By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

OREGON CITY, Ore.– A little change of pace is always a good thing.

Sitting in Randall Hall Room 201 Wednesday afternoon, the Clackamas Community College Wrestling Team are hitting the books instead of the mats for a change.

“Study Table is a good way to give us a break and get our work done,” said Chris Garcia. “It definitely helps get the work done.  It puts it right in front of you.  Especially when we’re all together, it makes it a lot more easier to help each other.”

The rest, after their 7am morning session Wednesday, is coming on the heels of a nice, long two-week break following the NWCA National Duals.

The lone competition during that span came from a 32-12 victory over Southwestern Oregon Community College this past weekend.

After they got back from Fort Wayne, Indiana, Clackamas Community College Head Coach Josh Rhoden challenged them.

Saying that they were a point here, a point there away from not winning their third-straight NWCA National Duals.

“We challenge them after we got back from nationals duals and said, ‘hey we’re literally a couple of duals away from either having to wrestle back for fifth if we lose in the quarters  or a point away from getting second’,” he said.

“So it’s like we have to get better every, single week and that’s the challenge.  Each week is a new test.  Last week we got better, the guys really got better.”

Having to travel to Coos Bay and back this past Saturday; Rhoden knew the benefits of the focusing on one single dual instead of several back-to-back despite the nine-hour drive to the coast and back.

“It’s nice to have the one dual and focus on that, talk to the guys with that in mind about how we need to get better, things to improve on, (to) focus on and then go out and try to execute on it,” Rhoden said about the past two weeks.

Now it’s back to the grind this weekend with North Idaho College Saturday night and the Clackamas Open on Sunday.

The last time the sixth-ranked Cougs wrestled the eighth-ranked Cardinal, Clackamas walked away with a 43-10 victory on December 12.

But, in the recent history of this exciting rivalry, the Cougars would win in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; but couldn’t complete the sweep in Oregon City.

“It seems like the last couple of years, we beat them up there, we come back home and for whatever reason we can’t get out of our own way and get the win here so we’re super focus on that,” said Rhoden.

“They going to be tough, they’re going to grind, they’re going to be athletic in spots; so we’re got to make sure we’re going to get our hands on them and slow them down and wear them out.”

For Garcia, confidence is high amongst the wrestlers entering Saturday night.

“North Idaho, we’ve already faced them, we’ve already beat them,” he said.  “So we’re not too worried about that.  But you can’t over look it.”

First match for the Dual is at 5pm.

Entering the Clackamas Open Sunday, the plan is the same as Saturday:  Get your hands on them and slow them down.

The redshirts will be joining the starters in the action Sunday and Rhoden pointed out the extra support through the grind of the weekend.

“Our Open is a fun one,” he said.  “It’s a lot of fun for our redshirts and our starters are back in the same event for the first time in a long time. That’s always good to have that extra support from your teammates and buddies and stuff like that.”

Rhoden added that the quality of matches are high.  Oregon State’s sending people up, up to four or five four-year schools will be at the event as well as three or four teams from the region will participant in the Open.

Rhoden is expecting around 200 to 250 wrestlers in 16- or 32-wrestler brackets and the challenge will be how the Cougar wrestlers will handle upwards of six to eight matches by the end of Saturday.

“It’s a challenge,” said Garcia with the task at hand.  “It’s really how you think about it.  You can go in there with an attitude of ‘I have to go do these matches’.  Or you can be hungry and want to go love getting in matches and competition.”

Garcia and his Men will take on the field starting at 10am Sunday morning.

Both the North Idaho College and Clackamas Open will be held at Clackamas Community College.

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!