SPORTS
The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, October 18,1995 /
Volleyball drops match to Mt. Hood, falls into first-place tie
Andrew S. Beck
Staff Writer
The Cougars Volleyball
Team fell hard last Wednesday in
their quest to remain the top team
in the Northwest Athletic Asso
ciation of Community ’Colleges
(NWAACC) Southern Division.
The Cougars lost in three
consecutive games to the Mt.
Hood Saints, conceding the Oct.
11th match 15-8, 15-9 and 15-9
to the Saints. Mt. Hood set the
tempo early in the match by win
ning the first game 15-8.
“The 1 oss will pull us to
gether more and we will become
stable from this,” said sophomore
middle hitter Jenn Walters.
With Mt. Hood leading 11 -7
in the second game, the Cougars
scored two points to bring them
within range of tying the match.
But Mt. Hood pulled away with
four unanswered points to win the
game, 15-9.
Faced with a shutout, the
Cougars took an 8-5 lead in the
third match with two service ace's
by’defensive specialist Christine
Younglove. But once again, the
Cougars’ offense shut down in
crunch time and Mt Hood went
on to win the final game, 15-9.
The Cougars got off to a slow
start against Mt. Hood, but were
able to stay in the match with big
saves by the defense. Each game
could have gone either way.
“This loss is going to bring
us back to reality, Mt. Hood is a
very good team and we are
beatable. But, we’re as good as
they are,” said Clackamas coach
Kathie Woods.
“My main Concern is league
play,” Woods said. “We are on the
road every other game, but it
should be a challenge.”
The Cougars participated in
the Spokane Crossover Tourna
ment last Friday and Saturday in
Spokane, WA. The Cougars
placed third in the tournament,
winning five of seven matches.
But like strange deja vu, Clacka
mas lost to Mt. Hood again and
Spokane, who went on to place
second and first, respectively.
The Cougars are now in a first-
place tie with Mt. Hood, sporting
a league record of 6-1, and an
overall record of 34-4.
The Cougars next matches
will be tonight at Lane Commu
nity College in Eugene and Fri
day night at Umpqua CC in
Roseburg. Both matches begin at
7 p.m. Clackamas will travel to
Southwestern Oregon CC in Coos
Bay on Saturday for a 3 p.m.
league match.
photo by Josh Kehler
Clackamas’ Melanie Sharp smashes the ball over a pair of Mt. Hood blockers. The
Cougars lost the Oct. 11 home match to the Saints, which dropped Clackamas into a
first-place tie with Mt. Hood in the Southern Region with a 6-1 league record.
Men's cross country loses number one runner
due to illness, hangs on for seventh at PLU meet
Jesse Sowa
Sports Editor
The Pacific Lutheran Invita
tional in Tacoma on Saturday
turned out to be a different expe
rience than Clackamas cross
country coach Mike Hodges had
expected.
The Cougars were without
Travis Armstrong, the number
one runner on the men’s team,
because of illness and the
women’s team turned in a perfor
mance that wasn’t up to par for
this point in the season, accord
ing to Hodges.
The Clackamas men finished
seventh in a field of 17 teams.
Armstrong was unable to compete
when he developed monocleosis,
also known as mono. Armstrong’s
availability for the Southern Re
gional meet on October 28 at Pier
Park in Portland is not probable.
Hodges believes that the men
would have moved up one or two
spots with the, addition of
Armstrong.
Ryan Burck finished first for
the Cougars with a 28th-place fin
ish in 27 minutes, 26 seconds. Jon
Cox was 31st in 27:31, followed
by Dean Rowell in 39th (27:45).
“He’s continuing to make the im
provement that we expected from
him,” Hodges said of Rowell.
Evan Goin was 56th for
Clackamas in 28:10, with Juan
Sanchez in 64th (28:28) and Scott
Bills in 90th (29:2’1).
“I felt like we were a little
tentative in the beginning and
people came on at the end, but
they’ve got to be a little more
aggresive,” Hodges said of the
men’s team. “Unfortunately, we
were a little further back in the
pack than we would like to be.”
• I ZIPPA w/xtiro -
photo by Josh Kehler
The men’s cross country team suffered through the loss of their number one runner,
Travis Armstrong, due to illness, but came away with seventh place at the Pacific
Lutheran Invitational on Saturday. The women’s team placed eighth behind gutsy
performances by Jaime Fairchild, Jenny Newell and Mishe Simantel.
L* *4
The men finished
the regu
lar season with a record of 34
wins and eight losses against
community colleges and small
four-year schools.
The Clackamas women
placed eighth overall in a field of
17 teams led by standout Jaime
Fairchild, who took 12th in 19:23.
Fairchild’s time was a 22-second
improvement over last year on the
same course. She also improved
her placing by nine spots.
Jenny Newell was next for
the Cougars with 32nd in 20:26,
trailed by Heather Peterson in
53rd (21:04), Becky White in
68th (21:49), Shannon Henley in
75th (22:07) and Misha Simantel
in 77th (22:15).
“We just got spread too far
apart,” Hodges said of the
women’s placings. “I felt like
Jaime and Jenny ran particularly
well, and Misha did too. The oth
ers were a little bit down com
pared to what we’ve done re
cently.”
Clackamas will take this
week off before competing in the
regional meet in two weeks.
Hodges expects the women to
qualify for the NWAACC meet on
November 11 in Eugene with a
top two finsh at the regional meet.
The men's finish is still up
in the air with Armstrong's avail
ability still uncertain. The men
could be in contention for the re
gional title if Armstrong com
petes.
The men's team hopes to de
fend the NWAACC title, which
ir has won for four years in a row.
The co-ed title could also be
on the line at the NWAACC meet,
which Clackamas has won for six
straight years.
' I ' I-*