Cross Country Favorites: SOU Men, CI Women

8/24/2009 7:23:14 PM

PORTLAND, Ore. – The men’s program from Southern Oregon University and the women’s program from College of Idaho are favored to repeat their Cascade Collegiate Conference cross country titles from a season ago, according to a preseason vote of the league’s head coaches.

The champions from the CCC earn automatic bids to the NAIA Championships, which will be staged Nov. 21 at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Saturday, Nov. 21.

The NAIA’s preseason rankings will be released Wednesday.

In the men’s poll, the defending champion Raiders earned six first-place votes and 94 points to edge Concordia for the favorites’ tag. The Cavaliers picked up three first-place votes and 88 points in all. Eastern Oregon, which picked up one first-place vote, shared the third spot in the poll with College of Idaho, and was followed by Corban, Warner Pacific, Oregon Tech, Evergreen, Northwest, and Northwest Christian.

On the women’s side, College of Idaho tallied seven first-place votes and 96 points to earn the nod over Concordia, which totaled 91 points and two first-place votes. Eastern Oregon picked up one first-place vote and was voted third with 73 points. The Mountaineers were followed by Corban, Evergreen, Oregon Tech, Southern Oregon, Northwest, Warner Pacific and Northwest Christian.

Second-year SOU coach Brent Ericksen, last year’s CCC men’s Coach of the Year, will look to David Laney and Ryan Ghelfi to lead the Raiders in ’09. Laney placed 47th and Ghelfi 80th at the national meet last year, helping SOU to a program-best fourth-place NAIA finish. Concordia, which finished second to SOU in last year’s CCC Championships and placed ninth nationally, is expected to be led by All-American Charles Cummings (19th at the ’08 NAIA meet), Martin Romero-Clark and Jessy Brown.

The College of Idaho women, who placed ninth nationally last year under the guidance of coach Pat McCurry, are paced by a quartet of All-CCC honorees, led by two-time conference champion Stephanie Helm. Joining Helm on a deep and talented C of I squad are all-conference selections Tegan Troutner, Maggie Miller and Stephanie Sparks. Concordia, last year’s CCC runner-up, will be led by four veterans coming off strong track seasons – Linsie Michels, Andria Scheese, Alice Taylor, and Samantha Robert. CU finished 21st at the ’08 NAIA Championships.

Action involving CCC teams begins Sept. 5.

CCC Preseason Polls