Eastern Oregon Reclaims CCC Men’s Track & Field TItle 5/12/2018 10:16:13 PM HERMISTON, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon men’s team captured its first team title since 2015 and fourth overall on Saturday at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Track and Field Championships, presented by U.S. Bank. The Mountaineers were led by eight individual championships performances and 19 all-conference selections, finishing with 208 total points. Southern Oregon finished in second place with 168 points, breaking the team’s two-year run as CCC Champions. Oregon Tech placed third with 144.5 points. Southern Oregon’s Zach Beltz was selected the CCC’s Male Field Athlete of the Meet, winning both the long jump and triple jump, reaching automatic national qualifiers in both events. Corban’s Nathan Martin was named the Male Track Athlete of the Meet as the Warrior sprinter won both the 100 and 200-meter dash. His time in the 200 was an auto qualifier to nationals, while also breaking the meet record set in 1998 by Jacob Brown. Eastern Oregon head coach Ben Welch received the Men’s Track and Field Coach of the Year award after leading the Mountaineers to the win. Welch earned the award for the fourth time in his career. After ending day 1 in first place, the Mountaineers picked up where they left off on Friday with more top performers. In a big swing event, Michael Slagowski, Thomas Morrell III and Dustin Zimmerly took the top-three spots in the 800-meter run to take 24 points. Nic Maszk won a thrilling 5,000-meter race, coming from behind in the final lap to win with a time of 14:59.89. Matthew Kirkendall, the 110-meter hurdles champion on Friday, also claimed the 400-meter hurdles title with an ‘A’ standard time of 53.39 seconds, winning the race of over Northwest’s TJ Randle by just .07 of a second. Southern Oregon’s Justin Turner took first place in the pole vault with a height of 4.45 meters. Beltz took home the triple jump title for SOU’s two victories on Saturday. Oregon Tech’s Travis Thomas earned a ‘B’ standard mark in the 400-meter dash, winning the race with a time of 48.33 seconds. The Owls also snagged first place in the 4x400-meter relay, edging out EOU by .26 of a second for a provisional mark. OIT also earned an individual victory in the javelin throw, as Hunter Drops easily won medalist with an ‘A’ distance of 63.85 meters. Nationally qualified individuals from the CCC will next prepare for the NAIA Track and Field Championships on May 24-26 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Men’s Final Standings 1) Eastern Oregon 208 2) Southern Oregon 168 3) Oregon Tech 144.50 4) Corban 110 5) College of Idaho 77 6) Northwest Christian 70 7) Northwest U. 18 8) Multnomah 9.50 9) Warner Pacific 4