Left: Casey Loper, EOU, Right: Matthew Clowes, CU
Loper and Clowes Named CCC Athletes of the Year
LA GRANDE, Ore. – After two very successful 2014-15 campaigns, Eastern Oregon’s Casey Loper and Matthew Clowes of Concordia have been recognized as the Cascade Collegiate Conference Red Lion Players of the Year, the conference office announced.
Loper earned her second consecutive CCC player of the year in volleyball and played a pivotal part in EOU’s historic season. The senior from Powell Butte, Ore., tallied a team high 494 kills setting a single-season school record and finished 12
th in the nation in kills. The Mountaineers recorded their most successful season in program history earning their first CCC title and made an appearance in the NAIA National Tournament where they finished as the eighth-ranked team in the nation.
Loper was also named to the First Team All-CCC, the AVCA All-Northwest Region Team, and was named Red Lion CCC Player of the Week three times.
Clowes, a native of Stoke-on-Trent, England, earned four NAIA Championships and six NAIA All-American honors in his senior season. He earned three titles in the NAIA Indoor Championships winning the mile, 3,000-meter, anchored the distance medley relay and was named Most Valuable Performer in the meet.
In the NAIA Outdoor Championships, Clowes won the 1,500-meter and helped Concordia place third in the 4x800-meter relay. His times in the indoor 800-meter, the outdoor 1,500-meter and the mile where top marks in the NAIA. Clowes also finished 6th in the NAIA Cross Country Championships and holds the school record for CU in the 800-meter, the 1,500-meter, the mile and the 3,000-meter.