College of Idaho Men Edge Southern Oregon, Lead After Day One of CCC Track & Field Championships
CCC Sports Information
HERMISTON, Ore. - Southern Oregon (SOU) broke a 17-year-old conference record in the 4x100m relay and remained in first place for most of the day until College of Idaho (COI) earned 30 points in the 10,000m run, as the Yotes just edged the Raiders for the top spot on day one of the 2016 Collegiate Conference (CCC) Track & Field Championships presented by U.S. Bank.
COI tallied 104 total points, while SOU (100), Eastern Oregon (82), and Corban (48) rounded out the top four. Oregon Tech (OIT) came in fifth with 44 points, while Northwest Christian (NCU) (19), Evergreen (18), Warner Pacific (WPC) (7), and Northwest (5) rounded out the standings.
The Yotes boasted five of the top six finishers in the 10,000m run, including Dan Williams and Max Hampton, who went 1-2 with marks of 32:19.90 and 32:26.83, respectively.
The record-breaking 4x100m time of 41.31 came at the hands of SOU’s Julius Shellmire, Zach Hannan, Hayden Saparato, Cameron Bremmer. EOU didn’t finish much further behind, taking second with an NAIA “B” standard time of 41.86 seconds.
In the men’s shot put, SOU notched a conference title for the first time since 2011, as freshman Tylor King posted an NAIA “A” standard mark of 16.27m.
Fans flocked to the hammer throw to catch a glimpse of Evergreen’s Zebuliah Hoffman, who heaved an “A” standard toss of 64.84m to take first overall.
The men’s steeplechase saw TJ Wright of NCU snag the first event title in program history with a time of 9:24.91, while COI’s Billy Godfrey (9:28.73) and SOU’s Kevin Poteracke (9:36.74) went 2-3.
EOU’s Ryan Rosenau and Matthew Kirkendall led from the very start in the 110m hurdles, going 1-2 with times of 14.73 and 14.81, respectively. Kirkendall’s effort marked the second CCC athlete to reach the “A” standard time in the 110m hurdles this season.
In the long jump, Zach Beltz took first after leaping a personal-best 7.35m. The freshman’s “A” standard effort was also the ninth-best mark in the country.
SOU’s strong day continued in the middle distance events after Jared Nixon logged 10 more points in the 1500m run with a first-place time of 3:53.76, over three seconds ahead of COI’s Max Hampton.
In the high jump, Rohan Cain from SOU notched the event crown, skying 1.90m to give the Raiders another 10 points and its first event title since 2007.
COI’s Jospeh Bolin entered the championships ranked fifth in the 400m dash but ousted the predicted slate with a school-record and first-place time of 48.81, while Jonathan Jack-Nixon (49.57) of Evergreen and Cedric Quartey (49.64) of SOU took second and third, respectively.
The championships continue tomorrow at 11 a.m. To follow live stats, click here.