Honoring the fall Penguins

At halftime of the men's basketball game on Jan. 8, a special ceremony was held to honor the fall 2010 sports teams at Clark College.

The announcer of the game talked about the successes that each team had in the classrooms and on the fields, courts and tracks.

"It was probably one of our best fall quarters as far as athletics are concerned," Interim Athletic Director Denny Huston said. "We won three southern regional championships, volleyball was second in the region, and GPA wise the quarter was in creditable."

The women's soccer team added Stan Rodrigues as the new head coach late in the scheme of things and ended its season with a 2-11-4 record.

The men's soccer team finished first in the southern division with an 11-3-4 record, coached by Biniam Afenegus.

The volleyball team showed improvements by making it to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges' playoffs and taking second place in the western division, which they haven't done in four years. The team ended its season with a 16-23 record under new head coach Jessie Uribe.

Coach Ryan Hovde was nominated and picked as the NWAACC's Women's Cross-Country Coach of the Year. On top of being honored as an outstanding coach, Hovde coached his Lady Penguins to take the NWAACC championships. While the women finished first in their run, the men finished fourth.

"We are really pleased with our coaching staff," Huston said. "Not just the fall coaches, but all of them. And as time goes on, we will have success in all of our programs athletically as well as academically."

Group by group of players and coaches representing their teams from fall quarter would walk across the court to Clark President Bob Knight and hand him trophies and achievements they brought home this fall.

After all the handshakes and presenting of the trophies, Knight then unveiled the women's cross-country NWAACC champions' banner, then went to the microphone to share his excitement.

"When there is success in the classroom, there will always be successes on the field," he said.

In the bleachers were not only Penguin fans, but also future Penguins. A women's cross-country recruit and four baseball recruits were in attendance.

"We are signing letters of intent (on Jan. 19)," Huston said. "And what we wanted to do was get as many of our recruits here at this time so we could introduce them to the crowd. It makes the recruits feel special when you bring them in here and let the crowd acknowledge them."

Contact Katie Unverzagt at sportseditor@students.clark.edu.