Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2010)
orts Wednesday, April 21, 2010 the clackamas print 5 rack coach aims for NWAACCs I grades to Is, Keoni lone pushes land women to heir best | Brian Baldwin I'-.l I Clackamas Print or the last 10 years, Keoni McHone has coached track and field at Clackamas Community College and the last four years loach. L r I I I I Iighoul these recent years, len’s track team has lived I exceeded his expecta- le men’s team is improv- I last season, but they | the challenge to one of |’s main goals of the sea lfinish in the top three on |s and women’s side.” is to goal to be achieved each team needs at least letes to place in the top host of the events in track I such as the discus, Ind 800 meter E |c H o n e leared to be ■confident in I the wom- , All photos by Brad Heineke Clackamas Print Keoni McHone and Emma Buchholz train in pole vaulting for upcoming track and field meets. Buchholz and the other athletes need to score in the top eight of their events so that the men’s and women’s team accomplish McHone’s goal. en’s team coverage of almost all the events, but the men k have a bigger burden since they do not have many distance runners. “If we have some that we’re going to be weak in, then, we have to make sure to give a little ttiore in the other events,” McHone said. It puts a good deal of pressure on us; there are so many events they can score points in that the k guys of [CCC] have to push Sk up to a higher said John Chisman, a freshman thrower out of North Salem High School. However, while McHone cre ates the main team goal for the season, he lets his own players set up their own guidelines to help achieve the team goal. Such as Chisman’s goal, “150 to 160 in discus [and] 40 to 45 in shot put, so those I’m getting close to [accomplishing] them ... as I go along.” u From here on out, it’s more of figur ing out how to compete... Keoni McHone Head track and field coach score make because there are so few distance runners eligible,” Right now we are actually are kind of sharpening them up,” said McHone, adding, “From here on out, it’s more of figuring out how to compete, making sure the body is fresh for competition days and the mind as well.” When asked if academics have been an issue for his athletes try ing to balance school and their track and field rankings, McHone said, “On our women’s side, we don’t have that problem. Our team GPA on our women’s side is usu ally around a 3.2, which is pretty solid.” He went on further to say that the men do struggle a bit. To try and help bolster their grades, the coach sits down with them and tries to make sure that they are organized and setting goals for the classroom. He makes them keep a daily planner that his ath letes keep notes for their classes and show McHone their progress. Just as they set their own goals for sports, he tells them to “take that same mentality with their academics.” “That’s one big thing that Keoni wants us to be very well prepared for the academic por tion of college. He doesn’t want any of us taking short credits,” said Kenny Echtemkamp, fresh man thrower from Mt. View High School. Most importantly to McHone, there is another goal that takes precedence, “Our other part of [our goal] is that I want to make sure that our team has a good reputation as far as being profession als. They are rep resenta tives of the track and field pro--- gram, of Clackamas Athletics and of the whole school.