Raiders run to seventh straight CCC Title
RESULTS
PORTLAND, Ore.—With five of its top seven runners back from last season's championship team, No. 2-ranked Southern Oregon University extended its dominance at the CCC Men's Cross Country Championships, taking the 2014 title with a meet-low 29 points on Saturday.
The championship represents the seventh straight and ninth overall crown for the Raiders. Eastern Oregon holds the conference record with 10 consecutive championships (1994-2003) and 11 overall meet titles.
On Saturday, however, it was all SOU, with a 28-point spread over the No. 9-ranked Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon.
Concordia, which received votes in the latest national NAIA poll, finished third with 112 points, narrowly edging out No. 16-ranked College of Idaho, which had 115. Oregon Tech, which also received votes in the latest poll, was fifth with 124, while No. 20-ranked Northwest Christian finished with 128.
Eastern Oregon's DJ Flores cruised through the 8,000-meter course running through Northwest Portland's Fernhill Park with a time of 24 minutes, 18 seconds to claim the individual championship. Flores overcame the early leader, Concordia's Matthew Clowes near the halfway point I the race to go on to the 19-second win.
Flores, who also won the CCC title in 2010, was named the CCC Runner of the Year while SOU's Grier Catlin was tabbed as the league's Coach of the Year.
With the team win, SOU will advance to compete at the NAIA National Championships held at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan., on Nov. 22. The Raiders placed second at the 2013 edition and captured the NAIA team title in 2010.
The rest of the nationally-ranking CCC programs will wait to hear about potential at-large berths into the national championships. Also representing the CCC inside the top 20, Eastern Oregon (11th) and College of Idaho (20th) joined SOU in the national championship field a year ago.
The All-CCC team featured six SOU runners: Max Runia (3rd), Kevin Jorgensen (4th), Jared Hixon (5th) Cary Dunagan (8th), Eric Ghelfi (9th) and Ray Schireman (12th). It was the third All-CCC honor for Hixon and Ghelfi and the second for Dunagan.
Flores' selection was his second, but the All-CCC team was otherwise composed of new faces. Lucas Updike (7th) made EOU the only other school with more than one selection. Runner-up with a time of 24:37, Clowes was the lone Concordia representative, while Northwest Christian's Christopher Zirkle (6th), Warner Pacific's Ahmed Ibrahim (10th) and College of Idaho's Max Hampton (11th) filled out the rest of the All-CCC list.
|
2014 CCC Men's Cross Country Championships |
|
Place |
School |
Score |
|
1. |
Southern Oregon Univ. |
29 |
|
2. |
Eastern Oregon Univ. |
57 |
|
3. |
Concordia Univ. |
112 |
|
4. |
College of Idaho |
115 |
|
5. |
Oregon Tech |
124 |
|
6. |
Northwest Christian Univ. |
128 |
|
7. |
Corban Univ. |
174 |
|
8. |
Warner Pacific College |
235 |
|
9. |
Northwest Univ. |
240 |
|
2014 All-CCC |
|
Place |
Name |
Time |
|
1. |
DJ Flores, EOU* |
24:18 |
|
2. |
Matthew Clowes |
24:37 |
|
3. |
Max Runia, SOU |
24:55 |
|
4. |
Kevin Jorgensen, SOU |
25:00 |
|
5. |
Jared Hixon, SOU** |
25:00 |
|
6. |
Christopher Zirkle, NCU |
25:02 |
|
7. |
Lucas Updike, EOU |
25:07 |
|
8. |
Cary Dunagan, SOU* |
25:08 |
|
9. |
Eric Ghelfi, SOU** |
25:09 |
|
10. |
Ahmed Ibrahim, WP |
25:09 |
|
11. |
Max Hampton, C of I |
25:09 |
|
12. |
Ray Schireman, SOU |
25:10 |
|
* two-time All-CCC |
|
**three-time All-CCC |
|
***Four-time All-CCC |