CORVALLIS, Ore. – Southern Oregon University’s Arianna Daniel and Oregon Tech’s Hunter Drops were named the 2021 Cascade Collegiate Conference Track and Field Athletes of the Year, announced Thursday by the conference office.
The athletes were nominated and voted on by the head track and field coaches in the CCC. Other women’s nominees: College of Idaho’s Larissa Mauer, Oregon Tech’s Alex Conley and Eastern Oregon University’s Maggie Ledbetter. Other men’s nominees: Lewis-Clark State College’s Clayton VanDyke, EOU’s TJ Davis, and Southern Oregon University’s Joseph Dotson.
Daniel, a senior from Elk Grove, Calif., took second in the 400-meter race at the NAIA Outdoor Championships and helped the Raiders place fifth in the 4x100 relay. She finished the season with personal best times of 55.24 seconds in the 400m, 24.32 seconds in the 200m, and 12.05 seconds in the 100m.
At the CCC Track and Field Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, Daniel scored 34 points for the Raiders, with two first-place finishes, both of which set new meet records. She won the 400 for the fourth time in a row, becoming the first individual in CCC history to do so. Daniel also led SOU to first in the 4x100, while taking second in the 200m and third in the 100m.
Daniel ends her career as a 12-time CCC champion, 19-time All-CCC honoree, and a nine-time NAIA All-American. Earlier this year she was named the USTFCCCA West Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.
Drops, a junior from Coos Bay, Ore., finished second in the javelin at the NAIA National Championships with a throw of 66.24m and took fifth in the pole vault with a vault of 4.95m. Earlier this year he was named the USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year.
At the CCC Championship Meet, Drops won the javelin with a new meet record of 69.68m, while also taking second in the CCC decathlon and third in the pole vault. Drops grabbed all-conference honors with the top-three performances and is a five-time NAIA All-American.
Drops holds the school record in the pole vault and javelin and, as of May 31, Drops was No. 31 on the US list for the Olympic trials with a previous javelin throw of 70.93m.