By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

OREGON CITY, Ore.—  Coming off of their first back-to-back dual meets of the season, the Clackamas Community College Wrestling team met the challenges with arms open wide.

“It was a challenge,” said Haszell West.  “As a team we did good, we faced it head on.  We pretty much dominated both duals.”

Friday night saw the Cougars defeated Southwestern Oregon 31-9 despite showing some fatigue from cutting weight.

Saturday was a different story as they overcame the fatigue to defeat Highline College 36-11 to enter this week 6-1 on the season.

“We were down to weight the night before so it’s a little easier to manage,” said Clackamas Head Coach Josh Rhoden on the difference between Friday and Saturday.  “They know what they needed to do to take care of their bodies and have the energy to compete on Saturday from Friday night.

“It’s really important so getting that opportunity before we get there is good.  It was great to see them come out with some fire and intensity to turn some close matches into victories for us.”

Rhoden added that this past weekend was a taste on what it will be like for the NWCA Duals in January and for West Regionals and the Nationals Duals in February.

“It gives us the practice of getting ready for that and seeing how they responded on the mat was perfect,” said Rhoden.

As the team tunes down their workouts for the week, they now turn their focus to North Idaho College and Northwest College on Saturday.  Both very well-coached teams said Rhoden.

“They’re both going to be prepared,” said Rhoden.  “Typically we’re going to see them wrestle a couple of different lineups up to this point of the year, then we see the team that they’re going to go with right now.

“Both of those teams are going to be solid, solid teams”

With it being finals week across the board, it is possible that someone could get eligible that the Cougs weren’t expecting to be wrestling.

But regardless who wrestles against them, Clackamas will be prepared.

The strategy is to get a workout in early Friday before making the commute to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho so that they are fully rested for back-to-back matches Saturday night.

But the mentality of the two matches isn’t as bad as it sounds says West.

“You’re only really wrestling two matches, two different dual meets,” he said.  “You get a little bit of a rest time in between.

“In tournaments you have matches that come up really quickly sometimes so it’s not going to be that much of a big challenge.”

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

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