Photos by Al Case (left) and Jerek Wolcott.
Randle, Tyler named CCC Track & Field Athletes of the Year
LA GRANDE, Ore. – Northwest University’s TJ Randle and Southern Oregon’s Rakayla Tyler have been named the 2016-17 Cascade Collegiate Conference Track & Field Athletes of the Year, the conference office announced.
Randle, a junior from Tacoma, Wash., last Saturday earned an NAIA Outdoor National Championship for the Eagles in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.63 seconds. Prior to the national meet, Randle captured titles at the CCC Championships in both the 400- and 110-meter hurdles for male track athlete-of-the-meet plaudits. Randle set a new CCC meet record with a time of 52.45 in the 400 hurdles and broke the NU school record in the 110’s with his time of 14.74. The All-American returns to NU for his senior season in 2017-18.
Other nominees for male track & field athlete of the year included Matt East from Southern Oregon and Pancho Saldana of Eastern Oregon.
Tyler, a sophomore from Henderson, Nev., did it all at the CCC Championships, where she was in on four titles and a fifth all-conference performance – setting a new meet record in the 100 (11.87), winning the 200, placing third in the 400 as a wild card, helping the Raider 4x100 team to a new meet record (47.07) and their 4x400 team to another victory. Tyler had a hand in 46 total points, putting the Raiders in second place for the first time since 2005, and was named the female track athlete of the meet. At the NAIA Outdoor Championships, she was an All-American with her sixth-place 4x100 teammates and took 14th in the 100.
Other nominees for female track & field athlete of the year included Eastern Oregon’s Harley McBride and Northwest Christian’s Bailey Dell.