ASHLAND, Ore. – For the second consecutive year, Mountaineers Track & Field is bringing home some hardware! The Eastern Oregon men walked away CCC Champions after scoring 104 points on day two and finished with 190 total.
With the team win, the Mountaineer Men have secured back-to-back CCC Titles and this time around they did not share it. Head Coach
Ben Welch was tabbed the CCC Men's Coach of the Year after leading the EOU men to another crown.
Allexander Kosel was named the CCC Men's Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight year after winning two titles and securing a runner-up finish in a third.
Picking up wins on day two for the men were Kosel and
TJ Davis as the duo were key in the Mountaineers team run. Also playing a big role in the victory was the high jump efforts for EOU. The Mountaineer men had five total placewinners and swept the top three spots. Highlighting the group was
Tyler Jones who was the event champion.
Jones cleared a height of 6-6 ¼ to secure her first career CCC Title. Finishing second was Kosel with a height of 6-5.
John Stuvland was third to wrap up the podium sweep as he cleared 6-4. Davis and
Judson Mansfield both scored points in the event finishing in fifth and eighth, respectively. Davis hit 6-2 ¾, while Mansfield cleared 6-0 ½.
In the triple jump, Kosel successfully defended his title yet again like he did in long jump. Along with winning back-to-back titles, Kosel also punched his ticket to Outdoor Nationals in the event. The junior leaped 48-6 ¾ to secure the win and his mark was an NAIA A qualifying jump, which currently ranks ninth.
Also scoring points in the triple jump was
DJ Wilson and Mansfield. Wilson was third with a leap of 45-3 ½ to earn All-CCC honors, while Mansfield placed fifth with a jump of 42-11 ¾.
Highlighting the throwing events for the Mountaineer men was
Moses McAninch in the javelin. He secured All-CCC honors for the second straight year with a third place finish. He chucked the spear a distance of 178-3 to grab the podium finish once again. On the track, the EOU men had three podium finishes.
Leading the way was Davis in the 400-meter hurdles. He picked up his second win of the meet and fourth All-CCC honor with the win. He clocked a time of 53.46 which is an automatic qualifying time for Outdoor Nationals and ranks 15th in the NAIA. Mansfield was sixth, running a 58.77, while
Mason Nichols finished seventh to help score points with a time of 59.30.
In the short sprints,
Cody Milmine secured two All-CCC honors with a pair of third-place finishes in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. He clocked a 10.77 in the 100 to finish in the top three and then followed that up with a time of 22.07 in the 200. Also scoring points in the 200 was Wilson and
Bryce Peters. Wilson ran a 22.34 to place fifth, while Peter was sixth in a time of 22.39.
On the women's side, Eastern Oregon had four podium finishes on day two. The team was fourth with 42 points and finished with 98.5 total. They scored 56.5 points on the second day of the CCC Championships, but slipped one spot and finished fifth overall.
Highlighting day two for the Mountaineer women was a trio of top-three finishes on the track, while the fourth came in the field events.
Morgan Bayes impressed in the 400-meter hurdles as she had the best finish of the day. The senior clocked a 62.47 in the one lap obstacle race, which not only earned her All-CCC honors but auto-qualified her for Outdoor Nationals. Her A standard time is currently 11th in the NAIA.
In the short sprints,
Katie Brown led the way with a third place finish in the 100. The freshman ran a time of 12.15 to grab her first career All-CCC honor. In the mid-distance race of the 800-meter run,
Michelle Herbes was the final All-CCC winner for EOU.
Herbes ran a 2:15.60 in the 800 to also place third for an All-CCC honor. The Mounties had three scorers in the race overall as
Katie Jo Gebhardt and
Lauryn Mitchell placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Gebhardt ran a time of 2:18.92, while Mitchell ran a 2:20.83.
Picking up her second All-CCC honor in as many days was
Maggie Ledbetter who placed third in the discus throw. The senior hit a mark of 139-2 in the event to grab a top-three finish. Also scoring points in the event was
Kenna Woodward who placed fifth with a throw of 132-8.
In all for day two of the CCC Championships, the Mounties had a combined 18 top-eight placewinners on the track and 17 in the field. Next up for EOU is the NAIA Outdoor National Championships.
The NAIA will announce its list of qualifiers for the multi-events followed by overall qualifiers here in the next week. As of Sunday, the Mountaineers have hit 11 automatic qualifying marks and two athletes are ranked in the top-16 of the decathlon. To see the full NAIA performance list, click the respective link above.
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