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March 5, 2003
The Clackamas Print
Cougars wrestle to twelfth in U.S.
Staff Writer
Three Clackamas wrestlers bat
tled to All-American status over the
(weekend at the National Junior
I College Athletic Association national
I tournament, and one of the success
I stories was unanticipated.
In the NJCAA individual rankings
Ireleased Feb. 25, coaches picked
I Bridger Sacher (197) to win fourth
place and predicted Sean Bolen (141)
and Michael Fisher (157) to capture
eighth place finishes. While Bolen
did not place as expected, a remark
able showing by Chris Henry (285)
helped him finish as one of
Clackamas’ top three performers.
Sacher was Clackamas’ best
wrestler. He won four of six matches
and secured a fifth place victory by
pinning Neosho’s Golden Smith in
1:45.
In other matches, Sacher won by
11-6 decision over Colby’s Derek
Dougherty, by 18-9 major decision
over Minn. West’s Nate Buys and
by pin after 1:43 over Pima’s
Melvin Hunter. He then lost an li
ft) decision to Labette’s William
James in the championship semifi
nals and was pinned in 4:30 by
Nassau’s Chris Weidman in the
consolation semifinals.
Fisher finished sixth after being
pinned in 2:29 by Middlesex’s
John Powell.
Fisher
also
decisioned
Northwest’s Cort Petersen 9-4,
Williamson’s- Shane Vocht 9-6,
Pima’s Ronald Yousefnejad 5-3 and
Ellsworth’s Dustin Blevin 10-9.
Fisher entered the consolation
bracket after losing his opening match
in overtime 13-11 to Iowa Central’s
Steve Sommer; he lost by 6-4 deci
sion to Sommer again in the consola
tion semifinals.
Henry stole a seventh place finish
by 7-4 decision over Harper’s Danny
Perez.
Henry also decisioned Colby’s Rio
Mayo 5-4 and Ridgewater’s Mike
Redman 8-2 before dropping a 4-2
decision to Waldorf’s Chris
McDonald. He won by 3-2 decision in
the consolation quarterfinals to
Nassau’s Greg Thomas before his
final victory.
The five other Clackamas
wrestlers at the tournament and faced
early exits.
Bolen opened with a loss by 9-1
major decision to Harper’s Chad
Isacson. He won his next match by
forfeiture and followed with a 15-5
major decision over Yakima Valley’s
Matt Skeeto. He then dropped a 7-5
decision to Lincoln’s Chris Ravenna.
Ben Sevigny (125) lost his two
matches by 13-0 major decision to
Lincoln’s Josh Collins and by fall to
Middlesex’s Rob Wilkinson after
4:30.
Jimmy Crisman (right) earned an unexpected bid for the national tournament during
the regional competition hosted by CCC. Crisman and the rest of the Cougar team
secured twelfth place in the nation at the NJCAA tournament in Minn.
Jimmy Crisman (133) was pinned
by Labette’s Emery McReynolds after
6:15 and then lost by 15-6 major deci
sion to Neosho’s Willard Chad.
Derrick Bollier (165) lost to
Ridgewater’s Nate Schut by 5-2 deci-
sion and Lassen’s Shawn Reilly by 9-
4 decision.
Austin Lawrence (184) lost by 10-
8 decision to Ellsworth’s Ken
Prophette and 6-3 decision to
Southwestem’s Dan Gordon.
North Idaho College scored 140
points to win first place out of the 22
Division
I
schools
entered.
Clackamas placed twelfth with 34.50
points and was the second-highest
scoring NWAACC program.
Track gears up for season with
strong start, high expectations
Sports Editor
LUKE MAHAN Clackamas Print
Cavin Wahl-Stephens tosses one to his teammate Chris
Kosmas during practice. The Cougars grabbed a split
during their season opening double header.
Clackamas baseball
starts off with a split
Sports Editor
Clackamas’ baseball team
kicked off the 2003 season on the
road at Blue Mountain CC in
Pendleton on March 1.
The doubleheader was split
down the middle with each team
capturing one win, but the Cougars
overpowered Blue Mountain with
offense, finishing the day with 17
hits.
CCC dropped the first game
with a final of 8-5. Nik Mason
went 2 for 3 with a double, scoring
one run and racking up two RBIs.
Jesse Gaylord also had a double
and scored a run in the loss.
The Cougars came back the
next game to take control with
some on-fire pitching from Ty
Combs, who threw five near-per;
feet innings. He faced 17 Blue
Mountain men and 13 of them
were sent back to the bench from
strikeouts; he handed out zero
walks. His team supported him
with some strong offense, led by
Chris Runyon and Gaylord.
Runyon was 3-3 with one RBI
and two stolen bases and Gaylord
went 2-5 with a triple. Gavin
Wahl-Stephens added a double and
scored a run, and Jason Chan was
2-4 with five stolen bases in the
game. For the day, Clackamas had
10 stolen bases, 17 hits and four
bunts.
The Cougars next doubleheader
will be played on March 8 against
Columbia Basin CC in The Dalles,
beginning at 10 a.m. The entire
first part of CCC’s baseball season
will be played on the road, and
Clackamas will make their first
appearance on the Cougar dia
mond on April 1 against Mt. Hood.
With two top 10 performances
in school history and multiple ath
letes qualifying for the conference
championships, Clackamas’ track
program started off the season
looking ready to do some damage.
They opened up the year at the
Bearcat Invite on March 1 in
Salem. This is one of the best starts
that the program has had, according
to Head Track Coach Jack Kegg,
and probably the best ever for the
women.
“We had a good first meet. We
had 20 qualifiers for conference
championships between men and
women,” Kegg said. “So I thought
that was a good start for us.”
Some strong performances for
the women came from Kari
Rissmiller and Rebekah Yancoskie.
Both of these women are expected
to do very well this year.
“We expect a lot out of [them],”
Kegg said. “Both of them as
defending NWAACC champions
should be big for us.”
Rissmiller ran equal to her
fastest time last year in the 1500m,
and is the defending NWAACC
Champion in that event. Her time
of 4:40 helped her to qualify to
defend her title at the champi
onships. Yancoskie ran an 11-sec
ond PR in the 1500m, and was a
mere two seconds off her PR in the
800m, where she is the defending
champion. Both of her times in
these events qualified for the cham
pionships.
While the women rolled along
pretty well, they did hit some
bumps in the road; during the
championship-qualifying run of the
short relay, Megan Moore dove to
pass the baton to her teammate and
landed on her shoulder, breaking
her collarbone. The injury will
force her to be out for six weeks,
but because the women’s team has
so much depth, they will still be
able to run that event while Moore
is recouperating.
“It’ll hurt us for a little bit. We
have good depth in the women’s
side this year though, so it’s not as
bad as it usually is,” Kegg said.
“Usually we lose and leg and we
don’t run a relay for that time. This
year we have two relays, so it’s a
good group of women.”
Some other women to watch
throughout the year include Megan
Odom, who had a good start after
being injured all year. She qualified
in the 100m this past weekend and
should do well in the sprints. Jenna
Bird and Kasie Gillespie should
also be pretty significant in the hur
dles and sprints. Erin Schafer, who
was last year’s fourth place high
school pole-vaulter in the country
took first in that event and quali
fied; Kegg expects her to do even
better once she gets going.
The men also had some impres
sive performances. Josh Carlson
represented in the javelin by throw
ing 202’ 5”, which is in the top 10
in school history. According to
Kegg, he is capable of throwing a
lot farther. Team Captain Kelly
Howlett won the hammer throw,
and qualified for the champi
onships. Theron Harris breezed
through the 200m and 400m while
racing unattached due to eligibility
issues. Nate Henry also has some
eligibility requirements to fulfill,
but he won the 400m hurdles his
first time ever running them. Rusty
Pruden looks good in the middle
distance races, as he is the defend
ing 800m and 1500m NWAACC
Champion, and in the 5000m, the
foursome of Pat Searing, Eli
Nevarez, Mike Schwoebel and Ira
LaFontaine all are expected to do a
lot this year. David Arndt is an All
American shotputter who took sec
ond with a really good throw of 48’
8”, and Steve Groth is a returning
All American in the triple jump
who is expected to be big for
Clackamas this year as well.
The next event the Cougars will
take part in is the Mt. Hood Open
on Saturday, March 8 at Gresham.
FILE PHOTO
Kari Rissmiller started the
2003 track season by
matching her fastest time
from last year in the
1500m.