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Umpqua Community College made an announcement on Jan. 17 stating UCC’s board of education has approved for the expansion of three new athletic teams. These three new teams will be men’s and women’s track and field as well as men’s baseball. These teams will be added by next fall term. However, the men’s baseball team will not be competing until the following year of 2019. UCC Athletic Director Craig Jackson stated, “we will not compete in baseball this year, but we will have athletes here and will redshirt and work them out.” A redshirt freshman is a student athlete that is kept out of gamesRead More →

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UCC’s women’s basketball team improved to a record of 22-0 (9-0 in league) after a Feb. 3 conference win (76-52) over Mount Hood Community College in Gresham. However, the game did not go as smoothly as Umpqua would have hoped. The RiverHawks struggled early. With six of their 17 turnovers coming in the first quarter combined with shooting just 33.3 percent from the field, UCC found themselves down quickly, but they managed to climb back to a one-point lead at the end of the quarter. Head coach Dave Stricklin described the team’s play as “lack luster.” He continued, “We didn’t play as hard as weRead More →

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The RiverHawks competed against Clark College on Saturday, Jan 20. This was the first home game for the Penguins since the passing of their freshman guard, Gianna Loville. Before tip-off, Clark College honored her and her memory with a moment of silence as Clark players wore patches bearing a “G10” on their jerseys. The RiverHawks went on to defeat Clark 78 to 41 with a 37 point lead. This will be UCC’s 18th win of the season making the RiverHawks 18-0. “You can never expect to be undefeated, there are too many tough teams,” said UCC head coach Dave Stricklin. The RiverHawks were amazing onRead More →

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Despite stellar play and team comradery, the RiverHawks were defeated 93 to 78 by the Clark College Penguins. Clark sparked a very large run to win. Daniel Leeworthy, UCC’s men’s head basketball coach, believes that the late game lead was due to a lack of defense with the other team on a hot streak. “We were settling for too many jump shots. We couldn’t get a stop to save our lives. They had three or four guys on fire, and it is hard to play against that many guys on fire.” On fire indeed. The Penguins averaged 61.3 percent in field goals during the secondRead More →

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JULIUS BENSON  The Mainstream Dajanay Powell and Jordan Stotler’s dominating performances in the paint were the brushstrokes to the masterpiece that was the RiverHawks 17th straight victory Wednesday night, beating Southwestern Oregon Community College, 93-63. This is the RiverHawks second straight victory over SWOCC, previously beating them back in Nov. by a score of 98-53. The tandem of Powell and Stotler combined for 29 rebounds, out rebounding the entire opposing team collectively by eight rebounds (21). Bria Thames led the way on offense, dropping 21 points off an efficient 10-17 shooting night. “I was able to score efficiently thanks to my teammates; when we pushRead More →

RiverHawk

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The RiverHawks women’s team defeated the Cougars 72-to-67 on the road Friday at Clackamas Community College for the Clackamas Thanksgiving Invitational tournament during the weekend of Nov. 25. Jordan Stotler, Bria Thames and Dajanay Powell dominated in their performance; all three recorded a double-double (ten or more of two different stats) in points and rebounds. Taylor Stricklin was the Hawks leading scorer with 21 points. UCC now has a record of four wins and zero losses. “We are pleased with the start, but it is going to be progressively tougher,” head coach Dave Stricklin said. The women’s team started off with a spark, ending theRead More →

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Greg Kovach is an athletic enthusiast and artist who runs a local business entitled The Sign Factory which provides many services, including computer numerical control machining, making custom signs, restoring classic cars, air brushing and concrete work. He is the artist who created UCC’s new rock wall, located on the track. Kovach is locally best known for his concrete sculpting work which often resembles objects from the natural world. Kovach is a student of an array of visual arts. He works with countless materials, paints canvasses of contemporary street art and has tailored highly detailed Halloween costumes. Kovach frequents gym training classes and also enjoysRead More →

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RiverHawks wrestling went to Pacific University to compete at the Mike Clock Open on the weekend of Nov. 11 and 12. Twenty-six teams from community colleges and universities in British Columbia, Idaho, Washington and Oregon battled it out on the mats to try and win in their weight classes. Most wrestling matches during the tournament seemed to either win with a pin in the first minute or took longer than the three hour car trip from Roseburg to the Portland area tournament. Could that be that I did not see all the good matches when there, or was that because of the vast difference inRead More →

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The Umpqua Community College men’s basketball program hosted an alumni game on Saturday, Nov. 11 in Roseburg for the 50th anniversary of the program. UCC men’s basketball started in 1967 and has proven to be a successful basketball program on the court as well as helping students continue to be successful. UCC won their first championship during the 1971-72 season in the OCCAA Tournament, a runner-up finish during the 1988-89 season, and have since won four Southern Region championships with multiple appearances in the Final Four during the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Tournaments in years past. UCC finished third in the FinalRead More →

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   UCC’s athletic programs are engaged in multiple fundraising activities to help support team expenses. The wrestling department is running a donation campaign through eTeamSponsor.    At this point, the UCC men’s wrestling eTeamSponsor pages have raised $5,112 and say that donations “will contribute towards expenses required for travel, team gear, wrestling room and competition equipment.”    UCC men’s basketball eTeamSponsor pages have raised $5,180 in total.    UCC women’s basketball eTeamSponsor pages have raised $12,300.    Combined, all three sports have raised $22,592 at time of printing with Athletic Director Craig Jackson raising $11,381 of that total to date.    Donations can be givenRead More →

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    The Umpqua Community College men’s wrestling team won their first dual meet at Lassen Community College in the Lassen Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Susanville, California, where they traveled for their season opener.    The RiverHawks were missing wrestlers in their first three weight classes 125, 133, and 141 respectively, including multi-sport athlete Grant Laiblin, who could not participate because he was competing in the cross country NWAC Southern Region Championships.    The RiverHawk men started the 2017-18 season in Susanville wrestling against Eastern Oregon University. Unlike other sports at UCC belonging to the Northwest Athletic Conference, UCC’s wrestling programs participate in the NationalRead More →

men's basketball slider

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What a year it’s been for sports at Umpqua Community College. UCC hired new Athletic Director Craig Jackson in July 2016 and UCC Athletics is about to become more diverse and exciting than ever. Since Jackson’s hiring, UCC has added three new sports programs: cross country, obstacle course racing, and wrestling. “The addition of our new sports is exciting because it provides opportunities for many Douglas County residents to stay at home and go to college while also participating in athletics” Jackson said. “Recruiting is going well and next year should be very exciting.” If the addition of more sports programs wasn’t exciting enough, UCC’sRead More →

kyle temple

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When your role model is one of the top 50 winningest high school coaches of all time, and when that role model honors you with a scholarship, you want to make that man proud as you follow in his legacy. New UCC wrestling coach Kyle Temple, a graduate of Sweet Home High School, is following Norm Davis, his role model, in his career decision to build a legacy. Davis was a wrestling coach at Sweet Home High School for 30 years. After those 30 years, Davis was honored in 1997 by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with their Lifetime Service to Wrestling award forRead More →