Beacons take home school’s first CCC title
RESULTS
PORTLAND, Ore.—With all five scorers placing inside the top 15, the No. 4-ranked Northwest Christian University women’s cross country team captured the Beacon’s first conference title in school history for any sport.
Northwest Christian scored a meet-low 36 points to unseat the five-time defending champion Coyotes from College of Idaho. C of I, ranked No. 14 in the NAIA, placed fourth with 90 points.
No. 23-ranked Southern Oregon finished second with 74 points, placing all five scorers in the top 25. No. 20-ranked Oregon Tech was a close third with 80 points and saw all five scorers place in the top 30.
Northwest Christian’s Alyssa Harmon was named the CCC Runner of the Year, finishing the 5,000-meter course through Northwest Portland’s Fernhill Park in 17 minutes, 44 seconds. NCU’s Heike McNeil was tabbed as the league’s Coach of the Year.
With the team win, NCU will advance to compete at the NAIA National Championships held at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan., on Nov. 22. The rest of the highly-ranking CCC programs will wait to hear about potential at-large berths into the national championships. College of Idaho (2nd) and Northwest Christian (9th) both cracked the top 10 at nationals last season.
Harmon, just a sophomore, overcame a large deficit to College of Idaho’s Lila Klopfenstein to become the first Beacon to win a CCC title. Finishing 11 seconds back of the leader, Klopfestien held on for runner-up honors while SOU’s Summer Cano cracked the 18-minute barrier with a 17:58.
The 2014 All-CCC list was dominated by runners from NCU, which placed four in the top 12. Harmon was joined by Sierra Brown (5th), Allison Devenez (6th) and Rosa Schmidt (10th). It was the second All-CCC nod for Harmon, Brown and Devenez.
Southern Oregon, Oregon Tech and College of Idaho all added two runners each to the All-CCC team. The SOU members were Summer Cano (3rd), a three-time selection, and Rebecca Lupescu (12th). OIT placed Mary Matchett and Elissa Stoltz 7th and 8th, respectively. Along with Klopfenstien, who earned her second All-CCC honor on the day, Amy Pfaff took 4th to give the Yotes a pair of All-CCC representative.
Cassidy Brown of Northwest University was 9th, while Concordia’s two-time All-CCC member Mikel Elliott was 11th.
|
2014 CCC Women’s Cross Country Championships |
|
Place |
School |
Score |
|
1. |
Northwest Christian |
36 |
|
2. |
Southern Oregon |
74 |
|
3. |
Oregon Tech |
80 |
|
4. |
College of Idaho |
90 |
|
5. |
Concordia |
145 |
|
6. |
Northwest U |
154 |
|
7. |
Corban |
157 |
|
8. |
Eastern Oregon |
173 |
|
9. |
Warner Pacific |
290 |
|
2014 All-CCC |
|
Place |
Name |
Time |
|
1. |
Alyssa Harmon, NCU* |
17:44 |
|
2. |
Lila Klopfenstein, C of I* |
17:55 |
|
3. |
Summer Cano, SOU** |
17:58 |
|
4. |
Amy Pfaff, C of I |
18:03 |
|
5. |
Sierra Brown, NCU* |
18:03 |
|
6. |
Allison Duvenez, NCU* |
18:14 |
|
7. |
Mary Matchett, OIT |
18:14 |
|
8. |
Elissa Stoltz, OIT |
18:21 |
|
9. |
Cassidy Brown, NU |
18:26 |
|
10. |
Rosa Schmidt, NCU |
18:32 |
|
11. |
Mikel Elliott, CU |
18:33 |
|
12. |
Rebecca Lupescu, SOU |
18:34 |
|
* two-time All-CCC |
|
**three-time All-CCC |
|
***Four-time All-CCC |