A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016
Herald Sports
Power Rankings:
March Edition
Hermiston dominates All-CRC selections
By SAM BARBEE
year, player of the year —
Hermiston got seven spots.
The Columbia River Con- Head coach Steve Hoffert was
ference announced its all- named Coach of the Year after
league teams Tuesday, and leading the Bulldogs to a 21-3
the Hermiston Bulldogs are (9-0) record, sixth straight
strongly represented.
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Seniors Sara Ramirez
ond-teamers, coach of the and Jansen Edmiston are the
Staff Writer
W
hat a long weekend it was, complete
with me forgetting my OSAA
credential in Hermiston on Thursday
and turning a four-hour drive back to Longview
into a six-hour drive that only allowed me to get
three hours of sleep before Friday’s wrestling
action.
Anyway, let’s get into the March Power
Rankings. A lot happened in the shortest month
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look at the February rankings.
1. Hermiston girls basketball; 2. Hermiston
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Without further ado...
Hermiston wrestling: 10th state championship,
four individual champions, nine team titles in
10 years, four straight titles.
The accolades just keep coming for arguably
the most dominant wrestling program in Ore-
gon currently going. There’s a bunch of sidebar
info published in this week’s pa-
per, so I won’t rehash all of it here.
Just know that what Hermiston is
currently doing as a wrestling pro-
gram is historic, and when you re-
alize that three coaches have been
in charge as the Bulldogs romp
through Oregon is even more im-
Sam
pressive. It started with Curt Berg-
Barbee
er, who chose Shawn Williams
FROM THE
SIDELINES
as his replacement, who resigned
this summer and opened the job
for Kyle Larson, who hasn’t missed a beat. It’s
really tough to gauge wrestling because the
structure of the schedule is different, and the
best indication of who the best wrestling team
usually comes at the state tournament. Hermis-
ton dominated and left no doubt. For the next
month, they’re the best here, too.
Hermiston girls basketball: 21-3 (9-0),
OSAA No. 5, unknown opponent in 1st
round of state playoffs
It’s really hard to drop the Bulldogs down.
Really hard. But the wrestling season has com-
pleted, and the basketball teams still have jobs to
do. And it’s no different for these girls. They’ve
won all 12 games in 2016 so far. They’ve aver-
aged 66 points per game during the streak and
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stretch, a difference of 26. They’ve scored 70 or
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lowed more 60 points or more just once during
that time. Their game-opening press isn’t fair,
and their offense has only gotten more balanced
as the year as gone on. Though Jansen Edmis-
ton, Sara Ramirez and Maddy Juul are clearly
the top three options, Hermiston hasn’t relied
on them as heavily as they did earlier in the sea-
son. That fact, more than any other, bodes well
for the Bulldogs with the playoffs starting later
this week.
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OSAA No. 9 district champs, plays Dayton
at South Bend HS on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Perhaps this is my fault, but the Vikings
have been under the radar all season. No, I take
that back. It is my fault. Quietly, the Vikings
made quick work of the 3A Eastern Oregon
League, helped in part by a horde of return-
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sudden and rapid decline of the Vale Vikings.
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lar season games — all coming in the new cal-
endar year — the only loss a surprising 50-37
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olic on Friday, and will get No. 1 seed Dayton
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will have to come to play, but the Vikings are
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cylinders.
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OSAA No. 20, hosts La Salle Prep in play-
in round on Wednesday
At some level, continuing to play when
the regular season ends is a goal of every
team, so when it’s achieved, recognition is
deserved. Hermiston stumbled a bit at times,
dropping three games — La Salle Prep, at
Hood River and at The Dalles — that the
Bulldogs probably should have won. They
know that. They get another shot at the Fal-
cons when they come calling today, and an
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Bulldogs took the court. Tre Neal has provid-
ed energy, strength, toughness and rebound-
ing down low after missing some time with a
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let it down — which is has a tendency to do,
at times — the Bulldogs should beat the Fal-
cons and get into the state playoffs. I wasn’t
impressed with La Salle when they came Jan.
15, and Hermiston played better most of that
game, and even led by double digits at one
points. I expect Hermiston to win. But sports
are magically unpredictable.
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beat Irrigon in a really fun, well-played
basketball game, then the Knights hammer
the Tigers in the district playoffs. It’s that un-
predictability of sports, I suppose. Even so,
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some really fun results — a one-point loss to
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Tony Flores, Ryan Bailey, Thyler Monkus and
Co. — are one of the best high school classes
in terms of athletics I’ve seen. Next year they
should be great. But the word “should” always
scares me.
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co-Players of the Year after
impressive seasons and cru-
cial contributions.
The pair of guards also were
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er Conference selections with
sophomore teammate Maddy
Juul. Kynzee Padilla was the
other Bulldog selection, earn-
ing a second-team nomination.
———
Coach of the Year: Steve Hoffert (HHS)
Player of the Year: Sara Ramirez, Jansen
Edmiston (HHS)
1st Team:
Sara Ramirez (HHS)
Jansen Edmiston (HHS)
Maddy Juul (HHS)
Brooke McCall (T-D)
Kalan McGlothan (PHS)
Iliana Telles (T-D)
2nd Team:
Kynzee Padilla (HHS)
Hailey Greb (PHS)
Marlie Bloomster (HRV)
Lori Cimmiyotti (T-D)
Lauren Richards (PHS)
1
2
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston’s BrocN Mc'onough in blacN pinned 2raslo Lope], of Lebonon, Saturday in the semiÀnal round of the state wrestling
championships in the 170-pound class at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston’s Bob Coleman
(left) wrestles Cavin Gilispie,
of Crater, on his way to as 5A
state wrestling title Saturday at
Veterans Memorial Coliseum in
the 182-pound weight class.
3
5
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston’s Sam Colbray throws -acob 7homson, of Summit, to the mat during the semiÀnal round
Saturday of the state wrestling championship at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. The
victory sent Colbray to the championship round in the 195-pound weight class.
Hermiston’s Andy Wagner
reacts after beating Brawley
Lamer, of Crescent Valley, to
win the 5A wrestling title for
126-pounders Saturday at
Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
HERMISTON WINS 10TH STATE TITLE
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
The Hermiston Bulldogs
wrestling team wrapped up
their 10th team title, ninth in
10 years and fourth-straight
team title at the Veteran’s Me-
morial Coliseum this week-
end in Portland.
Four Bulldogs — Sam
Colbray (195), Andy Wagner
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and Valen Wyse (152) — won
state titles, and three other
Bulldogs, Liam Tarvin (113),
Brock McDonough (170) and
John-Henry Line, each were
runners-up.
“Long season. A lot of
work put in. A lot of sweat,
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year head coach Kyle Larson
said. “(The state title) is the
goal at the beginning of the
year, and you set goals, meet
goals, meet expectations.”
As ever, Colbray was
humble in victory. He didn’t
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even-keeled.
“It’s just another match,
another day, another wres-
tling tournament, another
consecutive year,” he said.
“Just going out there with an
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Andy Wagner right faces off against Cade (]ell, of Churchill, Saturday in the semiÀnal round of
the state wrestling championships in the 5A 126-pound class at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in
Portland. Wagner won the match to reach the Ànals.
arsenal and wrestling how
you know how to wrestle.”
Coleman was equally
humble.
“It feels like a lot of the
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paying off, like all the hard
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ue,” he said. “It’s pretty nice
to know you won Reser’s and
the state tournament. Call it
luck, call it whatever.”
Day one started slowly for
the Bulldogs, but ended in a
crescendo of pins that rocket-
ed the Bulldogs up the stand-
See CHAMPS, A11
