Coffey continues success in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD — Karlee Coffey continued her impressive start to the cross country season at the Cascade Conference Preview Meet in Springfield Saturday.

She recorded the sixth fastest time in EOU’s history in the 5,000-meter run with a17:58 mark. Coffey placed second out of 54 runnners.

Freshman Nancy Cardenas finished fifth in her Mountaineer debut. She recorded the 24th fastest time in EOU’s history with a 18:52 mark.

As a team, the Mountaineers nearly picked off No. 14 Concordia, finishing two points behind the Cavaliers.

On the men’s side, the Mountaineers finished first with a team score of 27. Concordia, ranked No. 6, scored 62 points with a partial squad.

“It’s hard to say who they held out of the race and why,” head coach Ben Welch said.

Freshman Kody Coxen led the Mountaineers with an eighth-place finish, and placed second among collegiate runners.

Terry Johnson, D.J. Flores, Kevin Miller, Forrest Lumpry, Devin White and Justin Dean rounded out the top seven for EOU.

The Mountaineers have this weekend off, and will return to the course Oct. 3 at the Willamette/Charles Bowles Invite in Salem.