COMING UP: at NAIA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Thursday-Saturday, Gulf Shores, Ala.
LIVE VIDEO / LIVE TIMING: Live Video of every event at the NAIA Championships will be available through the
NAIA Network, while
Live Timing of every event will be providing thanks to FloTrack.
OFF TO ALABAMA: The C of I track team will complete the 2019 season this week at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships inside Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Ala. The Yotes will take 20 competitors (11 women, nine men), participating in 13 individual events, along with three relay teams, with C of I one of 127 men's teams and 116 women's teams represented at the meet.
HISTORY AT NATIONALS: Both C of I teams have sent at least one competitor to Outdoor Nationals every season since track returned to C of I in 2005. The Coyote men had their best finish in 2013, placing 13th and placed in a tie for 63rd last year, while the C of I had their best finish in 2014, placing sixth overall (one of three Top-10 finishes) and placed in a tie for 16th last year.
MEN'S COMPETITORS: C of I will send five individual athletes, along with the 4x800-meter relay team, to Alabama this week, including two athletes making return trips to Outdoor Nationals. Thrower
Josh Brown makes the trip to the Gulf Coast for the first time since 2017 (when he placed 28th in the discus), becoming the first C of I athlete to qualify in the hammer throw, discus and the shot put – with the four-time Cascade Conference champ heading into the meet seeded No. 9 in the discus. Indoor All-American
Alex Martin makes a repeat trip to Nationals and will race in the 5,000-meters – the same event he placed 15th in during the 2018 Championships. Three athletes make their first trip to nationals –
Keith Bailey in the triple jump,
Kendrik Caldwell in the decathlon and
Alec Kuzmack in the discus – while all four members of the 4x8 relay (
Josh Frey,
Bryce Odegard,
Derek Thomas,
Collin Tracy) are making their first trip to Alabama.
MEN'S SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (Times MDT): Thursday – Decathlon begins at 9 a.m. (all day), Hammer Throw at Noon, 4x800-meter relay prelims at 5:15 p.m. Friday – Decathlon begins at 8:30 a.m. (all day), Discus at 4 p.m., 4x800-meter relay final at 4:50 p.m., 5,000-meter prelims at 6 p.m. Saturday – Shot Put at Noon, Triple Jump at 12:30 p.m. 5,000-meter final at 4:55 p.m.
WOMEN'S COMPETITORS: Three athletes will be making repeat trips to Outdoor Nationals – with both
Molly Vitale-Sullivan and
Tamika Russell making their third trip to Alabama and
Kiersten Lancaster qualifying for a second time. Vitale-Sullivan will race in the 10,000-meters, an event she placed second in last year (while taking third in the 2017 5,000-meter race and fourth in the 2018 5,000-meter race); Russell will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (taking ninth in the event in 2017 and 13th last year); while Lancaster looks to improve on a 16th-place finish in the 2018 100-meter hurdle event. Three other individuals will compete in the 3-day meet –
Catylynn Duff in the discus,
Larissa Mauer in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and
Kaitlyn Schut in the marathon. The Yotes will have two relay teams looking to qualify for Saturday finals – as
Payge Durocher,
Payton Durocher,
Payton Anderson and
Madison Glascock will race in the 4x100-meter event, with Glascock,
Payton Durocher,
Madison Patrick and Lancaster racing in the 4x400-meter event.
WOMEN'S SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (Times MDT): Thursday – 4x100-meter relay prelims at 1:30 p.m., 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims at 5:50 p.m., 10,000-meter final at 6:50 p.m. Friday – 100-meter hurdle prelims at 12:30 p.m., 4x400-meter prelims at 6:45 p.m. Saturday – Marathon at 5 a.m., Discus at 1 p.m., 3,000-meter steeplechase final at 1 p.m., 4x100-meter relay final at 1:40 p.m., 100-meter hurdle final at 2:20 p.m., 4x400-meter relay final at 5:15 p.m.
COYOTE MEN TAKE SECOND AT CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS: C of I established a new school record for points at the Cascade Conference Championships – scoring 153.5 team points to finish second, the highest finish by a Coyote men's team in program history.
Josh Brown was the lone athlete to win a CCC title – becoming the first athlete in league history to win three-straight discus titles, while breaking the C of I school record in the shot put (50-feet, 4 inches) to become the Yotes first-ever shot put champ. Brown also earned All-CCC honors with a third-place finish in the hammer throw – one of nine athletes to earn All-CCC accolades (
Keith Bailey – second in triple jump;
Marcos Cervantes – second in 10,000-meters;
Alex Martin – second in 5,000-meters;
Kristopher Kostelecky – second in long jump, third in high jump;
Kendrik Caldwell – third in both long jump and 400-meter hurdles;
Cole Campbell – third in 10,000-meters;
Bryce Odegard – third in 3,000-meter steeplechase;
Alec Kuzmack – third in discus.
C OF I WOMEN FOURTH AT CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Yotes saw their record-tying string of six-straight CCC titles snapped two weeks ago at the Cascade Conference Championships, settling for a fourth-place finish in Ashland, Ore. C of I had two CCC champions crowned, as
Kiersten Lancaster defended her title in the 100-meter hurdles, while
Molly Vitale-Sullivan cruised to a win in the 10,000-meters. The Coyotes had eight other All-CCC performances – as Vitale-Sullivan took second in the 5,000-meters,
Kaitlyn Schut took second in the 10,000-meters,
Catylynn Duff placed second in the discus,
Larissa Mauer took third in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meters,
Meg Buxton took third in the shot put,
Erin Moyer placed third in the 10,000-meters and
AaLea Kolb took third in the discus.
