6
STORY BY ANDREW GRIFFIN
SPORTS_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Cougars undefeated on mat
STAFF WRITER
Since thè beginning of the season in September, this year’s
wrestling team has proven themselves to be a team to fear.
On January 17 they went against both Highline Community
College and Simon Fraser and won both matches, making
their current recordfor this season an undefeated 11-0.
For the past three years CCC has performed well, with the
2017 and 2018 teams taking Second place nafiorially and the
2019 team taking first place nationally.
This year it seems as though their trend of victory will
continue; at the NE Oklahoma Duels competition, CCC
took on four different colleges and came out on top every
single match, including a 4 8-ovictory against Iowa Lakes
Community College.
of people return from last year but we’ve.had young guys
step up and they’ve been a big part pi pur success so far. ”
Earlier this menth, the team teek a trip down to Menlo,
California to wrestle at the Menlo Invite against some tough
teams, including San Francisco State. The results of the
invite left CCC in second td San Francisco State with 134.5
points to San Francisco’ s 165.5.
In terms of weaknesses on the team, Manue said, "We
need a little more focus during matches, sometimes we lose
focus a little bit, but we’re working on that a lot. ”
Going forward, Rhoden is setting up a plan for
improvement.
How have they been so successful? According to freshman
team member Romeo Manue, one of their biggest strengths
is good team chemistry.
“We cheer each other on,” Manue said after helping bring
Clackamas to victory against Highline. “ Even if someone is
losing, we’re* always cheering them on to not giye up the
last point,”
“ Certainly before the national tournament we have to
make sure that we wrestle error-free. Like any other sport,
you’ve gotta make sure you don’t give up mistakes and
cost yourself points,” Rhoden said. “ This is the time of the
year where we get pretty serious. We’re gonna add a ton of
different conditioning and training principles that we’ve
always trusted. We’ll get back to work every single weekand
we’re gonna get better.” '
Coach Josh Rhoden is also pleased with how well the team
gets along, saying, “ We’ve got good team camaraderie —
a lot of close-knit guys Jhiat care about each other and are
gonna wrestle hard for each other.”
Hopefully the team’s training, combined with their great
team spirit and dedication to working hard will lead them to
another first place national victory.
Jason Shaner, a sophomore on the team this year, said,
“ We’re just really hard-working this year. We had a couple
Photos by Jonathan Villagomez
CCC Wrestling will face off against North Idaho College at
7:00 p.m. on January 24 at home.
• c o m ---------------------------- —------------—
JaRBily 22» 2020