GRESHAM, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University track and field will be vying for titles at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships beginning Thursday through Saturday.

The Mountaineers send 50 athletes to the meet. EOU enters the championships owning eight top seeds, and has 31 athletes ranked in the top five of their respective event. Eastern Oregon won five conference titles a year ago. The meet takes place once again on the Mt. Hood Community College campus at Earl L. Klapstein Stadium.

“It's going to be a real battle,” Eastern head coach Ben Welch said. “Concordia is once again the team to beat this year, but the competition is going to be intense. We're right there behind them on the men's side with Southern Oregon, but on the women's side it's Concordia and us in the top spots.”

Concordia will be looking to extend its streak of conference titles in both genders. The Cavalier men have won five straight crowns, while the women's team has captured four consecutive CCC championships. The Southern Oregon men have dominated the distance events so far in 2011.

Kimmy Moore will compete in more events than any other Mountaineer this weekend. The junior will be in six events in a two-day span. The Noxon, Mont. native comes into the meet with the top mark in the 400-meter hurdles, is third in the long jump, fifth in the 100-meter hurdles, and eighth in the 400 meters. She is also a member of the EOU 4x400-meter and 4x100-meter relay teams.

Robbie Haynie will look to make history at the meet. The junior has had a record-breaking season and will compete in five events. He is in the top 10 in four of his events, including owning the top marks in the pole vault and the long jump. Haynie's pole vault top mark of 17 feet, three inches, leads the NAIA as the only mark over 17 feet in the nation. The Nampa, Idaho native is 19th out of any collegiate level in the pole vault, and narrowly missed 17 feet, six inches, which is fourth currently out of all collegians.

“I feel good going into the meet,” Haynie said. “I'd love to continue to improve that pole vault mark and get higher. As far as the jumping events, I have got better as the season has progressed and would love to get titles in those events.”

Alma Garcilazo attempts to defend her 800-meter title from a year ago. The Umatilla, Ore. native has the top seed time in the event at 2:09.43. She won the event in 2010 with a time of 2:13.10. Garcilazo has already hit the NAIA auto-qualifying mark and is fourth in the nation with her top time. The junior will look to grab her first 400-meter conference title this season. She has finished second in the event the past two years, she enters as the third seed this time around. Garcilazo is also a member of the EOU 4x400-meter relay team that is third coming into the meet.

Karlee Coffey will have a familiar battle in the women's 5,000 meters. The junior has the top seed in the event at 17:00.81, but is closely followed by Northwest Christian's Brittany Arch and Concordia's Alice Taylor. Arch finished fourth last year in the event, while Coffey finished second to Taylor. Taylor's winning time of 17:18.08 is the meet record.

Another Mountaineer looking to defend a conference title this weekend is Maddison Stapleton. The junior enters with the top seed in the women's pole vault with a mark of 3.36 meters. She won the 2010 event with a top vault of 3.26 meters. Concordia's Kaycee Gillespie will provide a challenge. The experienced senior has the second seed with a mark of 3.35 meters. She finished third last season. Northwest's Lindsey Wessa finished second a year ago and is third entering this season.

The Mountaineers' other top mark coming into the meet belongs to Damion Flores. The sophomore sits atop the talented men's 5,000-meter field. His seed time of 14:32.25 is just ahead of College of Idaho's Paul Sartin's 14:32.94. Then Southern Oregon owns the third through seventh positions. Flores also enters the 1,500-meter race as the fourth seed.

Dustin Cloud and Allison Rodgers begin the meet for the Mountaineers Thursday in the decathlon and heptathlon. Cloud is the third seed in the decathlon, while Rodgers is second in the heptathlon. A dozen other EOU athletes are also competing on Thursday, the first day of the meet.

To date, CCC student-athletes have achieved more than 85 automatic qualifying marks to the NAIA Championships, which will be held in two weeks at Indiana Wesleyan University.

CCC student-athletes have posted 20 top-five NAIA marks this season – 12 on the women's side, eight on the men's side. Concordia has the top mark in three women's events – Gabi Dixon in the shot put and discus, and Aria Nojima in the javelin. For the men, Haynie has the nation's top mark in the pole vault, while Oregon Tech's Bryant Sentman ranks No. 2 in the decathlon.

Live results from the meet will be available on EOUSports.com, along with a live interactive blog that fans can share their thoughts or asks questions during the meet. Daily video and photo galleries will also be available on EOUSports.com. Forecasts for the weekend in Gresham call for partly cloudy skies on Thursday and Friday with temperatures in the high 60s. Saturday has a 40 percent chance of rain and a high of 65.