SPORTS
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A9
Echo-Stanfield’s
Lemmon signs with
EOU wrestling
Bombers race
through Bulldogs
By ANNIE FOWLER
sPOrTs edITOr
By BRETT KANE
sTaFF WrITer
Richland may not be the top team
in the Mid-Columbia Conference, but
they are among the fastest.
The Bombers lit up the court for
a 25-point second quarter Saturday,
holding the Hermiston Bulldogs to just
15, to give them enough distance in the
second half to stay ahead and hand the
Dawgs a 74-53 Mid-Columbia Confer-
ence home loss.
“They’re known for just how fast
they are,” Hermiston coach Drew Pre-
uninger said of Richland. “It’s tough
on us. We have to work on our transi-
tional defense. That hurt us a little bit.
And their speed hurt us a little bit, too.”
The Bulldogs trailed just 14-10 at
the first quarter’s buzzer, but the Bomb-
ers came to life in the second, shooting
a combined 7-for-8 at the free-throw
line and getting key 3-pointers from
Andrew Albrecht and Jase Vopalensky.
Junior Miguel Moreno and sopho-
more Tyler Lin both went 2-for-2 at the
line for Hermiston in the second quar-
ter, and sophomore guard Chase Elliott
hit a 3-pointer and a basket to con-
tribute five points to his team’s 15 for
the quarter, but the Dawgs still trailed
39-25 at the half.
“At the beginning, we started our
1-3-1 that helped us a lot,” Preuninger
said, “but then (Richland) started hit-
ting 3s. It was tough to match up with
them.”
Richland outscored Hermiston
20-13 in the third quarter to stay well
ahead. The Bombers strung together
a five-point streak with four min-
utes remaining in the fourth quarter to
threaten a 30-point advantage at 70-44,
but Hermiston closed out the game
with a seven-point run, capped off by
a trey at the buzzer from freshman Dax
Davis.
Senior Trent Pitney led the Bull-
dogs (2-16, 1-13 MCC) with 15 points
on the night. Elliott followed with 11.
Richland (11-8, 8-7 MCC) got a game-
high 17 points from Vopalensky.
“They’ve mastered their run-and-
gun game,” Pitney said of the Bomb-
ers. “It was nice to watch, but it wore
us out. They’re a great team.”
Staff photos by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s A.J. Ramos-Barron prepares to go to the hoop as Jase Vopalensky of
Richland defends during Saturday’s game at the Dawg House.
Hermiston’s Chase
Elliott brings the ball
downcourt during
Saturday’s game
against the Richland
Bombers at the Dawg
House. Elliot scored 11
points.
BOX SCORE
RICHLAND — 14 25 20 15 — 74
HERMISTON — 10 15 13 15 — 53
RICHLAND — Vopalensky 17, Albrecht 13, Fewel 13, Dan-
iels 10, Rew 7, McClelland 6, Wager 4, Schuster 2
HERMISTON — Pitney 15, Elliott 11, Rangel 8, Davis 5,
Jamie Ramirez 5, Jayden Ramirez 3, Lin 2, Moreno 2, Car-
rillo 2
PREP ROUNDUP
Dawgs topple Blue Devils
HerMIsTOn HeraLd
Hermiston recorded six pins and
won two matches by forfeit to finish
the Mid-Columbia Conference regu-
lar season with a 57-16 road win over
Walla Walla.
Oscar Cota (113), Adrian Del-
gado (126), Hunter Dyer (132), Jordan
Franklin (145), Daniel Faaeteete (182)
and Dustyn Coughlin (285) all won by
fall.
Coughlin had the quickest pin of
the night in 33 seconds over Erick
Enriquez.
Trevor Wagner (170) and Sam
Cadenas (220) picked up forfeit wins.
The Bulldogs finished the MCC sea-
son 6-2. Chiawana won the regular-sea-
son MCC title with an 8-0 record.
Boys basketball
HEPPNER 58, PILOT ROCK 44
— The Mustangs rallied from a 16-6
first-quarter deficit to hand the visiting
Rockets a Blue Mountain Conference
loss — just their third of the season.
Heppner pulled within 27-26 at the
half, and then used a 32-17 run in the
second half to pull away.
Casey Fletcher led Heppner (9-8,
4-3 BMC) with a game-high 16 points,
while Joe Sherman added 12 points.
Jackson Lehman added seven points,
four assists and six rebounds.
“We got down early and my second
unit came in and gave us lots of energy
and got us back in the game,” Hep-
pner coach Jeremy Rosenbalm said.
“I’m extremely proud of my team for
keeping their poise when we got down
early. We could have quit, but instead
we kept fighting. We had lots of guys
step up and make plays.”
Payton Thurmond led the Rockets
(15-3, 5-3 BMC) with 13 points and
five rebounds
The Mustangs will play at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday at Grant Union. Pilot Rock
will play at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at
Union.
RIVERSIDE 60, UMATILLA 53
— The Pirates led by just four points at
15-11 after the first quarter, but a 23-10
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Umatilla’s Chris Self (0) looks to pass the ball during Thursday night’s game against
the Riverside Pirates in Boardman.
second quarter put the game well out of
reach as they scored an Eastern Oregon
League home win on Thursday.
Umatilla was led by Edwin Ortiz
and Oscar Campos, who each had 11
points.
Riverside (12-6, 3-2 EOL) hosts
Nyssa on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Uma-
tilla (10-9, 3-2 EOL) welcomes Burns
on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Girls basketball
HEPPNER 54, PILOT ROCK 27
— Sydney Wilson and ZaBrena Mas-
terson each had 12 points, and Mar-
lee Mitchell added 10 as the Mustangs
cruised to a home victory over the
Rockets in Blue Mountain Conference
action.
“They focused on stopping Syd,”
Heppner coach Robert Wilson said.
“We talked about others stepping up to
score, and they did.”
Heppner (10-6, 3-4 BMC) led 15-7
after the first quarter, but it was a 22-8
run in the third quarter that put the
game out of reach.
Emily Lambert led the Rockets
(5-13, 1-7 BMC) with a game-high 15
points.
Heppner will play at 4 p.m. Satur-
day at Grant Union. The Rockets will
play at 4 p.m. Saturday at Union.
HERMISTON 57, WALLA WALLA 16
106 — Izake Sanchez (W) md. Aiden Favorite, 10-2. 113
— Oscar Cota (H) p. John-Mark Whitaker, 4:59. 120 —
Zayne Helfer (H) d. Ruben Lozano, 7-3. 126 — Adrian Del-
gado (H) p. Mateo Caso, 3:48. 132 — Hunter Dyer (H) p.
Camrin Henzel, 4:41. 138 — Donny Birdwell (W) p. Isaac
Montes, 4:56. 145 — Jordan Franklin (H) p. Jack McVey,
2:27. 152 — Emmanual Carrillo (H) d. Alex Mata, 5-3 (OT).
160 — Jake Humphrey (W) p. Bodie Braithwaite, :34. 170
— Trevor Wagner (H) won by forfeit. 182 — Daniel Faae-
teete (H) p. Matthew Gradwhol, :39. 195 — Blake Betz (H)
d. Omar Cruz, 2-1. 220 — Sam Cadenas (H) won by forfeit.
285 — Dustyn Coughlin (H) p. Erick Enriquez, :33.
Women’s wrestling is
one of the fastest growing
sports in the nation, and
Katelyn Lemmon is part
of that movement.
Lemmon, one of two
girls on the Echo/Stanfield
wrestling team, signed a
letter of intent Thursday to
wrestle at Eastern Oregon
University.
“I emailed them, and
they called me,” said Lem-
mon, who plans to major
in pre-med. “I’m nervous.
I haven’t been wrestling
very long, and it will be
way harder.”
In fact, this season is
Lemmon’s first on the
mats. She competes at
130 pounds, but will occa-
sionally wrestle some-
one heavier just to get in a
match.
“She is definitely one
of the hardest workers in
the room,” Echo/Stanfield
coach Monte Toombs said.
“She has mental tough-
ness, and puts in 110% all
the time. With her work
ethic and better practice
partners in college, she
will do well. I think she
will surprise the Eastern
coaches.”
The EOU program,
under the direction of first-
year coach Michael Ayala,
is in its fourth season. The
Mountaineers had two
NAIA All-Americans last
season.
Lemmon, a senior at
Stanfield, has watched
her younger brother Isa-
iah wrestle since he was 4
years old. He is a freshman
this year.
“It looked like fun,”
Lemmon said. “I wish I
would have done it sooner,
but I didn’t want to wres-
tle guys.”
According to Toombs,
Lemmon is the first Echo/
Stanfield wrestler, boy or
girl, to move on to the col-
lege level.
“I wish we would have
Staff photo by Annie Fowler
Stanfield senior Katelyn
Lemmon signed a letter of
intent to wrestle at Eastern
Oregon University.
had her a lot younger and
been able to get her more
practice time and good
practice partners,” Toombs
said. “She will see suc-
cess with her wrestling at
Eastern.”
Last summer, Lemmon
went to a team camp at
EOU with the rest of the
Cougars. There, she was
able to compete with other
girls.
“She beat all the girls
up there but one,” Toombs
said.
Lemmon, who also runs
cross-country and track,
will compete in a tourna-
ment in Heppner on Satur-
day, and then will compete
in the regional qualifier the
following weekend at Cen-
tury High School in Hills-
boro. The top four in each
weight class will advance
to state.
Whereas Washington
has a strong girls wrestling
program, complete with
16-person brackets in 14
weight classes at the state
tournament, Oregon had
its first official girls state
tournament last year. Each
weight class had just four
competitors. This year,
there will be eight per
weight class.
There are approxi-
mately 140 schools in Ore-
gon with girls wrestling,
but most have just a hand-
ful of athletes.
Hermiston’s Deike
to wrestle at EOU
pletely infatuated with it,”
she said. “It was my first
year, and it was a lot of
Not long ago, Jazmin trial and error. This year, I
Deike thought about giv- talked to Hall about what
I wanted to do after col-
ing up wrestling.
She missed a tour- lege (special education
nament and a couple of teacher). He said I could
practices
before
go college and do
both. That com-
she returned to the
peting in a sport
wrestling room.
would help bal-
Tuesday,
the
ance things.”
Hermiston senior
For Hall, it
signed a letter of
shows other girls
intent to wrestle
Deike
what is possible.
at Eastern Oregon
“I hope to
University.
“I needed to refocus attract girls who have
myself mentally,” Deike not thought about wres-
said of the brief hiatus. “I tling,” he said. “There
decided where I wanted to are opportunities to get
go (to college) and what I scholarships if you put in
wanted to study. It had an the work. There are more
impact. I came back better and more programs open-
than ever. Things fell into ing up, which means more
place, and I knew where I opportunities.”
With Hermiston mov-
stood with the team.”
The EOU program, ing into the WIAA, it has
under the direction of first- meant better competition
year coach Michael Ayala, for the girls, especially at
tournaments.
is in its fourth season.
“We see our normal
“What set them apart
was their culture and how teams, but at bigger tour-
they define their team,” naments, we see girls who
Deike said of EOU. “I pin you in 20 seconds,”
want to be part of some- Deike said. “That’s when
thing that is going to grow. you know what you have
I’m really excited. I’m to do to get to state.”
Deike also has partic-
sure Eastern has some 170
and 190 girls and I won’t ipated in swimming and
have to wrestle (coach track at Hermiston, and she
also is part of track coach
Andy) Hall.”
The Hermiston girls Emilee Strot’s weight lift-
program, coached by Hall, ing program for girls.
“Last season, I was
is just in its second year,
but Deike has talents that injured, but being able to
go beyond two years of lift and stretch was pretty
good,” Deike said. “It has
work.
“Jazmin has been a hard helped me a lot.”
Deike and her team-
worker,” Hall said. “She’s
at every practice and every mates will compete at sub-
workout. She had a little regionals this weekend at
hiccup along the way, but Liberty High School near
Spokane. The top three
she’s back.”
Deike is just in her sec- advance to regionals the
ond year of the sport, but following week.
“My goal is to get out of
it’s one she has grown to
regionals and go to state,”
love.
“Last year, I was com- Deike said.
By ANNIE FOWLER
sPOrTs edITOr