COMING UP: Season Complete
COYOTES EARN PODIUM FINISH AT NATIONALS: Boasting their highest national ranking in program history heading into the NAIA Championships, the Coyote cross country program were poised for big things – and delivered on the banks of the Mississippi River. With all five scoring runners finishing in the Top-105 – including three in the Top-50, C of I placed fourth overall to earn a trophy at Nationals for the first-time in program history – while narrowing the time gap between themselves and rival Southern Oregon, who went on to win the NAIA title.
STEPPING UP TO THE CHALLENGE: Sophomore
Billy Godfrey had his best race of his young career, running amongst the leaders for the entirety of the 8,000-meter race, earning All-America honors with his 14th-place finish – clocking a time of 24:59, the first Coyote to break the 25-minute barrier at Nationals since Greg Montgomery earned runner-up honors in 2012. Even more impressive were the runs of freshman
Alex Martin and senior
Dylan Walker – Martin taking 42nd in his first national championship, while Walker ran a personal-best time of 25:33 to place 46th in his final race of his C of I career. Also key to the success was junior
Quinn Radbourne, who took 90
th and sophomore
Andrew Sutton, who placed 105th.
RECORD-SETTING SEASON: The Yotes built off a seventh-place finish at last season's national meet – their previous best effort in program history – and used altitude running to the advantage. C of I dominated Montana Western in a head-to-head dual at the Tailgate Classic, while swamping NAIA foes in Carroll and Rocky Mountain both the Montana State and Montana Invitationals. The Yotes eventually squared off with Southern Oregon three times in the final month of the season – placing second to SOU at the Warrior Invite in California and the Cascade Conference Championships in Oregon (before their meeting at Nationals), but narrowed the gap on the Raiders in every meet.
AHEAD TO 2017: Excitement will continue for the Coyotes, as the team returns six of the seven racers who competed at the NAIA Championshps and nine of the 10 runners who competed at the CCC Championships.
2016 TOP TIMES: Race by Race
times and results for the C of I cross country team can be found online.
ABOUT THE COACH: Austin Basterrechea is in his sixth season with the Coyote program and his first as head coach of the cross country and track teams. He joined the coaching staff in 2015 as the Yotes top assistant, helping the men's and women's cross country teams to Top-10 finishes at the NAIA Championships, with the women's track team winning their fourth-straight Cascade Conference title. He assumed head coaching honors in August of 2016. The native of Gooding is a 2014 graduate of the College, where he was a four-time NAIA All-American and four-time CCC champion; earned All-America honors indoors in the heptathlon in 2012 and 2014, while earning All-America honors outdoors in the decathlon in 2013 and 2014; was a two-time CCC decathlon champ, while also claiming titles in the long jump and 110-meter hurdles; a three-time CCC All-Academic Team selection, a two time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, and two-time first-team Capital One Academic All-American; competed in the 2011 USTAF Junior Nationals.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more on the C of I men's cross country teams, visit the homepage of the
Coyotes.
