PORTLAND- Portland opened its 2004 cross country season, hosting the Pier Park Invitational on Friday, Sept. 10. Several top teams from around the Northwest competed in the meet. Pier Park was host to a 4 mile course for the men, and a 5k course for the women. It was a calm and mild 75 degrees, assisting in Portland’s success on the course today.

The Pilot men raced their ‘B’ squad and notched a first-place showing with 19 points over in-state rival Oregon (also raced their ‘B’ squad) with 42 points. Saint Mary’s defeated the Oregon ‘B’ squad, 28-29. Portland State’s ‘B’ team defeated Oregon’s 'B,' 22-35 and Saint Mary’s, 20-35. The Pilots' ‘B’ squad also claimed victory over Saint Mary’s, 17-46 and the Portland State ‘B’ team, 16-43 in the dual scoring.

The Portland women also raced their ‘B’ squad and defeated Oregon State (OSU's 2004 team is the first NCAA intercollegiate team since 1987) 23-35, and defeated Saint Mary’s with a perfect score of 15 to 50. The Pilots also inched out Portland State, 26-29, but lost to Oregon, 18-43. Western Oregon University and Clark Community College also raced today, but did not factor into the scoring with Portland, Oregon, Oregon State, Saint Mary’s and Portland State.

Claiming his second win at the Pier Park Invite, Portland’s Brendan Robinson finished the four mile course in first (20:32), just ahead of Oregon’s JK Withers (20:38) and fellow Pilots Brett Carter (20:46) and Matt Perez (20:51).

“Robinson ran a very controlled race and finished strong,” said head men’s coach Rob Conner. “He is now a two-time Pier Park champion. That is pretty cool.”

Other Portland finishers included Nate Appel (sixth, 20:59), Steven Ault (eight, 21:12), JT Lehman (13th, 21:34), Sean Wilson (14th, 21:40), Josh Singsaas (15th, 21:41), Scott Knacksteadt (16th, 21:41), Mike Haugen (21st, 22:17) and Brandon Wedam (28th, 23:16),

“Carter and Perez both ran faster than they did last year," said Conner. "They have each had a great summer and have been working hard. I was also impressed with Appel and Ault, and they are making nice progress. Overall the team did a great job. We wanted to win the meet and the guys got it done. We are off to a great start.”

For the women, Oregon’s Laura Harman took the overall title in a time of 18:10, while freshman Allison Ritchie was the Pilots' number one runner, finishing fourth place in 18:55. One other Portland runner got into the top ten. Annette Mosey finished tenth place overall with a time of 19:38.

“I thought it was an excellent start to our season.” said head women’s coach Ian Solof. “I tried to downplay this meet, so we held out eight athletes. This meet was an opportunity for our younger people to gauge their fitness and get some experience and also a chance for some of our older people to get back into the rhythm of racing a 5k. Overall, I was very pleased with our performances and am looking forward to next weekend, when we will run a full varsity squad.”

Other Pilot finishers included Whitney Niemcziek (16th, 20:07), Piper Woodruff (17th, 20:16), Danielle Friend (19th, 20:21), Lih Kuhlman (24th, 20:36), Leanne Iams (27th, 20:56), Stephene Gaitan (31st, 21:04) and Sarah Payne (49th, 23:23).

UP NEXT: The Pilot men’s team is off next weekend, while the women’s squad head to the Sundodger Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 18, in Seattle, Wash.

2004 Pier Park Invitational, Portland, Oregon

FINAL RESULTS (DUAL SCORES)

Men’s Team Results - Portland 'B' 19, Oregon 'B' 42. SMC 28, Oregon ‘B’ 29. Portland State ‘B’ 22, Oregon ‘B’ 35. Portland ‘B’ 17, SMC 46. Portland ‘B’ 16, Portland State ‘B’ 43. Portland State ‘B’ 20, SMC 35.

4 Mile Race

Men’s Individual Results - 1, B. Robinson, UP, 20:32; 2, JK Witners, UO, 20:38; 3, B. Carter, UP, 20:46; 4, M. Perez, UP, 20:51; 5, A. Parsel, SMC, 20:55; 6, N. Appel, UP, 20:59; 7, V. Alvarez, PSU, 21:05; 8, S. Ault, UP, 21:12; 9, B. Lopez, PSU, 21:17; 10, E. Barrons, WOU, 21:23, 11, E. Garich, PSU, 21:27; 12, P. Swick, UO, 21:29; 13, JT Lehman, UP, 21:34; 14, S. Wilson, UP, 21:40; 15. J. Sass, UP, 21:41; 16, S. Knacksteadt, UP, 21:41; 17, B. Brolin, Unatt., 21:47, 18, C. Wells, Unatt., 21:50; 19, E. Blanshan, PSU, 22:08; 20, N. Crawford, WOU, 22:15; 21, M. Haugen, UP, 22:17; 22, D. Valdez, PSU, 22:27; 23, J. Mantalas, WOU, 22:31; 24, J. Dewolf, UO, 22:31, 25, C. Powers, SMC, 22:54; 26, S. Hanley, SMC, 23:00; 27, C. Mueller, Clark, 23:13; 28, B. Wedam, UP, 23:16; 29, T.Johnson, Clark, 23:24; 30, C. Chadd, SMC, 23:34; 31, R. Willett, SMC, 23:36; 32, S. Walsh, WOU, 23:41; 33, N. Boyer, PSU, 23:55; 34, T. Banker, WOU, 23:55; 35, B. Bird, Clark, 24:05; 36, C. Greenleaf, Clark, 24:14; 37, P. Mathieu, SMC, 24:32; 38, A. Bernot, Unatt., 25:09; 39, R. Dotts, UO, 26:34; 40, R. Flaherty, UO, 26:34; 41, J. Yredenburg, WOU, 26:35; 42, M. Martinson, Clark, 27:59; 43, T. Reynolds, Clark, 31:48.

5000 Meter Race

Women’s Team Results – Portland ‘B’ 26, Portland State 29. Portland State 15, SMC 45. Oregon State 15, SMC 46. Oregon 18, Portland ‘B’ 43. Oregon 19, Portland State 41. Oregon 18, OSU 44. Portland ‘B’ 23, Oregon State 35. Portland State 23, Oregon State 32. Portland ‘B’ 15, SMC 50. Oregon 15, SMC 50.

Women’s Individual Results - 1, L. Harmon, UO, 18:10; 2, K. Leary, UO, 18:25; 3, A. Younce, OSU, 18:42; 4, A. Ritchie, UP, 18:55; 5, H. Khalsa, UO, 19:04; 6, B. Krishnek, PSU, 19:05; 7, A. Kamm, PSU, 19:17; 8, S. Pearson, UO, 19:25; 9, H. Fitz-Gustafson, UO, 19:31; 10, A. Mosey, UP, 19:38; 11, B. Anderson-Gregg, UO, 19:43; 12, S. Bielenburg, PSU, 19:46; 13, M. Fitz-Gustafson, UO, 19:56; 14, L. Denfeld, OSU, 20:02; 15, J. Devlin, Unatt., 20:03; 16, W. Niemczick, UP, 20:07; 17, P. Woodruff, UP, 20:16; 18, K. Harwood, Unatt., 20:20; 19, D. Friend, UP, 20:21; 20, A. Kawasaki, PSU, 20:23; 21, M. Brebiesea, Clark, 20:24; 22, M. Wilson, OSU, 20:25; 23, T. Stephanson, PSU, 20:30; 24, L. Kuhlman, UP, 20:36; 25, L. Roberton, OSU, 20:37; 26, K. Dye, Clark, 20:54; 27, L. Iams, UP, 20:56; 28, N. Harer, OSU, 20:58; 29, M. Kuntz, Unatt., 21:01; 30, H. Cotterill, PSU, 21:03; 31, S. Gaitan, UP, 21:04; 32, E. Bocanegra, SMC, 21:17; 33, E. Bocanegra, SMC, 21:18; 34, S. Fischer, OSU, 21:29; 35, H. Wales, Unatt., 21:36; 36, M. Aker, OSU, 21:43, 37, D. Quamm, Unatt., 21:44; 38, J. Fuller, OSU, 21:46; 39, J. Thompson, SMC, 21:54; 40, S. Driskell, SMC, 22:01; 41, M. Peterson, SMC, 22:03; 42, T. Stirewalt, OSU, 22:04; 43, R. Horn, WOU, 22:07; 44, B. Mercer, Clark, 22:11; 45, A. Kimmey, SMC, 22:26; 46, K. Hurst, SMC, 22:41; 47, A. Schroeder, OSU, 22:56; 48, L. Newman, Clark, 23:20; 49, S. Payne, UP, 23:23; 50, A. Perletti, Unatt., 23:49; 51, K. Schwing, OSU, 24:30; 52, H. Lowe, Unatt., 24:30; 53, C. Glenn, Unatt., 26:32; 54, S. Becker, Clark, 26:43.