Volume 46, Issue 21 march 11, 2011

By Anevay Torrez & Jen AshenbernerThe Advocate

After two years of preparation, the MHCC Foren-sics team will compete over spring break in the national debate championships with a “home court” advantage against some of their biggest college and university com-petition.

More than 80 college and universities and about 600 students will compete in the Pi Kappa Delta Speech Tournament March 24-26, occupying m ore than 100 competition spaces on the MHCC Gresham campus.

“My students and I have been planning this event for two years. It’s quite an undertaking,” said forensics direc-tor Shannon Valdivia. “The team is preparing at the same time to compete in this tournament - which will be the largest national competition in the country this year,”

“Our team goal is to try to win the community college National Sweepstakes Title,” said Valdivia. She said her squad’s biggest competition in the Northwest are the Col-lege of Western Idaho and Clark Community College.

Of the four-year teams, Valdivia said the best that are attending are Boise State, Southwest Baptist, College of Idaho, McNeese University, and Cameron University. She said they are all strong competitors,

In addition to MHCC hosting this national champion-ship for the first time, it is also the first time the competi-tion has been hosted by a community college, Valdivia said in a Wednesday press release.

Valdivia said MHCC President John Sygielski “en-couraged me to go for the bid to host the tournament in 2008. I think people are excited to have the honor to be the first community college to host, although there’s also nervousness as to the size — but we’ll get it done.”

By Jen AshenbernerThe Advocate

The power outage that closed MHCC’s Gresham cam-pus Thursday was resolved by 2:30 p.m. but fears of a sec-ond outage convinced college officials to keep the campus shut down all day.

Classes held in the Industrial Technology and Visual Arts buildings were relocated for Friday after the campus-wide power outage was resolved in all but those buildings, according to facilities management.

“Power was established at 2:30 this afternoon with the exception of the IT and VA building (and we are) still as-sessing the cause for this,” Director of Facilities Manage-ment Richard Byers said in an email Thursday evening.

Byers said the process of trying to figure out the root of the power outage could cause the campus to lose power again, which is why regardless of power being restored the campus was closed for the day.

Byers said in an email Friday the outage was caused by a, “Failed three phase wire running from the central utility plant to a transformer that provides power to the IT and VA buildings.”

The campus-wide power outage started at 6:30 a.m. and a flash alert was issued at 7:45 a.m. advising of a delayed opening until noon Thursday. It was followed by another alert issued at 10:08 a.m. stating campus would not reopen until 5 p.m., then again at 4:37 p.m. with a update that the college would be closed until 8 a.m. Friday.

Forensics confident about team's chances in national tournament

Campus closure blamed on electrical wiring

See Forensics on page 3

By Laura Knudson & Jon FuccilloThe Advocate

The Mt. Hood Lady Saints basket-ball team is facing the consequences of violations enacted by former head coach Larry Davis, who used eight un-official letters of intent this past season for his players said athletic director Kim Hyatt.

After Davis resigned, effective March 4, the Lady Saints were in-formed that the team will face a two-year probation, $1,000 fine, the loss of two of eight scholarships that the team receives yearly and the inability to re-cruit off-campus for two years.

Hyatt said she discovered the “fake letters of intent” that Davis had left on a printer in the athletic department to-ward the end of July during her first week on the job.

During a phone interview Thurs-day night, Davis admitted to creating “fake” letters of intent and said he didn’t understand the seriousness of his actions. He also said he wanted the letters that he created to be something nice for the girls to sign and to show their family and friends back home.

“I made some on my computer,” Davis said of the letters of intent.

“Did I know that was a violation? No. I wasn’t trying to find a loophole. I thought it would be a nice gesture. Thinking back on it, I should have known it wasn’t a binding contract. I still don’t see it as a recruiting viola-tion. I wasn’t trying to get ahead.”

In terms of future prevention, Hy-att said, “We are working very hard with our staff and coaches to continue to educate them.”

Davis’ biggest concern is the timing in which the violations went public, since the information had originally come out in early August, according to his knowledge.

“Kind of odd that it’s just coming out now,” Davis said. “It’s water under the bridge. I went into a closed door meeting with Kim (Hyatt) and we talk-ed about things. I didn’t find out about the violations until December and I told her I will resign right now if it will cost my team any games.”

Hyatt said, “We had to wait until we had all of the information and we did not hear back regarding the penal-ties until January and we were waiting for the NWAACC office to release the information to the public.”

Davis said, “I will pay (for the fine) out of my own pocket. It was my mis-take. Kim said no and that we all make

mistakes.”Questions were raised by other

community colleges when the letters of intent were not available for Mt. Hood, “but nothing came of it,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt immediately reported the incident to Dick McClain, executive director of the NWAACC board, who along with other executive members made the final decision to impose the penalties. Among the self-report was an explanation written by Davis. The report was submitted in early Aug.

“In our initial self-report, I met with our other commissioners and dis-cussed the violation with them and put ourselves on probation and suspended recruiting for the year until we heard back from the NWAACC. The penal-ties were stronger than we had antici-pated but only because this was some-thing we had not gone through. The penalties are certainly within the pol-icy and guidelines of the NWAACC Rules & Codebook,” Hyatt said.

The 2009-2010 NWAACC Code-book states under article 5 section 3H: “Only the NWAACC letter of intent form will be used. College letters of

See Contract on page 3

See Davis on page 7

Contract meeting brings no resolution;additional mediation session set March 16

Photo by Devin Courtright/The Advocate

Students rallying for resoultion in Main Mall prior to Wednesday’s board meeting .

Women's basketball team loses scholarships

Remember to set your clocks one hour

ahead onSunday 2 a.m.

By Jordan TichenorThe Advocate

Representatives of both the full-time facul-ty association and the MHCC administration said they are frustrated after mediated contract negotiations Thursday yielded no results.

March 16 has been left open by Robert Nightingale, the state-appointed mediator, as a possible date for more mediated bargaining, but he has not yet indicated whether he will return to mediate on that date.

The end of the 30-day cooling off period is March 24, ultimately making the first the day the board could impose a contract March 25. This is also the first day the faculty could strike, assuming they give a 10-day notice before the cooling off period ends. The first day of spring term is March 28.

Randy Stedman, the labor relations consul-tant hired by the board to bargain the contract for the administration, said Friday, “From our perspective, a valuable opportunity was squan-dered. It was a waste of a day.”

Regarding specific issues, the faculty proposed increasing employee contribution to medical benefits to $71 for a single person, $104 for employee plus one, and $135 for full family. Current rates are $55, $65 and $75.

Stedman said, “This offer was symbolic of how negotia-tions have gone. The faculty take two steps back, one step forward, and insist they have made concessions.”

“We clearly communicated, with our explanation, that we saw this as an indicator of areas where we were able to make movement,” said Sara Williams, the faculty’s chief ne-gotiator, Thursday. “We asked for a specific indicator from them that they had an interest in negotiating today, in find-

ing a settlement. We got nothing. “Their position was that they didn’t have the authority

from the board to make any movement,” she said. Jack Schommer, full-time faculty president, said, “They

were unprepared to negotiate. I’m not even sure why they showed up.”

In a Thursday letter to the district board, Williams said, “We reluctantly conclude that either your bargaining team is obstructing the negotiating process or that you have not authorized your team to reach a settlement with the fac-ulty. Whichever it is, we believe that the only opportunity we have to avoid implementation and strike is to meet with members of the board.”

2 OPINION THE ADVOCATEMARCH 11, 2011

Editors-in-ChiefJen ashenberner &Jordan tichenor

Sports EditorJon Fuccillo

Living Arts EditorDavid Gambill

Assistant Living Arts EditorAnevay Torrez

Photo EditorDevin Courtright

Opinion EditorL. John King

Assistant News EditorJohn Tkebuchava

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AdviserBob Watkins

Assistant AdviserDan Ernst

The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily refl ect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

ReportersJill-Marie Gavin

Chanel Hill

Riley Hinds

Laura Knudson

Yuca Kosugi

Mike Mata

Jess Peterman

Kylie Rogers

Shelby Schwartz

Jessica Winters

In the Nov. 5 issue of The Advocate, we asked “Does the administration really want to negoti-ate?”

Last week, an Advocate reporter asked Randy Stedman, the labor relations consultant hired by the board to bargain the contract for the adminis-tration, if the administration would be willing to return to face-to-face talks in the full-time faculty contract negotiations.

Stedman said, “I don’t know why we would re-turn to a forum that had no progress. We don’t think there’s much chance (to settle the contract) without mediator involve-ment.”

The Advocate has to ask, does the administra-tion really think there is more of a chance to settle the contract if the faculty goes on strike? We are 14 days away from the fi rst possibility of a strike, and 17 days away from spring term. Every option pos-sible should be explored in the next two weeks if there is even the slightest possibility of avoiding a strike.

How about the ripple effect of a strike on stu-dents who are worried about next term’s classes? The administration says they are preparing by lining up teachers to cover classes. However, it wouldn’t be the full-time teachers with a dedicat-ed curriculum teaching the class. It would be part-time teachers who might not be as well versed in special programs as the advisers/instructors who the programs are built around, like radio broad-casting’s J.D. Kiggins, or Susie Jones, Dave Bar-duhn and Marshall Tuttle of the music program. Sounds like an obvious disruption to us.

What about changing the perception of MHCC in the community? There has never been a com-munity college strike in Oregon. If MHCC is the fi rst, especially during a time when community colleges are supposed to be on the rise, it can’t bode well. If this is prime-time for community col-leges, what will people think when MHCC can’t even settle a contract?

People will consider the proximity of schools such as Portland Community College and Clack-amas Community College, neither of which are having labor disputes at the moment, and there-

fore have a much reduced chance of classes being in-terrupted in a signifi cant way.

In an ad run last week and this week’s issue of The Advocate, the admin-istration has stated “the decision to strike is en-tirely up to the faculty.” While this is technically true, can the blame really be washed from the board’s hands? Three months were

already wasted when the administration refused face-to-face talks after the original 150-day ne-gotiation period was up, as reported in the Oct. 22 issue. The majority of the outcry from the full-time faculty has not been “better pay” but “sit down and talk to us”?

The Advocate strongly urges the administra-tion to return to face-to-face talks. Worst case scenario, the talks don’t go well and ultimately the faculty goes on strike anyway. Best case, an agreement is reached and a strike is avoided.

There is nothing to gain by not talking. There is everything to gain by attempting to negotiate, assuming that is the intent of both parties.

EditorialIf there is a strike we all lose – especially students

MHCC programs collaborate in philanthropic eventBy Mike MataThe Advocate

Mt. Hood Community College will pay host to the fi rst Adventure with Purpose Summit March 18 at 8:30 a.m. on the Gresham campus.

This free event is designed to help connect athletes, companies and orga-nizations that utilize the outdoors for philanthropic adventures and athletic events. It is a cooperative venture in-volving the MHCC Wilderness Lead-ership and Experimental Education program and the program’s instructor Bryan Anaclerio, who helped bring the event to MHCC along with training co-ordinator Robert Weinman.

The summit will end at McMe-namins-Edgefi eld with an assortment of short fi lms about international and re-gional events as well as a screening of “Hood to Coast,” a new movie about four teams of Hood to Coast runners. Tickets prices are $10, with proceeds going to

support Team River Runner, an organi-zation that helps military veterans and active servicemen and women.

The summit will have presentations from athletes such as Lance Trumball, founder of Everest Peace Project, and Tonia Farman, a nationally ranked kite-boarder, from Kiteboarding 4 Cancer.

There will also be charitable orga-nizations, including Climb for Hope, Everest Peace Expeditions, Kiteboard-ing 4 Cancer, Climb for Breast Cancer, American Diabetes Association, Ameri-can Lung Association, Surfrider Foun-dation and Willamette Riverkeeper. Mt. Hood Meadows and Aldercreek Kayaks will also be represented.

Weinman said, “While the exact pro-genitor of philanthropy via the outdoors is unknown, the American Cancer Soci-ety may have been one of the fi rst.”

“Ten years ago I lost my brother James in a mountaineering incident. After that I decided to build bigger

purpose in my future adventures other than just diversion and personal goals,” said Weinman.

In 2007, Weinman co-founded a per-sonal adventure called BeachwalkPro-ject.com that traveled the East Coast by foot and kayak promoting clean water.

“While organizing BWP I discovered there were hundreds of athletes that had established similar programs in honor of a life- changing event or loss of a loved one. I also discovered that Portland was the mothership of outdoor events and adventures with purpose,” said Weinman.

“I saw the awesome work that Bryan and Kim Anaclerio were doing with the WLEE program here and wanted to connect MHCC WLEE students with this awesome network in Portland for their own future opportunities for col-laboration and careers,” he added.

For more information or to register for the event, visit www.mhcc.edu/awp.

MARCH 11, 2011 NEWS 3

“I think by sheer size of squad, there will be some schools we can’t touch for the overall sweeps race. But my team is not nervous; they are eager to go into battle,” said Valdivia. The MHCC Foren-sics team consists of eight members and the largest teams will consist of 25-30 team members, so MHCC will be considered a small entry program, according to Valdivia.

“Our team is the current International Public Debate Association (IPDA) two-year national season sweepstakes leader and we fi nished in the top 10 of all major tournaments we attended this year,” she said.

The cost to host this tournament is about $14,700 and paying for it has been a cooperative effort be-tween the MHCC general fund, the forensics pro-gram, the MHCC student government, and the MHCC Foundation. They have also had support from the Province of the Great West Pi Kappa Delta.

Volunteers to help accommodate the event and its guests are needed as tournament judges, campus guides, unlocking doors, food and hospitality servic-es and setting up Wednesday prior to the event and taking down Saturday after the event.

Valdivia said criteria for tournament judges in-clude having the desire to listen with an open heart and mind and to provide solid constructive criticism. She said she is offering training.

According to the Pi Kappa Delta website, this year’s tournament will offer intercollegiate foren-

sics in a full range of individual and team events, including debate and individual events not before offered at a PKD national tournament.

There will be fi ve styles of debate; — IPDA is one-on-one style debate where the

students are given fi ve topics and they each strike a topic until one remains. They then have 30 min-utes to prep before they debate. The topics can be anything like pop culture, politics, social and philo-sophical issues.

— NPDA is team debate where the teams are given a topic and they prep for 15 minutes. Topics of discussion surround governmental issues.

— NFA-LD is one-on-one style debate and the topic the competitors are debating this year is “Be it resolved: the United States Federal Government should substantially reform the provision of mental health services to the chronically mentally ill.” — CEDA is team debate and all questions are based in policy analysis. — BP debate is a four-member team debate. The topic changes every round. This style is based on the British Parliamentary system of government where coalitions are needed to push legislation forward.

There are also individual events such as prose interpretation.

A schedule of debates for the free events can be found at http://www.pikappadelta.com/national-tournamentconventioninfo.html.

By John TkebuchavaThe Advocate

With the possibility of a full-time faculty strike growing ever more real, MHCC students gathered in the Main Mall Wednesday to rally for a quick resolution.

The student rally, which started at 5 p.m., was made up of nine people as they marched outside the bookstore in the rain.

“I’ve been working by organizing (the student rally) on facebook and email,” said Travis Apolloni-us, philosophy major, who was the main organizer for Wednesday’s student rally.

Apollonius said that out of respect for teachers, he and students should rally in favor of a hastened conclusion to the extensive contract negotiations that have already taken more than a year.

Apollonius said the implications of the contracts could also affect him even further because of the ca-reer path he has chosen, “I intend to become a col-lege teacher,” he said.

“The sign says ‘Be your dream’, but then they’re trying to shut down the students’ dreams. It’s frus-trating,” he said.

Apollonius also spoke of frustrations he and oth-er students have had when trying to make contact or to get information from board members.

“I’ve personally noticed and, talking with other students who have noticed, have tried to reach out to the board and I, and others, have been ignored,” he said.

Apollonius said he and students would send emails to board members and while some would re-ply accordingly, others would respond to questions with “cut and paste” messages that would be sent to all student questions.

In a message sent to board members Feb. 18, Apollonius said, “In the letter to students put out on

Monday, we were told: ‘First of all, rest assured that the College is do-ing everything it can to lessen or eliminate any potential im-pacts to you if your instructors decide to go out on strike. We are expanding our interim pool of qualifi ed and available part-time instructors to seamlessly as-sume teaching duties created by striking faculty.’ I for one will not stand for my edu-cators being replaced with scabs. It saddens me to see the administration of my own college standing up to be on the wrong side of over 120 years of strug-gle for organized labor.”

Two responses from board members were re-ceived, according to Apollonius, one from Beverly Russell and the other from Brian Freeman.

Russell said in her response, “As a student, you would have to pay an additional $15 per credit hour if we give the faculty what they are requesting.”

Apollonius said in his blog Feb. 22, after receiv-ing a response from Freeman, “After listing off several talking points, Mr. Freeman concludes by completely ignoring my disapproval of using scabs to break the union’s power by reiterating, “If your instructors decide to strike, you will still be able to

complete your classes, and earn certifi cates or diplomas. It is our aim to be staffed and ready to serve our students without inter-ruption.”

“It’s hard to believe that ne-gotiating (be-tween faculty and the admin-istration) will be done in good faith if commu-nication with students aren’t in good faith,” he said.

In response to this, the Associated Student Government presi-dent Larry Collins-Morgan said, “I know there’s a lot of frustration (among students).”

Collins-Morgan said he hopes for a conclusion with negotiations where both sides can be satisfi ed. It’s important to fi nd the commonalities.”

After the students had rallied through the Main Mall, they meshed with faculty members who had gathered outside the district board’s regular meet-ing. Board member were unavailable for comment Thursday.

On Thursday, a mediation session between full-time faculty and administration negotiators was held and March 16 will be left open if the media-tor believes another session would be fruitful after Thursday’s meeting.

Contract: Board reluctant to take 'backdoor approach'

Forensics: Team will sponsor spring break national competiton on campus; expecting over 600 people at MHCC for debate eventsContinued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Frustrated students rally for a resolution regardless of rain

Jordan Bennett leads a group of students through a rainsoaked campus Wednesday night to the MHCC District board meeting.

Photo by Devin Courtright/The Advocate

Stedman said Friday, “The board has given us the authority of the range they’re wiling to settle at.”

He said the administration sent back a list of items for the faculty consider. “We hoped there might be things on the list, with creativity, might bring the parties closer together,” said Stedman.

The areas Stedman said the administra-tion’s team asked the faculty to consider were in the areas of the salary schedule, employee health insurance, retiree health, and greater fl exibility to use part-time fac-ulty.

Williams said the most signifi cant dif-ference in the faculty’s Thursday proposal from the fi nal offer submitted to the state was “an increase in our healthcare contri-butions.”

Brian Freeman, MHCC board chair-man, said Thursday night he is reluctant to grant face-to-face talks between the board and faculty representatives because they don’t want to encourage a “backdoor approach,” and the next time the faculty contract is negotiated, “the faculty would be encouraged to wait until they could cut a bargain at the last minute.”

Asked if returning to a public meeting format with negotiators from both sides in one room was an option, Freeman said, “That could be done, I suppose.”

MARCH 11, 20114 SPORTS

Saints head coach Geo� Gibor (far right), � ashed signs of emotion in the � nal minutes of the team’s second round loss to the Whatcom Orcas. � e loss sent the Saints home a� er losing two games in the double elimination NWAACC Championships in Kennewick, Wash., at the Toyota Center.

Photo by Devin courtright/the advocate

By Jon FuccilloThe Advocate

Two games, two losses. Pack your bags, fi ll up the gas tanks, regroup and ride three hours back home to Gresh-am from Kennewick, Wash. That was the Saints NWAACC tournament in a nutshell.

They were supposed to be tears of excitement. Instead the Saints left the Toyota Center with tears of frustration and empty-handed in the hardware department after getting stomped 78-60 to the Whatcom Orcas (21-8, 11-5) in a consolation game Sunday at 8 a.m.

It was a freezing match-up between two teams that have developed a his-tory at the NWAACC championships. Just two seasons ago, while Saints head coach Geoff Gibor was serving as assistant to then-head coach Rob Niel-son, the Orcas sent the Saints pack-ing in another must-win consolation game.

“Slowly recovering,” head coach Geoff Gibor said Tuesday night. “It takes a while. The season is an emo-tional roller-coaster. It all culminated for me after that second game – very emotional.

“You just put so much into the sea-son, and when it comes to an end, win or lose, it’s hard. Easier when you win, but it’s still hard. I was totally over-come with emotion.”

In back-to-back days the Saints had to play in the 8 a.m. game that teams dread to play. The Orcas seemed to have gotten better rest than the Saints with the way they jumped out of the gates and attacked the de-fensive sets of the Saints and scored at

will, though it was neck and neck for most of the fi rst half.

The Orcas were able to pull ahead and take a 40-28 lead heading into the locker room at the half.

The Saints were used to playing in front of good-sized crowds and using fan support for energy. The scenario wasn’t quite the same as the Saints in back-to-back games saw little-to-no crowd in what looked like an empty arena.

The Orcas went on to torch what was left of the Saints after freshman forward Rei Jensen was sidelined minutes after tip-off due to a dislocat-ed right shoulder that he suffered the morning before in their loss against the Highline Thunderbirds.

The good news for the Saints? Freshman forward Spencer Clayton returned to the lineup after slicing open the upper left side of his lip the morning before in the game against the Highline Thunderbirds. He held his own in the low post and took ad-vantage of the smaller Orca defend-ers. He fi nished the contest scoring 16 points off the bench on 8-of-14 shoot-ing the fi eld.

That wasn’t enough to keep Clay-ton happy. “Feel so empty,” Clayton said Sunday after the game. “We went to the tournament to win as a team and not to impress scouts.”

Freshman forward Gerron Powell was another bright light in the Saints halo. Powell was cleaning up the re-bounds at both ends and getting easy second-chance points with the tip of his fi ngers. He pieced together a silent double-double, team highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Freshman Otho Lesure for the second day chipped in with double fi gures, fi nishing the contest with 10 points.

The Orcas had a surprise perfor-mance by 6’6’’ sophomore reserve forward Cody Peters, who scored 22 points in 22 minutes of action, includ-ing 16 points in the fi rst half. On the season Peters only averaged 8.6 points per game, which was good for the sixth leading scorer on the team. Gibor felt blindsided by his performance.

Peters shot 8-of-11 from the fi eld and scored four big three’s in the fi rst half. The Orcas had three other play-ers in double fi gures.

“It’s frustrating,” Gibor said. “We watched video on them and scouted everyone but him.”

Through the thick of it all, the team had no one to blame but themselves and their poor showing that ultimate-ly paid its price of misfortune. All of the excuses of injuries were thrown out the window. Gibor said it felt like he was watching a different team than he watched earlier in the season.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Gibor said. “It’s so frustrating and dis-appointing to come this far and go out like that. But it is what it is.”

Gibor nailed it on the head. The Saints didn’t look prepared and had a hard time fi nding the basket when they need to score most, especially from behind the arc where they shot 1-of-14 for the game. That lone trey ball came from freshman guard Cole-tun Tarr when it was too late to help.

Gibor said he felt his team handled themselves well in the moving for-ward process.

“It was good to see everyone in that locker room get emotional,” Gibor said. “It shows how much people re-ally care. It really matters that people really cared about what we were doing as a team. We are truly a family.

“Our motto is F.O.E. (Family Over Everything). It played true with this group. They’re truly brothers. No one can ever take that away. It’s amaz-ing the relationships that are built through experiences like this.”

The team is already looking toward the future of the program and bounc-ing back not only in the Southern Re-gion but contending for an NWAACC title next year. The team will only lose sophomore guards Delroy Gibbs and Jake Rickert. All 10 freshmen are ex-pected to return, along with redshirt freshmen Drew Johnson and Dustin Jones.

Johnson was sidelined all sea-son long with a stress fracture in his left foot and Jones ineligible due to grades. The team also expects 6’6’’ forward Curtis Papenfuss to return to the Saints after serving a two-year Mormon mission in South America.

There was some speculation that Clayton would take his skills to the next level instead of returning. But he cleared that up by saying, “It’s in my best interest to come back and im-prove on my game instead of sitting on a bench somewhere. You have to play in real games in order to improve.”

“We got some experience at NWAACCs now and we’re all (plan-ning) on coming back,” Clayton said. “The only upside to the trip was we gained experience. We have already set high expectations.”

Two and done, Saints return home empty handed

MARCH 11, 2011 SPORTS 5

Saints lose in round one NWAACCs action, Spencer Clayton goes downBy Jon FuccilloThe Advocate

The No. 2 seeded Southern Region Saints ex-pected to use their athletic post play to pound it inside for easy buckets. Instead, they were forced to play most of the opening game without freshman forward Spencer Clayton, who played less than one minute against the Western Region’s No. 3 seeded Highline Thunderbirds.

Clayton was expected to use his size and strong body as a decoy in the paint. But the 6’9’’ player took an elbow to the chops that sent him out of the game. 6’8’’ freshman forward Rei Jensen also went down after diving for a loose ball during the fi rst half. He came up holding his right shoulder and found out after the game that he separated his right shoulder.

These two factors helped the Thunderbirds (19-9, 11-5) on the way to a 72-62 victory during the 8 a.m. breakfast battle, as they famously call it.

“The injuries did not help us by any means,” head coach Geoff Gibor said. “Anytime you lose Spencer (Clayton) 6’9’’ and Rei (Jensen) 6’8’’ to injuries it will affect your team. Guys are used to playing a role.”

Thunderbirds head coach Che Dawson said, “It’s a shame any time a player gets hurt. It certainly helped us to not have the big guys on the fl oor as much.”

One minute after entering the game off the

bench, Clayton was sent to seek medical attention as his busted lip would require four stitches inside his mouth. How important is Clayton to the Saints? During the regular season he averaged a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game and was their second-lead-ing scorer with 10.9 per contest.

Clayton was receiving updates from his sister through text messages while waiting at the urgent care facility just around the corner from the arena. Clayton said he planned to return to the game but the wait took more than an hour and was too late by the time he returned. “Apparently they didn’t think I was too urgent,” Clayton said.

Credit the Thunderbirds, who shot 44.8 percent from the fi eld while holding the Saints to 36 per-cent. They also forced the Saints into 18 turnovers and protected their defensive side of the court. They also out-rebounded the Saints 47 to 29, whereas during the regular season the Saints were used to out-rebounding their opponents on a regular basis.

“That was hard,” Gibor said. “We were only out-rebounded three other times during the regular season before coming into the (NWAACC Champi-onships).”

Dawson added, “Rebounding is something we emphasize every day of the year. It is a lost part of the game. I like to think our kids learned to take pride in that part of the game.”

It wasn’t even close. With the absence of Clayton and freshman forward Gerron Powell in early foul trouble, the Saints were playing with their backs against the wall.

At the half the Saints trailed 36-27 and had only shot 36 percent from the fi eld (9-of-25). The Saints were hurting for an inside presence and the guards had a rough time getting themselves involved. For the fourth game in a row, sophomore transfer and shooting guard Delroy Gibbs was ice cold from the fi eld (2-of-8) and held to a dismal six points.

Both teams had to deal with the always cold are-na that the Tri-Cities Americans hockey team uses as their home. On the night before, the hockey team played a home game and the frosty feel remained in the arena – not benefi ting either team that are used to warm gyms and less stiff rims.

It took the Thunderbirds all-star 6’6’’ sophomore guard PJ Bolte a while to get going, but eventually he displayed all his offensive weapons, scoring a game-high 20 points and eight of his game-high 13 rebounds were on the offensive end. That created second-chance points that the Thunderbirds used in their favor. They outscored the Saints 14-5 in that department.

“PJ (Bolte) often started games slow and pro-duced incredibly as the game went along,” Dawson said. “He did a nice job on the glass this year.”

The Saints didn’t go without a fi ght. But the damage had already been done.

Freshmen guards Otho Lesure, Coletun Tarr and all-star Marcus Moore did their part in keeping the Saints in the game. All three ended the contest in double fi gures. Lesure led the team with 14, while Tarr punched in 13 and Moore chipped in with 10. But that was about all the offense the Saints got.

Clockwise from le� : Freshman Coletun Tarr drives to the hoop against a Highline � underbirds defender in the second half of the Saints loss on Saturday. � e Saints get pumped up before their game with the � underbirds. Freshman Marcus Moore scores two of his 10 points in the loss against the � underbirds. Freshman guard Otho Lesure drives past a � underbirds defender.

Photos by Devin courtright/the advocate

Injuries sting Saints in breakfast battle

MARCH 11, 20116 SPORTS

Alex Keenan Jeremy Burright Nate Dolman Matt PechmannRHP LHP

Returning Saints pitchers ready to step it up and lead

Jon YearoutLHPRHP

By Chanel HillThe Advocate

The Mt. Hood Saints baseball team is ready to face the new season with tunnel vision and new blood in the roster.

The Saints who in past years have relied heavily on their bats and of-fensive power, are looking to their deep pitching staff to produce wins this season and get back in the hunt in the Southern Region after falling short of the post season last year for the fi rst time in 16 years. Despite the disappointment, returning sophomore pitcher Jeremy Burright is ready to step up and lead, “What last year did was make us (returners) want to be good leaders to the freshmen. We set

the tone with our hard work. Every game counts, we need to take care of business,” said Burright.

This years ten-man pitching staff which includes returning soph-omores Alex Keenan, Jeremy Burright, Mat-thew Pechmann, Nate Dolman, Jon Yearout, fi ve freshmen and transfer sophomore Eric Kittleson will compete for time on the mound. “Time doesn’t matter to me. I want them (pitchers), to be enthusias-tic, to throw that eighth-inning before

we bring in the closer. To get the hold, to be a part of a team that is trying to win the NWAACCs, it’s going to take a team effort, focus and a common goal,”

said Burright, who fi nished last season with a 6-3 record and a 2.26 ERA.

Keenan who fi n-ished last season with a 1-1 record and a 4.00 ERA, expects to be in the mix of the rotation this season, but is

willing to accept any role that helps towards the team’s success.

Said Keenan, “I am willing to ac-cept any role that coach (Bryan Dono-

hue) asks me to play and I’m trying to get as many innings and keep improv-ing.”

Despite missing the post season, the fi ve pitchers averaged 17 wins, 11 losses and an average 2.67 ERA, an impressive performance from all of the men from the mound. This year brings in new talent and more oppor-tunities for the freshmen too, “We’re really relying on the freshmen, they’re all great pieces to add,” said Dolman. The Saints are scheduled to play two double-headers Saturday March 12 against Olympic College and Thomp-son River JC and Sunday March 13 against Bellevue and Centralia Com-munity College. Results were not available at press time.

Dolman

Burright

“I am willing to accept any role

that coach (Bryan Donohue) asks

me to play and I’m trying to get as

many innings and keep improving.”

Alex Keenan

By Chanel HillThe Advocate

The Mt. Hood Saints softball team heads into the season as top dogs with a No. 1 preseason ranking in the NWAACC poll and back-to-back NWAACC championships under their belts.

It’s safe to say that the other teams in the confer-ence are gunning for them. “There’s always a target on your back when you win two championships. This year the target is even bigger. There’s added pressure, but it’s good pressure,” said sophomore pitcher Kayla Anderson, who ended last year’s season with 10-2 record and a 1.46 ERA, along with a team-high four saves in relief.

The Saints welcome back another seasoned pitcher in sophomore Chel-sea Schriber, who last year posted an 11-2 record, along with a 1.24 ERA. There’s also new talent on the mound in Kendra Groom, the freshman out of Gresham High School who was awarded all-league pitching honors in

2008 and 2010 in the Mt. Hood Con-ference for the Gophers.

Each of the pitchers bring some-

thing unique to the team. Having played a season together, Schrib-er and Anderson have a strong rapport and similar pitching style. Schriber, who throws the up ball, and Anderson, who throws the corner

ball, are excited for the change Groom brings to the mound,

“Chelsea and I are similar. Kendra is kind of a mix of us both,” said An-derson. “Kendra puts a twist to ev-erything. She’s a down ball pitcher which we haven’t had. If Kayla and I start off and then bring Kendra in, it will put hitters off balance,” said Schriber.

The team which hasn’t seen prac-tice time on the fi eld because of poor weather is eager to play on the dirt,

“It’s tough to stay motivated. We’ve been practicing in the gym, and you don’t get the real feel of the fi eld that you would if we were outside,” said Schriber. Still, the team is staying mo-tivated, with help of ninth-year head coach Meadow McWhorter who at the beginning of the year gave each of the girls inspirational quotes to stay posi-tive through the season.

McWhorter tells her team to “cre-ate their masterpiece,” which applies to more than just taking it one game at a time,

“I want to improve my ERA this year, but I also want to work on mo-tivating the team through talking more,” said Schriber, “It’s about short runs and long runs. It’s about life in general. Make your life what you want it to be.”

The Saints are scheduled to play Saturday March 12 and Sunday March 13 in the South Inter-region Tourney in Vancouver. Results were not available at press time.

Yearout

Pechmann

Keenan

Top le� : Kayla Anderson pitching for the Saints last season. Le� : Chelsea Schriber pitching last season for the Saints

Top-ranked softball team returns with strong pitching

File photos

MARCH 11, 20117 SPORTS

Records fall as track and field team sets the tone for the season

contributed Photo By Matt Hart

Davis: 'very, very blindsided, but not surprised at all.'

Tyler Callahan breaking the MHCC javelin school record by throwing 212 feet 8 inches and winning the 2011 Lin� eld Icebreaker.

By John TkebuchavaThe Advocate

A school record fell and both Saints’ 4x100-meter relay teams snagged the gold as MHCC opened its season at Saturday’s “ice breaker” meet.

Records are meant to be broken and MHCC freshman thrower Tyler Callahan from Estacada High School wasted no time in breaking the school javelin record at the Eric Anderson Icebreaker meet at Linfi eld College al-most immediately after it had begun.

Callahan record throw was 212 ft. 8 in, good enough to also win the event.

The entire MHCC track and fi eld team had a good showing Saturday with numerous fi rst-place fi nishes.

“I thought we competed well,” said head coach Matt Hart. “Both relays (4x100-meter relay) did really well.”

The men’s team fi nished the relay with a time of 42.55, led by sopho-mores Chris Zeller and Zach Young, along with freshmen Justin Oliveri and Robert Hanke.

The women fi nished with a time of 50.17. The relay team consisted of freshmen Erica Drake, Amy Kegler, Whitney Sewnson and Mariah Crum-pler.

Zeller, last year’s NWAACC 400-me-ter champion, was pleased with both his and his team’s performance, even though he only competed on the 4x100-meter team at the meet,

“I only got to compete in the 4x100 due to injury. We (the 4x100-meter team) did great for having two new people on the team,” he said, with Young as the only other returner.

“I was really happy about the per-formance,” Zeller said, “We defi nitely scored where we needed to score. We had a lot of people scratch.”

Drake, who placed third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.06, had a similar response, “I think we did really well for the fi rst meet,” she said, “I’m excited for the rest of the season.”

Competition for the meet included community colleges, some high school athletes and four-year universities, in-cluding Oregon State University, Uni-versity of Portland Pilots and Portland State University.

Though some individuals like Cal-lahan, Young and Drake managed to do well, injury reduced the Saint’s po-tential as numerous athletes had to scratch out of their events,

“We’re kind of beat up,” said Hart,

mentioning shin splints as one of the ailments athletes had to deal with. He said the situation can be remedied with a better warm-up and better cool-down after an event.

Other standout performances were Young’s fi rst-place fi nish in the 400-meter hurdles (55.42), Swenson’s second-place fi nish in the 100-meter hurdles (16.00), Oliveri’s third-place fi nish in the 100-meter dash (11.37) and Hanke’s second-place fi nish in the 400-meter hurdles (56.98).

Conditions for the meet were also ideal. “Beautiful. It was perfect,” said Hart on the weather, something he says is an oddity given the more com-mon climate for the early March event.

“It’s called the icebreaker for two reasons,” said Hart, one being that it’s a meet to “break the ice” of initial competitive hesitation and secondly, because of the cold.

Hart said he was confi dent about his team’s potential, “Once we get ac-climated to the competition, we’ll be fi ne,” he said.

The team will compete Saturday in the Pacifi c Preview in Forest Grove at Lincoln Park Stadium, home of Pacifi c University.

photo by jon fuccillo/the advocate

From le� : Former head coach Larry Davis and assistants Rosie Contri and volunteer Amber Magner watching the Lady Saints in a game against Clackamas CC.

Meet Highlights• MHCC javelin thrower Tyler

Callahan broke the school record with a throw of 212ft. 8in.

• Both men's and women's 4x100-meter relay teams placed fi rst.

• MHCC sprinter Erica Drake placed third in the 100-meter dash.

form will be used. College letters of intent will not be valid and may bring the school using them pen-alties as determined by the Executive board. Under no circumstances will blank letters of intent be al-lowed to be released.”

Hyatt said MHCC will appeal the penalties in hopes to get the scholarships and off-campus re-cruiting back since they will begin the process of fi nding a new coach after spring break.

In a meeting held for the Lady Saints Monday, Lady Saints volunteer assistant coach Amber Mag-ner, who was with the team this past season, “vol-unteered to help with off-season workouts to keep the team moving in the right direction,” Hyatt said.

Along with Davis stepping down, long-time assis-tant coach Rosie Contri will also leave the program after serving three years under Davis. Davis was with the team for six years.

Hyatt plans to include the players in selecting a new coach. “I want to make sure they are part of the process. I don’t want to settle for just anyone.”

Hyatt plans to keep in close contact with coach-es at other NWAACC member schools if any of the women decide to transfer. Since the girls were not in a binding contract at MHCC, they shouldn’t have to forfeit a year of eligibility. “It’s kind of a tricky situ-ation,” Hyatt said.

“Because the athletes were not given an offi cial letter of intent to sign, any student who transferred to another institution within the NWAACC may be able to receive a waiver to this rule because they did not actually sign an offi cial letter of intent,” Hy-att said. “However, we are honoring the letters that they signed with coach Davis as if they were an of-fi cial letter with regards to honoring the amount of scholarship that the ladies were promised and we also would be supportive of any waivers requested to the NWAACC if any of the ladies wished to trans-fer to another NWAACC institution.”

It is unknown whether MHCC will be able to hon-or the current scholarships of any returning play-ers. Sophomores Charlie Neilan and Jackie Cannon

are the only players to have used up their eligibility. Asked if his resignation was a refection of the

violations Davis said, “Is it the reason I’m leaving? Absolutely not. Not by any means.”

“Last year I looked into some other opportuni-ties,” Davis said. “But we recruited these athletes and I wanted to see this class out. Plus I ran my own business and I am seeking different opportunities. And I have a family that I want to spend more time with. It just felt like the right time since everything changed in the (athletic) department.”

Davis said, “things felt micro-managed” in the department and that the atmosphere changed “when the new athletic director came in.” “The rela-tionship between the AD (Hyatt) and I wasn’t great since she came in. I may not be her favorite person,” he added.

Overall Davis felt “very, very blindsided, but not surprised at all.”

Hyatt said, “My relationship with an employee or former employee is a private, personal matter.”

Some of the Lady Saints players felt uncomfort-able discussing the matter, as some stood behind coach Davis and feel his actions were accidental.

“I believe my coach didn’t do it on purpose. He is a really nice guy, a great coach,” freshman forward Natalie Humble said Wednesday. “I can’t respond for the rest of the team but I will miss my coaches. They were great.”

Asked if the rest of the freshmen were planning on returning to MHCC next year, “I am coming back to play next year,” Humble said. “I don’t know of ev-eryone coming back for sure. But I do know Melissa (Carey) and Haley (Chovich) are.”

Davis said that point guard Emily Burch is ex-pected to return in a Saints uniform next season. But he wasn’t sure of the future of the rest of the team. He did mention that freshman forward Gina Bianchi would return to Carson City, Nev., after feeling home sick. Also, Noelle Laffoon would re-turn to Nevada as well after suffering one too many concussions. Forward Teri Gilbert is transferring to

Clackamas Community College and said her future in basketball is up in the air. Freshman Maria No-lan is still uncertain, according to Davis, who said it “depends on the coach that comes in.”

When looking to the future program, Hyatt said, “I’m fully committed to make sure MHCC stays 100 percent committed to our exceptional high standard for ethics and sportsmanship.”

Go to www.advocate-online.net for more MHCC Saints coverage.

Continued from page 1

THE ADVOCATEMARCH 11, 20118 THE FLIPSIDE

SaturdayShowers49o F

TuesdayShowers50o F

WednesdayShowers51o F5

Day

SundayShowers48o F

MondayShowers50o F

ForecastForecast gathered from www.weather.com

OUR #1 PRIORITY: STUDENTSSTUDENTSStudents have been – and always will be – our number one priority. We know you have questions about contract negotiations with the Full-Time Faculty Association. We’re here to help.

MHCC full-time faculty enjoy the highest average salaries of the 54 community colleges in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. They are approximately at the 83rd percentile nationally.*

You may be thinking that our faculty should be the highest paid among all Pacific Northwest community colleges. We understand your position because we, too, believe our instructors are smart and talented professionals who possess the skills and attributes that make them good educators.

The simple truth is this:

• The State is cutting funding to community colleges

• Taxpayers expect us to be fiscally responsible and to operate within a budget

• We are serving more students than ever before

We have called upon the full-time faculty to moderate their expectations, just as our other two unions have, as well as our non-represented employees.

To learn more, we invite you to visit mhcc.edu

Our best advice is to not believe the rumors. The

College will remain open for busi-ness and continue to meet the needs of its 33,000 students and the community that supports them.

If your full-time instructors choose to stop working (and we certainly hope they do not choose to do so!), we intend to do everything we can to cover your classes and programs with qualified instructors. We are preparing for

A

* According to NEA (National Education Association) data published April 2010

I am in a rigorous program and need to graduate with

my classmates on time. I have heard rumors that the College will close. What’s the truth?

Q)

this worst-case scenario while hoping for settlement.

A decision to strike is entirely up to the full-time faculty. We urge them not to jeopardize student progress by interrupting classes.

You are committed to achieving your academic goals and we in-tend to ensure that you receive the high quality instruction, counseling and training that you deserve. Students remain our number one priority!

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Check out The Advocate online for more content at

www.advocate-online.net

By Jen AshenbernerThe Advocate

The search for a new college president has been extended as the administration is await-ing applications from potential candidates.

“The MHCC District Board of Education will be continuing to meet to discuss the se-lection of either a permanent or interim president,” said June Jacobs, assistant to the president of strategic initiatives and board relations. “An announcement about Dr. Ski’s successor will probably occur by the end of the month.”

Asked who has applied for the position, Ja-cobs advised the information is confi dential and handled by human resources.

When asked how many applications have been received, Jacobs declined to comment.

Steve Abels, Mt. Hood Regional Education Consortium coordinator, has confi rmed that he is an applicant for the presidency. The Advocate was unable to reach other rumored candidates.

New college president search continues

Deadline for the study abroad program to japan is

March 18.For more information,

please contact Paul Eckhardt, director of MHCC study abroad,Eckhardt, 503-491-7497.

MHCC bookstores

next book buyback isMarch 14-188 a.m.-6 p.m.