The Clark Cougars varsity girls basketball team are hanging some big numbers on the scoreboard this year (wins with 99, 78, 75 and 74 points) and the results have them ready for a district title run.  This past weekend, they defeated New Braunfels Canyon 62-50 to win the Cougarette Tournament.  It was their 2nd tournament win of the season as they were champions of the Harlandale tourney.

They start district this week against O’Connor Tuesday evening at 6:30pm.  GREAT JOB, COUGARS!

J. Jaime-M. Macha-T. Covington-D. Lee-Coach Plummer

At this weekend’s TISCA Meet Finals held at the Josh Davis Natatorium, the Clark Men’s 400 Medley Relay team of Sr.’s Joseph Jaime, Tyler Covington, Daniel Lee and Jr. Michael Macha SHATTERED the Clark Men’s 400 Medley Relay record previously set in 2003 by 5.52 seconds with a new record of 3:32.86!

Led off by Joseph Jaime (Sr.) in the Backstroke, with Michael Macha (Jr.) next in the Breaststroke, followed by Tyler Covington (Sr.) in the Butterfly stroke and anchored by Daniel Lee (Sr.) in the Free stroke, these young men had set a goal early this year to break the 9 year old Clark record. As the 400 Medley Relay is not a high school swimming event, they would only have one meet to accomplish their goal. The TISCA (Texas Interscholastic Coaches Association) Swimming and Diving Championship Meet is held only once per year and is the only meet this event occurs for high school swimmers.

During the preliminary heats in the morning, the Clark 400 Medley Relay Team missed breaking the record by 0.05 seconds when they swam a 3:38.42. They were disappointed they didn’t break the record during prelims, but having made the finals, they had one last opportunity. Friday evening during the finals was the magic moment for the team. Joseph Jaime lead the team off in the 100 backstroke with a personal best time of 52.06, Michael Macha swam a 1:00.35 in his 100 breaststroke, Tyler Covington swam a 50.98 (also his personal best 100 Fly relay split) in his 100 Fly and Daniel Lee finished with a 49.47 in the last 100 freestyle (his personal best 100 Free relay split).

Great job Clark Swim Team!

– Jorge H. Jaime

The boys and girls varsity basketball teams DESTROYED the Lee Volunteers in non-district action.  The girls started the evening with a 74-24 whipping with Kristen Lye, D’onna Matthews and Kristen Kramer providing the offensive firepower.  The Cougars are now 9-3 on the season.

The boys followed up with a 66-23 victory.  Justin Brickman and Shawn Gulley put up double digits on the scoreboard in the win.

WAY TO GO, COOGS!

Courtesy Steve Lorenz

Cheer on your Cougars Friday night as they make a return to the playoffs at Heroes Stadium against the East Central Hornets. EC finished the season with a 7-3 record and are 10th in the Express News end of season rankings. The Hornets are the second place team in district 28-5A, behind Steele.

Game time is 7:30 – BE THERE!!

GO COOGS!!!

Clark basketball cracked the Express News Top Ten in the second week of the season by jumping off to a strong start. Their 5-1 record includes a five game winning streak after dropping the season opener to a strong Steele team. They’ve since notched wins over Fox Tech (99-13), Antonian (58-38), McCollum (78-23), Clemens (61-50) and Madison (58-50).

Sophomore Kirsten Kramer leads the Cougars in scoring with an average of 14.3 points per game. Sarah Flournoy and D’onna Matthews are both averaging 10.7 points per game.

Up next is the SAISD tournament. Go get ’em COOGS!!!

Tourney update: Clark defeats East Central 71-22. More action Friday and Saturday.

The prestigious Texas Invitational basketball tournament  in Pasadena has become a November tradition for the Clark basketball team and they started things off well with a 58-55 win over Channelview in Thursday’s pool play. The Cougars got off to a strong start leading 21-11 at the end of the first quarter. Leading the team in scoring was Shawn Gulley with 21 and Jorden Kite with 19.

You can keep up with the action in Pasadena on the tournament website. GO COOGS!!

After two years of playoff drought, the Clark Cougars of 2012 will be remembered as the ones who restored Clark, Texas to it’s place in the post season with a 27-26 overtime victory over Warren.  For the third time in as many seasons, the Cougars had to win out in order to make the playoffs and this team, led by seniors who had tasted the agony of defeat, refused to lose and give up.

The Cougars next face East Central Friday evening at Heroes stadium.  CONGRATULATIONS, COUGARS!  Thanks to you – the Tradition of Excellence continues.

Express News article/photos

Steve Lorenz photos

Valle gets accolades

Branden Valle, who rushed for 371 yds. vs. Holmes, has been nominated for Gridiron Legends Player of the Week award, presented by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football on behalf of Cavender’s and Wrangler.  You can make it happen by voting early and often on the website.  You can also find out more on at https://www.facebook.com/GridironLegends.

And when you’re done there, he’s also been nominated for WOAI’s Player of the Week.  You can vote for him here.

Vote.  VOTE.  VOTE!!!!!!  And congratulations, Branden!

Beast

Shootout.  Barn burner.  Words that sometimes adequately describe a game where offense rules and defense drools.  But what happened between Clark and Holmes was more like -well. there aren’t words for Cougar victory that kept playoff hopes alive.  The Cougars defeated the Huskies 56-49 but the bigger story was Branden Valle’s 371 yds. of offense.  On a night when the Cougars couldn’t give up, they didn’t an no one was a better example than the junior running back.

For more on this game, the Express News’ Lorne Chan captures it in this article.

Cougars attack playoffs

In the final Express News rankings of the regular season, the Clark Cougars varsity volleyball team moved up one spot to the #9 ranking.  A seven game win streak will do that.  The Cougars extended that streak to eight with a dominant win in bi-district playoff action against Southwest, winning 25-17, 25-16, 25-20.  Kelly Cavanaugh once again had the offense running smooth and Katie Mattson, recognized by the Express News this week, delivered 14 kills to slay the Dragons.  It was the first playoff win in recent years by the Cougars, who move on to Area and will face #1 Reagan this Thursday at Paul Taylor at 7pm.

PROUD OF YOU, LADIES!  GREAT JOB AND KEEP IT UP!

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