VANCOUVER, Wash. – Dominant performances by both College of Idaho cross country teams netted the Coyotes their first-ever combined national championship, as the squads competed at the NAIA Championships at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
COMPLETE RESULTS
All-America efforts by
Larissa Mauer and
Molly Vitale-Sullivan helped the College of Idaho equal their best team finish in program history, placing second, while
Alex Martin closed his outstanding cross country career with a third-place overall finish, leading the Coyote men to a fifth-place effort.
The 350 combined team points by the two C of I teams was the lowest among all squads with both men's and women's competing teams, ahead of runner-up Taylor (Ind.) University's 420 points. It is the second-straight year a Cascade Conference team won the combined team title – as Southern Oregon won the 2018 crown.
The C of I women had their best race of the season – as all five scoring runners finished in the Top-60 – with the 147 place-points by the Yotes second only to Madonna (Mich.) (111). SCAD-Atlanta (Ga.), the No. 1 ranked team heading into the meet, placed third (163).
Mauer and Vitale-Sullivan ran with the chase pack throughout the race – with Mauer placing 19th-overall (18:27.60) and Vitale-Sullivan in 21st (18:27.80). Just off of the All-America cut was
Erin Moyer in 31st (18:38.4).
Key to the Yotes success was the duo of
Lilly Whitehead and
Chaye Uptmor – as Whitehead capped her cross country career with a 44th-place finish (18:54.9), with Uptmor in 59th (19:04.2).
It marked the third time a C of I women's team had finished as the national runner-up – joining the 2012 and 2013 teams.
Martin led a strong effort by the Coyote men – who were neck and neck with eventual champion Oklahoma City through 6,000-meters – before falling off the pace. The senior clocked a time of 24:53.40 to pick up his third cross country All-America honor, joining
Greg Montgomery, as the only C of I men to make the podium at Nationals.
The Yotes finished with 203 place-points – as OCU claimed the team title (110), followed by Taylor (171), Lewis-Clark State (187) and Embry-Riddle (195).
The typical four-person C of I chase pack was dwindled to three with a late-race injury – as
Cole Campbell took 31st (25:29.6),
Marcos Cervantes placed 37th (25:40.1) and
Bryce Odegard took 44th (25:46.7). The Yotes fifth-scoring runner was
Braden Heath in 128th-place (26:36.7).
