CALDWELL, Idaho - College of Idaho cross country and track coach Pat McCurry announced the signing of an impressive 20 student-athletes to NAIA Letter of Intents for the upcoming 2010-11 school year.
The group includes ten men and ten women, including sprinters, jumpers, hurdlers, distance specialists, and a thrower. “This is by far the deepest and most talented recruiting class we have signed here in our program’s history,” said McCurry, the 2009 Cascade Conference women’s cross country Coach of the Year. “We needed to replace our losses in the women’s distance events and bolster our depth and quality in the men’s sprints, jumps, and hurdles. We accomplished both those assignments with this group. We also signed a tremendous thrower for our first signee in that event area.”
A quartet of runners highlight the men’s signees – freshmen Austin Basterrechea, Brock Harris, Sean Saxton, and Terriel Thomas. Basterrechea is a two-time 3A state champion from Gooding High, where he claimed the titles in both the high jump and long jump – with leaps of 6-6 and 21-11. He also ran the 400-meters in 49.68 this spring. Harris, from Boise High, was one of the top throwers in the state, ranking second in the 5A state championships in the shot put (50-9) and fourth in the discus (155-2). Saxton, from Rocky Mountain High, will run both cross country and track and is coming off a solid track campaign, where he took third in the 5A state championships in the 800-meters (1:55.96). Thomas returns to program after a year at Treasure Valley Community College, where he placed third in the 110-hurdles and fourth in the 400-hurdles – both events in which he currently holds the school record at The C of I.
Six others will compete for the Coyote men – Derek Janssen of Pocatello High, Chris Rusnak of Snohomish (Wash.) High, Conor Harris of Bishop Kelly High, Matt Fultz of Columbia High, Austin Abromeit of Capital High, and Scott Weedall of Riverdale (Ore.) High.
The Lady Yotes had a monster recruiting class, including five high-profile signees – Hillary Holt, Sarah Johnson, Sora Klopfenstein, Madison Crookham, and Jasmine Young. Holt, from Mountain View High, helped her team to the 2008 5A state cross country championship and helped her 4x800-relay team win the 2010 state title - while finishing third in the 800-meters (2:16) as a senior. Johnson, from Shelton High in Washington state, will be a key for both the cross country and track teams – coming off an eighth-place finish at the 2009 Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championships. Klopfenstein, from Meridian High, will help the depth of the distance group – having finished ninth at the 2009 5A cross country championships and fourth in track in the 3,200-meters (11:30). Crookham, from Caldwell High, will be a key middle-distance runner, having clocked a personal best time of 2:17 in the 800-meters, finishing third in the event at the 5A state meet in 2008 and sixth in 2010. Young, from Centennial High, will anchor the hurdle races, having personal bests of 15.21 in the 100-hurdles and 46.21 in the 300-hurdles.
Five others will join the Lady Yote program – Kenna Middleton of Lakeside (Wash.) HS, Bri Williams of Middleton High, Myja Maki of Capital High, Alli Bicandi of Caldwell High, and Lacey Kniep of Shoshone High.