GRESHAM, Ore. – Coach Cori Metzgar and Western Oregon University student-athletes Omari Land, Marquis Sampson, Jaylin Parnell and Damon Hickok had a chance to present at the National High School Strength Coach Association Northwest Regional Conference that was held in April at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham.
"I had presented during COVID via Zoom at a little round table and one of the members of the Washington Chapter of NHSSCA was in attendance. He liked what I presented on, Hip Mobility and Horizontal Force Concepts, so he asked if I could do a hands-on presentation up there for their convention," Metzgar said, who serves as WOU's Director of Sports Performance and Senior Woman's Administrator.
Following the Zoom, Metzgar, along with the four WOU student-athletes then went in person to present the demonstration hands on and received positive comments across the board.
"Since it was hands-on, I asked a few football players if anyone would be interested in representing WOU and demonstrating all the movements we do for the hip mobility/force. All four that volunteered did a phenomenal job. We got a lot of comments on how talented, athletic and amazing they were! It was a near experience for those guys to represent WOU, for high school coaches in the Northwest to see what kind of program we have here at WOU, and hopefully help recruit some more athletes to come here!" Metzgar said.
Hicok played in all 10 games last season to earn all-conference honors, coming away with 23 catches for 328 yards and three touchdowns. He also added a rushing touchdown at Simon Fraser. Hickok finished the season strong tallying three receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown against Lincoln (CA). In the close game at Portland State, Hickok caught four passes for 49 yards and added a touchdown.
"It was a fun experience getting in a little workout over the weekend. It was also nice seeing all the love and attention Coach Metzgar was receiving from the other coaches in attendance," Hickok said.
Sampson played in six games last season before missing the rest of the year due to injury. During the first six games of the season, Sampson came away with 20 catches for 163 yards. He also rushed twice for 12 yards. He opened the season strong with six catches against nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines and added a five catch, 45-yard performance in the win over West Texas A&M.
"It was a fun opportunity to get out and help coach Metzgar with her presentation and show other coaches in the strength and condition community what makes her so great of an instructor and coach. It was also a great way to represent Western Oregon athletics as a whole," Sampson said.
Land put together another big season on the field for the Wolves. In addition to the all-conference accolades, Land rushed for 947 yards on 182 carries, posting 10 touchdowns. He also caught 14 passes for 85 yards and added a score. Land had three games rushing for over 100 yards, including a 209-yard and two touchdown effort in the win at Simon Fraser. He tallied a trio of touchdowns in the win over West Texas A&M and down the stretch, he rushed for 150 yards against Central Washington and added a 133-yard effort in the second meeting with Simon Fraser. Land ended the season with a receiving touchdown against Lincoln (CA).
"It was a lot of fun. Getting opportunities to showcase our great strength and conditioning program is always great. Coach Metzgar is a big part of the reason I can do what I do on the field. She's a key element in our sports at Western Oregon. We went through our whole dynamic warm-up and a couple exercises, actually got a good sweat in and sweated through my shirt, ha. I'd definitely do it again, though, any chance to help her out I'm there," Land said.
Parnell turned in another all-conference performance in leading the defense last season. The linebacker posted 78 tackles, 49 solo, along with 17 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, a blocked field goal, a forced fumble, five quarterback hurries and three pass breakups. Parnell reached 10 or more tackles in four games, with a season-high 12 at Chadron State in which he had seven solo stops. He had a stretch of three games posting 10 tackles against West Texas A&M and the two games versus Central Washington. Parnell had multiple tackles for loss in five games, with a high of four against Lincoln (CA) in which he had three sacks.
"Working with coach Metzgar was a great experience for me personally because my major is exercise science. It was a great time to network and meet other strength coaches, as well see the different types of avenues I could go with this major. I'm thankful coach Metzgar allowed us to come with her and hopefully we demonstrated well enough for her," Parnell said.
