SPORTS / FISHING
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
SIGNING
Staff photo by Brett Kane
Hayden Cissna (center) and his teammates celebrate signing
his letter of intent to join the Treasure Valley Community
College tennis team next season.
Hermiston’s Cissna
signs with TVCC
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Che Cadenas (6) drives the ball in front of Mountain View’s Melvin Ramirez (5) in the Bulldogs’ 2-1 loss to the
Thunder on Tuesday in Hermiston.
Dawgs lose heartbreaker in SO
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Juan Navarrete put his goalie
gloves in his bag and turned and
looked at Kennison Field.
Hermiston’s senior goalie had six
saves on May 14, but the one ball he
couldn’t stop in the shootout gave
Mountain View a 2-1 victory in the
fi rst round of the 3A state playoffs.
“This is my last game here,” Navar-
rete said. “It’s heartbreaking. We gave
it our all. It was a good game. We
made history in Washington. No one
believed in us, and we proved them
wrong.”
The Bulldogs fi nish their season
8-8 and earned the top 3A seed from
the Mid-Columbia Conference to the
playoffs.
Hermiston coach Rich Harshberger
said he knew the game would be a
battle.
“We knew they were going to be
good,” he said of the Thunder. “Things
went as planned, for the most part.
Essentially, it took us a little longer to
get established in the game. We didn’t
have as much movement as I would
have liked.”
After a scoreless fi rst half, the
Thunder came out after the half and
scored 8 minutes into the action, get-
ting a goal by Christopher Grozav.
The Bulldogs looked to tie things up
a minute later, but Hermiston’s Emilio
Leal was stopped on the doorstep.
That would not happen again.
Leal beat a defender and put the ball
over the goalie Cole Taylor’s hands to
knot the score in the 66th minute.
Neither team would score again,
forcing a shootout.
Hermiston’s Alexis Leal scored
the fi rst goal of the shootout, but Jus-
tin Lufkin-Quant came right back with
one of his own on the next attempt.
Grozav gave the Thunder a 2-1
advantage, only to see Matt Mendez
put one in the net to make it 2-2.
Elijah Thompson gave the Thunder
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Emilio Leal and Mountain View’s Justin Keanini chase down the ball
in the Bulldogs’ 2-1 loss to the Thunder on Tuesday in Hermiston.
a 3-2 lead, leaving the outcome of the
game to junior Coleman Solano.
Solano blasted the ball toward
the net. It went off the cross bar and
dropped down, but just in front of the
goal line, sending Mountain View into
the quarterfi nals for the fi rst time since
2012.
“In the PK, you have to have a little
luck,” Navarrete said.
Harshberger said the loss hurts, but
not as much as saying goodbye to his
seniors.
“You are with these kids three to
four years,” he said. “Now I think
about how I don’t get to coach them
anymore. They don’t get to come to
practice tomorrow.”
Scoring opportunities were limited
in the fi rst half for both teams.
Hermiston had two shots on goal —
one by Moises Lopez in the 24th min-
ute, and another by Emilio Leal in the
30th minute.
Leal shot from the right side of the
net, only to have Carlos Cruz step in
front for the stop.
In the 20th minute, Oliver Parades
sent the ball toward to the Mountain
View net, only to loft it too high and
put it on top of the goal.
Nathan Purvis had the Thun-
der’s lone scoring chance in the 38th
minute.
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
T
ennis wasn’t Hayden
Cissna’s fi rst sport of
choice.
The Hermiston High
School senior spent most
of his childhood playing in
youth basketball programs.
He also played football for
grid kids and Armand Lar-
ive Middle School. It wasn’t
until he was in eighth grade
that he fi rst picked up a
racket.
But on Thursday, Cissna
offi cially signed his letter of
intent to play with the Trea-
sure Valley Community Col-
lege Chukars and take his
career on the tennis court to
the next level.
He said he chose the Chu-
kars because not only is
the Ontario campus close
to home, but it also offers
on-site housing. And more
importantly, it was his future
team, coached by Mike
Heleker, that drew him in.
“I got to meet the coach
and some of the team,” said
Cissna, 17. “They were super
nice and they were all great
players. You could just see
the support they have for
each other.”
It also helped that his ten-
nis skills have earned him
grants that will cover fi ve
of his six terms at Treasure
Valley.
“He had an interest in
going to the next level, and
we both knew there weren’t
a lot of options for tennis in
the area,” said Bulldogs head
tennis coach Shann West.
“We were able to reach out
to (Heleker) and go down
there for a visit, and it wasn’t
too long after that he got an
offer.”
Cissna said he didn’t shift
his focus to tennis until his
junior year. Although he
doesn’t have the years of
experience with a racket that
he does on the basketball
court or the football fi eld,
he’s put in the hours to make
up for it.
“I just put in the hours,”
he said. “It was the only
sport where I was seeing the
satisfaction of that work. It
puts everything on yourself,
which makes it more per-
sonal. My teammates have
encouraged me so much.
We’ve built such a strong
relationship together.”
Cissna has been on the
Bulldogs’ varsity team for all
four years of his high school
career. This year, he was the
team’s No. 1 singles player.
West said nothing has come
between Cissna and improv-
ing his game, even if he has
to do it alone.
“I got to meet the
coach and some
of the team. They
were super nice and
they were all great
players.”
Hayden Cissna
“He’ll be out there on the
courts by himself doing any-
thing he can do put in the
effort, trying to get better,”
West said. “Over the past
four years, he’s put in count-
less hours. He’ll be practic-
ing with the ball machine
until 11 p.m.”
After his time as a Chu-
kar, Cissna will set his sights
on the University of Montana
in Missoula, where he’ll pur-
sue a degree in wildlife biol-
ogy. He also hopes to be a
walk-on for their tennis team.
“His name’s Cissna, but
we call him Cissy,” said West.
“Because of the relationship
we’ve sparked up over the
years, I’m really happy to be
the guy who has helped him
pursue and achieve his goals.
It’s awesome.”
Low returns put a damper on Chinook season
HERMISTON HERALD
The Snake, Wallowa and
Imnaha rivers will remain
closed to spring Chinook
fi shing during 2019 due to
low returns. Lookingglass
Creek also remains closed
for now, but will be reevalu-
ated later in the season.
According to the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife, 2019 forecasts are
just half of the 10-year aver-
age. Just 99,330 fi sh are
expected to pass the Bon-
neville Dam this year com-
pared to an average of
198,200.
“While ODFW makes
every effort to offer opportu-
nities to fi sh for these prized
salmon, protecting wild
stocks and meeting hatchery
broodstock needs are a prior-
ity,” a news release stated.
Updates and closures can
be found at myodfw.com/rec-
reation-report/fi shing-report/
columbia-zone.
Sturgeon fi shing
State fi sh managers from
Washington and Oregon
will be in Hermiston to dis-
cuss sturgeon fi shing regula-
tions upstream of Bonneville
Dam.
ODFW and the Wash-
ington Department of Fish
and Wildlife (WDFW) have
scheduled a series of public
meetings, including one in
Hermiston from 6-8 p.m. on
Wednesday, June 12 at at the
Hermiston Community Cen-
ter, 415 S. Hwy 395.
Included in the conver-
sation will be possible rule
changes meant to improve
conservation efforts and
increase the abundance and
survival of mature spawn-
ing-size sturgeon, according
to a news release.
Discussion topics and
management recommenda-
tions include:
· Extending the dates of
all sturgeon spawning sanc-
tuaries in the Columbia
River from Bonneville Dam
to Priest Rapids Dam, and in
the Snake River below Ice
Harbor Dam, through Aug.
31. Most of these spawning
MEDICAL DIRECTORY
To advertise in the Medical Directory, please call:
Jeanne at 541-564-4531 or Audra at 541-564-4538
GENERAL FAMILY DENTISTRY
• CROWNS • BRIDGES • DENTURES
VENEERS DENTAL IMPLANT RESTORATION
Ryan M. Wieseler,
D.D.S, PC
www.desertdentalsmiles.com
541.567.8161 • 995 Orchard Avenue • Hermiston
sanctuaries are currently in
effect from May 1 through
July 31.
· Extending the area of
the spawning sanctuaries on
the Columbia River below
McNary and Priest Rapids
dams.
· Closing sturgeon reten-
tion fi shing within McNary
Reservoir, inclusive of the
lower Snake River below Ice
Harbor Dam and the Han-
ford Reach below Priest
Rapids Dam, due to a lack
of population monitoring
information.
For those who can’t make
the meeting, comments can
also be emailed to tuck-
er.a.jones@state.or.us
or
john.a.north@state.or.us.
File photo
Salmon swim past the fi sh-counting window at the Bonneville
Dam.
HERMISTON FAMILY MEDICINE &
URGENT CARE
Sports & Dot Physicals • Minor Injuries • Family Care • Minor Surgeries
We accept Medicare & some Advantage Medicare plans
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
HOURS: Mon.-Sat.
7:30am-7:00pm
541-567-1137
236 E. Newport, Hermiston
(across from U.S. Bank)
Eye Health & Vision Care
Robert D. Rolen , O.D., LLC
Optometric Physician
115 W. Hermiston Ave. Suite 130
541-567-1837
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• Psychiatric Evaluation and Treatment
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LIFEWAYS PENDLETON Crisis Phone: LIFEWAYS HERMISTON
541-289-5433
331 SE 2nd St.,
595 NW 11th St.,
866-343-4473
Pendleton, OR 97801
Hermiston, OR 97838
Office: 541-276-6207 WWW . LIFEWAYS . ORG Office: 541-567-2536
1060 W. Elm, Suite #115,
Hermiston, OR
(across from Good Shepherd Medical Center)
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Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-4pm