Men's Cross Country Wisconsin Preview  |  Women's Cross Country Pre-Nats Preview

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots men's and women's cross country teams will embark on a challenging weekend, competing at three different meets including the prestigious Nuttycombe Invitational, NCAA Pre Nationals, and the Bronco Invitational.
The No.25 Portland men will compete first on Friday at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin. In just eight years, the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational has established itself as one of the nation's premier collegiate meets. The Pilots will compete in one of the meet's highlighted events, the 8-kilometer men's championship race held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The race will begin at 11:00 a.m. (PT).

"The Wisconsin meet is by far the deepest and toughest meet in the country," said men's head coach Rob Conner. "25 of the top 35 teams will be there in one race. It is essentially the first round of the NCAA playoffs. We are looking forward to the challenge."
 
Portland will compete against several other ranked teams in preparation for other crucial upcoming meets including the WCC Championships, West Regional and the Nationals. The Pilots will be led by 2016 All-WCC First team members senior Jeff Thies and junior Nick Hauger.
 
Last season, Hauger led Portland to their second place finish at the WCC Championships with his third place finish and helped the men claim second at the West Regional behind No.4 Stanford with his individual sixth place finish. Thies most recently claimed All-American honors at the 2017 NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships with his seventh place finish in the men's 1500m. The Pilot also had a strong 2016 cross country season crossing the line in eighth at conference and 15^th at the West Regional.
 
3000m Steeplechase second team All-American Noah Schutte will also compete for the Pilots on Saturday, along with Caleb Webb and Reuben Kiprono who both competed at the West Preliminaries in the 5000m this spring. Gabriel Haughey, who helped the Pilots to their first place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational last year, and Logan Orndorf who also placed 28^th at the WCC championships, will compete for the Pilots as well.

The Portland women, who are currently receiving votes in the USTFCCCA poll, will race on Saturday, Oct. 14 at NCAA Pre Nationals at 'Tom' Sawyer State Park. The Pre-National meet is a pre-cursor for the national championships, and this year's meet features numerous powerhouses that finished among the elite at the 2016 national championships. The Pilots will have seven women in the seeded race, and two women in the unseeded race.

Junior Taryn Rawlings who advanced to the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 1500m and had a strong 2016 cross country season performance will lead Portland in the seeded 6k race at 7:45 a.m. (PT). Rawlings earned All-WCC honorable mention in the 2016 season with her 13^th place finish at the WCC championship and is a returner from the Portland squad that earned their first ever bid to nationals. Fellow junior Courtney Cox will also join Rawlings in the 6k race on Saturday. Cox has also been a consistent member of the varsity squad, finishing 27^th in conference last season and also brings experience from running against top competitors at the national meet.
 
Freshman Jasmijn Lau, who finished fourth at the Dellinger Invitational a few weekends ago in her debut as a Pilot, is also part of the varsity squad, along with sophomores Aoibhe Richardson and Natalie Smith, and freshman Lacey Conner and Susan Van Weperen who all also ran at the Dellinger Invite.
 
Junior Becca Howard and sophomore Stella Gillman will also contest in Louisville in the women's 6k unseeded race at 9: 15 a.m. (PT).
 
"This is a tough meet but I'm excited to see what our group can do in this kind of situation," said women's head coach Ian Solof. 'Some of our younger runners are going to gain valuable experience, which will help us later this season and certainly next year. Training has gone well recently and many of our runners are way ahead of where they were just two weeks ago."
 
Another group of Pilots will also run at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday at Baylands Regional Park, in Sunnyvale, Calif. The group will include sophomores Tristian Peloquin, Joe Horen, Cobie Chavez-Killinger, and Sam Lomax, as well as freshman Henry Hayes and Riley Osen. Last season, Peloquin competed with Portland's varsity team at the Roy Griak Invite.
 
Live stats will be provided for the Nuttycombe Invite and NCAA Pre-Nats, and you can watch live on FloTrack.
 
 
Nuttycombe Invitational: Live Stats  I  Video
Meet Site Homepage
Madison, Wis.
Friday Oct. 13, 2017
Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course
Men's Championship 8k - 11:00 a.m. (PT).
 
Teams (35)
*Italic = ranked
No.23 Air Force
No.15 Boise State
Cal
No.11 Colorado State
No.30 Columbia
Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Michigan
Florida State
No.10 Furman
No.16 Illinois
No. 21 Indiana
No. 13 Iona
Iowa State
Kentucky
No.25 Michigan
No.17 Michigan State
Minnesota
New Mexico
North Carolina State
No.1 Northern Arizona
Penn
No. 25 Portland
Providence
Purdue
San Francisco
No.6 Southern Utah
No.4 Stanford
No.3 Syracuse
Tulsa
No.20 UCLA
UConn
No.18 Virginia
Washington
No.29 Washington State
No.28 Wisconsin
 
NCAA Pre Nationals: Live Stats I  Video
Meet Site Homepage
Louisville, Ky.
Saturday Oct. 14, 2017
Tom' Sawyer State Park
Women's Seeded 6k race - 7:45 a.m. (PT)
Women's Unseeded 6k race - 9:15 a.m. (PT)
 
Women's Teams: Seeded and Unseeded
*Italic = ranked
Abilene Christian
No.9 Arkansas
Boston U. Bowling Green
Brown
Butler
Campbell
Central Michigan
Charlotte
Clemson
Coastal Carolina
Creighton
Dayton
Delaware
Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Washington
Elon
No.25 Georgia
Gonzaga
Houston
Indiana State
Iona
Kansas
Liberty
Louisville
No.4 Michigan
No.29 Miss State
Murray State
Nevada
New Hampshire
Northern Kentucky
Northwestern
Ohio
Ohio State
No.12 Ole Miss
Portland
Rice
Richmond
SMU
South Dakota St.
Tennessee Tech
Texas
Texas Tech
Toledo
Tulane
Umass Lowell
UMKC
No.19 Utah State
UTEP
Wake Forrest
Weber State
Western Michigan
Wright State
Wyoming
 
Bronco Invitational: No Live Stats I  No Video
Meet Site Homepage
Sunnyvale, Calif.
Saturday Oct. 14, 2017
Baylands Regional Park
Men's 8k College Invitational - 8:00 a.m. (PT)