A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2018
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Swim team earns first place in Hood River
HERMISTON HERALD
HOOD RIVER — On Sat-
urday, Hermiston joined nine
other schools, including Pend-
leton, at the Hood River Valley
Invitational.
The Hermiston boys swim team
ran away with first place by more
than a 20-point margin. The Bull-
dogs earned 147 points behind top
finishes from Carson Wrathall and
Ryan Barnard. The pair had top
finishes in their individual races.
Neither girls team cracked the
top three, with Pendleton finishing
in fourth place with 72 points and
Hermiston only scoring 22 points
for ninth.
Overall, Pendleton fell just
outside the top three and finished
in fourth place with 171 points.
Hermiston followed in fifth with
169 points.
Barnard’s success came early
in the 200-yard individual medley.
He finished in 2:11.95, nearly six
seconds faster than the rest of the
field. His top spot earned 14 points
for the team. In his next event, the
100-yard butterfly, he finished in
second place (57.77).
In the 100-yard freestyle,
Wrathall added another 14 points
to the team total when he finished
in 51.71. Like Barnard, he also
claimed second in another indi-
vidual event.
In the 100-yard breaststroke,
Wrathall finished seconds ahead
of a Buckaroo and seconds out of
first place. He earned second in
1:06.06.
The Bulldogs had two other
top-three performances to help
boost them above the competition.
The 200-yard medley relay team
consisting of Wrathall, Barnard,
Seth Buck and Lane Stevenson
finished second out of a field of
10. The boys clocked 1:53.59, just
0.54 seconds shy of first place.
Hermiston’s boys relay teams
continued to impress as the 200-
yard freestyle with the same swim-
mers from the medley relay again
earned the top spot. The Bulldogs
edged out a third place Pendleton
squad and second place La Grande
to take first in 1:38.50.
PREP ROUNDUP
DAWGS SHOW BITE
Hermiston opens league
strong with two straight
HERMISTON HERALD
THE DALLES — On Fri-
day, the Hermiston Bulldogs
were on the road for their first
league game, and with it came
their biggest victory of the
season.
Hermiston has won three
consecutive games and sit at
5-11 on the season, and now
1-0 in the Columbia River
Conference.
Up 44-21 at the half, the
Bulldogs maintained their lead
to put the Riverhawks (6-9
overall, 0-1 CRC) at bay.
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
I
f you ask the Hermiston boys
basketball team about the losing
skid that started late December
and chased them into the new
year, they just brush it off.
It started with a win on Tuesday
against La Grande.
Turnovers and missed opportuni-
ties hurt Hermiston during its first out-
ing versus the Tigers, but a cleaner
performance at home gave the Bull-
dogs the advantage for the entire game
and ultimately a 68-64 win.
Junior Andrew James stepped in
for an injured Jordan Ramirez, who is
suffering from a hamstring injury, and
aided in Hermiston’s efforts to go up
14-10 at the half.
James didn’t record any points on
the night, but his selfless play and help
moving the ball led to the Bulldogs
opening the game with three consecu-
tive 3-pointers and a total of 11 by the
end of the night.
Cesar Ortiz has been a reliable
shooter behind the arc for Hermiston,
but it was Cole Smith who got things
started for the Bulldogs with the first
3-point of the night. Ortiz led the team
with 29 points, while Smith was the
only other player to hit double digits
with 11.
The Tigers struggled to get any-
thing going in the opening eight min-
utes. Their first basket was a free throw
from GT Blackman, who finished with
15 points, but that was nearly three
minutes into the game.
La Grande’s top scorer Kaden
Chandler was just one of three play-
ers to score in the first quarter for
the Tigers. Chandler finished with 20
points, 14 of which were in the second
half.
It would take La Grande nearly two
full quarters to finally find its rhythm.
The Tigers went on 9-2 run to cut
their deficit to only five points going
into the break. Hermiston had a tight
grip on its 28-23 lead, something they
weren’t able to come by so quickly on
the road against La Grande.
The two teams traded buckets in
the third quarter, but the Tigers never
quite got within reach. It was only
after another short run capped off by
Cade Reed dishing in the layup as time
expired that La Grande was back in it.
“I was about ready to sit down, I
thought we’d have a 10 point lead and
stretch it to 12 but they play hard,”
coach Casey Arstein said.
See DAWGS, A11
Hermiston
girls win first
league game
STAFF PHOTOS BY KATHY ANEY
Andrew Earl, of Hermiston, drives to the basket during Tuesday’s game against La Grande
at the Dawg House.
IRRIGON 32, NYSSA 28
— The Irrigon girls basketball
team had a quick turnaround
this weekend. The Knights
were coming off a 56-49 loss
Friday, and hosted Nyssa for its
second home game in as many
days.
However, Saturday’s out-
come favored the Knights as
they defeated the Bulldogs
32-28.
“We finally caught Nyssa
in the fourth quarter, hit a cou-
ple big shots, and made 7-of-
10 free throws to pull out a big
win for us,” head coach Mike
Royer said.
Senior Jada Burns led the
Knights’ efforts, and scored a
game-high 12 points. Fellow
senior Taylor Davis was three
points shy of a double-double,
as she grabbed 12 rebounds and
finished with seven points. To
go along with Burns’ team-best
shooting, she also notched five
steals and two assists.
Leading Nyssa (8-8 overall,
2-2 Eastern Oregon League)
was sophomore Britain Hartley
with nine points.
Next, Irrigon (14-3, 3-2)
will travel to Riverside for a 6
p.m. matchup with the Pirates
on Tuesday.
———
NHS
7 8
6
7 — 28
IHS
4 6
8 14 — 32
NYSSA — B. Hartley 9, A. Arredondo, A.
Hernandez 7, B. Arredondo 3, B. Trujillo 1.
IRRIGON — J. Burns 12, T. Davis 7, B. Rice 5,
A. Zacarias 4, N. Romero 4.
3-pointers — NHS 3, IHS 1. Free throws —
NHS 5-12, IHS 9-16.
Hermiston’s Ryne Andreason shovels a
pass to a teammate Tuesday against La
Grande at the Dawg House.
Hermiston’s Andrew James (15) gets
tangled up with a La Grande player
Tuesday at the Dawg House.
HELIX 51, ECHO 33 —
For the second consecutive
day, Helix earned a victory
over a league opponent. On
Friday, the Grizzlies grinded
out a 21-point win and Satur-
day at Echo, Helix defeated the
Cougars 51-33.
Senior Emma Fehrenbacker
See ROUNDUP, A11
Echo wins division, Hermiston misses top-15
Riverside finishes in
third after spending
day in Heppner
HERMISTON HERALD
HILLSBORO — At the Reser’s
Tournament of Champions, one of
the biggest events on the calendar
for Oregon wrestlers, Hermiston is
sitting in 17th place.
Two wrestlers remain unbeaten
and in the winner’s bracket after
the first day of competition.
Adrian Villareal (22-8) won his
first three matches of the tourna-
ment in the 138-pound division.
He won by major decision over
Crook County’s Tyler Fioravanti
14-2 in the quarterfinals to remain
undefeated and move on. In the
semifinals Saturday, he will face
Brandon Gibson of North Marion.
In the 285 pound division, Beau
Blake (22-6) got two wins after a
first-round bye, defeating Ashten
Brecht of Dallas by a 3-1 deci-
sion in the quarterfinal. He has
scored 11 points for the Hermis-
ton team, and has the opportunity
to earn more when he faces off
Saturday against Tristan Osborn of
Newburg.
Other Bulldogs who won mul-
tiple matches including Ruben
Madrigal in the 106-pound divi-
sion, Gage Shipley at 120 pounds,
Adrian Tuia at 145, and Joey Guti-
errez at 195.
Hermiston has 49 points thus
far with the opportunity to score
more. But Crook County has more
than doubled the Bulldogs already
and sits at 105 points after Friday.
On Saturday Hermiston jumped
one spot in the standings to fin-
ish in 16th place at the Liberty
Invitational.
In the final day of competition,
four Bulldogs placed with Villar-
real having the team’s best finish
after earning fourth place in the
138-pound weight class.
Villarreal made it to the semi-
final match before North Mari-
on’s Brandon Gibson won by a 5-3
decision to knock him into the con-
solation bracket.
After defeated Jack Evans of
Newberg when a 7-3 decision
went his way, Villarreal wrestled
West Linn’s Cael Brunson for third
place. Brunson won in sudden vic-
tory-1 over Villarreal (5-3).
Blake finished in third place
after a sudden victory went his
way.
Blake was defeated by New-
berg’s Tristan Osborn (Dec. 3-2) to
move into the consolation semifi-
nals. There he won by fall in just
47 seconds. He then faced Liber-
ty’s Dylan Thygersen and won 3-1
to claim the Bulldogs’ only third
place finish.
Madrigal and Gutierrez fin-
ished in sixth place. Madrigal was
pinned by Micah Worthington of
Newberg in 2:21, and Milwaukie’s
See WRESTLING, A11
SCHEDULE
Local slate
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Thursday
Umatilla at Irrigon, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Stanfield at Pilot Rock, 6 p.m.
Hermiston at Hood River Valley, 7 p.m.
Pine Eagle at Echo, 7 p.m.
Riverside at Umatilla, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Echo at Joseph, 5 p.m.
Heppner at Stanfield, 5:30 p.m.
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Thursday
Umatilla at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Friday
Pine Eagle at Echo, 5:30 p.m.
Riverside at Umatilla, 6 p.m.
Hood River Valley at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Stanfield at Pilot Rock, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Heppner at Stanfield, 4 p.m.
Echo at Joseph, 4 p.m.
PREP WRESTLING
Wednesday
Hood River Valley at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Echo at New Plymouth Invite (ID), TBD
Heppner at Pine Eagle Invitational, TBD
Hermiston, Irrigon, Riverside at Hermiston, TBD
PREP SWIMMING
Saturday
Hermiston, Pendleton at La Grande, TBD