CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference announced its 2026 Mcdonald's Track & Field Athletes of the Year, presented by Urban Edge, honoring University of British Columbia’s James Kerr and Eastern Oregon University’s Lizzy Grandle for their outstanding performances throughout the season.
The athletes were nominated and voted on by the head CCC track and field coaches.
Kerr, a junior from Burlington, Ont., delivered one of the most dominant seasons of British Columbia history, culminating in the program’s first ever NAIA national championship in the 400-meter hurdles. Kerr captured the national title with a time of 50.30 after setting a new UBC program record in the preliminary heats at 50.21.
In addition to his national title, Kerr helped lead UBC’s 4x400-meter relay team into the NAIA final by running a 46.16 split on the anchor leg in the qualifying heats.
At the CCC Championship, Kerr was named the Outstanding Men’s Track Performer of the Meet after claiming conference titles in both the 400 meters and 400 meter hurdles. He broke the UBC program record in the 400 meters with a winning time of 47.09 and set a CCC Championship meet record in the 400 hurdles with a mark of 51.69. Across six individual entries during the season, Kerr recorded four first place finishes and two runner up performances.
Grandle, a senior from Molalla, Ore., capped her career with a national championship in the heptathlon, posting the top overall NAIA score of 5,207 points. Her performance at the NAIA Championships was highlighted by a first place finish in the shot put at 12.51 meters and a runner up finish in the high jump at 1.63 meters.
At the CCC Championship, Grandle earned 2026 CCC Most Valuable Performer honors after scoring 31 team points across six events, including the heptathlon, high jump, shot put, 100-meter hurdles, 200 meters, and javelin while also being named the Outstanding Women’s Field Performer of the Meet.
She dominated the conference heptathlon competition with a meet record 5,160 points, finishing 763 points ahead of the runner up and breaking the previous CCC Championship record by 51 points. During the competition, Grandle posted first place finishes in the 100 meter hurdles (15.09), high jump (1.61m), shot put (12.71m), and 200 meter dash (25.39).
Both student-athletes also earned USTFCCCA West Region Athlete of the Year honors to cap off historic seasons.