Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 16, 2022 -- SEVEN
Mustang wrestlers third in Pine Eagle
Invitational tournament
Brown (126-lbs), Conor
Brosnan (182-lbs) and
Cade Cunningham (195-
lbs), went undefeated into
the championship semifi-
nals of their weight class.
Brown faced a two-time
state championship in the
semifinal bout and was the
only one of
the four to not
successfully
advance to the
finals. Brown
went on to fin-
ish in fourth
place with a
2-2 record for
Above- Kylie Holden working to escape
the
tourna-
from Imbler wrestler
ment.
Below- Zac Brown with takedown of
W a i t e
Nampa Christian wrestler
pinned all his
-Photos by Damon Brosnan
opponents he
faced for the
day and started
the Mustangs’
roll through
the champi-
onships, fin-
ishing off his
Jo-Hi oppo-
nent in 1:54.
Brosnan like-
Four out of the eight wise pinned his way to
Heppner wrestlers, Roen the championship and was
Waite
(120-lbs),
Zac on his way to pinning his
Colt Basketball is
back
The Heppner wres-
tling team traveled to Half-
way, Oregon to compete in
the Pine Eagle Invitation-
al, their last regular season
tournament for the 2021-
2022 year. The Mustangs
as a team placed third out
of 13 teams.
The three Gold Medal winners at the Pine Eagle tourna-
ment: Roen Waite, Conor Brosnan and Cade Cunningham
Grant Union opponent in
the final’s bout when he
was awarded the champi-
onship via injury default.
Cunningham
continued
the Heppner dominance
with an 18-1 technical fall
over his Enterprise oppo-
nent. All three stood atop
the podium to add another
gold medal to their sea-
son’s accomplishments.
Ty Boor wrestled up
a weight class to 160-lbs
and went 2-2 for the day,
placing fifth.
Edward
Ellsworth scored team
points at 152-lbs by win-
ning his first match by fall.
Nathan Ellsworth placed
sixth at 220-lbs. Kylie
Holden also competed for
the Mustangs in the boys’
tournament as no girl’s
brackets were available.
The Heppner wres-
tling team will next com-
pete in the Special District
4 championships in Adri-
an on February 19. The
top two finishers in each
weight class are guaran-
teed a ticket to the state
championship tournament
while the third placers en-
ter a pool for one of the
three wild card entries
awarded from the four dis-
tricts.
Colt basketball Champions, the Ducks
Colt basketball is
back. This year over 50
second through sixth grad-
ers from Heppner Elemen-
tary participated in Colt
Basketball.
Students were split
up into six teams. The
team names were Beavers,
Ducks, Cougars, Bruins,
Bears, and Huskies. This
year the season lasted six
weeks. Each Sunday teams
would play two games and
the season finished with a
single elimination tourna-
ment on February 13.
The Ducks took home
the trophy for the 2022
season. Pictured are the
ducks with their trophies.
Top row (L-R): Coach
Josh Coiner, Joel Wilson,
Addie Coe, Jace Wilson,
Khloe Rodriguez, Paisley
Cutsforth, and coach Jero-
my Wilson; Front row (L-
R), Harper Coiner, Kather-
ine Knowles, Logan Rice,
Leo Ashbeck and Jaiden
Macias.
“All the teams played
amazingly, had fun, and
learned a lot,” a spokes-
person commented. “The
coaches were very proud
of how hard the teams
played and can’t wait for
next year.”
Mustang Boys Lock Up Number One Seed at Districts
Lady Mustangs also win two games and earn last spot in Districts
Heppner senior basketball players were honored Saturday vs Pilot Rock, Picture L-R; Cody
Fletcher and his parents Andrea and Andy, Brian Lindsay and his parents Kim and Barney,
ZaBrena Masterson and her parents Betty Joe and Mike, Hannah Finch and her parents
Julia and Tripp, Kason Cimmiyotti and his parents Tylynn and Jeremy, Derrick Smith and
his parents Melanie and Rick, Joe Sherman and his parents Donna and Andy, Brock Hisler
and his parents Stephanie and Shawn, and Blake Carter and his parents Kim and Scott. -
Photo by Susan Hisler
By: Blake Carter
With the postseason
looming, the Heppner
basketball teams played
two final regular season
games this weekend. Hep-
pner traveled to Athena to
battle the TigerScots, and
then had the opportuni-
ty to host one last home
game after four games on
the road. These two games
were monumental to both
squads. With two wins,
the Lady Mustangs would
have the Opportunity to
compete at the district
tournament this weekend.
The Mustang boys looked
to lock up the regular sea-
son district title against
two scrappy teams.
First task on the week-
end was a tough road test
in Weston-McEwen, the
girls team faced a squad
who is currently battling
for the last spot in districts.
Both the Lady Mustangs,
and Lady TigerScots sat at
two wins, and needed this
victory to be able to fight
for a spot in Pendleton at
the district tournament.
Heppner pulled out a huge
victory, 40-26. Heppner
put together a very com-
plete game, a strong press
at the beginning of the
game frustrated the Tiger-
Scots. An early lead was
built, the Mustangs gained
the early six-point advan-
tage. A 12-2 second quar-
ter broke the game wide
open. Heppner would
maintain that lead for the
rest of the game as Weston
couldn’t close the gap.
Girls Stats vs WM;
Hannah Finch, one point;
Zandra Masterson, 12
points; Hadlie Nation, 10
points; Brook Wilson, four
points; ZaBrena Master-
son, six points; Hallee His-
ler, seven points.
The boys team faced a
TigerScot Squad who just
lost to Union on Tuesday.
With that crushing defeat,
the TigerScots are trying
to preserve a fourth-place
spot at districts. Heppner
on the other hand is look-
ing to lock up that num-
ber one seed in districts,
and a playoff berth. Hep-
pner held off a late push
to grab a 68-61 victory.
Heppner fell behind early,
as Weston was feeding into
their home crowd. Hep-
pner would battle back and
keep the game neck and
neck headed into halftime.
Heppner began to take the
game over in the second
half, extending the lead out
to 59-40. Weston turned on
the jets late as they quick-
ly got the game down to
59-50. Heppner would
trade buckets and push the
lead out to 64-53. Weston
wasn’t done yet though;
another strong run brought
the contest to within three
points at 64-61. Heppner
would get some late free
throws and a couple solid
stops to hold off a hungry
TigerScot squad.
Saturday was a heavy
day for all of the Mustang
Basketball players. Hep-
pner said farewell to nine
seniors across both teams,
two girls, and seven boys.
Although this wasn’t the
end of their season, it was
possibly the last time these
seniors would play at home
with their crowd behind
them. The Mustangs would
play with their hearts as the
Lady Mustangs dominated
all night long in a 53-26
win. Heppner put together
one of their most complete
games to date, hot shooting
in the first quarter built the
Mustangs an early lead.
The press was working
once again as Pilot Rock
struggled to sustain any
offensive rhythm. Hep-
pner built a 16-point lead
at halftime, and only grew
that lead in the second half.
Girls’ stats vs PR;
Hannah Finch, five points;
Zandra Masterson, eight
points; Hadlie Nation,
eight points; Brook Wil-
son, six points; ZaBre-
na Masterson, 13 points;
Hallee Hisler, four points;
Morgan Cutsforth, five
points; Hailey Wenberg,
four points.
The Mustang boys
looked strong in a 77-35
win and clinched the Blue
Mountain Conference reg-
ular season title. Heppner
started hot, using a big
24-9 first quarter. Heppner
continued to shut down
the Rocket attack as they
held the Rockets to just 17
points in the first half as
Heppner built a 22-point
lead at the half. Another
24-point quarter blew the
game wide open as Hep-
pner dominated in a blow-
out win. Kason Cimmi-
yotti scored 20 points on
the night as the Mustang
seniors combined for 53
points.
Boys stats vs PR;
Tucker Ashbeck, seven
points, two rebounds, one
steal; David Cribbs, five
points; Trevor Nichols,
three points, one rebound;
Caden
George,
three
points; Landon Mitchell,
six points, two steals; Der-
rick Smith, three points,
one steal, one block; Ka-
son Cimmiyotti, 20 points;
Blake Carter, nine points,
one assist, two rebounds;
Cody Fletcher, five points,
two rebounds; Brock His-
ler, eight points, one assist,
one rebound, one steal; Joe
Sherman, six points, two
assist, two rebounds, four
steals; Brain Lindsay, two
points, two rebounds.
The district tourna-
ment is now set, and we of-
ficially have a bracket. The
district tournament is set
up in this manner, on Fri-
day the number two, and
three seeds will compete
with the winner advancing
to the championship game
with the number one seed.
The number four, and five
seeds will also compete
on Friday, with the win-
ner facing the loser of the
number two, and three seed
game. This matchup will
be for third place, the los-
er of the four and five seed
game will go home empty
handed. On Saturday the
event will open up with
the third-place games, be-
fore shifting to the district
championships. However,
with there being ties in
the league standings, there
will be one game played
for seeding purposes on
Tuesday.
The girls bracket
shakes out like this. On
Friday at 2:45 PM; num-
ber three seeded Enter-
prise Outlaws vs number
two seeded Stanfield Ti-
gers (game two), Friday
at 7:45 PM; number four
seeded Grant Union Pros-
pectors vs number five
seeded Heppner Mustangs
(game four); Saturday at
2:45 PM; Winner of game
four vs the Loser of game
two; DISTRICT CHAM-
PIONSHIP, Saturday at
7:45 PM; the winner of
game number two vs the
Number one Seeded Union
Bobcats.
The boys bracket lines
up like this. On Friday at
1PM; number three seeded
Union Bobcats vs num-
ber two seeded Stanfield
Tigers (game one), Fri-
day at 6 PM; number four
seeded Weston McEwen
TigerScots vs the winner
of Tuesday's play-in game
between Pilot Rock and
Grant Union (game three);
Saturday at 1PM; Winner
of game three vs the Loser
of game one; DISTRICT
CHAMPIONSHIP, Satur-
day at 6PM; the winner of
game number one vs the
Number one Seeded Hep-
pner Mustangs.
Both the boys, and
girls district champions
will host a first-round play-
off game, the second-place
finisher will play in the
state playoffs however a
home game is not guaran-
teed.
Good Luck to all the
teams competing this
weekend and we hope to
see the Pendleton Con-
vention Center covered in
Mustang blue and gold!
Lott’s Fitness Center opening
soon
By Hanna Finch
You may remember
back in May of 2020 when
the antique Green’s Feed
Store sign was uncovered
at Lott’s. It's been near-
ly two years and the con-
struction in that area is
finally coming to a close,
presenting what will soon
be Lott’s Fitness Center.
Here, you’ll be able to
work out and hire a person-
al trainer. There will also
be fitness classes hosted
in the Gilliam and Bisbee
Building through Lott’s as
well.
“We’ll have a lot of
different equipment: both
cardio and strength train-
ing,” says Katie Siri, direc-
tor of Heppner Community
Foundation. Siri says there
will be two ellipticals,
treadmills and recumbent
bikes, as well as weight
training equipment. There
will also be a stretching
space, complete with mir-
rors and bars.
“When the Howard
and Beth Bryant Founda-
tion started, everyone kept
telling me that we need-
ed a fitness center,” says
Kim Cutsforth, president
of Willow Creek Valley
Economic Development
Group and manager of the
project. “For years, we’ve
been told we should invest
in one.”
Cutsforth admits that
there have been many hic-
cups along the way. When
the Heppner Communi-
ty Foundation bought the
building on Main Street
A sneak peek at the interior of the new fitness center.
from Lott’s, they quickly
set to remodeling, only to
discover that the building
was actually a barn.
“Nobody knew. There
were no studs in the walls,
no foundation… It was
crazy. We had to tear it
down and rebuild it.”
Along with this, Covid
has hindered the process
that was originally sup-
posed to take a short six
months, but has now been
a project that has been on-
going for more than a year.
With spring right around
the corner, the finishing
touches are finally under-
way.
To be able to use the
gym, you will need a mem-
bership. There will be a
door system put into place
that utilizes an app called
Glofox on your phone,
so that only those with a
membership will be able to
enter. You can sign up for
membership and classes
within the app, and there
will also be a phone num-
ber designated for people
to call if they would prefer.
Regular membership
is 30 dollars per month and
300 dollars per year. By
paying for the yearly mem-
bership, you would save
60 dollars, or two months’
worth of membership.
There will be a discount
for students and first re-
sponders. It is important to
note that membership does
not include any classes.
“We’ve opened the
gym to any personal train-
ers in town that would like
to utilize the facility with
clients,” Siri says. “We’re
partnering with some train-
ers and are looking for in-
structors that are interested
in hosting fitness classes.”
Shelby Matthews will be
managing Lott’s Fitness
Center once it opens, and
there are plans to have an
open house once the center
opens in the spring. If you
are interested in hosting a
fitness class or have any
questions, you can contact
Katie Siri at (503) 504-
8508