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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2011)
Sports Wednesday, N ov 1 6 ,2 0 1 1 sportsed@clackamas. edu The Clackamas P rint"] Defending national champs still a team to fear? By Robert Morrison The Clackamas Print T h e 2 0 1 1 N atio n al C h a m p io n Clackamas Cougars wrestling team start ed o ff th e season in high gear on Nov. 10, w hen the team faced o ff against N o. 11 ranked H ighline C om m unityC ollege. Form er C C C s ta r Tarrence W illiam s was in attendance, as well as several m em bers o f the C C C Hall o f Fame. NJCAA N ational C ham pion an d 2000 O lym pic Silver m edalist M att L indland was also in th e crowd. T h e Cougars entered the m eet ranked N o. 2 in th e nation. Clackamas w on by a com m anding score o f 33-6 in a m eet th at featured seven wresders ranked in the to p 10 nationally an d three wrestlers ranked N o. L T h e nig h t kicked o ff w ith a p air o f tough exhibition m atches that didn’t co u n t tow ard th e team ’s scores. T h e teams split the exhibition m atches b u t the big ger o f the tw o was wresder Shane Yacuta (133) w ith an outstanding w in against n um ber eight in th e nation at 141, Sam O ttow , o f H ig h lin e G C . Yacuta did well wrestling o u t o f his usual weight class and w o n 3-2. T h e m atch started things right for C C C . ; T h e Cougars w ouldn’t look back after their first w in o f ; th e night as they took six o f the next eight matches. 10 m atch es were scheduled for the night But H ighline had forfeits at both 133 and 184. A m ong th e top wins th at counted toward a team score were N o. 1 ranked R udi Burtschi’s (197) 11-10 decision over A nthony W h itm arsh an d N o. 8 ranked sophom ore Eric Luna’s (149) w in over Josh Rom ero, 6 -5 . Burtschi was b o th an All-American and Region cham pion last season. “I really like N ikko Veltri’s w in at 157. It was just real gutty. W e gassed him out Rudi Burtsch? (top) wrestles Anthony Whitmarsh o f Highline. Burtschi was awarded the 1:1-10 decision after three rounds, bringing the team score to 24-3. Clackamas flattened Highline 33-6. O rnelas fell short against num ber one ranked Steven Rom ero 0-5. “I thought Sage s m atch was a good one even 'though he didn’t w in. H e wres tled a top tw o tri th e nation. It was a real eye opener for h im to see w here he is at,” said L una (149). ’“1’here [weren’t] any big losses, just areas we need to im prove on. T h e only m atch w on by pin was N o. 10 T rent N o o n (174) against Lucas Huybar. N o o n was leading 4-0 w hen he came up w ith the pin. “T here were som e close m atches that we could have beaten them a lot worse b u t w e ended up w inning all the close matches. I th in k we, could have beat them by a lo t m ore b u t we still did ood,” said T rent N o o n (174). “I th in k could have done better. I could have ended it sooner, b u t I got the p in in the second round and controlled the w hole m atch to w ork him over.” M any o f the players agreed th at coach R hoden an d h is assistant prepared the team very well for it’s m atch against Highline, w hich was also o ff to a good start beating N o rth Idaho for th e first tim e in a decade earlier this season. T h e team pulled o ff a hard fought victory over H ighline 33-6. W h en it came dow n t o . die wire, the Cougars showed that, despite losing several great wrestlers to., four-year program s, they are still a team to be feared in the quest Clackamas’ Eric Luna wrestles Highline’s 'Josh Romero. Luna, ranked No. 8 in the for. the 2 0 1 2 N ational Junior C oll Lege C ham pionship. ’ nation won his match in the 149 weight class by a count o f 6-5, a little bit,” said C oach Josh R hoden. “C lin to n McAlester just got on the m at for the first tim e in a year an d a half. H e has been injured an d banged u p so th at was a w in just by getting there and-he got the win.” . . . . a A m ong the tw o losses for the team , the biggest m ight have been in the 125 w eight class w here N o. 10 ranked Sage. F 7V(V Wrestling Next Up: @ SW Oregon 6:00pm Thursday Nov. 17 C lackam as vs. H ig h lin e Meet results CCC 33, Highline 6 141 - Clinton McAlester decision Kevin Ramp 5-2 (3-0) 149 - No. 8 Eric Luna derision Josh Romero 6-5 (6-0) 157 - Nikko Veltri derision Micah Morrill 6-3 (9-0) 165 - Tyler Story derision Kaleb Cook 7-2 (9-3) 174 - No. 10 Trent Noon fell Incas Huybar 4:11 (15-3) 184 - No. 1 Austin Morehead win by forfeit (21-3) 197 - No. 1 Rudi Burtschi derision Anthony Whitmarsh 11-10 (24-3) - 285 - No. 7 Jake Laden derition Michael Henry 2-1 (27-3) 125 - No. 1 Steven Romero derision No. 10 Sage Ornelas 5-0 (27-6) 1.33 - Jordan O ’Neal win by forfeit (33-6) Numbers represent national ranking Men’s, women’s cross country take fourth at NWAACC championships By Brian Baldwin Editor-in-Chief Throughout this season, the Cougar’s Cross Country ream has seen some amazing runners and had some amazing moments but it all came down to the NWAACC’s champion ship at Legion Memorial Golf Course in Everett, Wash, on Saturday Nov. 12. T he Cougars placed fourth in both the mens 8K and the women’s 5K run, finishing behind Lane and Spokane com munity colleges in the mens and Clark and Treasure Valley community colleges in the womens run. Both the m en ana womens run was dominated by Everett Community College, winning their first men’s and second womens championship. “[The championship] was super, super dose,” said head coach Keoni McHone. Clackamas freshman Jorge Gil-Juarez finished the mens 8K with a time o f 24:59, trailing Bereket Piatt from Everett by .27 seconds. “I’m extremely satisfied [with the time]. I didn’t think that I could do that well this year,” said Gil-Juarez. “I felt that we did really well. A few o f us didn’t have a spec tacular day but we were satisfied with our result” Gil-Juarez said that the season exceeded his expectations for the team and that he will be returning to the cross country roster next year stronger than ever. “I’m going to try to be more o f a leader for the ream and break the school record,” said Gil-Juarez. “I believe that I am capable.” Standout fteshman Teresa Lawson, finished third in the womens 5K with a time o f 18:31, trailing behind Mikel Elliott o f Spokane by 24 seconds. Lawsons participation in the cham pionship was still being decided just before the meet due to a nagging hip injury sustained earlier in the season. T he injury kept her from running in the regional competition. “I strained m y hip flexor about two to three weeks ago and so I hadn’t been running at practices and had been working hard to do everything I could to get to help it heal for the championship race,” stated Lawson in a Facebook message. “It was nerve racking to go into die race with m y hip still not 100 percent.” Lawson credits the athletic trainer Kevin Arizo and the other coaches for helping her push through the injury so she could race her best in the championship. “I think all in all it was a really good race and both our teams did well and finished strong,” stated Lawson. “Looking back I think I did pretty well for m y first time running cross country. I’m so d a d that I came across the opportunity to run on the team and I think we had a good season.” Before the meet, McHone also commented that through out the season Clackamas’ performance has been what he expected, but he felt that they could be more competitive on the women’s side, with Caidyn Lewis’ hip injury and Carissa Hill’s foot injury holding them back During the season there have been some runners that have impressed McHone. Bradley Prettyman, for one, has taken a minute off o f his personal record, which is double the improve m ent average between seasons that McHone has seen. “It was a huge surprise to see [that large o f an improve ment],” said McHone. Cia Bywater has been another runner that M cHone has noticed as a positive force on the roster. “She’s a consistence workhorse. She’s had no ups. or downs; she’s just been very consistent,” said McHone. W ith cross country finished for the season, M cHone feels that the most important thing to focus on is getting rest for the team in preparation for track and field in the spring. “We need to rest our bodies and get ready.
