News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
All faculty, staff, students, and the public are welcome to come watch the Pilot men’s and women’s cross country teams compete live in the West Regionals from Colfax, WA, in the Pilot House on Friday, November 15. The women will run at 11:30 a.m., and the men will take off a 12:30 p.m.
For more information contact athletics at x7117 or go to portlandpilots.com.
Led by All-America individual performances from Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse, Jeff Thies, and Nick Hauger, the Portland Pilots cross country program added to its remarkable history by finishing second as a team at the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Portland entered the race ranked No. 4 nationally, but trailed only NCAA champion Northern Arizona at the finish line of the 10K race. NAU finished with 74 team points followed by Portland (127), BYU (165), Stanford (221) and Arkansas (259). It marks the second podium finish for Rob Conner’s program, which made its 18th team appearance at the national meet. Portland’s previous best was a third-place showing in 2014.
Roudolff-Levisse, a sophomore who won the NCAA West Regional last weekend, was Portland’s top individual finisher in 11th-place with a time of 29:38.90. Thies, a senior, was on his heels in 14th-place, while the junior Hauger closed hard to come in 26th place overall. The trio joins 15 other Pilots to earn NCAA Cross Country All-America honors. It is the first time in program history that three Pilots have earned All-America status in the same year.
The runner-up finish caps a phenomenal cross country season that featured Portland starting the season ranked outside of the top 20, placing second at the prestigious Nuttycombe Invitational, earning its highest in-season national ranking (No. 3) ever, and claiming the second NCAA West Regional title (1993). Conner, the five-time West Region Coach of the Year, has been at the helm of Portland for 28 years and has now has guided the Pilots to eight Top 10 finishes at nationals.
Congratulations to both the Pilots men’s and women’s cross country teams for being selected to compete in the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. The No. 12 men placed 2nd in the WCC Championships this year, while the No. 10 women took both the individual and team title. This is the men’s 14th and the women’s first ever championship appearance.
You can watch the NCAA XC Championships live on http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule. For more information contact athletics at x7117 or go to www.portlandpilots.com.
Pilots cross-country coach RobConner has been named the Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the West Region, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Tuesday, November 20. Conner, who was named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year earlier this season, has coached a young Portland squad to a No. 9 ranking this season entering the NCAA National Championships over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.