THE C L A C K A M A S P R IN T
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N O V . 19, 2 0 1 4
| V O L . 48 IS S U E 6
Winter(sports)is(are)commg
by Blake Thomason
uring the winter, the Clackamas
D
consecutive losses in the NWAC Tournam ent This year’s
Cougars men’s and women’s bas focus is primarily on defense.
ketball and wrestling get underway.
The women’s basketball opens this “We expect to see them play hard every night,” Wegner
season on a streak of success: 13 said. “Bring that effort, be consistent on defense, be con
sistent rebounding
straight seasons making thè NWAC Championship
Tour and get better and better throughout
the season
with the offense. Defense needs to be a constant
nament, as well as seven Southern Region
championships
all season long from the get-go, from day one. That’s what
in those years.
we’re really focusing on, developing a team mentality, a
team personality. Every time we play we’re going to play
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL:
defense this way, we’re going to play this hard.”
“I expect us to be very competitive once again,” co-head
coach Kayla Steen said. “We don’t have a win/loss goal but
the expectation every year is to compete for the Southern
Region championship and position ourselves to have a
chance to make a deep run in the [NWAC] Championship
Tournament.”
The team returns five players and welcomes seven new
comers.
“The group is a good mixture of returning players and new
freshman,” Steen said. “They are a hardworking, athletic
group. If we can figure out how to play together and learn
how hard we have to play to compete at this level, we have
a chance to be pretty good.”
¡Head coaches Steen and Jim Martineau expect sophomore
jCassidy Edwards - who started every game last year - to
be a team leader, as well as incoming freshman Toria Brad
ford, who was the starting point guard on Oregon City
High School’s state championship team.
MEN’S BASKETBALL:
The women’s basketball team isn’t the only hoops team
with high hopes. The men’s team, led by head coach Clif
Wegner, has enjoyed similar success, qualifying for every
NWAC Tournament since 2001.
“We feel good going into this season,” Wegner said. “We
have six returning sophomores who have all played in the
program and are all good players, so that’s a nice nucleus
to start with.” '
The men’s team has worked hard in the offseason, hoping
to rebound from last year’s 16-13 season that ended with
"I challenge
our guys to
redefine what
greatness is
to them."
NWAC, and then he had knee surgery last year and missed
last season. Brandon Halter was our leading scorer and
rebounder off last year’s team. Ezekiel Martin started last
year. He’s a great defender, all around basketball player.”
WRESTLING:
Aside from hoops teams, Clackamas boasts a dominant
wrestling program. In eight seasons under coach Josh
Rhoden, the Cougars have placed in the top five at the NJ-
CAA Wrestling Championships six times. This year the
team expects similar success.
“We’ve got a pretty good group,” Rhoden said. “We returned
seven All-Americans from last year’s team. Currently we’re
ranked no. 2 in the preseason polls in the country, which
is great but we still got a ways to go. The main thing for us
is just being able to continue to be learners, stay focused,
take care of our class work, and being h e alth /’
Dominant teams often have trouble with complacency.
Rhoden combats it with new challenges for his wrestlers.
“I challenge our guys to redefine what greatness is for
them. In the classroom, off campus, with wrestling, all
the aspects kids have to come to junior college for. Going
forward it’s not just about competition, but what can we
do in the classroom and outside the classroom to impact
ourselves as best we can for the future.”
O f course, the team still has high expectations for winning.
Last season, the team won a share of the Southern Region
crown and hopes to do so again.
“O ur goal is to always play for a postseason spot, the best
spot we can get,” Wegner said. “To do that, you have to
win the league, so our goal is to fry to win the Southern
Region. We’ve got the people back to potentially win the
region again.”
Wegner expects a trio of experienced stars to lead the team
this year.
“Michone Hopkins is returning,” Wegner said. “He played
two years ago and he was one of the best guards in the
Registration for winter term
starts this week!
“We’re going to have an awesome season; we have a real
ly fun group, a wonderful group of young men. Our team
captains this year will be Lawrence Otero, Dylan Reel and
Kyle Bateman. All three of those guys we expect good
things from. It could be super special, maybe a record-set
ting year, but a lot of things have to happen between now
and then.”
For a program that has accomplished so much, what is
there left to do?
“I think for us, our goal to redefine greatness, we’ll try to
get 10 All-Americans because nobody has ever done that
before. Can you get to 10? That would take an entire group
of guys doing something pretty cooL”
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