Sports
TkiE CL ac I< amas P rint
WEdNEsdAy, ApRiL 5, 2000
Ringing i
a new vea
David Lemen makes a bid for
the Olympic Trials and leads a
steady, talented team to victory
JOHN THORBURN I Clackamas
JOHN THORBURN
Editor-in-Chief
The Clackamas track and field
squad is off and running this
spring.
It’s doing a little more than that.
With a team that boasts equal
success on both men’s and
women’s squads, the Cougars are
etching their names in the history
books and challenging regional
and national marks in what could
be one of the school’s most suc
cessful spring seasons.
On the men’s side of events, no
other athlete could be more pro
lific this season than sophomore
David Lemen. The lean, 6'2",
bleached blond looks like he was
born on a California beach but ac
tually hails from a high school
north of Seattle.
A Northwest Athletic Associa
tion of Community Colleges
[NWAACC] champion in the de
cathlon in 1998, Lemen is well on
his way to claiming a second title
as he recorded personal bests in
the javelin, high jump, long jump
and hurdles events at meets over
spring break.
“The national junior college
record for the decathlon is 7499,”
noted Head Coach Jack Kegg.
“Lemen scored 7212. He won that
decathlon against a lot of four-
year schools by more than 1000
points. That’s a pretty significant
mark. He’s made a big push and
we’re hoping to get that national
record at the NWAACC Champi
onships in Spokane. 7600 is the
minimum to go to the Olympic Tri
als. So, if he gets the national
record, there’s kind of this peck
ing order, we’ll see if he has a shot
at qualifying [for the Olympic Tri
als]. We think he has chance at
both of them. Before this past week
end, he was leading the NWAACC
in five events.
“I think the NWAACC record for
points scored by an individual is
68—that was Dan O’Brien when
he was at Spokane. We’re looking
at Lemen probably try and go for
70. He’s going to compete in a lot
of events.”
"Qualifying for the Olympic Tri
als would be a great experience for
my future at a four-year university
next year," said Lemen.
While Lemen is pushing to
wards his goals, the rest of the
squad is bumping athletes from the
famed Track & Field All-time list
at the college to make room for their
own.
“We had some pretty incredible
things happen over the break,”
said Kegg. “As a team, we had
some outstanding marks.”
Paul Kezes, the defending
Southern Region champion in the
1500m race, moved up to #3 on the
David Lemen and his Olympic ring tattoo on his left shoulder have raised the level of competition in the
Northwest. The sophomore athlete from Washington could qualify for the Olympic Trials this spring.
list in the grueling 5K event.
finisher for Clackamas in the in
At Stanford, Trina Rogers, the dividual short races was second
defending NWAACC champion in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m
and junior college record holder in and 1500m races. Clackamas ath
the javelin, threw 148' for 8th place letes won the 5K race, Intermedi
in the national invitational meet.
ate Hurdles, Long and Short Re
“That was 18'farther than she threw lays, High Jump and Pole Vault
at Stanford last year at this time,” noted events.
Kegg. “She’s started out with a strong
Shawn Trimble recorded a per
spring after joining a few weeks late sonal best in the pole vault, win
from basketball.”
ning the event over the weekend
The women’s 4x400 relay team with a mark of 15'6".
moved up to #3 on the all-time list.
For the women’s team, three
Both the men’s and women’s freshmen stood out last weekend.
short relay teams are conference
Rachel Austin became the con
ference leader in the 200m race with
leaders.
“We were very competitive with her time of 26.1 seconds over the
the California junior colleges, weekend.
which is a good indicator because
Krystal Schneider won the dis
they tend to run a lot faster,” said cus and shot put and placed fifth
Kegg. “Our men’s mile relay team in the hammer throw. Her marks
ran and beat most of the California moved her to the #4 spot in the
junior colleges. They were laugh discus and the hammer throw.
ing at us before the meet started in
Mary Murphy moved to #9
the training room saying ‘You on the all-time list with a 5'2"
guys are running the mile relay leap on the Clark College cam
with four white guys? What is that pus to become the team’s lead
about?’ Then we just smoked ing high jumper.
them.”
While the meet was not offi
At the Southern Region Preview cially scored, if it were, both
last Saturday in Vancouver, WA, Clackamas men’s and women’s
the Cougars were the “kings of teams would have prevailed with
second,” according to Coach Chemeketa and Clark finishing
second in the men’s and
Kegg.
In the men’s events, the top women’s events, respectively.
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