The men's race will begin at 12 p.m.
SALEM, Ore. – In what is no doubt the best cross country conference in the NAIA, Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) teams are primed and ready for big performances on Saturday at the 2016 CCC Men’s Cross Country Championships. The meet will be hosted on the campus of Corban University.
Four schools are currently ranked in the NAIA Coaches’ top-25 poll, with Southern Oregon University being ranked highest at No. 3. The Raiders have won 10 all-time conference titles and are winners of the last eight in the CCC. College of Idaho is ranked No. 7 in the top-25 poll, while Eastern Oregon University is ranked No. 15 and Oregon Tech is at No. 25. Also receiving votes in the poll is Northwest Christian University, while Corban University was also ranked at one time earlier in the year.
The Raiders will be led by Ray Schireman who is the CCC’s defending individual champion, and as a team, SOU returns six of its 10 runners that competed in last year’s CCC meet. SOU is looking to make it nine-straight CCC Championships is men’s cross country.
For C of I, Billy Godfrey leads the way, and during the track & field season last year, he garnered All-America honors in the Steeplechase. For the EOU Mountaineers, Nic Maszk and Jack Howard will look to be near the front of the pack, as Maszk was named the NAIA Runner of the Week just a couple of weeks ago.
Oregon Tech returns a strong group overall and is led by Zach Hammond who has competed in each of the last two cross country national championships. NCU’s Garrett Kraal will lead the Beacons and is NCU’s only returning All-CCC runner. Joining Kraal near the front will be TJ Wright who broke the school’s 8000m record earlier this year.
For Corban, it is Craig Boekenoogen leading the way, as the Warriors are looking to piece together their best team race of the year and make a splash at this year’s conference meet. Boekenoogen, who became the first-ever Corban male to qualify for nationals last year, is joined by a talented group of runners, and junior Zane West is set for a strong finish to the year following career-best times throughout the season.
Also competing in this year’s CCC Championship 8k men’s race on campus at Corban will be Northwest, Multnomah, and Warner Pacific.
The men’s race is set to start at 12 p.m. following the women’s race. The awards ceremony will then follow up in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center at the top of the hill on campus. Both races are set to be live streamed.