EUGENE, Ore. --- The University of Portland men’s cross country team placed an impressive second against an elite national field Friday night at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore., while the women harriers placed ninth. For the men, Junior John Moore (pictured) was the highest Pilot individual finisher, placing third overall for the eight kilometer race. Sophomore Sifrash Ademe paced the women, finishing 32nd over six kilometers.
COMPLETE MEET RESULTS
Men’s Results
The No. 7 Pilots proved they deserve their lofty national ranking, placing second behind meet host No. 15 Oregon and ahead of No. 11 BYU, No. 19 Alabama, No. 5 Texas and No. 30 American.
“We had an outstanding team effort,” head coach Rob Conner said. “I’m excited about the finish, and the guys ran great. We beat a lot of interregional competition that is expected to make nationals.”
Portland All-American John Moore (23:19.08) ran an excellent race, placing third behind BYU’s Josh Rohatinsky (22:58.37) and Oregon’s Galen Rupp (23:09.03) and ahead of All-Americans Joe Thorne of Texas (23:37.27) and Chandler Goodwin of BYU (23:41.28).
“Moore had a phenomenal race against some of the best competition in the country,” Conner said. “He’s been working really hard, and this race proves he’s made another small jump up. He’s one of the best runners in the country.”
Behind Moore, five Pilots crossed the line within 23 seconds of each other, lead by senior Chuck McKenzie (18th, 23:49.87). McKenzie was followed by junior Michael Kilburg (20th, 23:51.26), sophomore Colin Longmuir (22nd, 23:56.15), senior Matt Sheeks (26th, 24:00.71) and sophomore Justin Houck (37th, 24:12.56).
“We showed a lot of patience in this race,” Conner said. “We started relaxed and were able to move up through a thick field and finish really strong.”
Two other Pilots ran at the meet: sophomore Mike Quackenbush (57th, 24:29.30) and senior Brendan Robinson (67th, 24:38).
Oregon finished 47 points, lead by three runners in the top ten. Portland ended up with 89 points, followed by BYU with 102, Alabama with 135, Cal Poly with 144, UCLA with 163, Washington and Butler with 183, Texas with 189 and Duke rounding out the top ten with 243.
Women’s Results
The Pilot women harriers placed ninth against a difficult national field that featured three teams ranked top 10 nationally - No. 5 BYU, No. 7 Duke and No. 8 Arkansas - and No. 21 Washington, No. 28 Wake Forest and No. 29 Indiana.
“I consider that to possibly be the toughest meet in the country,” head coach Ian Solof said. “There was really tough competition and it was also really small. I feel really good about how we ran. We have room to improve, but this was a good intermediate step for us.”
Arkansas placed five runners in the top ten to win the meet with 35 points, followed by BYU (55), Wake Forest (117), Washington (119), Duke (132), Butler (158), Indiana (179) and UCLA (179). Arkansas placed five runners in the top ten en route to winning the meet, followed by BYU, Wake Forest, Washington and Duke. The Pilots finished with 231 points, ahead of in-state rival Oregon (247) and Utah State (264).
Running her first race of the season, sophomore Sifrash Ademe placed 32nd to lead Portland, finishing with a time of 21:39.62. Freshman Dana Morgan (43rd, 21:55.24) crossed the line next for the Pilots, followed by junior Bobeya Krishnek (46th, 21:58.99), freshman Natalie Hemphill (56th, 22:24.21), sophomore Janel Sislow (69th, 22:40.74) and senior Kristen Rohde (91st, 23:54.98).
“The team is just starting to come together,” Solof said. “Sifrash had an excellent race, and Natalie ran much better than she did in her last meet. Janelle did a great job stepping up and coming through with a good race as a last-minute replacement.”
Individually, BYU’s Kassi Andersen was the only runner to clock in under 20 minutes, cruising to a time of 19.54.09 to win in convincing fashion. Wake Forest’s Michelle Sikes (20:10.91) placed second, followed by Duke’s Emily McCabe (20:31.68), Arkansas’s Dani Parry (20:39.99) and BYU’s Amy Fowler (20:43.43).
Overall, Solof was pleased with the efforts and hopes that the team’s performance will merit some recognition.
“I feel like we’ve been underrated this whole season,” Solof said. “Hopefully out team will get a little more respect after this performance.”
Next Up
Both the men’s and women’s teams have two weeks off to prepare for Pre-Nationals, held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 14.
