By Sol Ladvienka
The Guardsman

Rams head coach Doug Owyang (center) addresses his track team during practice as sophomore Trevor Rodgers looks on. CHLOE ASHCRAFT / THE GUARDSMAN

With the 2010 City College track and field season right around the corner, the Rams are looking to continue their path up towards conference superiority. After finishing third in Northern California and among the top ten in the state last season, Head Coach Doug Owyang feels that his young runners have it in them to make some noise in the Coast Conference.

Owyang, now in his 18th season at City College, expressed a lot of confidence in his squad, despite the fact all but two of his runners are first year freshmen.
“Though we have a small team this season, we have a lot of talent,” said Owyang, who cited sophomore runners Trevor Rodgers, Lydia Offord, and freshman Carlos Proctor as his expected top performers.

“As for state, I have high expectations of not finishing third, but to win it all this season,” he said.

Trevor Rodgers, a second year runner, says he feels like a leader of this team. Being the only returning sprinter from last season, he feels his contribution to the team will show through his leadership.

“I feel that being a leader, you need to push the younger guys, to get their speed up, and if they’re up there by me, then maybe they’ll beat me,” said Rodgers.
Last season, all City College sprinters made it to the state finals, while Rodgers placed 6th in the 100-meter and 7th in the long jump. His goal this year is to breeze past both the Coast and NorCal conferences, and focus on winning the state championship. A 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and a long jump specialist, Rodgers has already received athletic scholarship offers from Cal State Fullerton, UC San Diego and University of Texas, among others.

On the women’s side, sophomore Lydia Offord, a third year runner, is also ready for the upcoming season. After having to red shirt last season, Offord is eager to be back on the track. Though she was not able to compete in 2009, Offord was still able to train off the field, and believes she hasn’t missed a step.
“I feel like I got faster, but I’m still working on my speed and arm action as well as my form,” said Offord.

Offord, who specializes in the 4×100 and 4×400 meter relays, feels that this is her year to shine. Though she has not yet received any Division I scholarship offers, she believes her key to success is making a name on the track, being a leader and beating faster schools.

This season, coach Owyang will be assisted by coaches Marc Dyer, Greg Bianchi, and Sean Laughlin. The team opens their season Feb. 12 at San Jose City College in the Coast Preview.

By Aaron Turner
The Guardsman

Forward Chris White gets fouled on a shot attempt against Chabot on Feb. 5 at the Wellness Center. PHEONIX MARIE / THE GUARDSMAN

Looking to keep pace in a tight Coast Conference race, the Rams were able to once again defeat league rival Chabot College 65-58 on Feb. 5, this time within the familiar confines of the Wellness Center.

Sophomore guard Bennie Rhodes led the Rams with 18 points, while sophomore forwards Chris White and Da’Ron Sims contributed with 16 and 13 points apiece. The win improves their record to 21-3 overall and 6-2 in conference, moving them into a tie for second place with Foothill College.

“Our focus tonight was basically defense,” said Chris White following the game. Defense, however, was not an easy task, as White and company were forced to go up against seven-foot Chabot center Kyle Luckett, who would finish with 13 points on the night. The Gladiators were also fueled by guard Derrick Bruce, who led all scorers with 33 points on the night.

The effort would be for naught however, and the Rams were able to jump out in front early in the second half, after going into halftime up only 27-26.
An early second half run led by key buckets from Rhodes and White would allow the Rams to hold off pesky Chabot the rest of the game.

“We wanted to keep Luckett from abusing us like he did last game,” White said. “We still need to work on communicating more on defense.”

“They lack experience, so of course they’re going to make mistakes,” said Da’Ron Sims. “Coach Labagh told us to be the most aggressive team out there, so that’s what we did.”

Rams head coach Justin Labagh is keeping his team focused solely on the task at hand, winning the Coast Conference.
“Our goal is to just put in a good 40 minutes every night here on out,” said Labagh. “All we talked about following our loss to Ohlone in January is to forget about it. We need to beat Foothill and Ohlone at home, and the conference will be ours.”

City College will get their chance to do both when they host Foothill College tonight, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. Foothill won the last meeting between the teams, when they beat the Rams 72-63 back on Jan. 15.

The Rams will try to avenge their other conference loss when they host Ohlone College on Feb. 13.

By Bonta Hill
The Guardsman

JOSEPH PHILLIPS / THE GUARDSMAN

The City College women’s basketball team held the Chabot Gladiators to 18 second-half points en route to a 69-48 victory on Feb. 5 at the Wellness Center.

The top-ranked team in Northern California remain undefeated in the Coast Conference play, moving to 7-0 and 22-3 overall.

Rams sophomore guard Marlee Rice set the tone early with her scrappy play, grabbing two steals and scoring eight points as City College opened the game on a 15-4 run.

Chabot fought back from the early deficit as Gladiator guard Monica Garcia heated up, hitting three three-pointers and led her team into halftime with the lead, 30-29.

“In the first half we weren’t making a lot of shots, nor rebounding, which kills our momentum,” Rice said. “Our inability to rebound gave them a lot of second-chance opportunities.”

The second half proved to be another story as the Rams defensive pressure proved to be too much for the Gladiators. City College ended the game on a 23-8 run to drop Chabot four games out of first place.

“There was no panic at halftime. Coach Hayes just said we need to dominate on the boards and we’ll pull out this game,” Rice said. “In the second half, we shot better, we were hitting our three’s, and passing better.”

Freshman forward Shawnte Taylor, who said she is still not one-hundred percent recovered from her stress fracture in her right foot, said the main emphasis in practice has been on, “defense, defense, defense.”

“Coach Hayes has been working us hard in practice, basically working on our defense the majority of it,” Taylor said. “We just have to find it within us to start strong and finish strong.”

Up next for the Rams is their arch rival Foothill College, who will be looking for payback after losing the first game between the teams, back on Jan. 15, 64-59.

The Owls, who are just 11-13 overall but 5-2 in conference play, visit the Wellness Center Feb. 10, at 5:30 p.m. as they look to hand the Rams their first conference loss and pull within one game of the first place Rams.

The Rams now have control of the Coast Conference and are closer to claiming their first conference championship since 2006-2007
Rice and Taylor know that to reach that goal, their team must  remain focused on defense.

By Carlos Silva
The Guardsman

Head coach kelly Hickey (center) instructs her team during practice on Feb. 5. JOSEPH PHILLIPS / THE GUARDSMAN

The City College women’s tennis team, led by new head coach Kelly Hickey, is looking to improve from 2009, when they finished second in the Coast Conference and 10th in the state.

Hickey, who assisted her twin sister Lauren as an assistant coach for the past three years, will now be coaching solo.

“I could not be more excited about it. Our team has been practicing a lot and we are expecting good things to happen this season,” Hickey said.
The team’s chemistry is what Hickey hopes will be one of its biggest assets.

“My goal here is to create a positive environment for everyone,” Hickey said. “It’s always fun when you come to play in a place where you can feel harmony and friendship. That’s what I want with my girls here.”

Sophomore Tiffany Lam, who finished among the top 50 in the state last season, is expected to be the number one singles player for the Rams this year.
“I spent my break practicing every single day to improve my game,” Lam said. “I know I can do a lot better this season. All I need is to maintain focus in my matches, and I know I can win.”

Along with Lam, fellow sophomore Masha Mayevskaya heads the experienced squad. Mayevskaya also acknowledged that she has room to improve over the season.

“I need to learn from my mistakes from last season,” Mayevskaya said. “If I can stay consistent all year, my game should continue to get better.”
Both Lam and Mayevskaya are expected to be leaned on throughout the season to set an example for the team.

“I plan on using their experience from last season to push the rest of my team,” Hickey said.

The Rams, who have a total of seven sophomores this season, hope to make a run at both the conference and NorCal titles.

Rain has forced the season debut to be pushed to Feb. 16, when the Rams travel to Mission College in Santa Clara.

By Bonta Hill
The Guardsman

Notice that the Cooler logo is different. Last issue, I predicted the Colts would win the Super  Bowl, and I was wrong. The picture is a throwback to a famous photo of Harry Truman holding an issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune after they printed that he lost the 1948 presidential election. Truman actually defeated Dewey by 303-189 electoral votes.

If you don’t know by now, the  New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl by outlasting the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.
The Saints made me look clueless as I boldly picked the Colts to win by two touchdowns. Saints quarterback Drew Brees won the game’s MVP award by tying a Super Bowl record with 32 completions.

Although I’m wearing egg on my face for picking the loser, I feel good for New Orleans to finally have the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
For the third year in a row, the big game provided some dramatic moments and forced a couple of oohh’s and ahhh’s out of the boys.

The first half was very ho-humish. It put my roommate to sleep — shocker — and every time Saints running back Reggie Bush made a play, there was a question thrown out asking, “Who would marry Kim Kardashian?”

The selection by the NFL to have The Who perform at halftime was sketchy. Having a spread that included spaghetti, fried chicken and lumpia made the intermission pass quickly.

I really didn’t pay attention to the commercials this year since I was busy multi-tasking, typing up this piece with my right hand, a piece of chicken in my left and my eyes glued to the 50 inch screen.

All in all, it was a good finale to an unpredictable and wild season. Hopefully, a vision of red and gold will be spotted at next year’s extravaganza.

Idiot of the Week

It was tough this issue looking for a dumb act, but that may be due to the sports world taking a break and focusing on Super Bowl XLIV. Low and behold, the water man found one.

Cooler drinkers, meet USC head coach Lane Kiffin.

Here’s a quick brief on Mr. Kiffin: Hired as Oakland Raiders head coach before the 2007 season and fired in the middle of the 2008 season over the phone by Raiders owner Uncle Davis (do some research on that, trust me.)

Then, hired by the University of Tennessee before the 2009 season, he abruptly left right before high school players were making decisions on where to go college and became USC head coach when former coach Pete Carroll left for the riches of the NFL.

Now, I’d need a whole other column to explain how dishonest Kiffin has been, how he turned his back on a university that gave him a shot to coach on college football’s highest platform.

All that doesn’t quite make him an idiot, but this does: He’s offered a full-ride scholarship to a seventh-grade quarterback from Delaware named David Sills.
Let’s just pause for a minute and think about that. Still scratching your head? Due to word counts and space limitations (yes, we still do have word counts at The Guardsman, go figure), I can’t even begin to explain the lunacy in this. Check out the NCAA football section on Yahoo sports for the full story.

Kiffin has quickly become a regular at providing blunt statements, and pot shots at his competitors and is a man you cannot trust. However, his resumé is impressive enough to earn enshrinement into the Idiot Hall of Fame.

Misc.
There is a real possibility that the NFL could be in for a work stoppage if they can’t agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Let’s hope greed and big egos don’t pave the way for this to happen.

Signing bonuses and multi-million dollar contracts for rookies are some things that will be discussed. Way too much money is given out to these high draft choices, and it’s all based on potential.

Rework the rookie scale and save the big money contracts for the players who actually proved something on the field.

By Bonta Hill
The Guardsman

Since City College of San Francisco Women’s Athletic Director Peg Grady stepped in six years ago, it has been a struggle for her to keep softball from canceling their season.

Unfortunately, that struggle was lost and there will be no softball team for the 2010 season due to eligibility issues, a lack of efficient recruiting and not enough players.

“It’s very disappointing because we have a very successful women’s program as well as our overall athletic program,” Grady said. “A series of events fell into place that we had no control over and the decision was made to cancel the season.”

That series of unfortunate events happened this offseason. Former coach Frank Sinkavich resigned during the fall semester and first year head coach Jack McGuire suffered a serious leg injury in late November.

According to Grady, not having softball this year does not affect the athletic budget.

“My budget was already planned and allocated for softball, and it’s money that I now won’t have to spend on officials,” Grady said. “I’m still getting the team the equipment they need for practice in the next year. I’ve already contacted other schools and their athletic directors and coaches stating that we have every intention to field a team in 2011.”

In the history of City College softball, the season has been close to folding on more than one occasion. The Rams Softball program often struggled in finding enough players to fill a diamond. This season, fielding even nine players would have been a stretch. The team had no  incoming freshman on the roster.

However, the future still looks bright for the program, and players will not lose a year of eligibility and have the option to come back and start a new era of Rams softball. The team will participate in a 10-game fall league for the first time in school history.

McGuire said he is “feeling well” and looks forward to having a full off-season and an opportunity to recruit players out of high school.

“Between injuries, a couple of players not being eligible, and the fact that there were no incoming freshman recruited — you put all three components together and that causes the season not to be played,” McGuire said.

Although the feeling of disappointment lingers among those associated with the program, the team is still going strong, practicing as though they had a game next week.

The softball team, along with the baseball team, gets to practice in a new state-of the-art softball facility on campus. With that available, Grady has hope that the program can thrive and be competitive on a consistent basis.

“We’ve got a great practice field, Fairmont Field in Pacifica, and we haven’t had access to that in the past,” Grady said. “That is a must for recruiting, and I encourage the athletes and softball team to come out and play. We have a new coach, a new field, and we really want to get this program up and running.”

By Bontã Hill
The Guardsman

Sophomore guard Bennie Rhodes goes hard to the basket against a Cañada defender during the Rams' vicotry on Jan. 22 at the Wellness Center. RAMSEY EL-QARE / THE GUARDSMAN

The men’s basketball team showed no ill effects from their overtime loss to rival Ohlone College and snapped their two-game losing streak on Jan. 22 against Cañada College.

City shook off their mini-funk and dusted the Colts 82-52, jumping out to an early lead and cruising to their 18th victory this season. The number three-ranked team in the state improved its record to 3-2 in Coast Conference play and 18-3 overall.

Sophomore Calvin Douglas, who has been solid offensively since his return from injury, led the Rams with 15 points, including three from three-point line. After the game, he said that his team wasn’t down after their tough loss Jan. 20 against Ohlone.

“I’ve been getting shots in after practice and that’s been translating over to the game,” Douglas said. “We’ve just been motivating each other to get back on track.”

“Calvin has been dialed in lately,” head coach Justin Labagh said. “He’s been chomping at the bit since he recovered from his blood clot. Now he’s back on the court and taking advantage of this opportunity.”

A 14-0 run midway through the first half put the Rams up 36-18 and the Colts never recovered. Sophomore guard Jarred Pengal’s three-pointer right before the first half buzzer put the  Rams up 43-23 at halftime.

The Rams were never threatened the rest of the way, and Labagh had a chance to get everybody on his bench some playing time. Pengal led all bench players with nine points.

However, Labagh knows his team can get better in all phases of the game. He intends to emphasize ball handling and defensive communication in the upcoming practices.

“We’ve got to get back to taking care of the basketball and not throwing the home run pass,” Labagh said. “Defensively, we have to talk a little more, and we’re really working on that in practice.”

Still, the reigning Coast Conference champions remain motivated and know that its defense and ball handling will carry them back to the playoffs.

“We have a deep squad and  can match up with any team top-to-bottom,” Pengal said. “Defense is really vital for our team. It’s our blood flow. We know our defense is what wins us games.”
City College won’t take the court again until Feb. 3, when they host Chabot College at the Wellness Center, with tip off at 7 p.m.

In the meantime, the Rams will have plenty of time to work their kinks out and get ready for what is shaping up to be an exciting and grueling second half of league play.

Softball season to be canceled

The Rams softball team will be forced to forgo its 2010 season due to the team’s failure to meet roster requirements. A combination of injuries and academically ineligible players has left first year head coach Jack McGuire’s team below the minimum of nine eligible players on roster. All indications point to the Rams being able to field a team for spring 2011.

Tennis nearing season opener

City College women’s tennis team will open its season on the road against Diablo Valley College on Jan. 29 in Pleasant Hill at 2 p.m. The Rams will then host the Fog City Invitational, which will be held on Feb. 5 at City College. Modesto  Junior College and Santa Rosa Junior College will attend the three team meet.

Inaugural swim season set to begin

The Rams women’s swim team will have the first meet of its inaugural season at the West Valley Relay Invitational on Feb. 6. The meet begins at 10 a.m. in Saratoga at the West Valley College campus.

Head coach John Vanoncini expresses confidence in his sophomores, new talent

By Estela Fuentes
The Guardsman

After finishing last season with a record of 15- 24, the City College Rams baseball team is looking forward to showing the Golden Gate Conference why it deserve to be part of the conversation in Northern California’s second-ranked conference.

“Four of the teams in our conference are ranked in the top 20, so it’s going to be an uphill battle,” John Vanoncini said, as he begins his tenth season as Rams head coach. “However, I think we’re up for the challenge.”

Having lost All-Conference player Barney Evans from last season, the team will boast a sophomore-heavy 2010 line-up. These players will bring to the team both experience and talent as they head toward the season opener.

One of the returning players expected to contribute heavily this season is pitcher Eric Lara, who has already signed a contract with George Washington University, a Division 1 school. The Rams also have All-Conference pitcher Jared Freitas and outfielder Roger Fonseca, who boasted the second highest batting average on the team last season.

“I really don’t think about numbers. I just try to do my part and help the team win,” Fonseca said.

Freitas expressed confidence in the added experience and depth of his team’s offense.

“I just expect the whole team to actually work together and produce runs as a team,” Freitas said.

Vanoncini and his players will be keeping an eye on this seasons’ newcomers, who are expected to bring great athleticism to the team. Infielder John Abreu, a transfer student from Eastern Arizona Junior College, will be donning the Rams’ uniform for the first time, as will Ryan Demello from Hawaii. Vanoncini sees Demello possibly being the team’s pitcher to start off the season. Freshman catcher Mark Johnson is considered one of the biggest offensive additions to this year’s squad.

Despite the rough weather conditions in January, which forced Vanoncini to move practice indoors, his players’ momentum has not been slowed as they approach opening day. This season will be challenging, but the team feels ready to compete for a conference crown.

The Rams will open their 2010 season Feb. 4 on the road against Laney College. With a revamped lineup and leadership from his sophomores, Vanoncini is confident that his team can come out on top of the Golden Gate Conference.