COMING UP: at NAIA Championships (Rim Rock Farm, Lawrence, Kan.), Saturday – Women's 5,000-meters at 10:30 a.m. (CT), Men's 8,000-meters at 11:45 a.m. (CT)
LAST WEEK: Idle
OFF TO NATIONALS: The C of I men's and women's teams will leave Thursday for Lawrence, Kan., site of the 2014 NAIA Cross Country National Championship. It is the second-straight season that Rim Rock Farm, the training ground for the Kansas University team, has played host to the NAIA meet.
MEN'S HISTORY AT NATIONAL MEET: It is the ninth time in 11 years that the Coyotes have qualified for nationals, including the seventh-straight season. The Yotes had their best team finish in 2009, placing tenth overall, while last season, C of I recorded a 20th-place team finish.
MEN'S CONTENDERS FOR THE CROWN: The team title among the 36 squads in attendance should come down to defending champion, Oklahoma City, Cascade Conference champion, Southern Oregon, and perennial power, St. Francis. The men's individual race is wide open – with Eastern Oregon and CCC champ, D.J. Flores among those with the ability to win the title, along with Benard Keter of Wayland Baptist, Jeremiah Wipkemei of Wiley (Texas), and Louis Falland of Cornerstone (Mich.). In all, five CCC schools qualified for the meet – SOU, EOU, C of I, Concordia, and Oregon Tech.
WOMEN'S HISTORY AT NATIONAL MEET: The Lady Yotes return to the NAIA Championships for the seventh-straight year, coming off back-to-back national runner-up finishes. Each of the past two seasons, C of I has placed three runners on the All-America team, including current sophomore
Lila Klopfenstein (Meridian, Idaho / Meridian HS).
WOMEN'S CONTENDERS FOR THE CROWN: Two-time defending NAIA champs, British Columbia, are the odds-on favorite to defend their title – the only NAIA squad in 2012 and 2013 that defeated the Lady Yotes. UBC placed seven runners in the Top-10 to crush the competition at the Association of Independent Institutions meet in Iowa. Dordt (Iowa) and Northwest Christian also have strong teams and will be in line if the Canadian squad stumbles. Individually, Hannah Fields of Oklahoma Baptist is the two-time defending national runner-up (to C of I's Hillary Holt) and Maria Bernard of UBC will be two of the runners at the front of the field.
FINAL TOP-25 POLLS: The Coyote men dropped five places to No. 21 in the final regular-season Top-25 poll, released last Sunday. C of I received 215 voter points from the 22 conference raters. Oklahoma City was the top team, followed by Southern Oregon, St. Francis (Ill.), Tennessee Wesleyan, and Indiana Wesleyan, with two other CCC teams in the Top-25 – No. 9 Eastern Oregon and No. 17 Concordia. On the women's side, the Lady Yotes dropped eight positions to No. 22 in the final poll, receiving 186 voter points from the 21 conference raters. Two-time defending NAIA champ, British Columbia, holds the No. 1 spot, followed by Dordt (Iowa), Northwest Christian, Lewis-Clark State, and Cal State San Marcos.
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).
