6 The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Track and field finds succès
By John Howard
Associate Sports Editor
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When Head Track and Field Coach Keoni McHone
steps across the concrete and onto the rubbery track on
which many of his athletes train, he isn’t in unfamiliar
territory.
McHone is entering his fifth season as head coach
at Clackamas Community College after several years
as an assistant coach and having been a track and field
athlete since high school. Because of his experience,
McHone understands what it takes to succeed in a sport
such as his, one where talent and natural ability don’t
always hold sway.
“Getting rid of the psychological barrier and believ
ing in the possibility I think is the biggest key,” said
McHone. “The physical training, if you come out and
work hard, will help, but you’ve got to believe that you
can go above and beyond.”
This unbelievably determined mindset is seen in the
eyes of many of the runners, j umpers and throwers that
spend their afternoons hard at work all across the track
and infield. There is a noticeable difference between
these athletes and those of any other sport.
Jumpers and throwers will spend hours in the
weight room only to gain an inch of success, and run
ners routinely push their bodies so close to the breaking
point that they can get sick or collapse from exhaustion.
The reason for all of this grueling work is that track
and field really is a competition against yourself, not
against other athletes. Because of this, progress isn’t
measured in wins and losses, but in an athlete’s person
al records, or PRs. A runner’s goal is to PR every race
and to have their PR be better by the end of the season
than at the beginning. That, however, isn’t always easy.
Success is dependent on training, which in turn
is dependent on weather. Cold weather means cold
athletes and therefore more opportunities for injuries,
something that has been a major setback for CCC
this season. It seemed that every runner, thrower and
jumper mentioned an injury either to themselves or to
one of their teammates.
“I’ve just been trying to come back from injury,”
said freshman Mariah Villa, who competes in a com
bination of seven different events called a heptathlon.
Villa admitted that not being able to train for health
reasons was her biggest stumbling block and that
working to return to competition required a lot of time
and effort.
Despite multiple injuries and the miserable weather,
which was noticeably bad even for the month of
March, the team has done well at their recent meets.
“ff you listen to the loudspeakers, you hear a lot
of first place finishes for Clackamas,” said Ryan Rau,
a freshman sprinter from Oregon City High School.
Rau also mentioned that health was a problem for
the team, but said that they had overcome it fairly well
in a lot of different events, something that McHone
echoed.
“We’ve been placing really well.... We had some
where around eight event winners at our last meet out
of the 40 events,” said McHone, who usually tries
for a well-rounded team, something that is apparent
this year when he begins to mention the team’s many
standouts.
McHone spent several minutes highlighting dif
ferent pieces of his team, including the women’s
sprint crew and distance runners Mary Botsford and
All-American Laura Copenhagen, as well as decath
lete Dominik Walker and hurdler James Ratliff, who
threatens to break the school record in both the 100-
and 400-meter hurdles.
“We’ve been pretty successful, and I’ve seen a
lot of personal records,” said McHone. “The weather
hasn’t really cooperated in order to get the training in
and so we’re a little bit behind schedule, but we’re
going in a positive direction.”
The next home meet is scheduled for Saturday,
April 23 and will be held at the Oregon City High
School Stadium. Both track and field events will begin
at 11 a.m. and events will continue until just after 3:30
Softball
Track and Field
April 16-Lewis and Clark
Invitational @ Lewis and
Clark College
April 16
vs. S Puget Sound 9 a
vs.Walla Walla 11arr
April 17
vs.Skagit Valley 10 am
vs.Wentachee Valley
Baseball
April 16
@ SW Oregon 1 pm
April 19
vs.Chemeketa 1 pm
12 pm
April 20
@ Mt.Hood 3 pm
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Mariah Villa practices her hurdles on April 7 on the Clackamas track. She competes in a
combination of events as she tries to return from her injuries.
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