COMING UP: Season Complete
LAST WEEK: at NAIA National Championships –Women (2nd of 31 teams)
NATIONAL CHAMP: A dominating performance by
Hillary Holt (Boise, Idaho / Mountain View HS) etched her name into the record-books, as the junior won the 2012 NAIA National Championship in Vancouver, Wash. Holt, who won the outdoor track 1,500-meter title last spring, was in a pack of five runners through the first loop on the course, but made a move at the two-kilometer mark and was never threatened – winning by 20-seconds with a time of 17:00. "I got to the top of the hill and I was three quick steps off, and that's when I took the lead,” Holt told
The Columbian.”
“My coaches told me to go out with the lead and stay with the lead, and when I felt like it, just go. I started off and felt good early on, so I just took the lead and went with it and didn't look back."
RARE COMPANY: Hillary Holt earned All-America honors for the second-straight year (her fifth All-America award including track & field), but more importantly, becomes just the second C of I women’s athlete to become a multi-national champion. The only other student-athlete to win more than one individual national title was C of I Hall of Fame skier, Adele Allender (Savaria), who won the alpine giant slalom, slalom, and combined at the NSCA National Championships in 1990.
BEST IN THE UNITED STATES?: The Lady Yotes as a team were ranked No. 3 heading into the national championships and did not disappoint, recording their best team finish in program history – placing second overall, just 14 team points behind champion, British Columbia. It marked the best finish by any C of I team in NAIA competition since the 2000-01 women’s basketball squad lost in the national championship game, and was the top team finisher from a squad from the United States.
THREE IN THE TOP-10: The squad received outstanding runs by juniors
Sarah Johnson (Shelton, Wash. / Shelton HS) and
Sora Klopfenstein (Meridian, Idaho / Meridian HS), who both placed in the Top-10. Johnson used a late kick to place ninth overall, earning All-America honors for the first time, while Klopfenstein finished tenth, her second cross country All-America honor and her third overall (she placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2012 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships).
AN AMAZING SEASON: It was nearly a perfect season for the Lady Yotes – finishing first or second in all six meets – including team titles at the Red Lion Cascade/Frontier Challenge and the Cascade Conference Championships. The squad recorded their fastest team times in program history, while earning their highest finish ever in the NAIA Top-25. The Yotes will have to replace their No. 4 and 5 runners for next season – as both
Andi Hayes (Fort Collins, Colo. / Poudre HS) and
Kaitlyn Gerard (Kimberly, Idaho / Kimberly HS), are seniors.
ABOUT THE COACH: Pat McCurry is in his ninth year at the helm of the track & field and cross country programs at The C of I. In nine years (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 seven berths to the NAIA Championships, with the Lady Yotes advancing to five-straight NAIA meets, winning the 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012 CCC titles, with the women’s squad placing second in 2012 and seventh in 2009 and 2011. For his efforts, McCurry was named 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012 CCC women's cross country Coach of the Year. Student-athletes have claimed 22 individual CCC titles on the track, 24 NAIA All-American awards in cross country and track & field, seven All-NAIA Region I awards in cross country, 49 All-CCC awards in cross country - along with 80 NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete awards. He led the 2012 Lady Yote track team to a second-place finish in the CCC Championships, earning Coach of the Year honors, with the squad finishing tenth at the NAIA Championships. Prior to his arrival at The C of I, McCurry was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Eastern Oregon University, helping EOU to a national runner-up finish at the 2002 NAIA Men’s Cross Country Championships and the 2003 CCC title in men’s track & field. As an athlete at EOU from 1997-1999, McCurry claimed two consecutive CCC titles at 5000-meters and finished eighth at the NAIA Championships at 10,000-meters. His best athletic years came after college while running for Nike Portland, and later the Eastside Track Club - where at the 2003 University of Oregon Preview Meet, the Coyote skipper took home the title in the 3000-meters and has a personal best of 8:13 at that distance. He also holds the Willamette Invitational meet record and Charles Bowles track record at 10,000-meters from his 2004 performance there. McCurry has also claimed the title at many Treasure Valley area races, including the infamous Race to Robie Creek in 2005, 2009. and 2010, along with the City of Trees marathon. He and wife Andrijia live in Caldwell.
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).
