ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH: For the fourth-straight year, the College of Idaho placed in the Top-10 at the NAIA National Championships, earning a seventh-place finish in the 8,000-meter event at Seminole Valley Regional Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Yotes finished with 257 team points – the second team to finish from the Pacific Northwest – finishing with a team time of 25:22, the fastest combined team time at Nationals by a C of I team.
TWO ALL-AMERICANS: Headlining the success for the Yotes were two All-America performances – as
Alex Martin and
Cole Campbell each earned national distinction with Top-30 efforts. Martin became the third athlete in program history to earn multiple All-America awards in cross-country – joining four-time All-American
Greg Montgomery (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and two-time All-American
Max Hampton (2014, 2015) in the elite club. The junior placed fifth overall, the highest finish by a Coyote since Montgomery placed second at the national meet in 2012, with his time of 24:35 the fastest by a C of I runner since that same 2012 race in which Montgomery set a school record with an 8,000-meter time of 24:06. Campbell had a stellar day, taking 28th overall – with he and Martin becoming just the second C of I pair to earn All-America honors in the same season (Montgomery and
Dominic Bolin both earned All-America honors in 2012).
SEASON RECAP: The 2018 season was a banner year for the Coyotes – rising as high as No. 2 in the NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Poll, finishing in the Top-3 of every regular-season race and winning their first-ever Cascade Conference title. The Coyotes opened the year with back-to-back second-place finishes – earning the silver at the College of Southern Idaho Invite and the Eastern Oregon Open, as
Marcos Cervantes placed seventh at CSI and
Alex Martin was a close runner-up at EOU. Martin finished eighth at the Steve Reeder Invite in Utah, as C of I placed behind Division I teams from BYU and Utah State, before taking second overall at the Warrior Invite, helping the Yotes place a close second to Southern Oregon (and dominating teams from EOU, The Masters and Westmont). At the CCC Championships, the Yotes put forth their best race in program history – placing six runners in the Top-11 – to roll to the league title. Cervantes became the second league individual champion in program history (
Greg Montgomery won the crown in 2011 and 2012), with five others earning All-CCC honors.
AWARDS: With his league title,
Marcos Cervantes not only earned All-CCC honors, but was named CCC and West Region Cross Country Athlete of the Year in a ballot of the league coaches, with
Austin Basterrechea named Coach of the Year for both the conference and region.
Alex Martin,
Cole Campbell,
Bryce Odegard,
Collin Tracy and
Andrew Sutton were all named to the All-CCC team for their individual finish at the conference meet.
ACADEMIC HONORS: Three Coyotes –
Alex Martin,
Gavin McCaw and
Marcos Cervantes – were named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes – with the trio, along with
Cole Campbell,
Tyler Straub,
Josh Frey and
Josh Fritz earning U.S. Bank-Cascade Conference All-Academic Team honors.
LOOKING AHEAD: Things are looking bright for the Coyotes, as the team will return 13 of the 14 runners from this season's team – losing their No. 5 runner, senior
Andrew Sutton, to graduation. With another quality recruiting class, C of I is poised to begin the 2019 season among the short list of premier NAIA programs and contend for a national title.
