Ridgefield High graduate posts strong start
Melissa Simmons was named “Super Star of the Week” for all sports at Oklahoma City University for the week of Nov. 8-14.
A sophomore on the OCU women’s wrestling team, the Ridgefield High School graduate — among other honors — was a high school All-American and a seven-time national champion.
Simmons has had reconstructive surgery on the left side of her face and on her knee in the last two years. Finally healthy entering the 2009-10 season, Simmons is 15-4 this season, with six of her wins by fall.
“I feel great now even though I have to wear a facemask and knee brace,” Simmons told ocusports.com. “I go out there looking like the Phantom of the Opera, but it feels great knowing that my knee is working and I am not going to have any more surgeries. I have a clean bill of health.”
Simmons suffered damage to her left eye when she was involved in a serious car wreck in October 2007. Simmons began training once she was cleared to wrestle again, but soon suffered a serious knee injury. Simmons wrestled her entire freshman year without an anterior cruciate ligament.
She went 14-5 that season and won the national championship at 72 kilograms. A few days after she won the national championship, she was back under the knife to have her knee fixed.
“I definitely don’t take competing for granted as much anymore,” she said. “Wrestling has always been a major part of my life for the past 17 years, and it always will be.”
Porter runner-up at Division II nationals
Western Washington’s Sarah Porter said she is “pleasantly surprised” about finishing as runner-up at NCAA Division II cross country national championships Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind.
And the Hockinson High School graduate is still coming to terms with being the one to beat a year from now.
“That’s the weirdest thing,” Porter said. “One of the guys said, ‘You know you have a target on your back now.’ I guess so. … I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet, but people have made a big deal about it. I kind of get it, but it’s weird.”
Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler won her third national title, running the 6-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 22.6 seconds. Porter was 7.5 seconds back, in 20:31.1. Porter said she learned her lesson after finishing 34 seconds behind Pixler at regionals.
“I ran very smart this last weekend, and I think I needed regionals to teach me a lesson because she absolutely spanked me at regionals,” Porter said. “It was embarrassing. I’m glad it happened there instead of at nationals, because if it had happened at nationals, I would have finished about 10 spots back.”
Porter said she was about in 20th place after the first mile of the race. By the last mile, it was the two Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals battling for the national crown.
“For pretty much the last mile of the race, it was just me trying to reel Pixler in,” Porter said. “I just kind of ran out of room again, but it was nice. … It was definitely the closest I’ve been to her.”
Porter’s teammate Lauren Breihof, a Mountain View High School graduate, finished 31st.
Klettke finishes 77th at NAIA nationals
Lewis-Clark State College sophomore Kelsey Klettke led the Warriors at the NAIA cross country national championships held Saturday at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The Prairie High School graduate placed 77th of 330 individuals in the 5-kilometer race with a time of 19 minutes, 40 seconds. LCSC finished 15th of the 32 full teams competing.
“I’m happy with that,” Klettke said. “The course was tough. It was muddy, but I had fun. … I went off fast like I always do and a lot of girls passed me, but I passed girls, too, so I’m happy.”
Light rain fell throughout the men’s race which preceded the women, leaving the course muddy. The sun came out between the races, however, leading to a pleasant temperature that made Klettke change her mind about running in long sleeves.
The only local prep product competing, Klettke said she received strong support.
“I heard my name on every single corner,” she said. “I was just like, ‘Oh, wow. I feel like I’m in high school again.’ I’m not used to that. That was really fun.”
Her attention now turns to track and field, but with an eye toward the cross country national championships returning to Vancouver next year.
“Nationals are here again next year,” Klettke said. “I’ll be home a few times in the summer, and I’ll be out here running the course, probably, getting a real feel for it and memorizing it a lot more.”
Geiger runs at D-I cross country finals
University of Portland redshirt freshman Shane Geiger placed 235th at the NCAA Division I cross country championships Monday in Terre Haute, Ind. The Camas High School graduate was not a scoring runner for the Pilots, who finished 13th in the team standings. His time over the 10 kilometers was 33 minutes, 5.6 seconds.
Concordia’s Camp CCC player of year
Concordia University junior forward Tyler Camp, was named Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s soccer player of the year, while midfielder Jared Brace was named freshman of the year.
Evergreen High School graduate Camp led the conference with 14 assists and was second in points with 28. He shared the CCC lead in game-winning goals with five.
Columbia River High School graduate Brace was the conference leader with 15 goals and 40 points.
Will Snow, a Concordia senior defender and Evergreen graduate who earlier played at Clark College, was named to the All-CCC second team.
Pac-10 honors
n Washington sophomore Brent Richards (Camas) was named to the All-Pacific-10 Conference men’s soccer second team, while senior Taylor Hoss (Mountain View) garnered honorable mention.
n University of Southern California cross country runners Kat Ellis and Zara Lukens, both Columbia River High School graduates, were named to the Pacific-10 Conference cross country academic all-conference team.
Ellis, a senior, is an engineering major with a 3.91 grade point average. Lukens, a junior, is a social sciences and history major with a 3.94 GPA.
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