CORVALLIS, Ore. – In perhaps the toughest cross country conference in the NAIA, the College of Idaho was picked to repeat as Cascade Collegiate Conference champion, announced Wednesday by the conference office.
The Coyotes come off winning their third title in four years and picked up six first-place votes to sit in the top spot with 93 points. C of I went on to take fifth as a team at the NAIA National Championship.
Southern Oregon University, which took fourth at the 2021 CCC Men’s Cross Country Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, is making waves heading into the season and grabbed three first-place votes to sit in second with 84 points.
Just three points behind the Raiders is Eastern Oregon University in third, while Lewis-Clark State College – which was the CCC runner-up and finished sixth nationally last year – sits in fourth with 70 points after losing top runners from last season. Northwest University picked up one first-place vote and 66 total points to round out the top five.
Oregon Tech grabbed 53 points to sit in sixth, followed by Bushnell University in seventh and Corban University in eighth. Multnomah University and Walla Walla University close out the poll at ninth and 10
th, respectively.
The 2022 CCC championship is slated for Nov. 4, hosted by SOU in Ashland, Ore., with the winner grabbing the conference’s automatic qualifier to the NAIA National Championship. Last year, the CCC sent seven of 10 teams to the national championship meet.
2022 CCC Men’s Cross Country Preseason Poll
| Team (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. College of Idaho (6) |
93 |
| 2. Southern Oregon University (3) |
84 |
| 3. Eastern Oregon University |
81 |
| 4. Lewis-Clark State College |
70 |
| 5. Northwest University (1) |
66 |
| 6. Oregon Tech |
53 |
| 7. Bushnell University |
39 |
| 8. Corban University |
33 |
| 9. Multnomah University |
20 |
| 10. Walla Walla University |
11 |
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