A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019
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SPRING SPORTS
Play ball?
Not quite yet
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Photo courtesy of Kirsti Cason
Irrigon’s Kaleb Kendrick, right, battles Jordan Mode of Willamina/Falls City in a 3A state semifinal match Saturday. Mode pinned Kendrick in 1:32. Kendrick
finished fourth.
Irrigon has best showing 10 years
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Irrigon had its best showing at the state wres-
tling tournament in more than 10 years, as eight
of its nine participants placed in the top six at
the 3A state tournament on Saturday at Veterans
Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
“I am proud of my boys,” Irrigon coach
Jason Dunten said. “Four of them had never
been to state before. We took them on a hard
schedule this year, and they reaped the rewards.
We had a couple of placers last year, but eight
placers is the best finish in a long while.”
Irrigon finished seventh in the team race with
103.5 points. La Pine won the team title with
150 points, with Nyssa right behind at 141.
Riverside, which had Ethan Snyder place
fifth at 132 pounds, finished 20th with 10 points.
Alex Miranda-Walls (170 pounds) and
Gabriel Romero (113) finished third for the
Knights, while Kyler Olney (126) and Kaleb
Kendrick (285) were fourth, Josue Aguilara
(195) and Brady Harrington (182) were fifth,
and Asher Hall (106) and Reece Sheller (220)
were sixth.
Miranda-Walls (43-3), who lost his open-
ing match to eventual state champion Dax Ben-
nett of Harrisburg, steamrolled his way through
the consolation bracket. He finished with a
10-2 major decision over Owen Amerson of
Yamhill-Carlton.
“I am proud of my boys.
Four of them had never been
to state before.”
Jason Dunten, Irrigon coach
“Alex’s three losses are to the kid (Hon Rush-
ton) from Baker who was third at the 4A tour-
nament, and two returning state champions,”
Dunten said. “He had a great year.” Miran-
da-Walls also was third last year.
Romero, who reached the quarterfinals, won
all four of his consolation matches. In the third-
place match, he beat Efrain Caldera of Nyssa
4-2 in overtime.
“We kind of had to drag him through the sea-
son,” Dunten said. “Then he finishes third.”
Kendrick (28-13) reached the semifinals
before suffering a loss and was relegated to the
consolation bracket. He was pinned by Aaron
Schaefer of Santiam Christian in the first round
of the third place match.
Olney also reached the semis, where he lost
a 4-2 decision. He bounced back with a pin of
Logan Matthews of La Pine before losing a
10-2 decision to Justin Winn of Burns in the
third-place match.
Harrington (20-10), who was injured in the
consolation semifinals, was cleared to return for
his final match, where he beat Korbin Howell of
Rainier 13-6.
Aguilara (32-11), who lost his first match at
the tournament, worked his way back through
the consolation bracket. He earned a 6-0 deci-
sion over Zachary Lepre of Southerlin in the
fifth-place match.
Hall (22-17) reached the semifinals on the
first day of action, but did not have the same
success on Day 2. He lost all three matches,
including the fifth-place match, where he was
pinned by Russell Talmadge of Harrisburg in
5:09.
Sheller (32-17) finished 2-3 at state, includ-
ing a loss in the fifth-place match, where he
was pinned by David Bowlin of Dayton in 48
seconds.
Four Hermiston players earn all-league honors
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Hermiston’s Jordan Thomas
was named to the girls Mid-Colum-
bia Conference first team that was
announced Friday.
Kamiakin’s Oumou Toure, who
led the league in scoring with 22.55
points per game, was named MCC
MVP for the third year in a row.
Toure has signed to play at Butler
University.
Kamiakin, which won the MCC
regular-season title for the third
year in a row, played Peninsula in a
regional game at 6 p.m. Saturday at
Richland High School.
Kennewick’s Daron Santo was
named Coach of the Year, while Chi-
awana junior Alyssa Agundis was
named the Defensive Player of the
Year.
Thomas, a 6-foot-4 senior, had
the second-highest scoring average
in the conference at 15.53 points per
game.
Thomas, who also was chosen to
the all-defensive team, was the only
Hermiston girls player chosen to the
team.
For the boys, seven-time con-
ference champion Richland placed
three on the first team, including
league MVP Garrett Streufert.
Hermiston’s Ryne Andreason
was named to the second team,
while Cesar Ortiz was selected to the
honorable mention team, and Jordan
Ramirez to the all-defensive team.
Richland’s Earl Streufert was
named Coach of the Year for the
sixth time, while Bombers guard
Cody Sanderson was named the
Defensive Player of the Year.
The Bulldogs (15-8 overall) fin-
ished 10-6 during their first year in
the MCC and earned the 3A’s top
seed for the District 8 tournament.
Andreason led the Bulldogs in scor-
ing with 17 points a game. Ortiz
added 13.5.
BOYS HOOPS
Loss keeps
Umatilla from
3A state tourney
Andreason
Ortiz
Ramirez
Thomas
By HERMISTON HERALD
MID-COLUMBIA CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
Girls
First Team
Oumou Toure, sr., Kamiakin; Alexa Hazel, sr.,
Kamiakin; Clare Eubanks, sr., Chiawana; Jor-
dan Thomas, sr., Hermiston; Symone Brown, sr.,
Kamiakin.
Second Team
Madeline Gebers, so., Kennewick; A’niyah Heav-
ens, fr., Pasco; MeiLani McBee, jr., Kennewick;
Alyssa Agundis, jr., Chiawana; Aislin Fiander, jr.,
Kennewick.
Honorable Mention
Jayda Clark, so., Richland; Gracie Pierce, sr., Rich-
land; Macey Morales, sr., Chiawana; Nicole Gall,
sr., Richland; Regan Clark, so., Kamiakin; Mya
Groce, fr., Pasco.
Defensive Team
Alyssa Agundis, jr., Chiawana; Nicole Gall, sr.,
Richland; Jordan Thomas, sr., Hermiston; Macey
Morales, sr., Chiawana; Symone Brown, sr.,
Kamiakin.
Boys
First Team
Garrett Streufert, sr., Richland; Cole Northrop,
sr., Richland; Connor Woodward, sr., Hanford;
Kobe Young, so., Chiawana; Cody Sanderson, sr.,
Richland.
Second Team
Ryne Andreason, sr., Hermiston; Ayoni Benavi-
dez, jr., Kennewick; Tristan Smith, jr., Southridge;
Matthew Kroner, sr., Chiawana; Taylor Hamada,
sr., Walla Walla.
Honorable Mention
Kyson Rose, jr., Kamiakin; Diego Gutierrez, sr.,
Pasco; Cesar Ortiz, sr., Hermiston; Steven Wes-
termeyer, so., Kamiakin; Dhaunye Guice, sr.,
Richland.
Defensive Team
Cody Sanderson, sr., Richland; Kobe Young, so.,
Chiawana; Garrett Streufert, sr., Richland; Jor-
dan Ramirez, sr., Hermiston; Blake Vander Top, sr.,
Hanford.
Feel the rhythm: Local dance teams bring routines to Hearts in Motion
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
Saturday afternoon was a pure celebration of
the art and competition of dance.
Teams from nearly two dozen schools
packed Pendleton’s Warburg Court to compete
in the 32nd annual Hearts in Motion dance com-
petition. Hosted by Pendleton High School’s
Rhythmic Mode, the contest serves as a fund-
raiser for the team leading up to their state com-
petition at the Moda Center in March.
Dancers ranging from kindergarten to high
school filled the afternoon with routines set to
music that spanned from Lady Gaga’s “The
Edge of Glory” to tunes from “The Greatest
Monday was the first day of
practice for spring sports in the
Columbia Basin, but instead
of hearing the crack of the bat
or feet pounding on the track,
Mother Nature threw athletes a
curve ball in the form of a few
inches of snow.
Sunday and Monday’s
snowfall added to the already
deep layer covering ballfields
and tracks, more than teams
can shovel to make their fields
usable.
“Larry (Usher, athletic
director) is amazing,” Herm-
iston track coach Emilee Strot
said Monday. “Last week he
worked with the maintenance
crew to clean off the track and
field. Friday, they were out
there, and then we got hit with
more snow last night and today.
If he hadn’t had that done, we’d
have over a foot of snow out
there. As it is, we now have 5
or 6 inches.”
Strot said she will have her
team in the gym for practice
until the snow is gone.
“We have worked out a
schedule to get every team time
in the gym,” she said. “I’m
thankful my sport doesn’t have
tryouts.”
While the sprinters and dis-
tance runners can do their thing
indoors, the field event ath-
letes, like javelin thrower Jaz-
lyn Romero, are limited to drill
work inside.
“When we get the runway
cleared, she can throw in the
snow,” Strot said.
In Irrigon, baseball coach
Randy Henrichs said there is
about four inches of snow on
his field, but that is the least of
his problems.
“With the wind, up against
the backstop behind the plate,
we have a 6-foot wall of snow
built up,” he said. “When the
snow stops and starts to melt,
we will have to have a work
party and get a backhoe out
here.”
The Knights do have an
indoor batting facility in a
heated pole barn, and they have
a portable pitching mound they
can use in the gym.
“We’re going to do what we
can, just like everybody else,”
Henrichs said. “We have a
game in three weeks.”
Or at least he hopes to.
Showman” and “Grease” film soundtracks.
First place trophies in the Mini Jazz and
Junior Jazz divisions were awarded to Herm-
iston’s Dance Unlimited. Pendleton’s Junior
Jam won first in the Mini Hip-Hop, Youth Jazz,
Junior Hip-Hop, and Junior Contemporary cat-
egories. Wallowa’s Ignite team took home the
top prize in the Youth Hip-Hop division, and
Prineville’s Legacy was awarded the gold in
both the Senior Hip-Hop and Senior Contem-
porary categories.
Hermiston High School’s varsity dance team
came out on top in the High School division.
Coached by Ashley Seibel, their routine,
titled “Taken,” is set to Beethoven’s “Moon-
light Sonata” and filled the gym with a haunt-
ing atmosphere. Dancers clothed in black and
painted in ashy makeup with roots jetting
from their eyes pounce on their soloist dressed
in beige as she tries to flee a set resembling a
Sleepy Hollow-esque forest.
“Have you ever been at the wrong place
at the wrong time?” Seibel said of the show’s
premise. “We’ve all found ourselves there at
one point or another.”
Seibel said her team has competed at Hearts
in Motion for all of the nine years that she’s
been their coach.
“We came here to support Pendleton,” she
said. “We love dancing here. Debbie and Rhyth-
mic Mode have been so great to us for many,
many years.”
The Umatilla boys missed
out on a trip to the 3A state
tournament after dropping a
play-in road game to Sutherlin
59-39 on Friday.
“It was a tough game,” coach
Scott Bow said. “We played
pretty well for three quarters,
but then we made 17 fouls and
gave (Sutherlin) 26 free throws
to lose the game in the fourth.”
Andrew Earl scored 14
points, and Uriel Garcia had
12 to lead Umatilla (19-8, 6-4
EOL). The Vikings finished the
season as the No. 2 seed in the
Eastern Oregon League, and
No. 8 in the 3A division.
“The kids played hard all the
way through,” Bow said of his
team’s season. “But it wasn’t
the greatest way to end on a sit-
uation like tonight.”
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