Salem, Ore.- The sun was shining and the weather was a calm 80 degrees at Bush Park in Salem, Ore. for the Willamette Invitational, one of the Northwest’s biggest and most competitive cross country meets.

The Pilot men’s ‘B’ team recorded a seventh place finish in the Division I and open race with 229 points. West Region rivals Washington ran their ‘B’ team as well, and WCC rival Gonzaga, who ran their full team finished just ahead of Portland in fifth and six place, respectively. UC Davis took home the overall win with 77 points, and Paul Kezes won the race with a time of 23:58.

Portland’s top finisher was Trevor Coolidge in 37th place with a time of 25:08, followed closely by Chris Olinger in 39th place with a time of 25:10 on the 8K course. The rest of Portland’s top-seven finishers included: Steven Ault in 49th place, 25:36, Matt Perez in 50th place, 25:37, Andy Gorder in 54th place, 25:40, Nate Appel in 57th place, 25:44 and Sean Wilson in 60th place, 25:49. Five Pilot finishers were all within 15 seconds of each other, showing how deep they really are as a team.

“Overall we did a nice job,” said men’s head coach Rob Conner. “Most of the guys we ran today were either freshman of sophomores and they are all working hard to improve. Trevor Coolidge and Chris Olinger showed that they are both about a month away from helping us out.”

The women’s ‘B’ team finished 11th overall in the field of 18 teams in the Division I and open race. Idaho was the overall winner with an impressive score of 26 points.

On the women’s side, redshirt Ashlee Vincent who ran unattached, finished in second place overall with a time of 17:07 on the 5K course, directly behind overall champion Mary Kamau of Idaho in 17:06. Top finishers for the Pilots were Piper Woodruff in 49th place, 18:44, Rachel Berchtold in 53rd place, 18:49, Danielle Friend in 58th place, 18:54, Julie Devlin in 8th place, 19:09, Stephene Gaitan and Lih Kuhlman in 98th and 99th place both in 19:38 on the 5K course.

“I thought it was a very solid performance for our ‘B’ team, especially given the hot conditions,” said women’s head coach Ian Solof. “We had a few people run outstanding races, including Ashlee Vincent, who is redshirting the season. Piper Woodruff and Danielle Friend also really impressed me today.”

UP NEXT: The Portland men’s ‘A’ team will compete in the Auburn Invitational in Auburn, Ala. on Oct. 11 at 9:30 a.m. They will racing against some of the most competitive teams from around the nation. The Pilot women will travel down to San Diego on Oct. 9 to compete in the Triton classic at 8:30 a.m. Portland’s ‘A’ team will have some tough conference competition and a chance to show who they can compete with this season.