The Clackamas print., February 15, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

Wrestling team wins Western
Regional Championships
BY TRAVIS DAVID V W HITTAKER
A fter a suprem e regular season, th e C lackam as
Community College wrestling team got its first leg of the
post-season off to a tremendous start at Southwestern
Oregon Community College on Feb. 12. s
The No. 2 ranked team in the country obtained its
fourth straight Western Regional Championship after
steamrolling its way through the four-team region.
Clackamas finished with 104.5 team points as well as a
total of seven individual champions and one runner up.
Overall, head wrestling coach Josh Rhoden felt like
his team wrestled their “ fannies off.”
“ This is a tough region, and to get a total of seven
champs out of this region is great,” said Rhoden.
Even though it was only a four-school region, it had
some of the best schools in the country.
According to intermatwrestle.com’ s latest wrestling
ran kin gs, N orth Idaho C ollege is ranked sixth,
Southwestern is ranked eighth and Highline Community
College is at 19.
Four of the first seven matches of the tournament
ended by a pin and earned Clackamas some bonus points
early on.
Clackam as advanced 8 of 10 guys into the finals
who also earned an automatic berth to the National
Junior College Athletic Association Wrestling National
Championships on Feb. 24-25.
“With eight guys in the finals, it matches the most
we have had,” Rhoden said. “ Now these guys get to go
out and [have] fun.”
During the finals, 125-pound and No. 2 nationally
ranked freshman David Campbell got things started off
in good fashion for the Cougars earning a first round fall
over Jesus Torres of Highline in 2:20.
Nathan Johnson, 133-pound No. 5 ranked freshman,
went out and won in an 11-0 major decision over Beau
Shatto of SWOCC.
At 141 pounds, No. 1 nationally ranked freshman and
Oregon State w restling signee for next season, Kurt
Mode defeated No. 3 nationally ranked Andrew Ramirez
of Highline by a 6-3 decision.
No. 1 ranked Josh Reyes at 149 went out and won a
tightly contested 1-0 m atch over unranked Thomas
StevenSon of North Idaho.
Reyes liked the way that as an individual and as a team
in the four-team tournament.
“ Personally, I wanted this to be a stepping stone
heading into Nationals and kind of set a tone for how
I feel about m yself,” said Reyes. “ I definitely have my
confidence up.”
Reyes knows what to do to get on top of the podium
at Nationals next week.
“ Keep the pressure on them ,” said Reyes. “ People
don’t like it when you’ re in their face. I gotta go out
there and break people and try to score points and just
let the rest take care o f itself.”
John Leal, ranked No. 3 at 157 pounds, earned an 8-0
major decision over No. 5 ranked Brent Evens of North
Idaho.
Colt Doyle, another Oregon State wrestljng signee
who is currently ranked second in the country at 174
No. 1 ranked Kurt Mode is pronounced the winner of his match on
Sunday, Feb. 12.
pounds, had the toughest weight in the tournament.
Doyle advanced to the finals after pinning Jacob Zocco
of Highline. In his finals match, Doyle earned a 20-5
technical-fall over No. 8 nationally ranked Adrian Lyons-
Lopez of SWOCC, who had upset No. 7 ranked Alex
Aguilar of North Idaho in the sem i-final round.
Heading into the season, 184-pounder Haszell ‘Bam
Bam’ West was the only returning All-American to start
the season for Clackamas. Rhoden mentioned that he
felt like West wrestled in a sluggish way even though
West was still able to win and make the finals in his first
match. West eventually went on to defeat Levi Perry of
North Idaho by a 7-2 decision.
West is now a two-time Western Region Champion and
will look to become another All-American at Nationals
in two weeks.
Heading into Nationals, West mentioned that he knows
what to expect and knows the ropes of what it will take
to be on the podium once again.
Last season West finished third at 184 pounds.
“ It’ s kind of to our advantage that they are young
and don’t know what to really expect with the National
tournament,” said West of his teammates.
Clackamas features a total of seven freshmen of the
ten guys who made the trip and competed.
Rhoden noted that his team m ust stay focused,
consistent and really try not to change a lot of things
in the room over the next couple of weeks.
“We gotta put our work hats on and go take care of
business,” said Reyes.
Q tnm sin si n h n tn c r n n t im iP il n rtlin p n t thpfln/'knm ilS D rint.C O Tn
125-pounder David Campbell scrambles with Zaak Grubbs of SWOCC in his semi-finals match.
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