TEAM TITLE: The Mountaineer men's track and field team celebrates with its first-place team trophy. Eastern Oregon University won the final event Saturday, the 1,600-meter relay, to finish tied with Concordia University with 180 team points. (The Observer/PAUL FREELEND).

– Paul Freelend

– The Observer

Two days and 21 events weren’t enough to give the Cascade Collegiate Conference a clear winner.

Eastern Oregon University’s men pulled out a win in the last event Saturday to take a share of the team title. EOU won the 1,600-meter relay, putting enough distance between itself and Concordia University to finish even on 180 team points.

Mountaineer coach Ben Welch said his side needed every point from the weekend.

"That was a classic finish," Welch said. "That’s one of the things that makes a 4-by-4 relay such a heart and soul part of a team. We had some rough breaks and people stumbled, but they came back to do well."

EOU went into the day with a 32-point lead over the Cavaliers. That lead shrunk to three points after the shot put, though, leaving the hosts and Concordia to duel for the crown in the 5,000-meter run and 1,600 relay.

Troy Blackburn played hero for the Mountaineer men, casting aside his No. 14 seed to take fifth and give EOU four valuable team points.

Blackburn said he knew how important those points were.

"I just wanted to get out and be in scoring position," Blackburn said. "Concordia was right behind us, and they got quite a few points in that race. I’m glad I was able to break them up a bit and score some points for us. We weren’t supposed to get any points in the race, so I’m happy."

Marcella Bosch led the EOU women, who took second place behind Concordia. Bosch won the 800- and 1,500-meter runs as she was named women’s athlete of the meet.

Bosch, who won the 800 out of the slow heat, said running the 800 was just for the team.

"It’s not a usual race for me," Bosch said. "I only ran it for points. I got second last year, but I wasn’t expecting to win it. I just wanted to run well and it happened. I’ll keep running those races, but I consider myself a 5K runner."

Trisha Harshberger also took home gold for the women, winning the hammer throw with a mark of 145 feet 8 inches.

EOU will take a week to recover from its exertions before sendings its NAIA national meet qualifiers to Fresno Pacific University.

At La Grande

Cascade Collegiate Conference meet

Men

Team scores

EOU 180, Concordia 180, Oregon Tech 146.5, Southern Oregon 124, Albertson 47, Northwest 46, Warner Pacific 37, Cascade 29.5, Evergreen State 7

EOU results (top eight)

100-meter dash: 2 (tie). Adam Miller, Chris Hoppie, 11.16; 5. Nathan Sch midt, 11.32. 200-meter dash: 2. Matt Lane, 22.35; 5. Schmidt, 23.09. 400-meter dash: 2. Lane, 49.10; 8. John Aguirre, 51.40. 800-meter run: 5. Adam Goulet, 1:54.45; 8. Zach Heath, 1:58.39. 1,500-meter run: 5. Heath, 4:02.91. 3,000-meter steeplechase: 3. Troy Blackburn, 9:42.82; 5. Cam Starner, 10:09.91. 5,000-meter run: 5. Blackburn, 16:05.22. 10,000-meter run: 4. Josh Ego, 33:55.73. 110-meter hurdles: 1. Chris Hoppie, 15.10; 3. Lucas Ohmes, 16.10. 400-meter hurdles: 4. Miller, 55.78; 5. Ryan Browne, 56.72. 400-meter relay: 1. EOU (Schmidt, Lane, Ohmes, Miller), 42.59. 1,600-meter relay: 1. EOU (Lane, Browne, Hoppie, Miller), 3:22.60. High jump: 6. Hoppie, 6-1.25. Long jump: 1. Hoppie, 22-5; 4. Ohmes, 20-7.75. Discus: 1. Mitch Wheelhouse, 149-6; 4. Jason Dunten, 133-10; 6. Josh Ross, 126-5. Hammer throw: 3. Wheelhouse, 161-5; 4. Dunten, 157-3; 6. Travis Millsap, 138-0; 7. Ross, 127-1. Javelin: 4. Ohmes, 181-11; 5. Lucas Bailey, 178-8. Shot put: 3. Wheelhouse, 48-0.5; 5. Ross, 44-2.5; 8. Dunten, 40-7.

Decathlon standings

Roy Adams, WP, 5,876; Mykeelo McMurry, Conc., 5,295; 3. Jeff Hadley, OIT, 5,221; 4. Caleb Kowalko, WP, 4,528; Matt Schubert, OIT, 3,894; Chris Alex, Conc., 3,703.

Women

Team scores

Concordia 214.5, EOU 128.5, Southern Oregon 92, Albertson 60, Northwest 52, Warner Pacific 32, Corban 26, Evergreen State 12, Cascade 2

EOU results (top eight)

100: 4. Danielle Reiss, 12.68. 200: 5. Danielle Murphy, 26.28; 7. Reiss, 26.61. 400: 3. Grace DeBoodt, 1:00.30; 7. Murphy, 1:01.32. 800: 1. Marcella Bosch, 2:16.85. 1,500: 1. Bosch, 4:44.29. 3,000 steeplechase: 2. Laura Clayton, 12:14.16. 10,000: 6. Katie Clapp, 41:28.02; 8. Marika Dobos, 45:10.95. 100-meter hurdles: 3. Kasie Gillespie, 15.74; 4. Chelsee Harmon, 16.08. 400 hurdles: 4. Harmon, 1:07.80. 400 relay: 3. EOU (Reiss, Gillespie, Murphy, Harmon), 49.31. 1,600 relay: 2. EOU (Reiss, DeBoodt, Gillespie, Murphy), 3:57.93. High jump: 4. Gillespie, 5-0.5. Pole vault: 2. Cayla Weissert, 10-11; 3. Tennly Paul-Bowden, 10-7. Long jump: 2. Gillespie, 17-4.75; 7. Alexa Loscutoff, 14-11.25. Triple jump: 5. Loscutoff, 32-4.75. Discus: 3. Tiffanie Ulmer, 125-0; 5. Trisha Harshberger, 122-10; 6. Bethany Bortz, 114-3. Hammer throw: 1. Harshberger, 145-8; 2. Lacy Coble, 139-10; 5. Bortz, 123-10. Javelin: 4. DeBoodt, 135-11; 7. Ulmer, 116-11. Shot put: 3. Ulmer, 37-1.75; 8. Mary Beth Nash, 33-11.25.

Heptathlon standings

Katie Campbell, N, 3,404 pts.; Sarah Peoples, N, 3,266; Kaela Ash, OIT, 3,035; Erin Ontko, EOU, 2,716; Theresa Banful, Conc., 2,529; Carla Hoppie, EOU, 2,318.