COMING UP: at Montana Invitational (Missoula, Mont.), Saturday – Women's 5,000-meters at 10:30 a.m., Men's 8,000-meters at 11:15 a.m.
LAST WEEK: Idle
YOTES HEAD TO MISSOULA: The Coyotes return to action this Saturday, making the long trek to Missoula, Mont., for the Montana Invitational. Run on the University of Montana Golf Course, the first full-distance race of the season for the Yotes will also feature teams from Montana State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Carroll, Great Falls, and host Montana.
HISTORY AT THE MONTANA INVITE: It is the second time C of I has made the trip to the Montana Invitational, with both Coyote teams competing in 2010. That year, the Coyote men rode an eighth-place finish from Greg Montgomery for a second-place finish – ahead of four NCAA Division I foes. The Lady Yotes finished sixth that season against a deep field.
NAIA TOP-25 POLLS: The C of I remained at No. 18 in the third regular-season NAIA Men's Cross Country Top-25 Poll, released today by the national office. The Coyotes received 282 voter points from the 22 conference and unaffiliated grouping raters. Oklahoma City received 21 of the 22 first-place votes and earned the No. 1 rating, followed by Southern Oregon, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), St. Francis (Ill.), and British Columbia. Eastern Oregon remained at No. 12, Northwest Christian climbed one spot to No. 15, and Concordia was ranked No. 25. For the second-straight week, the Lady Yotes remained at No. 15 in the NAIA Top-25 Coaches Poll. C of I received 337 voter points from the 21 conference and unaffiliated grouping raters. British Columbia received 18 first-place votes and holds the top spot, followed by Biola (Calif.), Dordt (Iowa), Northwest Christian, and Carroll (Mont.) – with Oregon Tech (No. 21) the only other CCC team in the rating. The NAIA poll will be released each Wednesday for the remainder of the season.
ABOUT THE COACH: Pat McCurry enters his 11th year at the helm of the cross country and track & field programs at the C of I. In 10 seasons (after the Coyote running programs were dormant for nearly 30 years), McCurry has built the Coyote men and women into perennial NAIA Top-25 programs - with the men's cross country team earning eight berths to the NAIA Championships, with the Lady Yotes advancing to six-straight NAIA meets, winning the 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013 CCC titles, with the Lady Yotes coming off back-to-back national runner-up finishes. For his efforts, McCurry was named 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013 CCC women's cross country Coach of the Year. Student-athletes have won 13 NAIA individual titles in cross country and track; claimed 49 individual CCC titles on the track; earned 66 NAIA All-America awards in cross country and track & field; earned seven All-NAIA Region I awards in cross country; 53 All-CCC awards in cross country - along with 101 NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete awards. His 2013 and 2014 Lady Yote track team won the CCC title, earning him Coach of the Year honors, with the squad placing third at the 2014 and fifth at the 2014 NAIA Indoor Championships, and sixth at the 2014 and seventh at the 2013 NAIA Outdoor Championships.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more on C of I cross country, head to the official homepage of the Coyote men's program (
http://yoteathletics.com/index.aspx?path=mcross) and the official homepage of the Lady Yotes
http://yoteathletics.com/index.aspx?path=wcross).
