Penguins Vault To Victory
Penguins Play For Fun
Clark offers recreational sports to students, staff
Athletes soar to regional championship
Tj Pruneda Staff Reporter Do you want to get back into sports? Now you can by participating in Clark College’s intramural sports program in the O’Connell Sports Complex. Garet Studer, director of the intramural sports program, wants to bring a structured and organized format to intramural sports, which are usually played for recreation. “In the past, we have had intramurals,” Studer said. “But it was more of an open-gym format where you show up and play.” In February, Studer surveyed students on which sports they would like to play at Clark College and the best times to play. According to the survey, the most popular sports were basketball, fouron-four volleyball and seven-on-seven indoor soccer. “It was hard to come up with times because we have one gym and have six hours of P.E. classes with athletics, then intramurals,” said Studer, who is trying to partner with Washington State University Vancouver for additional space. All students, staff and faculty at Clark College are allowed to play. The registration fees are $5 for individuals and $40 for teams. Players must submit payment and a completed registration
Kevin Pettit is one pole-vaulter being coached by former athlete Chris Barkley, who (Aleksi Lepisto/The Independent)
Bogdan Goncharuk and Holland Roberts women’s pole vault events, respectively. Both team members have high hopes for a successful season. “I think we’re pretty good,” Roberts said. “We’ve had a lot of obstacles to get over.” One of the team’s greatest obstacles was when former pole-vaulting coach James Carr resigned earlier in the season. The coach’s resignation raised uncertainty about how well the team would perform. Team member Chris Barkley volunteered to coach the pole-vaulters after Carr’s resignation, which made him ineligible to compete. “It was very nice of him,” Roberts said. “He has been vaulting all his life and would have been the best on our team.” Clark’s pole-vaulters face another
meets left in the season, including the NWAACC championship on May 20-21 at Spokane Community College. “I’m hoping to be among the top fall-throughs in our league,” Goncharuk have big goals.” The track team practices daily at Hudson Bay High School McLoughlin Boulevard across from Clark’s main campus.
Contact Michael Lusk at campuseditor@students.clark.edu
TRACK & FIELD UPCOMING COMPETITIONS April 29 - 30
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The Penguins vaulted to two of the top three spots at the John Knight Twilight meet on April 12 at Western Oregon University in Salem.
large obstacle: their regular practice area has no place to pole-vault. The pole-vaulters must travel to Oregon City every Monday and Wednesday to practice at the Willamette Striders Track Club. The team has continued to thrive nonetheless. Goncharuk ranks seventh overall in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges with a vault of 14 feet, 5 ¼ inches. Roberts vaulted 9 feet 2 ¼ inches at the meet, jumping her to sixth place overall in the NWAACC.
NWAACC Multi Championship
May 3
Eugene Gresham
May 4 May 11
Southern Region Championship
Spokane
May 20
NWAACC Championship
Spokane
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Michael Lusk Campus Editor
center. To keep the games fair, varsity athletes must wait a full year after their last season before they can play their sports, Studer said. However, they’re allowed to play in the other intramural sports. “I want to get more people to participate and advance intramurals to more sports,” said supervisor Chris Andrews. Andrews said his role is making sure players follow the rules and stay safe. Supervisor Adam Wahl hopes the intramural sports program will promote “I am tired of seeing the same people work out every quarter. I want to use intramurals to help people get to the Studer wants to give out T-shirts as prizes to allure students and staff to join to program. “To most people it sounds students have a shirt then people will want to play to win the shirt,” he said. The O’Connell Sports Complex is located on Clark College’s main campus.
Contact Tj Pruneda at t.pruneda@students.clark.edu