LA GRANDE, Ore. – Although youth may have a way of showing itself, the same can be said about improvement, and the Eastern Oregon University men's and women's cross country teams certainly saw the latter during the 2015 campaign.
SEASON OVERVIEW
While the men carded a fourth-place finish at the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships, the Mountaineers sent two runners to the National Association of Intercollegiate (NAIA) Cross Country National Championships in senior Kody Shriver and freshman Jack Howard.
"With the number of men who graduated last year, we expected this to be a bit of a down year on the men's side," said head cross country coach Ben Welch. "And as compared to last year's fourth-place national finish, it could be considered that. However, the guys made great progress as the season went on and narrowly missed an at-large bid to the national meet with their fourth-place performance at the CCC championships."
The women battled injuries throughout the season, and the young squad ended up recording a seventh-place finish at the CCC Championships. Sophomore McKenzie Evans paced the team with a 25th-place finish.
"On the ladies side, we also new in this tough conference that we would take our lumps," said Welch. "But with a very promising freshmen class, we had hoped to move up over our conference place the last few years. Several bazaar injuries kept us from hitting that goal, but there was a lot of promise and improvement as the season went on."
BRUTALITY OF THE CCC
Once again, the CCC proved to be one of the toughest cross country conferences in the nation.
On men's side, the three squads that finished ahead of the Mountaineers at the CCC Championships included No. 7 College of Idaho, No. 15 Southern Oregon, and No. 19 Northwest Christian. EOU actually upended Oregon Tech, a team that had been receiving votes at the time.
Meanwhile, the women's pool proved to be just as unforgiving, as four teams (No. 1 Northwest Christian, No. 8 College of Idaho, No. 14 Southern Oregon, No. 19 Oregon Tech) reached the NAIA National Championships. The Beacons of NCU actually went on to claim their first-ever national championship.
NO CAKEWALK (RUN) AT CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The hilly and unpredictable course on the campus of Corban University in Salem, Ore., certainly had its challenges, but that didn't stop the Mountaineers from mustering strong individual performances.
Shriver (26:26.0) and Howard (26:27.1) took ninth and 10th, respectively, to pace the men's team. Freshman Lane Inwards (27:21.9) took 28th, while junior Dylan Hartley (27:36.3) earned 30th overall. The men tallied 113 points as a team and ousted Oregon Tech by 12 points.
"The men improved their team time (top five runners times added together) by an outstanding 4:07 from six weeks earlier on the same course at the conference preview," said Welch.
In the women's race, Evans (25th overall) crossed the finish line at the 19:48.2 mark, just five seconds shy of setting a season-best time. Freshman Amanda Welch (19:57.0) finished three runners behind Evans at the 28th spot. Freshman Caitlyn Rowe (20:04.1) took 30th overall, while freshman Stormy Bullard (20:10.4) and senior Kailey Wilson (21:16.5) rounded out the scoring for EOU. The women recorded 158 points as a group.
IN THE MIND OF SHRIVER
On Oct. 5, Shriver took a break to catch up with the Sports Information Office in 'Mountie Monday.'
SHRIVER, HOWARD TAKE TALENTS TO CHARLOTTE
On Nov. 21, a pair of all-conference selections in Shriver and Howard competed in the NAIA National Championships in Charlotte, N.C.
As a true freshman, Howard carded a time of 26:42.4 and finished 167th overall, while Shriver (26:53.9) took 188th in his final race as a Mountaineer.
2015 EOU CROSS COUNTRY PROMO VIDEO: "ON MY WAY"
The beauty of Eastern Oregon and the dedication of the men's and women's cross country teams were highlighted in the squad's promo video.
YOUNGSTERS SHOW PROMISE
Howard and two runners on the EOU women's cross country team made it onto the "All-Time Freshmen Top 25" list, a token and perhaps a preview of success down the road.
Welch and Bullard took the No. 10 and No. 13 spots, respectively, on the list. Welch recorded the 10th-fastest time for a freshman in EOU history at the Inland Empire Invite when she tallied a time of 18:53, while Bullard also shined in the race with the 13th-fastest time (19:00).
In the men's race, Howard (26:09) took 31st overall and recorded the 23rd-fastest time by an EOU freshman.
CROSSLER-LAIRD ON THE HOT SEAT
On Oct. 12, Mee-Mee Crossler Laird gave us an inside look on a weekly edition of 'Mountie Monday.'
RACE TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS
The EOU cross country squad showed its dedication in the classroom, as six members garnered U.S. Bank Academic All-Conference honors. Evans, Wilson, MeeMee Crossler-Laird, Nic Maszk, Rachel Roelle, and Evan Rummerfield each took home the honor.
In addition, both Roelle and Wilson were two of 210 student-athletes who earned Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete recognition.
THE STREAK CONTINUES
Twenty-eight years later, the Mountaineer cross country program is still sending student-athletes to the NAIA National Championships.
The last time EOU did not send at least one runner (male or female) to the national meet was 1987. Only twice since 1979 has EOU not advanced at least one individual (male or female) to nationals (1984 and 1987).
LOOKING AHEAD
The Mountaineer cross country team will return over 85 percent of its roster next season, and Welch has one goal in mind moving forward.
"Get one or both teams back to the national meet," said Welch.
EOU XC BY THE #'S
28 – Number of years in a row the EOU cross country program has sent at least one student-athlete to the national meet. Since 1988, at least one male runner has advanced to nationals every year but one (2006). Since 1996, at least one female runner has made it to nationals except for 2001, 2013, and 2015.
3 – Number of freshmen that made it onto the "All-Time Freshmen Top-25" list at EOU (Welch, Bullard, Howard).
2 – Number of women added to sub-20 list for the women's 5,000m race (Welch & Bullard).
19th – The women's team had the 19th-fastest team time in program history (counting one per year).
25th – The men's team had the 25th-fastest team time in program history (counting one per year).
22 – Number of years the women's team has had a team time averaging less than 20 minutes per runner in the top five.
1994 – First year the women's team had an average team time of 20 minutes or less.
25 – Number of years the men's team has had a team time averaging under 26:30 per runner in the top five.
8 – The number of years the women's team has averaged less than 19 minutes for team time.
16 – Number of years the men's team has averaged less than 26 minutes for its team time.
1970 – First year the men's team averaged less than 26:30 per runner for the total team time.
32 – Number of cross country teams EOU has sent to the NAIA National Championships (22 men, 10 women).
2 – Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes in the fall of 2015 (Roelle & Wilson).
6 – U.S. Bank Academic All-Conference honorees in the fall of 2015 (Roelle, Wilson, Crossler-Laird, Evans, Maszk, & Rummerfield).
