Matt Sheeks

SEASIDE, Ore. --- A team of University of Portland alumni runners won the 2007 Hood to Coast Male Open Division relay race, concluded on Saturday. The team of Pilots posted a time of 17:14:05, besting Brooks Sports (Seattle) by nearly 11 minutes.

The UP alumni team finished second overall among the 1,000 teams entered, trailing only Bowerman AC (Portland), a team of Nike elite runners, by less than eight minutes.

“It was a fantastic experience,” long-time Portland men’s cross country coach Rob Conner said. “The guys had a great time racing for the Pilots once again. (Mike) Little traveled from Minneapolis, (Steven) Ault and (Michael) Haugen came up from Utah, (Eric) Kiauka traveled from Victoria, B.C., Chuck (McKenzie) came back from Colorado and (Brett) Carter came up from Stanford. It was great to see everyone. Joey Hord, who works in finance at Nike, put together the team. He has already begun plotting out next year’s team. Uli Steidl couldn’t run this year because he was at the World Championships and Joe Driscoll is busy training for the Olympic Trials Marathon. Since (John) Moore and (Michael) Kilburg graduate this year, the team could really be awesome next year!”

The Hood to Coast Relay stretches 197 miles from Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to the pacific shore at Seaside, Oregon. Over 12,000 runners and 4,800 participated in the 26th annual edition of this epic running relay. For complete race results, click here.

Portland Alumni Roster

Steven Ault ‘07

Brett Carter ‘06

Jeff Driscoll ‘03

Michael Haugen ‘07

Joey Hord ‘01

Eric Kiauka ‘02

Mike Little ‘99

Chuck McKenzie ‘07

Chris Olinger ‘06

Matt Sheeks ‘07