The Clackamas Cougars hosted the Region 18 Championships this last weekend in Randall Hall on February 12th. Clackamas came into the tournament ranked #1 in the country but long-time rival North Idaho who is ranked 6th in the country beat the Cougars twice this season in team duals which were going to make the team race for the Regional Championship very close. The Cougars were able to edge North Idaho for the team title which made the Cougars win the Regional Championship for the 10th year in a row. “We knew we had a tough team going into post-season and throughout the whole season, we haven’t been able to put our full line up at any event this year. We’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries this season but this coaching staff worked hard and our leaders on the team kept the morale up knowing we were going to be a tough team when it’s all put together, we just had to be patient,” said Sanchez. Coach Sanchez received Coach of the Year Award which was voted for by his coaching peers around the region. Steele Starren for the Cougars was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler in the upper-weight class and Brant Porter from North Idaho was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler in the lower-weight class. “I’m grateful to receive the Coach of the Year Award but I can’t take all the credit, my coaching staff deserves a lot and the leaders on the team deserve a lot of credit for myself to receive that. I’m so happy Steele was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler because he’s been one of those guys on the team who’s been doing everything right on and off the mat and displaying his dominance to anybody who steps up to the line against him on the mat, and it’s well-deserved,” said Sanchez.
The Cougars are now preparing for the NJCAA National Championship tournament held in Council Bluffs, Iowa on March 3rd and 4th. Clackamas has won 4 consecutive National Championships and will try to make history this season by winning their 5th consecutive team title which would be the most in NJCAA history. “We like our chances this year to bring home number 5 and this staff and group of guys believe we can do it. We just need to wrestle for each other and focus on one match at a time and I believe will be in the mix to do something special,” said Sanchez.
Clackamas Community College National Qualifiers:
125. Kai Matsunaga 3rd Place
141. Justin Rodriguez 2nd place
149. Peyton Hughes 2nd place
157. Paul Ortiz 3rd place
165. Steele Starren 1st place, OW Award
174. Rocky Raby 1st place
184. Andrew Balukas 2nd Place
197. Michael Gasper 1st place
HWT. Myles Norris 1st place
Team Standings:
Clackamas Community College 108.5
North Idaho College 105.5
Southwestern Oregon Community College 63
Snow College 60.5
Umpqua Community College 15.0
Trackwrestling link for results: NJCAA West Region (trackwrestling.com)
National Team Rankings: https://www.njcaa.org/sports/wrest/rankings/index
