A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Herald Sports
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Hermiston swim team defends district title
HERMISTON HERALD
HOOD RIVER — For the sec-
ond straight year, the Hermiston
boys swim team claimed the dis-
trict title behind four top finishes
and 83 total points.
Junior Ryan Barnard earned first
in the 200-yard individual med-
ley (2:05.08), beating out second
place Hood River Valley (HRV) by
nearly 15 seconds.
Senior Carson Wrathall won
individual district titles in two
events. First, the 100-yard free-
style where he clocked 49.92 —
and was the only swimmer to go
sub-50.
In his next individual event,
the 100-yard breaststroke, Wrath-
all swam 1:03.04 to edge out HRV
and fellow Bulldog junior Seth
Buck, who earned a third place fin-
ish (1:10.10).
Barnard, Wrathall and Buck
were joined by junior Lane Steven-
son in the 200-yard freestyle relay
that won first place in 1:36.57.
Pendleton’s boys 200-yard free
relay team was close behind and
finished second in 1:40.96.
The same group of four Bull-
dogs also competed in the 200-yard
medley relay, where they earned a
second place finish (1:49.00).
Other second place Hermiston
swimmers included sophomore
Preston Strong, who finished the
200-yard free in 2:18.05 and once
again, Barnard, who earned second
(55.65) in one of his other individ-
ual events — the 100-yard fly.
The Bulldogs narrowly defeated
second-place HRV, which finished
with 79 points, and Pendleton fol-
lowed with 76.
The Bucks had top finishes
from senior Shane Miltenberger in
both of his individual events.
In the 200-yard free, he out
swam Hermiston’s Preston by
nearly 20 seconds to win first in
1:58.27. Next, in the 100-yard free,
he claimed the top spot by clock-
ing 5:19.8.
Seniors Rylan Headley and
Matt Larsen and freshman Mat-
thew Miltenberger, along with the
200-yard free relay and 400-yard
free relay all earned second place
finishes.
The Buckaroos’ girls team fared
better at the district tournament,
and claimed second place with 94
points.
Juniors Landry Huth and Elis-
abeth House and freshman Kyn-
dra Nelson all finished first in their
respective individual events.
Nelson, House, Huth and senior
Abby Williams made up the 200-
yard free relay team that finished
first in 1:49.70.
For the Hermiston girls, fresh-
man Georgia Stevenson had the
best outing. She won first place in
RIVALRY SKID SNAPPED
Ortiz helps Hermiston
stay in league title hunt
———
Team Results
1. Hood River Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
2. Pendleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
3. Hermiston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4. The Dalles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Girls Results
1. Hood River Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
2. Pendleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3. Hermiston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4. The Dalles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Boys results
1. Hermiston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
2. Hood River Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3. Pendleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
4. The Dalles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Two Bulldogs
win individual
titles at districts
HERMISTON HERALD
By ERIC SINGER
STAFF WRITER
ENDLETON — As a first-
year varsity player last
season, Hermiston’s Cesar
Ortiz carved out a role as a
streaky, but lethal, 3-point shooter
off the bench.
As a junior this year, Ortiz has
worked to develop more aspects of
his game and get away from being a
one-dimensional player. He flashed
the growth of his game during
Friday’s matchup with Pendle-
ton, working for rebounds in the
post, driving to the hoop to create
offense, and showing quicker feet
on defense to help slow down a tal-
ented Pendleton offense.
However, Ortiz’s lethal shooting
touch from behind the arc is still
there, too, which he used to knock
down four key 3-pointers and score
a team-high 18 points to help his
Bulldogs knock off the Buckaroos
66-55 in front of a packed house
at Pendleton’s Warberg Court. The
victory snapped a five-game skid
in the rivalry series for Hermiston
dating back to 2016, and keeps the
Bulldogs in the hunt for a confer-
ence title.
“This feels really good,” Ortiz
said of the victory. “We came in
prepared and I thought we played
very well.”
The Bulldogs (9-11 overall,
4-2 Columbia River Conference)
trailed 19-16 at the end of a fast-
paced first quarter, and midway
through the second, the momentum
was starting to swing in the Bucka-
roos’ favor with a 27-21 lead.
However, two quick buckets
from Patrick Wicks had the Bull-
dogs right back in the game and
then a 3-pointer and made free
throw from Ortiz put the Dawgs on
top 32-31 at the break.
P
See BOYS, A11
the 100-yard backstroke by clock-
ing 1:10.14, and second in the 200-
yard freestyle (2:25.24).
Fellow freshman Abigail Sha-
ron also earned second in the 500-
yard freestyle, finishing in 6:29.10.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston’s Patrick Wicks (20) looks to dish off to a teammate as Tyler Newsome, of Pendleton,
defends during Friday’s game at Warberg Court.
REDMOND — Hermiston fin-
ished in third place, won two indi-
vidual titles and will send eight
wrestlers to state after its showing
Saturday at the Class 5A Special
District 4 tournament.
The Bulldogs finished in third
place with 207 points and Pend-
leton in fourth with 178 points.
Mountain View won the team dis-
trict title with 400 points and Red-
mond was second with 279.5
points.
For the Bulldogs, Joey Gutier-
rez (195 pounds) and Sean Stewart
(220) each wrapped up the Bull-
dogs’ only individual titles on the
day. Gutierrez finished a superb
tournament with his third win by
fall in three matches, this time
pinning Redmond’s John Crivel-
lone in 1:44. Stewart won his first
career district title by pinning Red-
mond’s John Lawrence in 2:53.
Also qualifying to state for
Hermiston was Ruben Madrigal
(2nd place, 106 pounds), Gage
Shipley (3rd, 120), AJ Tuia (2nd,
145), Zach Kirkpatrick (2nd, 160),
Jake Palmer (4th, 182) and Beau
Blake (2nd, 285).
After the first day of the tourna-
ment, Hermiston sat in fourth place
with 85.0 points, just behind Pend-
leton (93.5).
The two rival schools met up at
145 and 195 in the Saturday quar-
terfinals, as the Buckaroos’ Blake
Davis faced Bulldogs’ AJ Tuia at
145 and Hermiston’s Joey Gutier-
rez got Pendleton’s Aiden Hender-
son at 220. Gutierrez’s only match
on Friday featured a win by fall in
just 17 seconds.
The Bulldogs put six other
wrestlers in the quarterfinals: Alice
Todryk (113) faced Redmond’s
Diego Suganuma, Ruben Madrigal
(106) got Mountain View’s Nick
Valenti, Gage Shipley (120) faced
Mountain View’s Carsen Johnson,
Zach Kirkpatrick (160) faced Red-
mond’s Austin Carter, Sean Stew-
art (220) faced Ridgeview’s Logan
Shenk, and Beau Blake (285) got
Hood River’s Adrian Ramirez.
SCHEDULE
Bucks win girls series against Dawgs
Pendleton comes back
from slow third quarter
to defeat Hermiston
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
PENDLETON — In the final 90
seconds of play on Friday, Hermis-
ton senior Hannah Thompson was
making Pendleton nervous.
Pendleton head coach Kevin
Porter was jumping up and down
on the sidelines as his team held a
narrow 53-47 lead, that was once
an advantage of over 10 points.
But the Bulldogs willed their way
back into the game and cut their
deficit to only three points with just
over a minute on the clock.
Thompson, who had been heat-
ing up in the second half, con-
verted the and-1 into a three point
play to push the score to 53-50 in
favor of the Bucks.
“Their outside shooters got hot,
Hannah Thompson, she got hot
and I was getting a little nervous
there,” Porter said after the game.
“But we just kept saying, ‘Next
play, next play.’ If they get one
there, so what, we’ve got another
play coming.”
Make that another five plays
for the Bucks, as they pulled away
with a 61-52 victory over the Bull-
dogs at Warberg Court, keeping
Pendleton undefeated in confer-
ence play.
After the teams came out of a
timeout with 1:04 left on the game
clock, Hermiston junior Sydney
Stefani tried for a 3-pointer to tie
the game. The missed shot fell
into the hands of Pendleton senior
Kalan McGlothan — who was
fouled and banked both free throw
attempts to put the Bucks up by
two possessions.
The Bulldogs, however, weren’t
giving up. Junior Jordan Thomas
forced her way inside for a lay-up
to cut the deficit to 55-52.
See GIRLS, A11
Local slate
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Friday
Umatilla vs. TBD (EOL District Final at Umatilla),
6 p.m.
Hermiston at Hood River Valley, 7 p.m.
OOL Districts (at Baker HS), TBD
CBC District Semifinal (at Pendleton Convention
Center), TBD
Saturday
Pilot Rock vs. TBD (CBC Districts at Pendleton
Convention Center), 1 p.m.
BSL District Championship (at Madras), TBD
OOL District Championship (at Baker HS), TBD
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Thursday
Echo vs. Joseph (at Baker HS), 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Hood River Valley at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
CBC District Semifinal (at Pendleton Convention
Center), TBD
Saturday
CBC District Championship (at Pendleton Con-
vention Center), TBD
OOL District Championship (at Baker HS), TBD
BSL District Championship (at Madras), TBD
PREP WRESTLING
Friday
Hermiston, Pendleton, Mac-Hi, Riverside, Irrigon,
Heppner, Echo at OSAA State Tournament (at
Portland), 8:30 a.m.
Saturday
Hermiston, Pendleton, Mac-Hi, Riverside, Irrigon,
Heppner, Echo at OSAA State Tournament (at
Portland), 8:30 a.m.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero passes the ball over the top of Pendleton’s
Hallie Porter during the Bucks’ 61-52 win Friday in Pendleton.
PREP SWIMMING
Friday
Hermiston, Pendleton at OSAA Class 5A State
Championships (at Gresham), 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
Hermiston, Pendleton at OSAA Class 5A State
Championships (at Gresham), 6:45 p.m.