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.
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$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