COMING UP: at Cascade Conference Championships (Fernhill Park, Portland, Ore.), Saturday – Men's 8,000-meters, 11 a.m. (PT), Women's 5,000-meters, Noon (PT)
LAST WEEK: Idle
ROSE CITY PLAYS HOST TO CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS: The nine Cascade Conference teams will converge on Fernhill Park in Northeast Portland, for the 2014 CCC Championships, presented by U.S. Bank. The event will determine the automatic and individual at-large berths to the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 22 in Lawrence, Kan.
C OF I HISTORY: For the Lady Yotes, a string of three-straight CCC championships and five league titles in the past six years is on the line, while keeping a long tradition of top finishes for the Coyote men are up for grabs. The Lady Yotes won CCC titles in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013 – sweeping the top-four positions on the podium last year while hosting the event at Brothers Park. For the Yote men, C of I has never finished lower than fourth at the meet (dating back to the re-birth of the program in 2004), including three second-place finishes and six third-place finishes. Three C of I runners – Stephanie Helm, Greg Montgomery, and Hillary Holt have won CCC individual titles.
LOOKING AT THE MEN'S FIELD: Just as it was a year ago, there is a pair of elite teams, then a pack of four really good teams that will hit the trail Saturday. Southern Oregon will look to defend their past five CCC titles, while Eastern Oregon looks to have the best shot at dethroning the champs. The battle will be for third – with an at-large bid to nationals on the line – as the Yotes, Oregon Tech, Northwest Christian, and Concordia all vie for the spot for the second-straight year. The individual crown looks to be a battle between EOU's Damian Flores and Concordia's Matthew Clowes, both All-Americans on the track.
LOOKING AT THE WOMEN'S FIELD: For the first time in years, the Lady Yotes are not the favorite heading into the meet, as a very good Northwest Christian squad has the top billing. The Beacons, coming off back-to-back Top-10 finishes at the NAIA Championships, return a deep and talented squad led by Alyssa Harmon and Shea Vallaire. The Lady Yotes will be in the mix, as will very good teams from Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon, as the squads battle for limited at-large berths to Nationals.
NAIA TOP-25 POLLS: The Coyotes fell two spots to No. 16 in the latest NAIA Men's Cross Country Top-25 poll, released last Wednesday. C of I received 305 voter points from the 21 conference and unaffiliated grouping raters. Defending national champion, Oklahoma City, holds the No. 1 spot, followed by Southern Oregon, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Tennessee Wesleyan, and Indiana Wesleyan, while two other CCC teams – No. 9 Eastern Oregon and No. 21 Northwest Christian are in the poll. In the women's poll, the Lady Yotes stood pat at No. 14 for the second-straight week, receiving 359 voter points from the 21 raters. Two-time defending champion, British Columbia, was the unanimous No. 1 team, followed by Dordt (Iowa), Cal State-San Marcos, Northwest Christian, and Carroll (Mont.), with two other CCC teams in the Top-25 – No. 20 Oregon Tech and No. 23 Southern Oregon. The final NAIA poll, which will determine at-large bids to Nationals, will be released on Sunday.
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).
