Mustangs finish fifth in state
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Caden George shoots
during the game against the
Pioneers. -Photo by Tylynn
Cimmiyotti
saw the Mustangs only cut
into the lead by a point and
as the fourth quarter started
the Mustangs trailed 31-28.
The Mustangs turned up
the defensive pressure in
the final quarter and took
the lead in the game 32-31
two minutes into the fourth.
A three-pointer by Caden
George took the lead to
35-31 and that score lasted
until the two-minute mark.
Mannahouse scored to cut
the lead to 35-34 with only
a minute to play. Heppner
scored another basket and
then made several clutch
free throws at the end to
seal the victory 41-34.
Caden George led the
Mustangs in scoring with
14. He also had six re-
bounds in the game. Tuck-
er Ashbeck had another
double-double, scoring 11
points and 12 rebounds.
David Cribbs scored seven
points and had eight re-
bounds. Landon Mitchell
finished with three points
and Trevor Nichols had two
points and six rebounds.
Next up for the Mus-
tangs was a semifinal
matchup with the defending
2A champions, the Western
Christian Pioneers. Hep-
pner trailed after the first
quarter 10-7 and 23-16 at
halftime. Heppner got two
three-pointers from Nichols
to pull to within one point
twice early in the third quar-
ter, and then a basket by
Ashbeck gave the Mustangs
the lead 26-25 with five
minutes left in the quarter.
A push by the Mustangs
saw them lead 33-28 with
1:38 to play in the third. A
pair of three-pointers by the
Pioneers gave them 34-33
at the end of the quarter.
The Mustangs outscored
the Pioneers 17-11 in the
County transit hits speed bump
-Continued from PAGE ONE
David Cribbs goes up
against a Pioneer on his way
to the net. -Photo by Tylynn
Cimmiyotti
quarter. The fourth period
went back and forth and
saw the Pioneers take a six-
point lead half way through
the quarter. Heppner fought
back to close the gap but
couldn’t get the score any
closer and lost the game by
the score of 43-38.
Ashbeck recorded an-
other double-double for the
team with 12 points and 11
rebounds. Cribbs and Nich-
ols each scored nine points
in the game, and Cribbs had
five rebounds. Mitchell and
Cameron Proudfoot each
scored three points, with
Tucker Ashbeck is blocked
by a Pioneer player as he
goes for the hoop. -Photo by
Tylynn Cimmiyotti
the final score of the game
was 65-30.
Cribbs led the team
in scoring with 14. He also
had six rebounds in the
game. Ashbeck had eight
points and hauled down 13
rebounds for the Mustangs.
Mitchell scored five and
Nichols finished with three.
It was a tremendous
season for the team. They
finished with a 21-7 record
and a fifth-place trophy
at the state tournament.
They brought home the
sportsmanship trophy and
made Heppner High School
Three Heppner boys accept the sportsmanship trophy on be-
half of the Mustangs. L-R: Caden George, Tucker Ashbeck
and David Cribbs. -Contributed photo
Mitchell also having four
rebounds. George scored
two points and had four
assists for the team.
With a loss in the
semi-final game, the Mus-
tangs were set to play the
Kennedy Trojans in the
third/fifth-place game on
Saturday. Kennedy came
out firing and hitting their
shots early in the contest.
The Trojans led 20-5 after
the first quarter and 37-17
at the half. The Heppner
team never quit or gave up
as they battled the entire
game. Heppner trailed 51-
26 at the end of three and
and the entire community
very proud of them. Also
recognized individually
were Tucker Ashbeck and
Landon Mitchell, who were
both selected to the all-tour-
nament second team. The
award is voted on by the
other coaches in the tour-
nament.
The team will lose three
seniors from this year’s
team—Tucker Ashbeck,
David Cribbs and Trevor
Nichols. They will certainly
be missed on the court and
in the locker room. The
Mustang basketball team
will return eight members
of this team for next year.
Junior high wrestlers end season strong
Martin and Tarvin place second at regionals
Irellynn Tarvin tries to break
Shane Angelikas prepares to
the hold of oppenent.
spar with Dante Martinez of
The Heppner junior The Dalles
high wrestlers finished their
season strong at the 2023
Eastern Oregon Middle
School Regional Champi-
onship at Riverside High
School March 4. Lady Mus-
tangs Zariah Martin and Ire-
llynn Tarvin both excelled,
securing second place in
their weight classes.
Zariah Martin, who
wrestled in the 110 girls
weight bracket, received a
bye in her round one and
quarterfinal rounds. She
won by fall over Reyna
Miranda of Nyssa in a semi-
final match that lasted less
than a minute, before losing
by fall to Avrey Robinson of
La Grande in a hard-fought
final match.
Wr e s t l i n g i n t h e
160-pound girls bracket
was Irellynn Tarvin. She
lost her round one match by
fall to Kate Norton of Bak-
er, but rallied to win by fall
over Hazel Nuxall of Jo-
seph and Marely Diaz-Ure-
ta of Milton Freewater in
two quick rounds to secure
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 8, 2023 -- SEVEN
her second-place slot.
Also wrestling for the
Mustang girls were Emi-
llia Cavan-Harris at 125
pounds and Laila Jones at
220 pounds. Cavan-Harris
made it to the consolation
semifinals before losing
by major decision to Averi
Fisher of Echo. Jones re-
ceived a bye on her first two
consolation rounds before
falling in the consolation
semifinals to Grace Aufder-
mauer of Umatilla.
In the boys’ side of the
regional tournament, Hep-
pner was represented by
several strong junior high
wrestlers but fell short of a
spot on the podium.
Kayden Hudson, 95
pounds, lost his quarterfi-
nal match but made it to
consolation round three
before losing by decision
to Sebastian Tejada Garza
of Hermiston.
Lincoln Ellsworth, 102
pounds, lost championship
round one in sudden victory
but then scorched his way
Laila Jones locks up with
oppenent to start the match.
through the consolation
rounds before losing by
decision to Kallen Blakely
of La Grande in the conso-
lation semifinals.
Shane Angelakis, 175
pounds, made it through the
quarterfinal match before
losing by fall in the semi-
final and by sudden victory
to Dante Martinez of The
Dalles in the consolation
semifinal round.
Elijah Quilter, 195
pounds, lost his round one
match but then wrestled his
way through the consola-
tion rounds before losing by
fall to Jaime Zarco-Ramirez
of Echo in the consolation
semifinal.
Also wrestling for Hep-
pner were Brody McDaniel
and Quaid Jensen, both in
the 125-pound bracket; Joe
McMasters at 140 pounds;
Haden Cimmiyotti at 150
pounds; Mason Seitz at 160
pounds; Kooper Miller at
195 pounds; and Tyler Rice
at 220 pounds.
on additional requirements.
“To apply, we’re going
to have to move forward
with a plan, and what all
that entails, I don’t know
yet,” said Tucker.
Ducote said he saw a
couple of options. First,
the county could develop
a transition plan over the
next six months so it will
be ready when this grant
opportunity comes around
again. Another option was
that he and Tucker could try
to put together a one-page
summary of some ideas at
this point.
“But it seems like a lot
to spit-ball that at this meet-
ing before even a second
meeting” he said, “but if
we had something we could
submit, we could at least
buy ourselves some more
time to work on it further.”
He said if that wasn’t
possible, he is also working
on a congressional grant for
the transit center, and he
could switch that up and
ask for the 90 percent from
Congress.
“We can at least see
what happens. It won’t be
a total dead-in-the-water
moment,” said Ducote.
Current plans for Mor-
row County transit include
a fixed-route loop with-
in Boardman and a fixed
Heppner-Boardman con-
nector. Connector routes
to Hermiston, Pendleton
and the Tri-Cities would be
contracted with Kayak.
“With that, is there
maybe an opportunity to
go through Kayak and see
what they have done for
their green, zero-emis-
sions, so we can mirror off
of that?” asked Morrow
County Commissioner Roy
Drago.
Tucker said he could
reach out to Kayak for that
information.
Drago also asked if the
Heppner-Boardman con-
nector would need to have
a bus at both ends, because
an electric bus might not be
able to make it both ways
on a single charge.
“If you could use that
against the low emissions,
zero emissions, and maybe
take it to a low emission
with a diesel hybrid?” Dra-
go asked.
Tucker said that had
been part of the discussion
between he and Ducote, and
that he would love to test an
electric bus on that route.
“Because nor do I be-
lieve it would make it,”
Tucker said. “And we’re
talking about three to four
times a day, making that cir-
cle. What is the feasibility
and how effective is that?”
“And I’m just hoping
we can use that as lever-
age, getting away from a
no-emission to a low-emis-
sion,” replied Drago.
After some discussion,
the board voted unani-
mously to have Tucker and
Ducote proceed with the
application they had with
an addendum to fulfill the
additional emissions-plan
requirement.
“I personally would
be comfortable with ap-
proving what’s here and
you guys supplementing
with whatever you think
meets the requirements for
your application to be even
looked at,” said Morrow
County Commissioner Jeff
Wenholz. “That’s my take-
away; if you don’t have
something, they’re just
going to round file it.”
The board also voted to
have Ducote move forward
with a grant application for
Congressional funds for the
transit project.
Also on the topic of
transit, the board of com-
missioners approved an
easement request by the
city of Boardman for land
owned by the county.
The county purchased the
Boardman lots, located on
Columbia Ave., for The
Loop transit facility proj-
ect discussed earlier in the
meeting.
The city is requesting
an easement for sidewalk
construction along Colum-
bia. The City of Boardman
had previously approached
the board about the ease-
ment, but there was concern
over whether the city’s
plans would mesh with
the county’s plans for the
property.
Tucker and former tran-
sit manager Katie Imes met
with the City of Boardman
regarding the proposed
easement on lots 300 and
400 and Tucker said they
reached an agreement.
“After we were all able
to sit down in a room and
look at the maps, look at
the overlay, talk with the
planner about how our con-
struction project would
impact that area,” Tucker
said, “we determined that
the sidewalk construction
project would be beneficial
to both the city and public
transit construction.”
Tucker did say they had
further discussion on the
access, because the city’s
plans had requirements
that would not necessarily
be possible for the way the
easement was written. A
new access was drafted, and
Morrow County Counsel
Justin Nelson has already
looked it over.
The board voted unan-
imously to go with the rec-
ommendation and approve
the easement.
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