Portland reclaimed the women’s title this year, with four runners in the top ten, finishing with a total of 39 points. This is the sixth time in seven years that the Pilots have won the WCC Women’s Cross Country title. The race for second was only separated by four points as Santa Clara finished second with a score of 60, followed closely by San Diego with 64. Pepperdine came in fourth with total of 114 points, followed by Gonzaga (129), LMU (149), San Francisco (184), and Saint Mary’s (190).

“I thought our girls ran really well and handled the pressure of the conference meet with composure,” said Coach Ian Solof.

After a second place finish last year, Allegra Porter of Saint Mary’s won the women’s race with a time of 17:42. Coming in second was Santa Clara’s Kim Bates with a time of 18:05. Junior Nicole Ricci of Portland, the 2000 WCC individual champion, finished third with a time of 18:18, while fellow Pilot Alison Smith finished fourth with a time of 18:26. Kim Croswell of San Diego finished fifth with a time of 18:46.

“Our top two (Nicole Ricci and Alison Smith) ran a great race and Kathy Rice made huge improvements since her last few races,” said Solof. “She (Rice) moved up from our fifth or sixth runner to our No. 3 runner. We’re looking forward to regionals in two weeks.”

The WCC Freshman of the Year for the women was Jen Dowthit from San Diego. Dowthit finished sixth with a time of 18:51. The 2002 WCC Women’s Cross Country Co-Coaches of the Year were Ian Solof of Portland and San Diego’s Rich Cota.

Men’s Race

Portland continued their dominance at Crystal Springs, placing five runners in the top six, as they won the men’s WCC Cross Country Championship with a score of 18. This is the 24th consecutive time that the Pilots have taken home the title, which is the longest championship streak in WCC history. Santa Clara was the second place finisher with a score of 48. San Diego finished third with 79, followed by Pepperdine (127), Gonzaga (131), LMU (154), San Francisco (170), and Saint Mary’s (212).

“We took it one mile at a time, which is what we wanted to do,” said Head Coach Rob Conner. “Our objective was to win and we did that. Now we’ll set our sights on the regionals. The whole season has been geared towards regionals and we are very excited about it.”

Jeff Driscoll of Portland won the men’s race with a time of 24:54. Driscoll was one second off of the WCC Championship course record that was set by his brother, Joe, in 2000. This was the 11th different Portland runner to win the WCC Championship in 11 years. Trevor Coolidge of Portland came in second with a time of 25:06. San Diego’s Antonio Lopez finished third with a time of 25:26, followed by Kevin Smith of Portland with a time of 25:45. Rounding out the top five was Portland’s Joey Hord, who finished with a time of 25:57.

“Jeff missed the meet record by one second and that is very impressive considering he has been sick much of the season,” said Conner. “I’m glad to see he’s running in top form.”

WCC Freshman of the Year honors went to Coolidge of Portland, while WCC Men’s Coach of the Year went to Pilots Head Coach Rob Conner.

“Trevor’s (Coolidge) 25:06 is the sixth-fastest time on the course and that is encouraging to see a freshman run that type of a race,” said Conner.

Full results follow.