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8 SPORTS Back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to- back-to-back West District champs CLACKAMAS WRESTLING WINS WEST SIX YEARS IN A ROW BY JA C O B THOM PSON / SPORTS EDITOR @SPORTSEDTHOMPS N o . l ran k e d C la c k a m a s C o m m u n ity C o lle ge w restlin g d o m in a ted th e W est District Cham pionships once again, as the Cougars clinched their sixth straight team ch am p ion sh ip Sun day in C oeur d ’A le n e , Idaho. h im to w here h e is now. “ I worked really hard during the season,” S h an e r said six days b efore th e d istrict m eet. “ I never took a day o ff, never m issed w hich qualifies them for nationals as w ell, w ith the top three finishers in each bracket gettin g a guaranteed s p o t in the national cham pionships. a practice and I listened to the coaches’ plan for m e and it w orkedput.” R om ero lo st to N o rth Idaho C o lle ge ’ s Cooper M cCullough by fall at 4:42. Eight Clackam as wrestlers w on individual titles and all 10 o f the wrestlers the Cougars took to the district m eet qualified for th e Rhoden said Shaner has been “ rock solid” for th e Cougars. N JCA A National Cham pionships in Council B lu ffs, Iowa. said. “ H e ’sju st got that attitude. H e’ sgo in g to go out there and it don’t m atter to h im , h e ’s just ready for a scrap. I’ve been really happy w ith his effo rt.” The seven other champions for Clackamas Head C oach Jo sh R hod en had a fe elin g th is year’ s district m ee t could be special for his program. H e was hopeful C C C could accom plish som ething they never had. WI thinkw e should w in the district. I don’t thin k there’s a question,” said R hoden the weekleading up to the district m eet. “ I think the fun thing for our guys to talk about is ‘can we get 10 guys into the finals. ’ W e’ve never done that before.” This m arks the first rime Clackam as has had io wrestlers qualify for nationals. Freshman Jason Shaner won the 133-pound bracket w ith a 11-7. decision over Highline Com m unity College’s Shandon Akeo. Sh an er w as a b it o f a surprise fo r th e Cougars th is year and h e even surprised h im s e lf. W h e n th e sea so n firs t started Shaner didn’t expect to m ake the starting lineup, but credits his hard work for getting “ H e ’ s n o t afraid o f a n y th in g,” R hoden were freshm an Z eth Brower at 125 pounds, sophom ore Elijah Ozuna at 141, sophom ore M ason M cDaniel in the 165-pound bracket, sop h o m ore Trajan H u rd a t 174 p ou n ds, red sh irt fr e s h m a n Trevor S e n n in th e 184-pound bracket, freshm an Joey Daniel at 197 pounds and the heavyweight freshman Tommy M om m er capped o ff the domination b y Q ack am as w ith a w in in the 285-pound bracket. M om m er has been big for Clackam as all season picking up 27 wins w ith 24 com ing b y fall, setting a new school record for falls, according to Rhoden. 149 pound freshm an M arty M argolis III and 157 pound freshm an Joel Romero both too k second in their respective brackets, Rom ero has on ly w restled roughly h a lf a season because o f a knee surgery at the beginning o f the year, but he has impressed the coaching sta ff at C CC . “ He’s been lights out,” Rhoden said. “ H e’s beat the national runner up from last year, h e ’s beat the N o. 3 ranked guy. H e should com e in this next week as the N o. 1 guy in the country h e ’ s been so good. ” M argolis III forfeited the cham pionship m a tc h in th e 149-pound b racket due to nagging injuries and with the trip to nationals sealed, the coaching staff didn’t see a reason for h im to wrestle. H urd believes th e true tu rn in g p oin t for C lackam as this season was the loss to N ortheastern O k la h o m a th a t ended th e program ’s 48 dual w in n in g streak, w hich was the longest in the NJCAA. “ It was one o f the blindest blessings we could h a v e h a d ,” H urd said. “ It w oke us up and m ade u sm o re driven to succeed at nationals . N ow w e can just go in and do our th in g.” A s a team , Clackam as scored 196 points at th e d istrict m ee t a n d fin is h e d 52.5 points ahead o f second place, North Idaho Com m unity College, for their sixth straight W est District Cham pionship. “ It’s hard to im agine getting a record like th at g o in g ,” R hod en said. “ It’ s kin d o f a testam ent to kids believing in w hat w e’re doing and trusting us w ith their w restling ability and their future.” Now the Cougars look ahead to the national cham pionships, kicking it o ff w ith a 6 a .m . practice Wednesday. Before the district m eet took place R hoden already had an idea o f w hat the team w ill need to do in C ouncil Bluffs. “ I ’ m excited to see w here w e en d up b ecause it fe els lik e w e h ave th a t k in d o f t e a m ,” R h od e n said . “ N orth ea ste rn Oklahom a has a very good team and then N orthw est K ansas has four international guys that are part o f the M ongolian national team and th ey’re going to be hard to beat. I don’t know if they’ll have the points to get first, but they’re going to help spread the points out either for u s or against us and th a t’s goin g to be interesting to see how that plays out.” The N JCA A National Cham pionships run M arch 1 through M arch 2. Clackam as w ill loo k to capture their first tea m n ation al cham pionship since 2011. Clackamas wrestling celebrates after the NJCAA National Championships in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on Feb. 10. Clackamas Print - ------------------------------------ ------------ theclackamasprtflt.com ---------------------------------------------------- - February 1 J, 2019
