The Clackamas print., February 25, 2015, Page 4, Image 4

T H E C L A C K A M A S P R IN T
I
Are you ready for
some wrestling?
.2 5 , 2015
5
I V O L . 4 8 ISSU E 14
Qualified Cougars:
All 10 head to Nationals
story and photo by Brandon Minnis
“W hen your b ody says, isn’t ju st a sport, it’s a life­
‘Screw you,’ you say, ‘Screw style.
“Football players can go
y o u ’ back!” T hese are the
w ords o f en co u ra g em e n t have cheeseburgers, eat fast
C o a ch Josh R h o d e n b e l­ food,” said w restler A dri­
lows at his athletes d u ring an Salas. “But w restling, if
the conditioning circuit of you’re c u ttin g th e w eight
you gotta buckle down. It’s
w restling practice.
D espite p u ttin g on p e r­ n o t good for you o r your
fo rm a n c e s th e y w e ren ’t bod y to eat unhealthy. Ev­
entirely happy w ith at the erything shows on the m at
W est R egion C h a m p io n ­ once you sta rt w restling.
ship tou rn am en t, all 10 o f T h a t fo o d w on’t w o rk in
the C ougar w restlers qual­ y our body. You have to eat
ified for th e N JCA A N a­ right, m ake the right deci­
tio n al W restling C ham pi­ sions.”
Salas won the California
onship to u rn am en t in Des
M oines, Iow a. T h is is an D ivision 1 A thlete o f the
im pressive feat c o n sid er­ Year title h is se n io r year
ing that m any schools don’t o f h igh school for his ex­
ceptional p erform ance in
qualify a single athlete.
C o m e Feb. 27 a n d 28, both football and wrestling
th e C lackam as C o m m u ­ before deciding to come to
n ity College squad will be Clackam as last year.
Each w restler has a des­
ta k in g o n th e b e st c o m ­
m u n ity college w restlers ignated w eight class th ey
fro m across th e country. co m p e te at a n d th e day
Upw ards o f 40 schools will o f th e m a tc h y o u aren ’t
have athletes present, w ith a llo w e d to be over th a t
each w restler com peting in weight. T hat m eans that all
u p to five b o u ts over th e season wrestlers are watch­
ing everything they p u t in
course o f the m eet.
F or th ese athletes, one th eir bodies, ru n n in g sev­
th in g is clear: w re stlin g eral miles every day to shed
jbbie Rizzolino trains fo r Nationals w ith a mask designed to increase respiratory efficiency.
the pounds, even sweating
out the final 5-10 pounds
o f w ater w eight in a sauna
before the weigh in.
F o r in sta n c e , Ih o g h a -
m a O d ig h izu w a w restles
a t 197 p o u n d s th e day of
the meet, but w hen you see
him w alking aro u n d cam ­
pus you can count on him
to w eigh betw een 210 and
220 pounds.
A fte r th e b a ttle w ith
weight, a w restler still has
an o pponent he has to go
o u t a n d physically battle;
it’s a c o n stan t grin d . T he
w illin g n e ss to e m b ra c e
the g rin d is w hy w restling
breeds a different k in d of
athlete th an o th er sports.
T he m en ta l a n d physical
toughness o f a w restler is
second to none.
E m bracing the g rin d is
w hat being a w restler is all
about.
“W h e n y o u ’re p u s h ­
in g h a rd a n d y o u w a n n a
give up...Y ou like getting
pushed to th a t lim it,” said
Wrestler Chris Garcia. “You
like going th e ex tra m ile.
That’s what it means to me.”
Robbie Rizzolino, 141,1st place in West Region
Dylan Reek 174,1st place in West Region
Adrian Salas, 184,1st place in West Region
Eleazar DeLuca, 157,1st place in West Region
■ I HHHIHHHHHI
K yle B a tem a n , 165, 2 n d p lace in W est Region
Lawrence Otero, 133,2nd place in West Region
Korbin Levin, 125, 3rd place in West Region
Chris Garcia, 149,3rd place in West Region
Ihogham a O dighizuw a, 1 9 7 ,4th place in West Region
John Morin, 2 8 5 ,4th place in West Region
photos by Andrew Stanfield - Hurricane Brain Productions