SAMMAMISH, Wash. – A dominant performance from the entire College of Idaho squad ended Southern Oregon's 10-year reign as conference champs, as the Coyotes won their first-ever team title at the Cascade Conference Men's Cross Country Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, at Lake Sammamish State Park.
Marcos Cervantes became C of I's second CCC individual champion in program history, as the Yotes had all five of their scoring runners in the Top-10 – as the No. 4 ranked squad won the meet with 26 place-points – well ahead of No. 3 ranked Southern Oregon (42) and No. 14 Eastern Oregon (85). C of I claimed the CCC's automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships, set for Nov. 16 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"We controlled the race from the gun," said head coach
Austin Basterrechea. "Our top three runners were right where we wanted them and by midway through the race, I knew we were going to get the job done. Our guys looked totally confident – we have to be able to race like this in two weeks."
A pack of four – two Coyotes and two SOU runners – broke away midway through the race, with Cervantes out-kicking Southern's Noah Oberitter for a one-second victory with a time of 24:59.
Alex Martin was just three seconds back in third-place (25:02).
The key to the victory was the Coyotes pack – as 19 seconds separated the No. 3 to No. 5 racers – with the top-five split just 35 seconds.
Cole Campbell placed fifth (25:15),
Bryce Odegard took seventh (25:25),
Collin Tracy placed tenth (25:34) and
Andrew Sutton finished 11th (25:36) – all joining Cervantes and Martin on the All-CCC team.
Cervantes joins
Greg Montgomery as the only C of I men's champions – as Montgomery claimed consecutive titles in 2011 and 2012.
