Men's Cross Country | 03.26.2021

LEWISTON, Idaho – The weather agreed with the LC State Cross Country trail for once this season as the Warriors hosted the 2020 Cascade Conference Cross Country Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, on Friday morning. With a clear sky and minimal breeze, the LC State men, led by Cole Olsen, secured their first-ever Cascade Conference title. Callie Johnson has one of the best showings of her career, finishing second overall, to help the Warrior women place second as a team.
 
After both races, Head Coach Mike Collins was named the Cascade Conference Men's Head Coach of the Year.
 
"I could not be prouder of my kids today," Collins said. "I am looking forward to returning to Iowa and seeing what happens."
 
This is the third time the Warriors had run on their home course this season, something out of the ordinary compared to most seasons.
 
"It's a little monotonous, but at the same time it gives you the confidence to know exactly what you want to do," Olsen said after the race. "Some of the guys are saying we need to go somewhere else, but for me I like this because I know we have done this before and I knew we could do it again."
 
THE MEN
Olsen did what he always does out on the cross country course when he jumped out in front and stayed there. The senior captured his fourth individual victory in four races this season, and in doing so led the No. 11 Warrior men to their first Cascade Conference Championship (54 points). They bested higher-ranked College of Idaho in the process.
 
"Although the men were not the highest ranked team in the race, I think everyone felt that they were the favorite," Collins said. "I felt after the race was over that we had not run well. The other teams had put together great team races and, despite having a very good 1-2-3 punch up front, that we got outscored in the middle. Fortunately, my estimates of numbers were off and the men squeaked by. I think they are going to come back with something to prove at nationals and we will see the best of them to come."
 
The senior finished his race in a time of 24:18, besting the second-place runner by 14 seconds. This is the second year in a row Olsen has won the conference championship after doing so last season in the Frontier. Clayton VanDyke followed in third (24:32) and Chase Barrow rounded out the top 15 in ninth (25:14). All three earned All-Cascade Conference honors.
 
"Cole continued what he has been doing all year and he is one of the most deserving young men as he has earned every second," Collins explained.
 
The race was tighter than some expected, so the fourth and fifth finishers became especially important to help LC State capture the title. They finished with just four points separating first and second.
 
"Honestly, it was a little more nerve-wracking and exciting," Olsen said. "but I think everyone on the team knew that we'd been here before and that we could do this. We had great weather too so we were just really excited to take care of business and we did that."
 
Connor Turpin and Andrew Larsen helped close the door and push the Warriors into first. Turpin finished 19^th with a time of 25:45, and Larsen was 22^nd (26:02) in the first conference championship race of his career.
 
Dillon Dawson (25^th, 26:19) and Carter Gordon (26^th, 26:42) helped LC State eat up points to keep second-place Oregon Tech and third-place College of Idaho behind the point totals, while David Phillis (30^th, 26:45), Brady Nelson (33^rd, 26:51) and Colton Smith (55^th, 29:17) aided in the race as well.
 
Mark French of No. 17 Oregon Tech finished in between Olsen and VanDyke to help the Owls to a second-place finish as a team with 58 points. No. 8 College of Idaho earned 63 points to finish third, Northwest was fourth (79), and Eastern Oregon was fifth (125). Corban placed sixth as a team (149), Bushnell was seventh (192) and Multnomah was eighth (238).
 
THE WOMEN
Johnson stepped up for LC State and earned her highest-ever finish at a conference championship. The junior finished four seconds behind the top finisher to clinch second place with a time of 17:45. She helped the 16^th-ranked Warriors capture 68 points to finish second behind No. 4 College of Idaho.
 
"Callie had what I believe to be the best performance of her life to this point," Collins said. "A few more seconds and she would have shocked the conference by winning. I am so excited for her and all the girls."
 
"My mind was kind of blank when I crossed the finish line because this is a new area for me," Johnson said. "I feel like I've been progressing, but to get to this point is so new and it hasn't sunk in yet. I am happy that I did well and that we did well as a team."
 
LC State needed to finish second to keep its hopes of earning an at-large bid to nationals alive.
 
"The women knew that they would likely have to finish second to get a shot at going to nationals this year and that would mean beating No. 11 OIT," Collins said. "All I can say is that I think their hearts were totally into the effort today as I saw more than one set of tears coming down faces when they found out they had done it. I think we had a lot of PRs today which showed how well they all went out there to go above and beyond anything they had done before."
 
"It was scary, and I think that is why at least my motivation was so high today because the stakes were high," Johnson said. "We just used that as motivation. We knew what we had to do to go to nationals."
 
Emily Adams earned the fourth all-conference honor of her career with a 14^th-place finish (18:20). Both Adams and Johnson were named All-Cascade Conference for finishing in the top 15.
 
Freshman Geraldin Correa and junior Rylee Brown finished 17^th (18:30) and 18^th (18:32), respectively, and Maja Plaznik rounded out LC's top five with a 21^st-place finish (18:46). Brooklyn Shell took 24^th (18:48) and Abigail Gorton was 31^st (19:06) to take up spots in the standings.
 
Ciera Bailey aided the Warriors with a 33^rd-place finish (19:07), Abigail Peightal was 40^th (19:53) and Kelsey Henry was 56^th (21:16).
 
Faith Widman of No. 11 Oregon Tech was the individual champion and helped her team to a third-place finish with 81 points. Team champion C of I earned 33 points. Northwest finished fourth (128), Eastern Oregon was fifth (149), Corban took sixth (150), Bushnell was seventh (154) and Multnomah finished eighth (189).
 
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