Trojan Shield Weekly Update: February 11, 2019

Greetings from Trojan Country!

Basketball free throw

This past week was a better one for the Trojan teams. Despite a majority of the games still being played on the road, we came away with more wins than losses. Softball got their season going with doubleheader in Midland, Texas, dropping game one 8-1 and then seeing a large lead get away late to fall in game two 9-8. They then went 1-2 in the Permian Basin Invitational before heading to Borger, Texas to pick up a pair of wins over Frank Phillips. Baseball picked up a split in their games in Thatcher, Arizona. They will be on the road for one more weekend before finally getting to stay home for a series. Track and Basketball were both in action as well, and you can read more about their successes later in the newsletter.

A couple of “thank you” notes this week. I’d like to thank Dimas Nunez, father of Trojan pitcher Megan Nunez. He streams all of the softball games onto Facebook. It is great to be able to watch the team, and he does an amazing job with graphics as well, so you can always see the score and know which Lady Trojan is up to bat. I’d also like to recognize the TSJC Maintenance department. They are extremely busy, but they still made time this week to fix the basketball rim in Scott Gym in time for the games on Wednesday. Thanks guys.

Award Winners

Finally, academic success is very important in our department, so it important to mention that two of our Trojan Basketball players, Hannah Gilmore and Issac Essein, will represent southern Colorado at the Phi Theta Kappa All-Colorado Academic Team luncheon in Denver in March. They are both great students and are excelling on the court as well. You can read more about their achievement at - http://trinidadstate.edu/news/2019/0205.html #TrojanProud

Last Week's Results

Women’s Basketball –

Defeated Lamar 91-38

Men’s Basketball –

Defeated Lamar 84-66

Track and Field –

(see the article below)

Baseball –

Fell to Eastern Arizona College 3-0
Defeated Eastern Arizona College 4-1
Defeated Eastern Arizona College 9-0
Fell to Eastern Arizona College 2-1

Softball –

Fell to Midland College 7-1
Fell to Midland College 9-8
Fell to Coastal Bend College 10-6
Defeated Odessa College 10-0
Fell to Snow College 8-4
Defeated Frank Phillips College 22-6
Defeated Frank Phillips College 12-9 (8-innings)

This Week

Thursday -

Softball travels to Clarendon, Texas for a doubleheader with Clarendon College

Friday -

Women’s Basketball travels to McCook, Nebraska to face McCook CC
Men’s Basketball travels to McCook, Nebraska to face McCook CC
Baseball travels to Albuquerque, New Mexico to face NMMI

Saturday -

Women’s Basketball travels to North Platte, Nebraska to face North Platte CC
Men’s Basketball travels to North Platte, Nebraska to face North Platte CC
Baseball will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico to face New Mexico JC and NMMI

Sunday -

Softball hosts Frank Phillips College for a doubleheader at Southside Park starting at noon

Track competes at ASU and in Washington state

Derek and Godfrey

The Trojan track team split up this weekend with most of the runners staying in Alamosa for the Adams State Invitational and the rest heading to Seattle, Washington to compete in the Husky Classic hosted by the University of Washington.

Derek Holdsworth and Godfrey Chama competed at the Husky Classic on Friday night. Competing against elite NCAA DI competition, they each placed in the 800m. Holdsworth was second in a time of 1:49.77 and Chama was eighth at 1:50.66. They are now ranked first and second respectively in the NJCAA in the 800m with the National Meet less than a month away.

The remaining Trojans were in the High Altitude Training Center at Adams State. Some of the top Trojan finishes included Toni Moore who finished fourth in the 800m, Benadine Chelimo who was fourth in the mile and fifth in the 3000m, and Joseph Enright who was sixth in the 3000m.

The Trojans will now prepare for the NJCAA National Indoor Meet which will be held in Pittsburg, Kansas on March 1 and 2.

Trojans roll past Lamar

Jump shot

The Trojan basketball teams had a pretty easy week, only a single game for each team, and those games were at home on Wednesday night. The Trojans hosted rival Lamar Community College in Region IX basketball action, picking up a pair of wins.

In the women’s game the Trojans dominated from the opening minutes, taking a commanding 23-5 lead after the first quarter and cruising to a 91-38 win. Every Lady Trojan scored at least four points in the contest led by Destinee Vigil’s 22. Hannah Gilmore was a force against the Lopes, scoring 12 points, with 14 rebounds and six assists. TSJC is now 12-10 overall and 3-3 in conference. They will travel to Nebraska this weekend for games with McCook and North Platte.

The men’s game was tighter than the women’s, but Trinidad did lead from tip to buzzer, pulling away down the stretch for the 84-66 win. The Trojans took an early 9-0 lead on 3-pointers from Goy Wang, Bilal Shabazz and Issac Essein, led by eight at the half, and though the Lopes would cut the lead to two, the Trojans would compose themselves and hold on for the crucial region win. Essein led the team in scoring with 19 and Shabazz was the top rebounder with seven. Keontae White, who is second in the nation in assists per game, put in 12 points and added nine assists to his total. The Trojans are now 15-8 overall and 2-5 in conference. They also will be heading to Nebraska this weekend for a pair of Region IX games.

New signings this week

Our coaches continue recruiting and signing athletes for next year. We had a number of new Trojans commit to play at TSJC. This week’s new signees include – for Baseball, Aiden Hart from Red Oak, Texas (photo below) and Coleman Ragland from Pryor, Oklahoma. For Volleyball Julieanna Ramos from Atascosa, Texas (photo below), for Men’s Soccer Adolfo Velasquez from Greeley and for Women’s Soccer we added Marlene Mendez-Ortiz from Watford, North Dakota.