The women's race is set to start at 11 a.m.
SALEM, Ore. – With one of the most talented set of teams ready to compete at the 2016 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships, this year’s CCC finale will surely feature many of the NAIA’s top runners. The meet will be hosted on the campus of Corban University.
As the best cross country conference in the NAIA, the CCC boasts four schools in the NAIA Top-25 poll. Defending national champion Northwest Christian University headlines the quartet of teams with its No.1 overall ranking and is looking to capture its third-straight CCC Championship. The Beacons returned all seven runners from their National Championship squad from last year including the 2014 CCC Runner of the Year Alyssa Harmon and the 2015 CCC Runner of the Year Sierra Brown. NCU boasts four returning All-Americans overall.
Also in the top 10 in the NAIA top-25 poll is College of Idaho. The Yotes return standout Lila Klopfenstein who will lead the way for C of I. She is a two-time NAIA Cross Country All-American.
Ranked No. 11 overall in the poll is Oregon Tech. The Owls finished in 19th last year and are looking for yet another strong finish in 2016.
Right behind the Owls are the Raiders of Southern Oregon University at No. 12. The Raiders have six of the seven runners who helped SOU to a 14th-place finish at last year’s NAIA Championships. Jessa Perkinson will be leading the way for the Raiders after her All-America performance in 2015. Not only was Perkinson a cross country All-American, but she also won the 10k National Championship in track & field in the spring of 2016.
In addition to those top-four squads, a number of teams will be battling it out on the course. Two of them figure to be Eastern Oregon University and Corban University. EOU is led by Rachel Roelle who has led the team in every single race during the 2016 campaign. Corban is led by freshman Amy Jo Murphy, and the Warriors seemed primed following their most recent races to finish strong and make an impact as a team on the CCC leaderboard.
Also competing in this year’s CCC Championship 5k women’s race on campus at Corban will be Northwest, Multnomah, and Warner Pacific.
The women’s race is set to start at 11 a.m. and will be followed by the men’s race. The awards ceremony will follow the men’s race up in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center at the top of the hill on campus. Both races are set to be live streamed.