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.