p h o to b y V ic to ry Tinker
TRACK SWEATS OUT THE
GOOD STUFF
PROMISING RESULTS COMES OUT OF THIS SEASON’S TRACK
TEAM, GAINING BRIGHT HOPE FOR FUTURE SEASON
Team s from community co lleg es run hurdles at Western O re g o n University on April 8.
Griffin Johnson on the CCC team takes a moment
after his pole vaulting.
BY TR A V IS DAVID V W H ITTA KER
McKenzie Hidalgo on the CCC shot put team throws a
p o w e rfu l toss.
Throw all of the past success out the window. What
happened earlier this season no longer matters. Every
track and field athlete trains for the moment and
opportunity to compete in the regional and conference
meet at the end of the season and hopes to be good
enough to qualify for nationals.
W ith the track season com ing to a close, the
Clackamas track and field team is looking for a strong
finish to the season.
They were able to take 19 men and women athletes
to the Southwest Regional Championships in Eugene
at Lane Community College on Saturday, May 14.
The team is also sent close to half of the team to the
NWACs last weekend.
Head track and field coach Keoni McHone likes the
way that the season has gone. “ The season has gone
well. The athletes are rounding into shape. We have
been seeing many lifetime and season best in the last
few weeks,” McHone said.
When it comes to some adversity, McHone also
likes how the team has overcome a little bit of that
to be successful as a team.
The strange weather that Clackamas Community
College has experienced recently im pacted the
athletes’ performance. Two weeks ago there were
sum m er like tem peratures, then followed with
mid 60 degree temperatures with a mix of rain and
thunderstorms.
For Clackamas sophomore athlete Kyle Anderson,
who participates in the long jump, pole vault and
decathlon, the weather wasn’t exactly what he wanted
to compete in.
“ Last weekend w asn’ t as great because o f the
weather that we had wasn’t very cooperative, but I was
still able to qualify for the NWACs,” Anderson said.
This was Anderson’s first full season back since he
participated in high school after an ankle injury forced
him to redshirt last season at Clackamas.
Freshman AJ Smith strives to be the best that he can
be. Coming into the season he felt that the transition
from the high school level to college level was a lot
more than he expected.
Smith participates in the men’s 110-meter hurdles,
discus and decathlon.
Smith mentioned “ It’ s a lot more demanding and
work that you have to put in to training.”
• When it comes to training Smith also likes to put
it on himself.
“ I’m a very competitive person. When I lose it’s
time to go into a grind mode to work harder.”
Both Smith and McHone like the way that things
will go next season.
Smith said, “ Next season I have bigger plans. We
have more steps moving forward.”
“We have already signed some really good recruits
and return quite a few of good freshman and redshirt
athletes,” McHone said.
Results: At the Southern Region Championships,
the men’s and woipan’s Track and Field teams took
second place respectively. The men had a total of 114
points and the women had 183 points.
With the NW AC championships currently going
on, only day one results were available. The men’s
team is sitting in third place with a total of 41 points.
The women’ s team is also in third with 43.5 points.
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