(Portions of this story taken from the Colorado College
athletics website)
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Colorado College's Ted
Castaneda has been selected Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
(SCAC) Coach-of-the-Year for both men's and women's cross country
in exclusive voting by the head coaches in the
conference. Men's Results | Women's Results
The CC Tigers swept both the men's and women's team titles on
Saturday, November 1 at Boerne City Lake Park - just outside of San
Antonio, Texas. It was the first men's title for Colorado College
since the Tigers won three straight SCAC titles from 2009-2011. The
championship on the women's side represents the program's
first-ever SCAC cross country title.
On the men's side, senior Nick Hall became the second Colorado
College runner to win three individual conference titles as he led
the Tigers to the 2014 SCAC men's cross country team
championship.
The Tigers avenged a one-point loss to Trinity University at last
year's conference meet by placing five runners in the top 11 spots
for 30 team points, eight better than the Texas Tigers.
Hall cruised to the individual title by covering the 8k course in
26:37, 48 seconds faster than the second-place finisher Taylor
Piske of Trinity. He joins Jackson Brainerd (2009-11) as CC's only
three-time conference champions. Sophomore Ryan Bing also ran
an outstanding race, finishing third with a time of 27:48 as the
Tigers denied Trinity its third consecutive conference title.
Hall produced an outstanding race on Saturday after an up-and-down
regular season due to injuries and unforeseeable events. The
two-time reigning SCAC Runner of the Year battled a nagging injury
at the start of the campaign and his best finish of the season
prior to Saturday was 10th place at the Rust Buster
Invitational. His season also included a 78th place finish at
the CC Invitational after he stopped during the race to aid a Fort
Lewis runner who needed medical attention.
In addition, the Tigers travelled to the meet without senior Graham
Frank, consistently the team's top runner this season, who was
forced to stay home with a leg injury.
CC more than made up for Frank's absence, as sophomore Conor
Terhune and junior Tucker Hampson also posted top 10 finishes
by placing seventh (28:15) and eighth (28:18), respectively. Fellow
junior Jacob Rothman rounded out the scoring for CC with an
11th place finish in 28:28, while senior Sam
English placed 12th in 28:31 and freshman Ethan
Holland was 16th in 29:11.
The six runners that finished in the top 14, Hall, Bing, Terhune,
Hampson, Rothman and English, all earned a spot on the 2014
all-conference team.
On the women's side, led by individual champion Leah
Wessler, the Colorado College women's cross country team
captured its first-ever Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
team title. The Tigers had five runners finish in the top 10 and
scored 26 points, three better than two-time defending champion
Trinity University.
Wessler became the first individual champ from Colorado College at
the SCAC women's meet, covering the 6k course in 23:17, 36 seconds
faster than her teammate, senior Rebecca Lavietes, who finished
second in 23:53.
Runners from Trinity claimed the 3-5 positions, but Colorado
College sophomores Stefani Messick (24:25) and Katie
Sandfort (24:35) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, and
freshman Patty Atkinson ran a personal-best 24:44 for a
10th place finish to clinch the team title for CC.
In addition to the five runners that finished in the top 10,
sophomore Allie Crimmins and junior Beryl Coulter also
earned all-conference honors by finishing 12th and 13th,
respectively.
Since his programs joined the conference prior to the 2006 season,
Castaneda has been honored as SCAC Men's Cross Country
Coach-of-the-Year five times while the honor is his first for his
work with the women.
Castaneda has served as head coach of the men's cross country team
at CC since 1980 and took over as head coach for women's cross
country in 1993.