Final CCC Championships Results (PDF)

HERMISTON – Southern Oregon University head coach Grier Gatlin wasn't quite correct when he predicted that every point would matter in this year's Cascade Conference Men's Track & Field Championships.

Actually, all but one point mattered as the Raiders dethroned Eastern Oregon on Saturday at Hermiston High's Kennison Field for their third title in four years and eighth in the 22-year history of the meet with the slimmest margin of victory – SOU 189, EOU 187 – of any team in five years.

Fifth-year senior Jared Hixon, who became all-conference Friday for the first time with his 1,500-meter title, collected more hardware with a commanding 5K victory and was named the men's athlete of the meet. Gatlin was selected the men's head coach of the year for the third time in his five seasons.

With the disappointment of last year's third-place finish still lingering, the Raiders captured five titles Friday, trailing College of Idaho by four points and leading EOU by 18 going into the last 10 disciplines. C of I dropped off, ultimately landing in third place with 166 points, while SOU and EOU slugged it out through the final race. According to the pre-meet seeds, the Mountaineers were favored to win by a couple points.

"We had guys stepping up all over the place," Gatlin said. "We knew that's what it would take, and the way we competed was pretty impressive."

In the final race of the day, the 4x400-meter relay, Hayden Saparto, Christian VanSise and Gary Fanelli had the Raiders in third place before the baton reached their anchor, Cedric Quartey. Quartey vaulted them into second with a time of 3:22.50 – and although EOU won the race, the two extra points stolen by Quartey proved to be the difference.

The Raiders made up the most ground in the 5K with a 23-point haul while EOU was shut out. Hixon became the third different Raider to win it in the last three years, blowing away the field by clocking in at 14:30.42 for a personal-best by over 14 seconds and the fourth-best time in Raider history. SOU's Dylan Alexander, the reigning NAIA champion, took second in 14:45.42, and All-American Max Hampton of C of I was 11 seconds behind him. Ryan Alexander, the No. 10 seed, registered a PR of 15:01.18 to take fifth and Connor Cushman added another point in eighth (15:03.76).

"(Hixon) just kind of decided, 'OK, this is over,'" Gatlin said. "To beat guys like Dylan Alexander and Max Hampton, it's not like he beat a bunch of chumps, and to go 14:30 all by himself really looks great going into (the NAIA Championships)."

SOU's other biggest score was in a windy 100-meter dash, where three Raiders – sophomore Cameron Bremner (11.27) and freshmen Zac Hannan (11.28) and Julius Shellmire (11.29) – were separated by one-hundredth of a second to occupy second, third and fourth. Shellmire was also fourth in the 200 (22.12), while Hayden Saparto (22.20), who scored five times in the meet, was sixth.

The aforementioned Fanelli was also all-conference with a runner-up finish in the 800 (1:55.35), a shade behind winner Jonathan Ferguson (1:55.01). Matt Williams doubled up on All-CCC accolades, too, by taking third in 1:56.28, also giving SOU arguably its biggest lift of the meet: He was seeded fifth in Friday's 1,500 and placed third with a PR of 3:57.08, and he was seeded eighth in the 800 and PR'd to move up another five spots.

Freshman Joseph Dotson – who three weeks ago started the Raiders off with eight points by placing second at the CCC Multi-Event Championships on seven personal-bests in the decathlon – did it again in the pole vault, which was the last completed event of the meet. Seeded 10th, his PR of 13 feet 7 ¼ inches made him fifth place and gave the Raiders four points that sealed their title.

"That was huge," Gatlin said. "Watching him when he first started on the pole vault in February and could barely get nine feet to almost hitting 14 now, it's pretty incredible."

SOU also had three scorers in the discus: sixth-place Tylor King (130-10), who won Friday's shot-put title, seventh-place Kevin Tunnell (130-5) and eighth-place Brian Sievers (126-10). In the 400-meter hurdles, Robert Bierly added a fifth-place showing (56.87) and Steven Miskimens was seventh (58.59).

SOU finished with six titles and 16 all-conference performances at the meet.

The NAIA Championships will be held May 26-28 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Final qualifiers will be announced next week.
 

FINAL TEAM SCORES – Southern Oregon 189, Eastern Oregon 187, College of Idaho 166, Corban 99, Oregon Tech 81, Northwest Christian 41, Evergreen 20, Warner Pacific 17, Northwest 17

SOU MEN'S DAY 2 RESULTS
100m (17)
2. Cameron Bremner, 11.27
3. Zac Hannan, 11.28
4. Julius Shellmire, 11.29

200m (20)
4. Julius Shellmire, 22.12
6. Hayden Saparto, 22.20
9. Cedric Quartey, 22.48
14. Brendon Miller, 23.14
20. Rohan Cain, 24.36

800m (12)
2. Gary Fanelli, 1:55.35
3. Matt Williams, 1:56.28
10. Aidan Paulk, 1:56.69

5K (19)
1. Jared Hixon, 14:30.42
2. Dylan Alexander, 14:45.42
5. Ryan Alexander, 15:01.18
8. Connor Cushman, 15:03.76
9. Noah Oberitter, 15:10.57
14. Caleb Diaz, 15:30.68

400m Hurdles (9)
5. Robert Bierly, 56.87
7. Steven Miskimens, 58.59

4x400m Relay
2. SOU (Hayden Saparto, Christian VanSise, Gary Fanelli, Cedric Quartey), 3:22.50

Discus (11)
6. Tylor King, 39.87m (130-10)
7. Kevin Tunnell, 39.76m (130-5)
8. Brian Sievers, 38.67m (126-10)

Pole Vault (16)
5. Joseph Dotson, 4.15m (13-7 1/4)