By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

OREGON CITY, Ore– With some training montage music playing from Rocky IV, the Clackamas Community College Wrestling Team were recognized for their accomplishments of their 2016 season to this point in front of the home crowd during halftime of the Clackamas-Mt. Hood Community College game Wednesday.

10 National Qualifiers, 16-2 record and winning their third NWCA National Dual Championship and West Regional Championship to name a few of their accomplishments to this point, let’s just say it was a proud moment across the board for the team.

“It actually feels pretty great,” said DeVaughn Sapien.  “Normally it doesn’t happen, back in high school it didn’t happen to me, so it feels pretty cool to be recognized in front of the whole school.”

Sapien was named Outstanding Wrestler of the Regional Tournament, a feat he said was amazing as a freshman.

“It was awesome, it was stunning,” Sapien said, describing the feeling of being named to the award.  “It felt great.”

Head Coach Josh Rhoden said it was actually Men’s Basketball Coaches Clif Wegner’s idea to recognize the team to acknowledge their accomplishments to this point in their season.

” It was really cool of him,” said Rhoden.  “Good gesture amongst programs and got a lot of mutual respect him and I.  He does a great job, his guys work really hard and I really appreciate him taking the time to give us a shout out on a great season so far.”

The season isn’t over just yet, with the NJCAA National Bracket coming up the weekend of February 27, Rhoden, Sapien and Company will turn their focus to preparing for that.

As for now, as some of the team trickled back to the stands and others stayed out on the court and tried their hand at basketball, the team is enjoying the spotlight as halftime was winding down.

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