10
Sports
WedNEsdAy, M arc I h 15, 2002
TM e CL ac I camàs P rìnt
The tears, triumphs at NWAACC
• Clackamas' men's and women's basketball teams journey to Kennewick, Wash, to compete in the NWAACC Championships, March 8-11,
for the opportunity to call themselves the best in the Northwest.
A day-to-day journal-of the basketball championships
NICK BARRON
Business Manager
Thursday, March 7
2:10 p.m.
Two white rental vans, filled to the
brim with the men’s basketball team
and its cargo, leave the Clackamas
campus for Kennewick, Wash. The at
mosphere is jovial. The players crack
jokes and laugh at their teammates.
Hip-hop music blares from the speak
ers as Matt Tabisz raps along, his face
contorting into expressions that even
Eminem would envy.
9:30p.m
Lights out and tv.s off as the Cou
gars await their 8a.m. match.
Friday. March8
7am.
The team gathers in the locker room
of the Tri-Cities Coliseum. For one las
time, the Cougars go over, the Cou
gars go over the scouting reports of
Clark College, their first round oppo
nent. Mat Tondreau stares into no
where, focusing his concentration on
the approaching game.
7:30am.
Clackamas’ players begin to pump
themselves up fortheir duel with Clark.
Some athletes listen to music, others
yell words that a sailor would love, and
jump up and down as their head coach,
Clif Wegner, speaks to his team one
last time before their match. Wegner
asks his team to consider all the sacri
fices they have made over the last two
years, and to visualize what each one
must do against Clark in order for their
team to be successful.
7:45 a.m.
The team hits the Coliseum floor and
begins their warm-up routine, which
includes passing and lay-up drills,
while music blares throughout the
arena. Marvin Noble goes through the
prepping motions, handling the ball and
practicing his jump shot, all the while
listening to music through his head
phones.
8 a.m.
Clackamas' game against Clark takes
off.
The game ends with a76-73 Cougar
win. The team sits in the lockpr room.
Wegner calls his team’s performance
“jittery,” and pushes them to stay fo
cused and intense. Clackamas knows
they dodged a bullet this morning. The
coaches scout out their next opponent
for the tired players.
Saturday, March 9
10a.m.
The team loads up into the two white
vans and takes off for ColumbiaBasin’s
campus for their light practice.
The Cougars are at the gym, prac-
ticingfora4p.m. game. When the team
fails to execute a drill to the pleasing of
the coaches, assistant coach Jim
Worden fills the gym with a booming
yell and clap of his hands. The players
freeze, some daring to not even
breathe, and when Worden’s outburst
is through, the team steps up its work
ethic.
11:20am.
1005 am.
The men show up at the Coliseum
to watch the Cougar women’s team in
their game against Skagit Valley.
1058 am.
“Don’t let up on any play, not any
play,” Wegner tells his team at prac
tice. The Cougars spend time perfect
ing their defensive schemes, as well as
beatingBigBend on the offensive end
of the court
Preparation for the game begins one
last time, as Wegner goes over spe
cific offensive sets that he feels will
work against Big Bend. “I gotta’ think
we’re fresher, and I gotta’ think we’re
After the team practices free throw
shooting, Wegner wraps up practice.
“I think we’ll be ready,” he says.
Once the South western Oregon and
Bellevue game ends, the floor is swept
and Clackamas steps out to shoot bas
kets and begin warm-ups.
4:01 p.m.
The player^ are introduced, with
badly pronounced names, and the
game begins.
The game flies to a dramatic ending.
With one second remaining, Clacka
mas emerges the victor. Players
Lawson Struve and Noble sing a home
made song with just one line, “We’re
going to the ’ship,”’ a reference to the
Cougars being just one game away
from the championship game of the
tournament Wegner walks into the
room, shaking some athletes’ hands,
hugging others. “AAAHHH...that
was a great win!” Wegner says.
10p.m.
Back at their hotel,excited after their
thrilling defeat of Shoreline just hours
earl ier, the squad pours over stat sheets
for what turns out to be a bonding
moment in Wegner's room.
Sunday, March 10
them. Wegner says, ‘Let’s not let our
selves get caught thinking past to
night” a reference to Monday’s cham
pionship game.
6:02 pm.
With the blow of a whistle and the
toss of a ball, the match begins.
7:40pm
TheCougars’ shot at first place van
ished in the wake of their loss to Big
Bend. Emotions are displayed ina va
riety of ways in the locker room, with
Noble and Kuebler covering their
faces, and their eyes, with shirts over
their heads. Other members of the team
hold their heads in their hands, while
still others just stare off into the dis
tance.
Wegner enters
the room and takes a
seat, most players avoid
eye contact with jhe
him. As Big Bend’s
cheers seep through
the white brick walls,
the coach, sits and
waits, finally speaking
to his team. “I’m proud
how we played,” he
says. Tm sorry for ev
erybody in the room
who’s worked so hard
who doesn’t get to
play for a champion
ship,” Coach Wegner
Continues.
He said that their
loss was not for lack of
effort He believes that
perhaps a rebound or
two, er a well-executed
player two, would have
made the difference in
the game. But he feels
that his team left every
thing that they had on
the court
After Wegner is
Clackamas' Evan Kieling fights for the ball at done speaking to his
the beginning of the game against Shoreline.
player, he gives the as-
SALENA DE LA CRUZ I Clackamas Print
In the match, Klellng scored 17 points on
siaantsanoppoBunity
five-of-eight shooting from the field.
for their taghts. But
better tonight,” Wegner says. Assis
tant coach Ty Rothenberger gives his
analysis on the Vikings individual start
ers and how the Cougars can defend
both coaches, Rothenberger and
Worden, pass, their faces expressing
their feelings sufficiently. TheCougars
huddle in the middle, where Wegner
speaks softly to his team, and the
coaches head out to scout their next
opponent
Monday,March 11
11:05 am
The team watches the women’s
team take eighth place in the tourna
ment; in which they showed their dis
pleasure at the calls the officials made
by singing “A rope, a tree, hang the
referee.”
155pm
With their stomachs full, the Cou
gar men watch a portion of the game
that must end in order for theirs to be
gin. The coaches don’t mention the
previous night’s loss, and they keep
the game plan simple for their players.
“There’sahuge difference between
sixth and third,” Wegner says to his
athletes.
3 p.m.
The Cougars' last match of the sea
son kicks off.
With thegameover, Clackamas com
ingout on top, Wegner and his squad
take holdofthe third-place trophy. The
players’ parents come onto the court
out of the stands and hug their sons,
who pose for a team photo with the
trophy. Once the improv photo shoot
is finished, the team goes into the
locker room for one last time.
Their faces seem more relaxed than
they have been in months, their eyes
glow with pride of their accomplish
ment. Wegner speaks of team effort in
the last game against Walla Walla, and
made plans for end of the year ban
quets and meeting^.
Kuebler approaches his coach in the
hall outside of the locker room, shakes
Wegner’s hand and the player thanks
the coach for his efforts in the
sophomore’s two years under Wegner.
The coach then congratulates the
player on two great seasons, telling
Kuebler that he is welcome to play for
Wegner any time.
Clackamas’ season was over, and
the team was heading towards the
west, off into the sunset
To reach Nick Barron, e-mail
barronoru@hotmaiLcom or drop by
B-104.
Win or lose, respect remains
...
I had been given the pri velege of
joining the men's basketball team to
the NWAACC tournament from the /
van ride to Kennewick, to the locker
room before, during and after their
games. It is what I have witnessed in
those locker rooms that has made some
of the biggest impacts on my life.
Before their games, the team was
relaxed, yet serious, knowing the battle
they were about to be thrown into.
After their first two games, I saw joy
and pleasure on their faces, as they
had emerged from the battlefield vic
torious. Yet it was after their most re
cent match that I saw the true charac-
ter of the team.
For two years, Coach Clif Wegner
has worked with some of the Cougar
pl ay ers on obtaining a championship
trophy. The athletes themselves have
logged countless hours in gyms, work
ing on their post moves, jump shots
and footwork. They pushed their bod
ies in the hope, the belief, that they
were capable of accomplishing some
thing that most players only dream of.
In one game their dreams came to a
tragic and obscene ending. For forty
minutes, the Cougar player^ poured
every ounce of their beings into win
ning a basketball game, and as they
filed into the locker room, they felt that
as if their efforts had fallen to the way
side.
So they sat on the benches of the
white brick room, some with heads in
their hands, others staring into the
unknown. Tears began to come, flow
ing from broken djeams. -
By Nick Barron
Grown, proud men, disappointed in
their demise, oblivious to a reporter
who could shred the stereotypical im
age of cocky, egotistical jocks. But
just as they were able to show their
emotions freely after a victory, so did
they illustrate them after perhaps the
worse defeat they had ever encoun
tered.
Wegner sat in silence for what
seemed an eternity, finally speaking as
a father does to his brokenhearted chil
dren. He asks for their eyes, some filled
with tears, and tells them it will be ok.
Yes, he says, it was a loss, and it seems
the worse thing to have ever happen
to them, but tomorrow is a new day, a
new game, and they will be ready for it
The coach gives them time to sulk,
to reflect and to grieve. Hie rises and
prepares for his next game, a task that
must have seemed the last thing the
man wanted to do at that time. How
easy it would have been for him to
slide back to his hotel room, chain the
door, and lie there, hoping the night’s
events were just a bad dream.
Basketball is just a sport, a mere
game that little boys play, and con
tinue to do so into manhood. But those
little boys have dreams, and as their
bodies grow larger, so do those aspi
rations, and it seems unfair that one
moment can dash those hopes.
I came out here for this tournament,
thinking that Clackamas had a shot at
claiming the championship, but not
believing it would happen. Jt. was
March, and the Cougars had fallen on
hard times recently, and I knew that in
_
tournaments, all bets are off.
While their game against Big Bend
proved my theory true, I walked out of
that depressing locker room believing
in something besides wins and losses.
My faith in a team was renewed, and
that is far more important than a vic
tory.
After Coach Wegner had finished
consoling his team, I quitely stood,
shut my notebook, and walked out
of the locker room. As I made my
way out of the arena, I was grateful
for the opportunity to join Wegner
and his players during this tourna
ment
I-strolled out into the cool March
air, a believer in the power of a team,
and I could have never be prouder
of the Cougars.