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Conference Champs Student-athletes on the men’s outdoor track and field team were determined to bring home a conference championship in 2018. “They told me, ‘Coach, we’re not competing for it, we’re going to win it,’” Welch said.
The men’s team reclaimed the Cascade Collegiate Conference title for the first time since 2015. Ranked third and expected to lose by 40 points, the Mountaineers won by an even larger margin.
Matt Kirkendall closed his collegiate career as conference champion in the 400-meter and 110-meter hurdles, breaking EOU’s oldest standing record (set in 1962 by Lou Thorn). Nic Maszk won the 5,000-meter race and placed third in the steeplechase, later coming in second at nationals. He was named the CCC Men’s Athlete of the Year.
“When you get a group that really buys into it that’s what makes this happen,” Welch said. “It’s not just that they didn’t want to be second or third — they were flat-out unwilling to be.”
Regional Champ EOU’s track and field program has competed at nationals for more than 30 years, and Ben Welch has been coaching at EOU for 27. Welch said he consistently works with about 80 student-athletes.
“It’s a lot of work, but the student-athletes make it worth it,” he said.
His hard work was rewarded this year when his fellow NAIA coaches from the West Region voted him Men’s Coach of the Year for both indoor and outdoor track. The award followed his selection as CCC Men’s Track and Field Coach of the Year.
“It’s a testament to having good help from assistant coaches and having good athletes,” Welch said.
National Champ Several standout student-athletes set the bar for their peers, Welch said. This year, Rachel Roelle, ’18, was one of them. She’s the NAIA’s reigning national champion in women’s steeplechase and was named CCC Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
“When you have people like that it shows the rest of them it can be done,” Welch said.
In 2018, the Mountaineers took 11 men and six women to the outdoor national championship. The men’s 4×800 relay placed second, and the men’s team landed at No. 15 in the nation.
Steeplechase Success with Rachel Roelle The 3,000-meter race takes athletes around the track 7.5 times, encountering five hurdles and a water pit in each lap. Roelle called the event chaotic and unpredictable — one missed hurdle or an inefficient exit from the water pit can change everything.
“There are so many variables in it,” she said. “The only time I did everything right was in the championship.”
Here are her tips for coming out on top:
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