A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
SPORTS
Community makes annual booster club steak feed successful
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
Kennison Field was a
huge project in Hermis-
ton last year. While a good
chunk of the money came
from donations, most came
from the Hermiston Sports
Boosters Steak Feed, which
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ence Center.
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like Kennison Stadium, is
just another indication of
the support given by the
community.
“I’ve just been very for-
tunate and blessed to be part
of this group, to be part of
a community that’s so giv-
ing and supportive of these
kids,” he said from Eastside
Market. “It can be hectic
at times getting everything
put together, but it’s fun.
When you see the end re-
sult, you just feel good with
what you’ve done. There’s
so many people that put it
together. You’re just one
piece of the puzzle. It’s
good stuff.”
Tickets have already
sold out for next week’s
dinner, which includes raf-
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and Trail Blazers tickets.
The packages include four
seats, lodging, dinner and a
stipend for gas. Other items
will be auctioned in a live
setting, as well as a silent
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percent of the net proceeds
go directly to the Sports
Boosters to pay for various
things, from an extra coach
to equipment.
Ford Bonney, the own-
er of Hale’s Restaurant in
Hermiston, is the auction-
eer, and he helps coordinate
the dinner because of his
vendor connections. RDO,
Three Mile Canyon Farm-
ing, Columbia Bank, Lamb
Weston, Sherrell Chevrolet
and Rogers Toyota are title
sponsors and donate what-
ever they can to help the
event. Tom Spoo, a local
FFA alumnus, coordinates
the barbecue, and Coca-Co-
la and Budweiser provide
drinks.
This year’s steak feed is
the same format as its been
in recent memory.
The meal, prepared by Spoo
and the FFA alumni, feature
steaks, salads and potatoes.
“You can’t have a meal
in Hermiston without pota-
toes,” Thompson joked.
Reser’s
Foods
are
also a staple in assisting
with food, and Columbia
Pressed Wines also brings
in beverages.
Not only do people con-
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channels of the night — by
winning an auction bid or
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some like to donate private-
ly instead.
“We do have some cash
donors,” Thompson said.
“People who will just
write us a check. We have
that. It’s another part of
the equation where we got
people who want to be in-
volved, just on a quieter
level. They’re not looking
for (recognition) ... They
just want to help. There’s a
lot of great folks who will
do that anonymously or
quietly as possible. Like,
‘You know what? I want to
be help, but don’t need any
big deal.’ ”
Thompson said that
phase two of the Kennison
Field project — building
a grandstand on the north
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planned, but still on hold.
“Nothing right now,”
Thompson said of any proj-
ects. “But there’s always
stuff that comes up. People
have ideas about things.
You never know.”
Thompson said the fund-
raising goal is “always to
do more than last year.”
Last year, the event raised
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was more than half of the
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raised in the calendar year.
“It’s great night. It brings
the community together,
people that have a com-
mon love for athletics and
the kids,” Thompson said.
“It’s kind of a celebration
in way.”
By the sports boosters’
bylaws, the funds are re-
stricted to athletics. Some
funds go to helping student
pay for various fees related
to athletics such as physical
exams, equipment to pay-
to-play fees.
Some of the money also
goes to its adopt-a-dog pro-
gram, which is aimed at
giving students an avenue
to participate in extracurric-
ular activities if they can’t
afford athletics.
GUTIERREZ:
continued from page A9
She had no idea she would
contribute in a complete-
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for her. She felt like she let
her team down. She felt like
she was somehow hurting her
teammates because she was
watching and cheering in-
stead of running and scoring.
During try-outs, she sat
with her back up against the
folded-up bleachers, legs ex-
tended, with her schoolwork
out. Every now and again she
looked longingly out at her
teammates doing what she
wanted to do. It took awhile
for her to accept her role.
Once she did, however,
she was all-in.
“She brings a smile to
practice every day,” Hoffert
said. “She encourages girls
every drill. When she goes in,
she makes the most of it be-
cause she wants it so badly.”
---
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turned to the basketball court
about a month ago, she ad-
mitted she wasn’t the same
player. She couldn’t run as
fast. Her feet wouldn’t coop-
erate. Sometimes she made
“freshman mistakes,” as she
put it.
Her teammates support for
her never wavered, however.
They never stopped encour-
aging, never stopped pass-
ing her the ball. Hoffert was
the same. He never stopped
giving her opportunities and
making sure she was alright.
Two days after her surgery,
with Gutierrez sedated and
stuck in bed, the seventh-year
coach came to visit her to
make sure her knee was
as good as it could be, that
her spirits were up, that she
would come out for the team.
“They were really loving
and caring like a family, just
really supportive,” Gutierrez
said of her team. “I liked that.”
Gutierrez certainly appre-
ciates that Hoffert left an open
spot on the roster for her.
“I was really grateful for
that,” she said. “Because
SAM BARBEE PHOTOS
Hermiston senior Jazmin Gutierrez (30) said she wouldn’t take
back her knee injury because she learned about what it means
to have perspective, be a teammate and live in the moment.
Hermiston senior Jazmin Gutierrez (30) is back playing basketball after suffering a gruesome
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basketball season.
I’ve always looked forward
to being on varsity and com-
peting at this level, and them
just leaving that open for me
without even having to tryout,
I was so grateful.”
Hoffert, in turn, is grate-
ful to have not Gutierrez the
player, but Gutierrez the per-
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coaching, he’s never seen any
high school athlete have the
perspective that she does. He
said she understands that any-
thing a person loves can be
taken away in an instant, like
her senior basketball season,
and that it’s imperative not to
take things for granted.
Her attitude and perspec-
tive has rubbed off on her
teammates — some inten-
tionally, some unintention-
ally — and it’s brought the
VIKINGS:
On top of that, Umatilla
has an advantage in con-
ditioning. During the past
continued from page A9
week practice, Bow has
Viks plan on pressuring run his girls hard. Mon-
Amity’s guards, who have GD\ WKH\ UDQ PLOHV
VKRZQ RQ ¿OP GLI¿FXOW\ along the McNary Dam
handling strong ball pres- trails. Wednesday, they
sure. Umatilla has done a UDQWLPHGPLOHVRQWKH
good job this season of lim- high school track. Umatil-
iting easy post-entry passes la plans to use that advan-
by either strong ball pres- tage heavily on Saturday.
sure or total denies down
“Watching teams (out
low.
west), they are fatigued.
Bows said he plans They are tired at half,”
on letting Aleesha Wat- Bow said. “They’re tired
son, Sidney Webb and in the third quarter, fourth
Kassandra Galbraith run quarter.
The
defense
amok among the Warriors. doesn’t sit anymore. Nys-
team closer together as a
unit. At practice Friday, she
was in the thick of things,
banging in the post, being a
leader, getting some buckets.
Hoffert also doesn’t treat her
any differently. He holds her
accountable the same way he
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Ramirez.
She is also the team’s big-
gest cheerleader.
When Hermiston went
to Lake Oswego in Decem-
ber for the Nike Interstate
Shootout, an opponent of
Hermiston’s would get super
excited after each basket. So
when Hermiston went to La
Grande for its second game
after that tournament, Hoffert
said he wanted that energy
from the bench.
Gutierrez led the charge.
“After that, I was like,
‘Let’s be the heart. Let’s
be the heart when we
can,’ ” she said. “I just feel
like that was (my role).
“I just wanted to encourage
my teammates. I’ve always
encouraged people to do
better and cheered them on,
(but) this season it’s different.
Something’s different with
the team we have. We have a
lot more unity and we’re a lot
more of a team. I don’t want
to say I’m the reason why that
happened, but I feel like with
me being from a different an-
gle I can encourage people in
different ways.”
---
Now, eight months re-
moved from the devastating
injury, the strength in Guti-
errez’s knee has almost fully
returned. She sports a brace
from her shin to her thigh to
keep her knee stable. She said
every now and then she’ll feel
the scar tissue pop, which is
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time that happened she said
she panicked and thought she
had re-injured it, but now she
knows better.
She admits that her skills
have diminished some, which
is to be expected after such a
long layoff, but that doesn’t
matter to her.
“It feels great (to be
back),” she said. “I’m hum-
bled and grateful that I get
this opportunity again. My
doctor told me that most peo-
ple don’t come back because
they’re discouraged and they
don’t want to do it. I took that
as a challenge. I said, ‘Let’s
get after it. I want to play
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and taking it less for granted.”
In Hermiston’s 79-24
win over Hood River Valley,
Gutierrez got some run in the
fourth quarter of the blowout.
The senior got to the free-
throw line and made one of
two, her only points of the
season thus far. She didn’t
get in on senior night, though,
which hurt Hoffert more than
it hurt Gutierrez.
“The game didn’t go how
we thought, (and) she didn’t
an opportunity to play, and I
told her that it bothered me,”
Hoffert said. “It stuck with
me all night. She came to me
and told me ‘It’s OK, coach. I
get it. I’m upset I didn’t get to
play on senior night, but you
sa’s coach told me Amity’s never beat Nyssa back. ton back one time. They (and) easy baskets down
coach had to call timeout They never beat Day- just mostly got put-backs low.”
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fourth quarter just to get
his girls water and breaks.
My kids don’t need that.
We’re ready to roll condi-
tioning-wise.”
Because of their ath-
leticism, Bow expects his
Vikings to have a distinct
advantage today.
“If our legs are strong,
“Climate Change:
and we can shoot the ball,
Impacts to hydrology, fish, wildlife & public health.”
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“Getting up and down the
Facilitated by Jeff Blackwood,
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Member of the Umatilla County Climate Change Focus Group
think they’re going to beat
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Speakers: Kate Day
William Duke
Eastern
Oregon
Mark Kirsch
BULLDOGS:
continued from page A9
ship or consolation bracket.
“When we get beat, it’s
about character,” Williams
said. “We come back and
win. We’ve just got to do our
job in the back door. We’re
gutsy enough to do it.”
“Our whole team is sol-
id,” Colbray said, who won
both of his Friday bouts by
pin. “That’s what counts,
the whole team effort and
not just a couple of front-
runners. I think we have the
heart to pull it off.”
Rodelo exhibited plen-
ty of heart in his 4-2 quar-
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tin Montgomery of South
Albany. After two previ-
ous shots at Montgomery
landed outside of the cir-
cle, a third with 27 second
remaining in the match
landed and resulted in the
bout-deciding takedown.
don’t have to worry about it.
You don’t have to lose sleep
over it anymore.’ So I talked
to the team and told them to
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dled that decision with more
maturity than most adults
would. She never stopped
rooting on her teammates,
and when it came down that
she never got in, she was all
team.”
Gutierrez wonders if the
injury never happened if she
would have understood what
it means to be a teammate in a
tough time. If given the oppor-
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and successfully navigate that
drill without tearing apart her
knee, she said she wouldn’t.
She would go through every-
thing — the surgery, the rehab,
the sitting — again because of
the lessons she learned. Plus,
she said she found her calling
as a physical therapist, some-
thing she might never had
been exposed to had she not
had injured herself.
“It was a learning expe-
rience,” she said. “I don’t
think I would’ve learned as
much about myself as I have
or matured as much as I have
or learned the importance of
(being a teammate).”
“There’s a lot more to life
than basketball, and we get
that from her,” Hoffert add-
ed. “We do want to win. We
do want to be successful, but
there’s more to life than bas-
ketball. She’s going to move
on and be phenomenal in
whatever she does.”
“It usually comes down
to the end,” Rodelo said. “I
take one shot, get one take-
down and I’m good.”
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runner-up to Hermiston
each of the past two years.
Sandy is in third, Hillsboro
fourth.
The Bulldogs will go for
an eighth state title in nine
years today.
Forum
Brenden Haggerty
Tuesday, March 10 th , 2015 at 7:00 p.m.
BMCC, Rm ST-200, 2411 NW Carden Ave., Pendleton
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