No. 9 Pilots Head to NCAA Cross Country Championships
 
Championship Central I Complete Release
 
No. 9 Men’s Overview
• The Pilots conclude the 2012 schedule at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky.
• The men’s 10k is scheduled to start at 10:15 am (PST)
• Portland claimed an automatic bid to the championships with a second place finish at the NCAA West Regionals last weekend in Seattle, Wash.
• Scott Fauble (29:54), David Perry (29:58), and Lars Erik Malde (30:10) follwed up their All-WCC performances with All-Region honors.
• Freshman Jacob Smith earned WCC Freshman of the Year honors with a 20th place finish at the WCC Championships.
• Malde earned a spot on the WCC All-Academic team for the third consecutive season as five other Pilots received honorable mention.
 
NCAA Performance
• This is Portland’s eighth straight NCAA Championship appearance and 14th overall.
• The Pilots had two All-Americans on last year’s squad that placed eighth, the second highest finish in school history.
• Portland has finished in the Top 20 in each of the last seven seasons, finishing as high as 7th (2008, 2001).
• 10 All-Americans have represented the Pilots over the years.
• Fauble, Perry, Malde, and Woody Kincaid helped Portland to its 8th place finish last season.
• The quartet will lead the Pilots this weekend.
 
 
Women’s Overview
• The women’s season is over following an eighth place finish at the NCAA West Regionals last weekend.
• Tansey Lystad (20:23) just missed All-Region honors with a 29th place finish.
• Portland’s other six runners finished within one minute of each other for the team’s closest finish in program history.
• Laura Hottenrott-Freitag and Lystad earned a spot on the All-WCC Team as Lyndy Davis, Gina Paletta, and Natasha Verma earned Honorable Mention.
• Sophomore Maddie Hibshman and junior Merel van Steenbergen both earned spots on this year’s WCC All-Academic team.
• 10 other Pilots received honorable mention, giving the program the second highest total in the conference behind Santa Clara (14)
 
WCC Preseason Poll
• Portland finished third at the 2011 WCC Championships and are picked to finish third again in 2012.
• Portland had three runners on the Preseason All-WCC Team as Kellie Houser, Marit Tegelaar, and Merel van Steenbergen received recognition.
• Tegelaar and van Steenbergen each finished in the top 10 to earn All-WCC First Team honors in 2011. Houser finished 11th to receive Honorable Mention.