Men's Cross Country | 04.17.2022
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – Coach
Mike Collins and three Lewis-Clark State College teams were honored Saturday during the 50th annual North Idaho Hall of Fame awards banquet, which was held at the Coeur d'Alene Resort.
Collins, the head cross country and track coach for the Warriors, was named the Male Coach of the Year for the college division and both his men's track and cross country teams were chosen the college Male Team of the Year. The Female Team of the Year was the Lewis-Clark State College Women's Basketball team.
Each year, the North Idaho Hall of Fame honors both high school and college athletes, coaches and teams from northern Idaho for sports played during the previous spring and then for the fall and winter for the current school year. The college category features six awards and this year the Warriors claimed half of the awards.
Collins has coached cross country for 24 years and track for 22 years at LC State. He led both the men's outdoor track team and cross country team to top 10 finishes at the NAIA national meets this past year. The track team placed eighth at nationals last spring which is highest finish ever in the meet.
Leon Menten won the javelin title, while
Clayton VanDyke was second in the 1,500 and
Connor Turpin took third in the marathon. The cross country team placed sixth at the national meet and had
Cole Olsen claim All-American status for the fourth time with his ninth-place finish overall.
Despite only having one senior on the squad, the Warrior Women's Basketball team won the regular-season Cascade Conference title. It went 19-3 in league play and two of those losses were COVID forfeits. The Warriors were ranked in the NAIA Top 25 and finished the season at No. 19. The team wound up 28-5 and advanced to the second round of the national tournament.
Other LC State coaches nominated for awards were
Brian Orr (basketball) and Kyle Lien (golf) for Female Coach of the Year. Individual athletes nominated were Brock Ephan (baseball) and VanDyke (track) for Male Athlete of the Year and
Callie Stevens (basketball) for Female Athlete of the Year.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
