The Clackamas print., February 18, 2015, Page 7, Image 7

THE C L A C K A M A S P R IN T
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F E B . 18. 2 0 1 5
| V O L . 48 ISSU E 13
7
Cougars wrestling conquers
West Region again
by Blake Thomason
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Clack­
amas Cougars wrestling team has won the West
Region championship.
For the second year in a row, and four out of
the past five years, the Cougars have conquered
the West Region. It’s the team’s second back-
to-back championship - the team also won the
NWAC National Dual Meet championship - in
a nearly perfect season.
The Cougars went 13-1 in region play prior to
the West Region championship, one of the most
competitive leagues in the NJCAA.
“It’s really difficult, it’s such a tough region,”
said head coach Josh Rhoden. “As long as I’ve
been here, there’s always been three or four
schools from the west in the top. I was talking
to some other coaches and I was saying how I
feel more stressed about the West Region than
the [NJCAA] finals.”
Last year’s West Region championship was
by a narrow three-point margin. This year, the
Cougars took home the title with a little more
breathing room, edging out N orth Idaho by 13.5
points.
The main reason for this was the top to bot­
tom dominance displayed by Rhoden’s bunch.
All 10 wrestlers advanced, with six of them be­
ing finalists and four claiming individual cham­
pionships for their respective weight class. Elea­
zar DeLuca was one of the handful of wrestlers
who contributed to both West Region titles,
and he is the only one to be individual champi­
on both years.
“It always feels good to be on top of your
game, but I don’t really dwell on past perfor­
mances,” said DeLuca. “I would say the only
difference this year is we are better and more
prepared to win nationals.”
While DeLuca is confident in his team’s abil­
ity, Rhoden, who has won an NJCAA National
championship, realizes there is still work to be
done.
“All of our guys were a little flat,” said Rho­
den. “If you ask the coaches, I think we’d give
our guys a C-plus for a grade. So we need to get
The Clackamas Cougars wrestling team poses fo r a photo in Coeur d'Alene, Id. on Friday, Feb. 13, after winning the
West Region title fo r the second year in a row.
ons. I know we’re much more capable and we
are going to prove it at nationals.”
Rhoden admitted the two week layoff leading
up to the Region championship may have hurt
his team, but he plans to have his group ready
for the finals.
“I think rest is the key,” said Rhoden. “We
need to wrestle a bit, but we need to peak our
conditioning through rest. There’s also going to
be lots of mental preparation. We need to build
their confidence by rem inding them what we
do is working.”
Last year, the team finished 3rd overall at fi­
nals with two individual champions and a re­
cord seven All-Americans. At the beginning
at Clackamas, echoed his coach’s statement.
“Some of us weren’t ready mentally to step on of this year, Rhoden said he believed this year
the mat,” said Reel. “A lot of us overlooked some could be really special, record-setting even.
of the opponents and it showed in our matches. Come Feb. 28, we’ll see.
Overall we finished strong with four champi­
them to an A’ in 10 days. It’s nice to get a win
when you aren’t performing at your best, but we
have to improve.”
Dylan Reel, who is in his first year wrestling
“I know w e’re much more
capable and w e are going
to prove it at nationals.”
- Eleazar DeLuca