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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.
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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
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