LA GRANDE, Ore. – Teams will look to take an early advantage in this year Cascade Collegiate Conference track and field championships as the multi-event championships presented by U.S. Bank are set to begin April 23-24 in Hermiston, Ore.
The event will be co-hosted by Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho, with the heptathlon featuring 11 competitors and the decathlon with eighth athletes.
Action starts Thursday with the men’s 100-meter dash at 10 a.m., women begin at 10:30 a.m. with the 100-meter hurdles. On Friday, men start with the 110-meter hurdles at 9 a.m. while the women begin at 9:15 a.m. with the long jump.
Decathlon Preview
Two athletes will return from last year’s meet to compete in the decathlon. Southern Oregon’s Anthony Neal finished last year with a score of 4,999 points to place fourth overall. Luke Jackson of Corban also returns after placing eighth last year with 3,000 points.
Jackson’s best performance this season came at the Linfield Multis where he totaled 4,933 points. The highest point total this season for a CCC athlete came from Oregon Tech’s Seth Gretz who earned 5,599 points at the Chico State Multi Classic, which rankes 20
th on the NAIA performance list.
Following Gretz are Jason Bracken from Corban who totaled 5,505 points along with teammate Caleb Wilkins who ended with 5,117 points.
The Warriors have three athletes in the top 40 of the NAIA performance list for the decathlon this year with Bracken at No. 22, Wilkins at No.33 and Jackson at No. 37.
Heptathlon Preview
The Heptathlon will feature seven returning competitors from the previous championship.
In last year’s competition, Concordia’s Holly Pfaff finished with 3993 points to place third overall, while Warner Pacific’s Kiki McDonagh ended with 3873 points, good enough for a fifth place finish.
Rounding out the top ten from last year, College of Idaho’s Tiana Thomas (3778) finished in sixth, Corban’s Emma Berg in seventh (3662), Southern Oregon’s Anna Reitman in eighth (3586) and Corban’s Alli Ehrhardt (3203) in ninth.
In the regular season, McDonagh finished as the top Cascade Conference performer totaling 4028 points at the Mt. Hood Multi Meet. Her performance ranks 14
th on the NAIA performance list this year.
SOU’s Reitman scored the second most with 3434 followed by Corban’s Berg with 3289 points, both competed at the Linfield Multis.