C of I opens up Day 1 lead at CCC Championships
ASHLAND – College of Idaho got two event wins and positioned itself for a third consecutive team title
Friday on the first day of the Cascade Conference Women's Track & Field Championships presented by U.S. Bank at Southern Oregon’s Raider Stadium.
The Coyotes claimed their third consecutive 4x100-meter relay championship and freshman Amy Pfaff won the 1,500-meter race with a season-best time, helping the team open up a 99-74 lead over second-place Concordia. The Cavs continued to dominate in the field, getting their 10
th straight win in the discus from back-to-back champ Jessica Mattos and their fourth straight in the hammer from McKenzie Warren.
SOU’s Amelia Maguin won the 100-meter hurdles and 400 meters for her third and fourth CCC victories in the last two seasons, but the Raiders ended the day in fourth place (51 points) behind Eastern Oregon (57).
Below are event recaps in order of their completions.
Saturday’s action begins at
10 a.m.
HAMMER: Concordia’s McKenzie Warren, the top overall seed, dethroned teammate Jessica Mattos as the champ with a season-best throw of 170-3, improving her NAIA ‘A’ standard mark. The Cavs won their eighth consecutive title in the event, and Mattos placed second with a mark of 158-4. SOU had three scorers in third-place Breanna Buckles (150-3), who moved up from the No. 7 seed to become all-conference, fifth-place Mel Gianotti (139-10) and eighth-place Marci Johnston (130-2).
HIGH JUMP: Eastern Oregon sophomore Harley McBride defended her title with a jump of 5 feet 5 inches, and Mountaineer teammate Laura Dauz became all-conference for the second consecutive season by tying Corban’s Sarah Taylor at 5-2 ½. College of Idaho had two scorers in fourth-place Tiana Thomas (5-2 ½) and eighth-place Hannah Lentz (5-0 ¼).
STEEPLECHASE: Oregon Tech’s Elissa Stoltz scored an upset win by finishing in 11:32.74. She and third-place teammate sara Howard (11:42.88) sandwiched runner-up Angeline Getty of College of Idaho (11:39.16), who moved up from the No. 4 seed.
DISCUS: Defending champion Jessica Mattos, a senior, delivered Concordia’s 10
th consecutive discus title with a throw of 164-0 1/2 – moving her from No. 3 to No. 1 on the NAIA performance list. She swapped placed with hammer champ McKenzie Warren, who placed second by throwing a season-best 163-1 1/2, ranking No. 3 on the performance list. Those two schooled the rest of the field, as Claire Otero of College of Idaho was third at 137-5 1/2. Warner Pacific had two scorers in fourth-place Jordan Hunter and seventh-place Kristen Swim.
4x100M: College of Idaho won its third straight title in this event, finishing in 47.84 seconds to bump up their NAIA ‘A’ qualifying time by eight-tenths of a second. Concordia (48.58) and Eastern Oregon (48.73) rounded out the top three.
LONG JUMP: Warner Pacific’s Alyssa Neal picked up the Knights’ first-ever long jump title and first title of any kind since 2011 by bouncing 19 feet 7 inches for a new meet record – beating the old one, which was 15 years old, by 15 1/2 inches. Ranked fifth coming into the day, Neal moved up to No. 3 on the NAIA list. Corban’s Emma Berg was second and EOU’s Ashanna Hodge third.
1500M: C of I freshman Amy Pfaff improved her NAIA Championships automatic-qualifying mark with a season-best time of 4:35.82 that was good enough to edge SOU’s Jessie Rozario (4:37.14) and Oregon Tech’s Susie Garza (4:37.42). NCU’s Alyssa Harmon placed fourth, and in the process moved from a ‘B’ up to an ‘A’ standard at 4:37.46.
100M HURDLES: Maguin, a two-time champ in the 400-meter hurdles, topped her own school record of 14.59 seconds in 14.46 to win the 100 hurdles for the first time. C of I’s Tiana Thomas was the runner-up for the second straight year in 14.79 seconds, followed by EOU’s Ashanna Hodge (14.98) and Oregon Tech’s Kara Wood (15.13).
400M: Maguin came out fast and easily hung on for the win, finishing in 55.60 seconds to burn the old CCC meet record of 55.93 established four years ago. Maguin’s old personal best was 55.98. C of I’s Nichole DeGrange also set a season-best of 56.94 to place second, and C of I’s Brittany Beame placed third in 57.68 despite running the slow heat. The Yotes scored 18 points in the race.
10K: Top-seeded Shea Vallaire of Northwest Christian, who placed third as a freshman, bested the field as a sophomore with a time of 37:22.03 as the Beacons placed three of the top four. C of I’s Ruth Lewinski, the No. 5 seed, upped her season-best by over 90 seconds for runner-up status at 38:37.49. But behind her were NCU’s Rosa Schmidt (38:27.91) and Delaney McMahon (40:36.48).
TEAM SCORES – College of Idaho 99, Concordia 74, Eastern Oregon 57, Southern Oregon 51, Oregon Tech 39, Northwest Christian 34, Corban 33, Warner Pacific 27, Northwest 12.