La Grande, Ore. - The 2012 Cross Country season at Eastern Oregon University was one for the record books. Both women's and men's team competed at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships and senior Karlee Coffey became the first Mountaineer harrier to earn four all-American honors.
 
Coffey's third place individual finish (17:29) paced the women to a 13^th place team finish at the meet. Jodine Steemers missed all-American honors by five spots finishing 35^th (18:41). Leigh Anne MacCarthy, fresh off the volleyball season, covered the 5000 meters course in 19:08 to finish 68^th. Talissa Baldovino ran a strong race and crossed the line in 136^th (19:45). Cristal Delgado (227, 20:31), Kailey Wilson (231, 20:35), and Jessianne Heley (234, 20:36) completed the Mountaineers squad.
 
Coffey's performance earned her her fourth cross country all-American honor of her career. She has had finishes of 12^th her freshman year, second her sophomore season, and third's the last two years. In doing so she become the first Mountaineer male or female to ever earn that distinction.
 
Isaac Updike and his 50^th place finish (25:37) keyed the men to a 14^th place team finish. Updike moved up four spots from his finish last year at the national meet. Kody Shriver was the second Mountie to cross the finish line in 76^th (25:56). Hans Roelle finished next for Eastern in 108^th (26:17). Ryan Booth followed in 125^th (26:25) with Kody Coxen (142, 26:33), Zach Seely (164, 26:43), and Carlos Hernnadez (208, 27:04) rounding out the Eastern scoring.    
 
The season kicked off for the Mounties at the Roger Curran Invitational in Nampa, Idaho. Both teams finished third in the event. The ladies were led by Coffey, who finished fourth in 14:36 over the 4000 meter course. She was followed by junior college transfer Steemers (22^nd) in 15:45. Baldovino (41, 16:45), Delgado (48, 17:23), and Wilson (52, 17:31) rounded out the Mounties top five.
 
The men, who were ranked 11^th in the NAIA Cross Country Coaches Pre-Season Poll,  were paced by Isaac Updike and Coxen who ran to 12^th (19:24) and 13^th (19:25) place finishes over the 6000 meter course. Following close behind were Lucas Updike (19, 19:50), Booth (20, 19:50), Shriver (21, 19:53), and Roelle (27, 20:09).
 
Week two of the season saw Eastern travel to Spokane, Washington for the Cascade/Frontier Conference Red Lion Challenge. The men came away with a third place team finish while the women ended up sixth.
 
The ladies were again paced by Coffey who finished second (17:39) behind eventual national champion Hillary Holt of the College of Idaho. Steemers was next for the Mounties finishing in 11^th (18:43). Coffey and Steeemers were followed by Delgado, 92^nd (20:41.47), Wilson, 94^th (20:47.06), Heley, 122^nd (21:41.23), Hailey Hollingsworth, 124^th (21:48.76), Audrey Love, 146^th (23:34.35), and Shoshoni Walker, 153^rd (25:44.54).
 
Coxen led the way for the No. 13 ranked men finishing in 25:35.93 for seventh. Shriver, 21st, closed strong and finished in 26:09.72. Roelle finished just behind in 24^th, 26:15.55. Lucas Updike followed in 32^nd (26:26.49), Booth was 41^st (26:37.41), with Gus Titus finishing 45^th in 26:44.00.
 
Seth Lougee, 72nd (27:17.87), Carlos Hernandez, 76th (27:23.61), Seely, 78th (27:30.23), Alex Martinez, 95th (28:07.03), Salome Castillo, 101st (28:14.45), and Calvin Edward, 103rd (28:24.74) rounded things out for the Mountaineers.
 
Again in week three Coffey and Coxen paced the way for the Eastern Oregon women's and men's cross country teams at the annual Charles Bowles Willamette University Cross Country Invitational. The duo led the Mountaineers to fifth place team finishes in both women's 5,000 meters and men's 8,000 meter races.
 
Coffey, for the second meet in a row, finished in the runner-up spot (17:21). The mark by Coffey is the fastest 5,000 cross country race ever run by a Mountaineer breaking her own record by 16 seconds. Steemers continued her solid running for Eastern following Coffey across the line as the second Mountaineer in 24^th, 18:48.
 
One night after performing on the volleyball court against the College of Idaho, MacCarthy ran her first cross country race ever and finished 50^th (19:35). After missing the last meet due to injury, Baldovino ran her way to a 74^th place finish in 20:02. She was followed closely by Wilson 87^th, 20:26, Delgado 90^th in 20:30, Heley, 112, 21:04, Hollingsworth, 127, 21:12, and Love, 165, 22:36 rounded things out for the ladies.
 
Coxen ran much of the race behind teammate Shriver before finishing 31^st in 25:36. Shriver finished two spots behind in 33^rd, 25:38. Booth finished 36^th with a time of 25:42. Isaac Updike, who missed the last meet due to injury, showed that he was rounding back into shape nicely by finishing in 44^th, 25:59.
 
Roelle ended up 52^nd in 26:06. He was followed across the line by Carlos Hernandez, 73, 26:23, Lougee, 90, 26:36, Seely, 97, 26:44, Titus, 118, 27:09, Ramon Hernandez, 130, 27:16, Martinez, 138, 27:25, Phillip Sebastiani, 144, 27:38, Edward, 166, 28:05, and Castillo, 171, 28:12.
 
After the team performances in Salem, the women moved into the top 25 in the Coaches Poll for the first time this season at No. 25. The men continued their run in the top 15 at No. 14. This was the first time this season that both teams were ranked at the same time.
 
Week four of the season saw the men take a break with the women traveling to Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Empire Classic. Running without Coffey, Steemers led the women to an eighth place team finish.
 
Steemers recorded a fourteenth place finish over the 5,000 meter course running 18:35. The mark established a new personal best for her and moved her to 16^th on the all-time EOU performance list.
MacCarthy followed Steemers across the line in 26^th in 19:05.
 
Baldovino and Delgado finished back-to-back in 63^rd and 64^th positions. Baldovino ran 20:08 and Delgado finished in 20:10. Wilson, 89, Hollingsworth, 96, and Love, 106, rounded out the Mountaineers lineup. Wilson ran 21:10, Hollingsworth ran 22:01, and Love completed the course in 23:30.
 
The Mountaineers held their only home meet of the season in week five as they hosted the Kyle Burnside Open at the Wildhorse Golf Course in Pendleton. The Eastern women tied Northwest, while the men finished second to Spokane Falls Community College.
 
Coffey paced the women's team by controlling the 5000 meter race from the start running a course record 17 minutes and 45 seconds. Steemers ended up third in 18:59. The pack of Baldovino, MacCarthy, and Delgado ran strong throughout the race, with Baldovino finishing eighth in 19:32. MacCarthy ran 19:59 for thirteenth place, and Delgado was sixteenth in 20:18.
 
Wilson finished 19^th, 20:35, Heley was 22^nd, 20:42, Hollingsworth, 36^th, 22:31, and Love, 40^th, 23:32 to round things out for the women's squad.
 
Coxen led the men's team coming home in third running 25:36. The next six Mounties finished every other place starting in eighth with Isaac Updike, 26:00, Roelle was 10^th in 26:06, followed by Booth in 12^th, 26:14, Seely finished 14^th, 26:21, Martinez took 16^th in 26:34, with Shriver  rounding out the group in 26:39.
 
Carlos Hernandez in 23^rd, 26:53, led a pack of four Mounties in places 25 through 27. Ramon Hernandez ran 26:58, Titus, 27:07, and Lougee), 27:08, to finish in those spots respectively. Edward, 30^th, 27:20, Wise, 33^rd, 27:55, and Sebastiani, 36^th, 28:36, closed things out for the Eastern men
 
The Mountaineers ended their regular season with the Cascade Collegiate Conference Cross Country Championships in Portland. The women ran superbly to finish second while the men came home fourth and had to wait out the NAIA to see if they would be advancing to the national meet.
 
Coffey led the way for the women, who finished behind the No. 3 ranked College of Idaho and ahead of No. 7 Northwest Christian. Coffey battled with Holt throughout the race only to watch her pull away at the end. Coffey's time of 17:05.38 smashed her own school record over the 5000 meter distance.
 
Steemers finished fourth overall in 18.06.80, and improved her personal best by almost 30 seconds. MacCarthy, who missed the Mountaineers volleyball win the previous night over Oregon Tech, ran her lifetime best, 18:41.71, to finish 13^th.
 
Baldovino gave the Mounties their fourth lady inside the top twenty-five, finishing 22^nd. Her time of 18:56.23 was a personal best by 15 seconds. Eastern's top five was rounded out by Delgado earned a 33^rd place finish in 19:39.39. Wilson and Heley rounded out the Mountainers top seven runners finishing 48^th (20:15.38) and 60^th (20:42.67) respectively. Hollingsworth, 68^th (21:26.70) and Love, 73^rd (23:26.55) rounded out the Eastern squad.
 
Isaac Updike paced things for the men with his eleventh place finish in 25:24.56. Roelle ran his best race of the season to finish 16^th, 25:40.15 and garner him a personal best by 15 seconds. Coxen followed in the 23^rd spot in 26:13.28.
 
Seely ran his best race ever as a Mountaineer, finishing 28^th in 26:17.50. He also finished as the Mounties fourth runner for the first time at Eastern. Following Seely was a group of four guys who finished within sixteen seconds of him. Shriver finished one place behind Seely in 29^th (26:17.50), Booth was 32^nd (26:26.34), followed by Carlos Hernandez, 34^th (26:29.66) and Titus, 35^th (26:33.09). Martinez, 44^th (27:09.22) and Humberto Bravo, 48^th (27:17.94) closed things out for the Mountaineers.
 
The women were rewarded for their outstanding conference meet by moving up to No.11 in the Coaches Poll. The Men fell to No. 22.
 
The men then had to wait until the following Monday to learn that they had earned the final at-large berth into the national championships. With that berth it marked the first time since 2007 that both a men's and women's team had represented Eastern at the national meet in the same year.
 
After the performances at the national meet the women finished the season as the No. 13 ranked team and the men were the No. 14 ranked team in the country.