Pg. 7The Clackamas Print
Wednesday. October 20. J993
Freshmen Keene, Gonzalez outstanding runners
by Paul Valencia
schedule as reasons for her sab
Staff Writer
batical.
Freshmen: it’s always
Deep down, however,
been such a dirty word. But to the
Keene wanted to run competitively.
cross country squads, two first-
year student athletes are impress She chose Clackamas because of
its reputation. “They are one of the
ing their coaches and teammates
top teams in Oregon,” she said.
with exceptional times and top
And she gives a lot of
finishes as the Cougars head into
credit to her new teammates for
the Southern Regional champion
her success. For a year, Keene ran
ships this weekend.
on her own. Now she has more
Cindy Keene and Cruz
motivation. “Running alone is
Gonzalez have made a major im
hard. On a team, though, people
pact for the Clackamas teams.
push you to get a better time.”
Keene set the all-time women’s
Not only better times, but
course record at McIver State Park
best times. Keene has run the five-
this year, while Gonzalez earned
kilometer courses in under 19 min
two first-place finishes for the
utes for three consecutive races.
men’s squad.
“I’ve never had someone under 19
Having such a strong
minutesbefore,’’Hodges said, look
freshmen force helps the Cougars
ing back on his eight years at
in a number of ways, according to
Clackamas.
Hodges. “It was important to us
“She’s certainly a very
because we hadalotof good sopho
good freshman. She’s defeated
mores returning. We needed to
everyone in the NWAACC this
put pressure, on them.” It also
year,” he said. Hodges also looks
givesHodges a sense of continued
forward to Keene’s track ability.
success in the future of his pro
Earlier this year, Keene ran a faster
gram, he said.
10-kilometer road course than
The future may be now
Hodges has ever had anybody run
for Keene and Gonzalez. Keene,
on a track. That’s the kind of
for instance, is one of the two
potential coaches dream about
favorites to take the Northwest
Keene has made history
individual title. If confidence is a
fora team coached by Hodges, and
factor, the other favorite, Brenda
Gonzalez has a chance to do the
Funk of Bellevue, has her work cut
same. Already he has run two
out for her. Keene doesn’t expect
races under 26 minutes on the
to lose. “I plan to kick her butt and
eight-kilometer course. Hodges
win the NWAACC,” she said.
has had only one freshmen do that
Not bad, considering
-- last year’s NWAACC cham
Keene took a year off of running
pion, Cougar Mike Hickey - but
competitively after graduating
Gonzalez has two more meets to
from Phoenix High School in
make it three or four.
southern Oregon back in 1992. “I
Coming into the season,
just wanted to take a break from
Gonzalez only had a goal to be one
school,” she explained, noting a
of thetop five runners on the team.
family crisis and a tough work
Cheerleaders prepare for winter
by Michelle Shipman
Staff Writer
j
As the sports seasons
start a Clackamas, a group of
at wotk spread«
Ingschooispiritaroundcainpus.
Membeirs/of the Clackamas
Cheerleading Squad are hard at:
work getting ready, for
up-
coming wintersportScheduM
The team’s goal this
yearis to get more people to goto
the games by pulling up posters
and. advertising the' games as
much as they can, and also to get
the people who do attend the
games to be more involved. They
will be cheering at the men’s
basketball games, and will be on
hand to suppofttheyyomert’s
program, as well.
*We want towork hard
to promote the ki nd of school
spirit this School deserves,” said
That is hot the Only
tiding that the cheerleaders hope
io^accomplish tins year.fThey
trials« it^^b^old ¿barbe
cue and a kids camp, io teach
youngsters the fine points of
cheering.
-■ <
'
. .
Thegirishredisingihis
on a volunteer basis because they
believe in what they are doing.
•“Wb want thestudeni body to
know that we are working really
hard to make this a success. We
are realty happy. to .have a
squad,” Mab<>n said/:.:;.
This year’s squad is
Composed of eight girls: Matron.
Juliet Henderson» Kari Maikell,
Misty Nodurft, Andrea Baker,
Amiee Fortuna, Michelle Burr
and Sarah Johansen. :-r ' ' \
OREGON CITY
Sporting <S\oods
Specializing in Team Sports
1550 Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 656-3341
RON & MARY
SCOTT
photo by Chad Patteaon
'
The cross country men’s squad prepares for Southern Regional Competition in Sandy
this Saturday at 11 a.m.
“I felt afraid because I
didn’t know anybody,” he said.
“After my first meet, though, I felt
better about being on the team.”
Now, he is battling with defending
champion Hickey for the number-
one spot for thé Cougars.
Going into his sophom ore
year at Canby High School,
Gonzalez wasn’teven interested
in running for a team. ButinPJE.
class. he ran a mile in under five
minutes. That got the attention of
the instructor, who then passed the
word to Tom Millbrooke, Canby’s
cross country coach. .
By the end of his senior
year, there were several schools
interested in Gonzalez. “I think I
made the right decision,” he said
about coming to Clackamas. He
said he believes he is a better run
ner now.
“Here in college, you run
more than in high school. The
practices are tougher, which make
you abetter runner,” he explained.
Hodges said Gonzalez is
better in college than in high school
because of the longer distances. In
college, the courses are eight kilo
meters, but high schoolers just run
five. “He’s a very strong, endur
ance runner. He can handle a
strong pace,” Hodges said.
From theconfidentKeene
to the soft-spoken Gonzalez, the
freshmen cross country class is
well-represented with record
breaking performances. The fu
ture of the program is bright, but
the future does not start next year,
it starts this weekend at the South
ern Regionals.
Note: The Southern
Regionals are being held at Sandy
High School. The women race at
11 a.m., with the men following.
Hodges encourages all Cougar
supporters to cheer the Cougars on
their march for the titles.
Pennant races go down to the wire
by Nate Clark
Staff Writer
The 1993 baseball season
was a year of down-to-the-wire
pennant racesand offensive surges.
The league's leading hit
ters, John Olerud, of the Toronto
Blue Jays, and Andres Galarraga,
of theexpansion Colorado Rockies
both hit at a .360 clip (.363 for
Alert and .370 for Galarraga).
The AL MVP award will
be won by Frank Thomas of the
Chicago White sox. Thomas had
a great year and his production
took a fourth place team to the
West Pennant His only competi
tion lies in the heart of the Toronto
Blue Jays line-up. All of those
three big guns, Olerud, Robby
Alomar and Paul Molitor have
MVP type numbers, but they all
overshadow each other by having
equallyremarkable years. Besides,
Thomas had more than a normal
season (.317 average, 41 homers,
128 RBI, a .607 slugging percent
age and a first place finish). He is
the clear choice.
In the NL, you can’t say
enough about Barry Bonds. He
can single-handedly alter a game
with any aspect of his complete
package. The man had an extraor
dinary year. His numbers speak
loudly (.336,46,123) plus he led
the league in slugging percentage,
(.677) and on-base percentage,
(.458) and he received a record 43
intentional walks. Youmaybeable
to make a case for Philly spark
plug Lenny Dykstra (.306, 19,64).
He did score 143 runs and walked
129 times, (three more than Bonds)
yet Bonds had a total complete
year.
I won’t dwell on the
Rookie-of-the-Year race for it was
decided at the all-star break. It
hasn’t been as big of a blow out in
^longtime. Dodger catcher Mike
Piazza will sweep the ballot (.316,
35,112). In the AL, Angels’ right
fielder Tim Salmon will also sweep
the ballot in his ROY quest. With
the season he had, they should put
up a monument for him in Ana
heim for keeping the Angel fans
loyal. He had a great year (.283,
31, 95) despite missing the last
two weeks with a broken right
finger.
The AL Cy Young
Award race is a weak one this year.
Jack McDowell, with his 22 wins
and 3.41 ERA should win it, but
you never know. Randy Johnson
has emerged to take future Hall of
Famer Nolan Ryan’s place as the
reigning strikeout king while sit
ting down 10.86 per nine innings.
The NL Cy Young award
should be won by either Greg
Maddux, Bill Swift, Tommy
Glavine or even John Burkett.
Maddux won 20 and led the senior
circuit with a 2.36 ERA. Swift
won 21 and had a 2.82 ERA while
his teammate Burkett won 22 but
had a disappointing second» half
and finished with a sub-par era, at
leastforthisrace. Tommy Glavine
won 22 while only losing 6, but his
3.20 ERA should distance him
from teammate Maddux.
The season also makes
us say goodbye to some familiar
faces. Carlton Fisk finished his
tenure with the Sox, White or Red.
George Brett retired after 19 sea
sons with the Royals, three batting
titles in three decades and a trip to
Cooperstown in five years. Speak
ing of Cooperstown, Nolan Ryan
should get his own wing. He has
thrown seven no-hitters, is the
king of strikeouts and throws a
mean right uppercut. It’s sad to
see the Royals without Brett and
the league without Ryan and Fisk.
On a final note, thanks to
the Giants and Braves for giving
us one of the best races in the
history of divisional play.