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