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.