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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2012)
P R IN T : Sports Wednesday, Oct. 10,2012 J Woods leads Cougar volleyball Andrew Millbrooke Sports Editor The Clackamas Community College women’s volleyball team has had its share o f ups and downs over the years, but the one con stant, for three decades now, has been head coach Kathie Woods. Woods, in her 30th season at the helm o f the CCC volleyball program, is no stranger to success either. She has compiled more than 700 career victories and has been named Southern Region Coach o f the Year four times and NWAACC Coach o f the Year three times. “Her teams are always very competitive, always solid,” said CCC Athletic Director Jim Martineau. “More importantly, she puts out great student athletes.” This season Martineau has been to every home volleyball game and he has a great perspective on the volleyball program as a whole. “She is very passionate about volleyball, her teaching position and her student athletes,” said Martineau. “She’s a great coach and she does a tremendous job o f developing young women.” Woods has seen countless ath letes move on to four year universi ties and she stays in close contact with many o f her former players. All four o f her current assistant coaches were once student-athletes at CCC. “It’s an honor and privilege to have them come back to help out with the program,” said Woods. One reason many athletes stay close to thé’ program after they leave school is the disciplined envi ronment and family atmosphere that Woods, has created at CCC. “Our philosophy at the com munity college level is com munity first around here,” said Woods. “We have a lot o f talent and good coaches in this area.” Woods also preaches a phi losophy o f going above and beyond scholastically. Her play ers must adhere to certain disci plines in school; they must intro duce themselves to the instructor, sit in the front row, and have no cell phone activity during class. Sophomore Brittney Bevens goes up fo r a spike attempt in a Sept. 26 match against Linn-Benton. The Cougars lost three games to one in the match. Bevens leads the Cougars with 247 kills and a 21 percent average on the season. “We don’t just say it,” said Woods. “We practice it.” Her team has earned an American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award in six o f the last nine seasons. Thepasttwoyears, her teams have compiled a 3.45 GPA. “When I heard her say 1100 per cent in school, volleyball, and life’, that was it for me,” said sophomore Maeghan Angel o f McMinnville on why she chose Clackamas. “That’s exactly what I wanted. She is the kind o f coach that will push you and I wanted to improve.” fi Her teams are always very competitive, very solid. More impor tantly, she puts out great student ath letes. ” Jim Martineau CCC Athletic Director Angel is one o f 10 girls from Oregon high schools on the squad, as Woods has focused recruiting efforts locally. “We know about them more. We’ve watched them play in high school and seen them at camps, so it is easier to recruit locally,” said Woods. That familiar back ground and the amount o f time they spend together during the season forces these girls to bond. “We are really close,” said Angel. “We start our season in July and we are together all the time. We are a tight knit group, like family.” This season, the Cougars (13- 18) are still trying to recover from an early season eight-match los ing streak that stretched almost a week long and included three road trips and three home games. The Cougars rebounded with a six-match win streak in the middle o f September and have been fight ing to get back to .500 since then. “We are streaky,” said Woods. “We play young and we are incon sistent.” Woods is confident that her team will work out the kinks and play more as a team as they settle in for a long stretch o f home games and no more long distance travelling. “We try to do most o f our travelling before school starts,” said Woods. “We can focus on school and volleyball now.” Almost every' player on the team has stepped up this season to lead the team at times, but they have not done it together con sistently. Woods had glowing praise for the group as a whole. “This group excels in the class room, they excel as people in life, and they work hard,” said Woods. “You can’t find girls with bet ter integrity or character, but we need better focus on the court.” Woods has changed some o f the practice routine and incorporated newdrillstotryto bring thatfocusout. “As soon as we all come togeth er, we will be strong,” said Woods. “They all have shown the ability to step up this season and they all have, at times. I believe the sec ond half o f league season we will show some drastic improvement.” In addition to all o f the success on the court and in the classroom, Woods instills discipline in all fac ets o f life in her young players by fostering community relations. The currentteam has supplement ed its fundraising efforts by helping out former players at weddings and parties over the past few summers. “The alumni know that we will work hard,” said Woods. “They would rather have us do it than strangers.” ' The volley ball team also hosts team camps and individual skills camps for junior high and high school age players during the summer. “We do a lot o f fundraising to get the extras,” said Woods. “The girls like things and they know they have to go out and earn them.” The Cougars host the Linfield JV team at 7 p.m. tonight at Randall Hall before heading out on their last significant road trip o f the season to the Pierce Crossover in Lakewood, Wash. Oct. 12 and 13. The Cougars return home for Sponsor Night on Oct. 19 and Dig Pink (Breast Cancer Awareness) on Oct. 20. Both games begin at 7 p.m. COACH: Cross country hosts home meet Friday Continued from Page 1 Grace Viuhkola, a sophomore from Hood River, Ore., was the number one runner for the women last season and is finally rounding into form this year. “Grace had a little bit o f a rocky summer,” said Mantalas. “I’m really excited to see her com ing into her own. She’s incredibly talented.” Sophomore Randi Chance and freshmen Joanna Feeney and Dawn Hilley round out the wom en’s scoring runners. The men’s team is deep and talented with nine guys fighting to be among the top seven. “The m en’s cross country team is really good this year,” said Martineau. “They have good depth. A lot o f guys that ran well in track last spring are running well now.” Two freshmen have stepped up <52 O z P -lil <Z> <u -Q o O to lead the men early this season. Badane Sultessa and Jon Obeso have both transitioned well to rac ing at longer distances than they ever have before. “Badane’s an 800/1,500 guy,” said Mantalas. - “H e’s never thought o f him self as a 5k/10k cross country guy.” Sultessa and Obeso both ran their first 8k o f their life in Seattle at the Sundodger Invitational on Sep. 15. Sultessa finished 16th overall in an impressive 25:30.63 clock ing while Obeso finished 45th in 26:09.03. Sultessa is still mentally getting used to racing 5.1 miles. “It’s not fun,” said Sultessa. “It’s vety tiring.” Obeso feels he was ready for the longer distances coming out o f high school. “My high school coach pre pared me well,” said Obeso. “I feel stronger in the longer races.” Last year’s top runner, sopho more Mark Medgin, was forced to take some time off right at the WEDNESDAY-10/10 THURSDAY-10/11 • CCC Volleyball: • Intram ural S o ccerd 2-2:00 pm vs Unfield J V at 7 pm in Randall Gym. at CCC soccer field next to Hwy. 213 OBESO end o f summer with a slight knee tweak, but has been rounding back into form o f late. “The last week and a half, he’s become the M ark Medgin we know,” said Mantalas. “I expect him to move back up the ranks and assert himself as one o f our lead ers.” Sophomore Jorge Gil-Juarez would be among the top runners, but an injury forced him to redshirt this season. The men’s team has a solid FRIDAY10/12 ' SATURDAY-10/13 • Flag Football: • CCC Volleyball: 11 30 1 30pm in the fields next to Hwy. 213. at Piercd Crossover Tournament in Lakewood, Wash. • M ike Hodges Cross C o un try In v ita tio n a l a t CCC: 3:30pm - Women 4:15pm - Men • CCC W omen’s S occer: 12pm at Everrett CC in Everett, Wash. grouping o f runners providing depth behind the top three. The Cougars finished 12th o f 22 teams at Sundodger. Seven runners all finished w ithin one-m inute o f each other: freshman Tony Gil-Juarez (26:49.52), sophomore Austin Collins (27:10.23), Mark Medgin (27:11.24), sophomore Zach Hibbs (27:22.93), freshman Austin Peila (27:30.74), freshman John Doyle (27:47.51), and sophomore Chris Stash (27:48.81). Sophomore Jordan Grimes will be in the mix as well. With five runners scoring in cross country and seven running in championship races, the Cougars have plenty o f options to go to during the most important meets o f the season that are coming up. Obeso was confident that they will be ready because o f the great workouts Mantalas has prepared. “H e’s a great coach,” said Obeso. “He really knows what -SUNDAY-10/14 he’s doing.” The cross country team hosts its only home meet o f the season, the Mike Hodges Cross Country Invitational, this Friday, Oct. 12. Oregon State, Willamette, Western Oregon, U o f O Running Club and most o f the local junior colleges will be bringing teams this year. Mantalas said he expects about 10 to 12 teams to show up on race day. “This year we unveiled a new cross country course,” said Mantalas. “It is cross counhy only, designated for us, which is really cool. We are excited to have our own area.” The course is flat and fast - run almost solely run on grass. The women run at 3:30 p.m., with the men starting at 4:15 p.m. The last two races on the schedule are the Southern Region Championships on Oct. 27 and the NWAACC Championships on Nov. 10. M0NDAY-10/15 TUESDAY-Í0/1B
