Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 2012)
P R IN T : Sports Wednesday, Nov.28,2012 J Wrestlers grapple with best in west HeatherMills The Clackamas Print Heavyweight Jake M itchell won first place at the Best o f the West Open in Ashland, lead ing the Clackamas Community College wrestling team to a solid two days o f matches. | Mitchell, a sophomore from Portland, im pressed everyone by pinning five opponents dur ing the tournament. Trent Noon made his second straight finals at 174 pounds, finishing in second place. O f the 22 Clackamas wres tlers who competed, 11 placed in the event. Other wrestlers placing in the top four included: second place at 149 pounds - Beau Roberts; second place at 125 pounds - Sage Ornelas; third place at 125 pounds - Stevan Knoblauch; third place at 141 pounds - A. J. Ballard; third place at 133 pounds - Daniel Leonard; and fourth place at 157 pounds - Richard Quesada. Clackamas did not have a great first day, but those who made it to the second day showed a renewed sense o f competitive spirit. Many used the time between matches in order to reflect and improve. “I think they are doing a good job,” said assistant coach Rich Vigorito. “It’s funny, if you ask them, they would tell you they have a lot to improve on. It’s definitely true, but to me it’s encouraging that they were able to make adjustments within one week. If we keep that progress up throughout the year, we will be fine come nationals.” Vigorito said that im prove ments need to be made as far as hand fighting, control ties, mov ing opponents and setups, but that the need for these improvements are typical for this time o f year. “Usually, we find this is the biggest transition guys need to make from high school to col lege,” said Vigorito. The Best o f the West Open was held over two days, with those who placed second and above advancing to the second round on Sunday. The event, hosted by Southern O regon University, gave Cougar w res tlers the opportunity to match themselves against a variety o f opponents. The competition this year included participants from the University o f Great Falls, Oregon State University, Pacific University, Southwest Oregon C om m unity College, Lassen C om m unity C ollege, W est Hills Comm unity College and Stanford, amongst others. Since the season started, Clackamas wrestlers have had problems w ith injuries and antic ipate the struggle o f keeping weight that may come with the onslaught o f the Thanksgiving w eekend. Some athletes are awaiting the results o f MRIs, while others will be re-joining the team after a long absence due to injury. Sophomore Jake Laden from Butte, Mont., is ranked No. 1 in the nation at 197 pounds and is one member who will be resum ing practices after recovering from an injury amid hopes that he will participate in upcoming December tournaments. The wel come Thanksgiving break comes after a challenging week o f com petition. “I think we found exactly what we were looking for in the weekend,” said head coach Josh Rhoden. “It’s just about getting in some tough matches, putting our kids up against some older guys, some guys that have been in a college for a while, and just gauging where w e’re at right now talent-wise and ability level.” Rhoden knows that having his wrestlers compete against ath letes. from Tour-year schools can petition is fierce. “Anyone you wrestle is going to give it their all, so you got to give it all back to them,” said Knoblauch. “They ju st want to beat us as much as we want to beat them. I don’t think they want to lose to someone at junior college and we want to beat the people who are supposedly better than us.” O ther w restlers love the to u rn a m e n t a tm o sp h e re and being part o f a team. “It’s always fun going to a tournament, hanging out with the team, supporting each other and watching each other win,” said A.J. Ballard, a freshman from Canby. “We really did good this weekend. It’s always exciting to see kids at a junior college beat a division one kid or a National A ssociation o f Intercollegiate Athleties kid. I mean, they’re supposed to be better than you, and we whooped up on some supposedly top-ranked kids in the nation.” Now, the Cougars must hit the road for a series o f match es all over the Northwest. This Saturday, Clackam as heads to Coos Bay to take on Southern Region foe Southwestern Oregon CC at 7 p.m. The following weekend the Cougars head to Coeur d ’Alene, Idaho for tw o m atches on Saturday, Dec. 8. They take on N orth Idaho College at 11 a.m. and then Northwest Wyoming at 1 p.m. O ver C hristm as break, the Cougars w ill head to Reno, Nev. for the Reno Tournament o f Champions on Dec. 16. You can follow all o f the action on the Cougar wrestling facebook page or CCC athletics. only help them in the long run. TrentNoon (right), a sophomore from Oakdale, Calif, gains the upper hand against freshman Kolby Mays (from Spring Creek, Nev.) before pinning him in the Navy and Scarlet match at 174 pounds earlier this year. “We kind o f put them up against a lot o f adversity to see how they respond,” said Rhoden. “Then we coach to that, and when we get to tournaments where more teams are junior college level, we definitely have an" advantage.” Stevan Knoblauch, a freshman from FresnO, Calif.,.says he feels that he does better when the com- C o u g ars s te p up to p la te Passing bv the ba^ekill field thu tenu may have been a eon- fusing scene at times. Usually baseball would he seen in the spring but fall has been busv for the men ot Clackamas Community t ollege’s baseball team as they have been hard at work keeping in shape and preparing for the spring season. The Northwest Athletic Association o f Community Colleges’ rules allow baseball to include a lall and winter sched ule. betoie the\ start the spring The fall schedule is seven w eeks I oiil w ith four game dav s planned against other schools lh c mlcs allow baseball 12 weeks from Sept. 15 to Nov. 15 and Jan 13 to March 1 \o v cmbti and Iîecembei .ue lot conditioning only March 1 is the first day allowed to play spring games During ihc spring ate allowed 22 uame days against opponents. Returning this fall to ( CC base ball are loui key players. • Scott Myers, all-league third baseman from Keams HS, Utah. • Richie McCarter, pitcher from Kearns HS, Utah. • Thomas Kelly, catcher from Warrenton HS. • Josh Combs, outfielder from Hudson’s Bay I1S. Vancouver Wash I his fall ( ldckam.is has a good group of tiedimen reuims on cani- pus including • Joe Strand, catcher from Seattle, Wash. • • • Skyler Baikdiill inlieklei from Utah. Trevor Achenbacfr inficldei I tom Nevada Kyle Austin, infieh lei fiom Wilsonville Il's Clackamas has one o f the fastest outfield groups in the northwest: • Josh McLeod, outfielder from Seattle Wash • Zacli Cahgdong out fielder from Se i'tle. Wash. • Justin Sievers, outfielder from Canby HS. Several pitchers have shined this tall, including' • Andiew Marque/ from Milwaukie I1S. • Kvlai Heaston from Tigard HS. • Kennon Von Hollebeke liom ( onnell 1 Is. Wash • Zach ('artei from Post Falls. Idaho. Ml inlornidtinii and Mats pio vided by ( (.'(. baseball head coach Robiu Robinson (<i/w/> 4 1 / 'n P i t t nt H i u d t Wrestling coach Josh Rhoden is in his seventh year at the helm o f the Cougar wrestling program. Rhoden led the Cougars to the 2011 National Junior College Championship and third place in 2012. Free Rapid HIV «< Testing -4-> b c o <D o 800.777.2437 cascadeaids.org/hiv-testing-resources i Cascade AIDS P roject >CAP cascadeaids.org </> o Z exm « V o Q oo cSi o z S lfflD A Y -1 1 /3 0 ' 1 $ÄWl|0Ä¥-12/1 WEDNESDAY-11/28 THURSDAY-11/29 • NBA; Portland at • College Basketball: Texas • CCC Men’s Basktball: San Antonio at Oregon, 7 p.m. on Pac-12 Network Concordia JV at CCC, 7 p.m. at Southwestern Oregon CC, in Coos Bay, at 7 p.m. • CCC Women’s Basketball; War • CCC Women’s Basketball: War Washington, 4 pm CSN and KÉX • Randall Fitness Center: 8:30-10 a.m. and 1-8 p.m. • Randall Fitness Center: 12-8 p.m. rior Classic at Walla Walla, Wash., 6 p.m. • CCC Wrestling: rior Classic at Walla Walla, Wash., 2 p.m. S undays • NFL: Seattle at Chiçago 10 a.m. on FOX : • Horse Racing: Portland Meadows at 1 p.m. MÛNDAY-12/3 . '• 3 • NFL: NY Giants at Washington 5:30 p.m. on ESPN • Randall Fitness Center: 8:30-10 a.m. and 1-6 p.m. TUESDAY-12/4 • Randall Fitness Center: 12-8 p.m. downsta irs In Randall
