It was a great day in Corvallis, Ore. on Sat., Oct. 25 for the University of Portland cross country teams. The women’s team finished in first place of the 8-team Beaver Classic. The Pilots ran their ‘B’ squad and were led by sophomore Kelsey Metcalfe. Metcalfe covered the 6k race at Avery Park in a time of 22:31, good for seventh place overall. The fourth annual Beaver Classic Cross Country Meet featured a record turnout as more than 70 runners competed in both the women’s and men’s races. The Oregon State University cross country club team hosted the event.

The Portland women finished on top of the field with 39 points. The Oregon Institute of Technology squad finished in second place with 64 points. Jill Mestler, running as an independent, won the overall individual title by running the course in 22:04.

Two other Pilot runners joined Metcalfe in the top-ten. Freshman Piper Woodruff finished in eighth place (22:45), sophomore Elise Sabin finished in ninth (22:46) and freshman Emily Klee finished just out of the top-ten in 11th place (23:02). Pilot senior Sara Sunborg finished 14th (23:19.2), sophomore Michelle Pierce came in 15th (23:19.9), freshman Ariel Woodruff was 16th (23:26), senior China Metzen came in 18th place (23:41) and Kaci Briggeman finished in 33rd place (24:31) to round out the field for Portland.

"I thought the team ran great," women's head coach Ian Solof said. "Kelsey Metcalfe took ninety seconds off her time from the previous week and Elise Sabin and Sara Sundborg both had their best races of the season. It was one of our best overall team performances so far."

The Pilot men took home the top four spots of the men’s race but ran unattached meaning their scores did not count as team scores. Portland freshmen Andy Gorder, John Moore, John Hoeck and Michael Kilburg all covered the 8k course in 25:25 to finish on top of the field. Other Pilot runners who ran unattatched were freshmen Nate Appell who came in ninth place (25:57), John Zimmer who came in 10th (25:58), Steven Ault finished 15th (26:05), Sean Wilson 16th (26:11) and J.T. Lehman who finished in 31st place (27:28).

Pilot junior Brian Murphy (25:59) and red-shirt freshman Bill Madden (27:06) represented UP and finished in 11th place and 27th place, respectively. Willamette University took home the team title.

UP NEXT: Both the Portland men and women will compete at the W.C.C Championships in San Francisco, Calif. on Nov. 1.