2014 CCC Track and Field Championships presented by U.S. Bank Heads to Idaho
2014 CCC Track and Field Championships Headquarters
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Cascade Conference track and field world converges upon Nampa, Idaho this weekend as the 2014 CCC Track and Field Championship presented by U.S. Bank heads to the track at Northwest Nazarene University on Friday and Saturday.
The meet gets underway on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the women’s hammer. The first running event of the 2014 championships will be the women’s steeplechase, set to begin at 4:30 p.m.
Saturday will open with a commencement ceremony for athletes from Warner Pacific College and Northwest University. College of Idaho president, Dr. Marvin Henberg, will be on hand to hand out diplomas, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
The first field events on Saturday will be the men’s javelin, men’s triple jump, women’s shot put and women’s pole vault, all beginning at 11 a.m. The first running event will be the women’s 100m dash, beginning at 2 p.m.
Heading into the weekend, athletes from the CCC hold NAIA-best marks in seven different events and are expected to improve on many of those marks this weekend.
Women
Host College of Idaho looks to be the favorite to win the women’s team title as they are expected to pick up double-digit points in 11 different events. Eastern Oregon will also find itself in contention as the Mountaineers should perform well in the sprints.
C of I’s biggest event could be the 1500m run as the Yotes hold the top three times in the CCC this season, including a 4:13.13 from senior Hillary Holt, who leads the NAIA in the event by over seven seconds.
College of Idaho won the 2013 title with 210.5 points to finish 65.5 points ahead of second-place Eastern Oregon.
Men
On the men’s side, Concordia could ride one of the nation’s top throwing programs to a conference title. The Cavaliers will be challenged by Southern Oregon, who have some of the top distance runners in the country as well as some talented sprinters.
Concordia could earn over nearly 100 points in the throwing events alone as the Cavs hold the top marks in the nation in the shot put, discus and hammer this season. Senior Darien Moore leads the shot put by nearly five feet and the hammer throw by over seven feet.
SOU will make their push for a conference title primarily in the distance races as Eric Avila is second in the NAIA in the 5000m at 13:42.05 and Eric Ghelfi is among the top 10000m runners in the country at 30:51.62.
In 2013, Southern Oregon put up 217 points to end a six-year title run by Concordia.