
tion to keep the Happy
Canyon Night Show and
Pageant an amazing family
event that everyone wants
to attend. Thank you to all
the volunteers who make
this event a success.”
Hunt will serve as
Court Director for Happy
Canyon, overseeing the
Happy Canyon Princesses.
He has been involved with
Happy Canyon since the
age of 4. Hunt is a financial
advisor for Edward Jones
in Pendleton. He and his
wife, Whitney, have two
children, William, 4, and
Waggoner will serve
as Show Director on the
Board. She is a fourth-
generation Happy Can-
yon Show participant and
Round-Up volunteer, and
a fifth-generation Umatilla
County resident, living in
Pilot Rock. She began vol-
unteering in the Happy
Canyon Show at age 3,
coming out of the trunk.
She and her husband, Allen
– a former Happy Canyon
Show Director and Past
President – have three chil-
dren, Kyle, Kaleigh, and
Riley, all fifth generation
show participants.
The Happy Canyon
Nigh Show and Pageant
takes place each night after
the Pendleton Round-Up,
Sept. 13-16 at 7:45 p.m. For
more information or tickets,
visit www.happycanyon.
com.
Heppner schools
concert rescheduled
for March 15
Armand Larive, a Herm-
iston middle school. These
two victories put Conor
in the semifinals against
The Heppner Elementary and Heppner Junior Senior
an older Elgin wrestler. High School Irish Music Concert has been postponed
This match ended Conor’s until Wednesday, March 15, at 6 p.m. in the Heppner
string of victories with a Elementary gym.
defeat and put Conor in the
consolation bracket. His
next match was against an-
other wrestler from Armand
Larive. This “do or die”
match saw Conor pinning
his opponent in the first
round. This put Conor into
the consolation finals to
determine third and fourth
place, in which he faced a
wrestler from Baker City.
Unfortunately, Conor lost
this match and ended up
with fourth place in the
140-pound bracket. The
good news is that Conor
will be joining Jace in trav-
eling to Woodburn to com-
OTLD to offer
‘Ukalaliens’ workshop
Mustang Jace Coe took second place in regionals, securing
him a spot in the middle school state wrestling championships.
-Photo by Damon Brosnan
a lengthy battle.
Jace Coe competed in
the 125-pound bracket. He
had a banner day in which
he pinned his first three
opponents. His first victim
was from Grant Union, the
second from Ontario and
the third, in the semifinals,
was from Echo. This string
of victories placed Jace in
the finals for the 125-pound
weight class. The finals
match pitted Jace against a
veteran wrestler from Grant
Union. The match ended
with Jace losing by points.
However, the second-place
finish is sending Jace to
the state wrestling finals in
Woodburn on March 11.
The third Mustang
wrestler to compete on Sat-
urday was Conor Brosnan.
Kate Power and Steve Einhorn will bring their Ukalaliens
workshop to Heppner March 11. -Contributed photo
Conor Brosnan of Heppner took fourth in the middle school
regionals to secure a spot in the state wrestling tournament in
Woodburn. -Photo by Damon Brosnan
He, like Jace, had a career
day, pinning his first two
opponents. Conor’s first op-
ponent was from The Dalles
and his second was from
pete in the state wrestling
finals since each weight
class sends the top four
wrestlers.
Community lunch
menu
Heppner Church of the Nazarene volunteers will
serve lunch on Wednesday, March 15, at St. Patrick’s
Senior Center. Lunch will include corned beef and cab-
bage; potatoes, onions and carrots; broccoli salad; black
bread; and cupcakes.
Milk is served at each meal. Suggested donation is
$3.50 per meal. Menu is subject to change.
Ukulele instructors
Kate Power and Steve Ein-
horn will be at Oregon Trail
Library District branches
for “Ukalaliens” workshops
Friday and Saturday, March
10-11. The Heppner work-
shop will be the third of-
fered that weekend, planned
for Saturday, March 11, at
4:30 p.m. (not 4 p.m. as
published last week) at the
OTLD Heppner branch.
These workshops
are structured for adults.
Anyone bringing children
should be prepared to help
them with the instruments.
Thirty instruments will be
available or the public is
invited to bring personal
ukuleles.
A grant from the Mor-
row County Cultural Coali-
tion made these workshops
possible.
Call Kathy Street, 541-
481-3365, with any ques-
tions about the workshops.
Visit the OTLD website at
https://oregontrail.ploud.
net/ for information, or the
Ukalaliens website has ad-
ditional information about
the instructors at http://
www.qualityfolk.com/.
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