Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1999)
TLiE CI ac I< amas P rìnt _ _____ 17 Wednesday, June 2, 1999 Winter Sports Cougar wrestlers 12th best in America The Clackamas wrestling squad contin ued its annual success at the national meet this past winter. After earning a fifth place finish at the NJCAA Region 18 Championships, the Cougars finished #12 out of 45 schools at the NJCAA Championships in Rochester, Minn. The NJCAA meet, focal point of the Cougars' training each season, highlights the best junior college wrestlers in America and is a separate conference from the NWAACC—the conference which Clackamas is a member of in every other sport. Clackamas' entries into the wrestling meet were Ben Vombaur at 125 pounds who finished third to earn All-Ameri can honors, Abel Valdez at 133 pounds who took sixth, Dennis Olsen at 165 pounds who missed placing, Luke Heuberger at 157 pounds who also missed placing by one match and Joey Frizzel, who entered the meet on a wild card vote from Region 18 coaches but also failed to place. Of those wrestlers, Vombaur and Heuberger are freshman and could return next winter. "Ben and Luke are thinking about mov ing on to wrestle at a bigger school," noted Clackamas Head Coach Lloyd Martindale. "But if they don't, they'll an chor a really strong team." Vombaur would return as the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class in America. —. TIMOTHY A. BELL / Clackamas Print Dan™a Olsen Puts a h°ld °n an opponent during the Winter Sports Season. Olsen, an All-American as a freshman last year, competed at the NJCAA Championships in February, but didn't place. Spring Sports Glenn Boss gears up for the pitch. Young talent matures too late A young, very talented group of players would best describe this year's baseball team. Unfortunately, youth and talent don't al ways reap success. This was the case for the Cougars this past Spring Season. A maturity and experi ence which developed only towards the end of the year. As a result, Clackamas finished in fifth place in the Southern Region—three posi tions away from a postseason qualifier. Finishing out the season being swept by league champion Lane two weeks ago, the Cougars now focus their energy in recruit ing, especially filling the hole that Sopho more Rian Alden will leave with his .355 bat ting average. "We've got 16 potential returning fresh men," said Clackamas Head Coach Robin Robinson. "We've got seven returning pitchers, including our four best. We feel like our freshmen got a good taste of using the wood bat. I feel we've got some great kids coming back. We'll just see if they get the work done that they need to this sum- mo-. "We've already signed two players which we feel are excellent bal 1 players from Gladstone and Canby so we're looking good right now. "The teams that we faced and lost to—the teams like Mt Hood, Lane, Chemeketa—they were all teams that were just dominated by sophomores. When you've got a team that is mostly freshmen, it's very, very difficult to see success. The good thing is though, is that next year, we'll be in the same position that they were next year. We'll have a lot of good sophomore hitters and pitchers. "Everybody is excited about next season, already. We've got guys working on the field right now, hitting every chance they get. We're getting better right now." Softball squad wins region title, ends up #4 The Clackamas softball team won an other Southern Region title this Spring but ended up fourth at the NWAACC Tournament two weekends ago. In a tournament that the Cougars have made their own in the '90s, Clackamas bowed out unexpectedly early and wound up with the fourth place trophy. "If you make it to the playoffs, no matter what, anything can happen," said Assistant Coach Denise Nasuta. Since 1990, Clackamas has won seven NWAACC Championships establishing itself as the softball powerhouse of the Northwest. At the tournament, however, Mt. Hood threatened that claim as it elimi nated the Cougars. The rival Saints fin ished in a three-way tie with Clackamas and Lower Columbia for the Southern region title. Clackamas earned the #1 seed from the region into the tournament with two wins over Mt. Hood and Lower Columbia in a tie-breaker mini-series three weeks ago. Overall, Clackamas ended the year with a 31-12 record. Sophomores moving on include Katie Brewster, who will play softball for the Portland State University Vikings’ next spring, Cortney DuPree, who is entertain ing several offers from northwest schools, Marji Van Bramer, who is look ing at a list of possible colleges to play for and Cecily Burton, the team's leading hitter and captain, who is considering the option of playing softball at Western Or egon University in Monmouth. Paul Kezes wins the Southern Region title in the 1500m run. Track teams end up 5th, 6th in Northwest Clackamas athletes fared well at the coveted NWAACC Championships, but ac cording to Head Coach Jack Kegg, the number of competitors weren't enough for the Cougars to earn a trophy. The men placed fifth, the women ended up in the sixth spot. "We had some very talented, very hard-working athletes on the team this year," noted Kegg. "We just didn't have enough. The bulk of our team was comprised of freshmen. They are talented freshmen but they don't really have the leadership that we would get from our sophomores. We just didn't have enough sophomores." More than half of Coach Kegg's 26 athletes look to return for their sophomore seasons next spring—bringing high expectations because of how successfill they were as freshmen. Two NWAACC Champions were produced this spring. Freshmen Brian Rohrer and Trina Rogers each won titles. Rohrer took the pole vaulting championship while Rogers won her trophy in the javelin—setting an NWAACC record along the way. Rohrer's victory marks the pole vault is the seventh straight year that a Clackamas athlete has won that event. Freshman centerfielder Jessica Farnsworth wielded a big bat for the Cougars this spring. An end of the year banquet will be held today for all members of Clacka- mas teams and- coaches nearthe ■.«■■.«■■..J
