Brown and Hixon Named 2015-16 Red Lion Athletes of the Year
LA GRANDE, Ore. – Northwest Christian’s Sierra Brown and Southern Oregon Jared Hixon have been named the Cascade Collegiate Conference 2015-16 Red Lion Athletes of the Year, the conference office announced.
Brown, a junior from Medford, Ore., was a three-time All-American during the year. In the fall, she won the CCC Individual Championship and was named CCC Runner of the Year as she led the Beacons to the Women's Cross Country Championship. At Nationals, she finished fourth individually to help give NCU their first-ever NAIA National Championship.
Brown had a record-setting track season as well, earning All-CCC honors in both the 1500m and the 5000m and following that up with NAIA All-American honors at both disciplines as well.
She was 7th in the 1500m and 5th in the 5000m, scoring 6 points for the Beacons who finished in 11th-place for their highest finish in school history.
Hixon, a senior from Palmdale, Calif., became the 13th NAIA outdoor national champion in SOU men's history with a win in the 1500 (3:52.73) after coming into the meet as the No. 7 seed. He was also named the men's track athlete of the meet at the CCC Championships with convincing wins in the 1500 (3:53.76) by 2.5 seconds and the 5K (14:30.42) by 15 seconds
On the NAIA lists, Hixon finished 9th in the 1500 (3:51.24) and 4th in the 5K (14:30.42) while during indoor season, he posted the No. 12 one-mile time (4:17.53) in his only outing.
In cross country, he helped SOU to its eighth straight team title with a sixth-place finish (26:08.8) to become All-CCC for the third year in a row.