Alberto Salazar, a three-time NYC Marathon winner and former collegiate and U.S. cross country champion, will serve as the keynote speaker at the NAIA National Awards Ceremony Friday, Nov. 20 at the Tiger Woods Center.
Alberto Salazar to Keynote NAIA XC Ceremony
BEAVERTON, Ore. – Running legend Alberto Salazar, a former collegiate and U.S. cross country champion who later won three consecutive New York City Marathons, will be the keynote speaker at the NAIA’s National Awards Ceremony Friday, Nov. 20 at Nike World Headquarters.
NAIA cross country scholar-athletes and conference coaches of the year will be honored at the National Awards Ceremony, which is held the night prior to the NAIA Cross Country National Championships. The awards ceremony will immediately follow a Nike-sponsored banquet in the Tiger Woods Center for nearly 1,000 student-athletes and coaches.
This year’s national championship meet, presented by Nike and co-hosted by Concordia University-Portland and the Cascade Collegiate Conference, is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash. The meet will feature more than 650 collegians from across the country competing in men’s 8K and women’s 5K races at Fort Vancouver, which has served as the competition venue for multiple USA National Cross Country Championships.
Salazar, a state high school champion in Massachusetts, gained national fame at the University of Oregon, where he was a standout on the Ducks’ cross country and track and field teams. At UO, he captured numerous All-America honors, including 1978 when he won the individual NCAA cross country title. He won the U.S. national cross country title in 1979 and was a top finisher at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 1982 and 1983, finishing second and fourth respectively. He won the NYC Marathon in 1980, ’81 and ’82.
A two-time U.S. champion in the 10,000 meters, Salazar set American records in the 5,000 meters (13:11.93, 1982) and the 10,000 meters (27:25.61, 1982).
Currently employed by Nike, Salazar remains close to long distance running in his role as coach of the Nike Oregon Project, which is aimed at producing Olympic-caliber athletes.
The NAIA Cross Country National Championships are free and open to the public. The men’s race begins at 10:30 a.m.; the women's race is at 11:45 a.m.
Fans attending the national championships are encouraged to park in designated areas along 5th Street (south side of the park) or at Hudson’s Bay High School, which is located within walking distance of the Fort.
Each national championship race will feature 32 teams plus more than 100 individual competitors.
For more information, visit the official championships web site at www.cascadeconference.org.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference is comprised of the following 10 institutions in the Pacific Northwest : College of Idaho, Concordia University, Corban College, Eastern Oregon University, The Evergreen State College, Northwest University, Northwest Christian University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Southern Oregon University, and Warner Pacific College.