Friday's Video I Monday I Tuesday I Wednesday I Thursday I Honorable Mention

With the summer in full swing and the fall sports season quickly approaching, we thought it would be the perfect time to look back at some of the most memorable moments from past year for University of Portland Athletics. The historic year featured Pilots excelling in competition, in the classroom and in the community. Many Portland alums recorded monumental accomplishments as well.

Last week we featured a number of honorable mention moments, deserving of recognition. This week we are releasing the Top 30 overall moments from the year, with six per day highlighted.
 
The final highlights recap a record-breaking track and field season, Rob Conner and men's cross country earning more impressive hardware, Portland naming its student-athletes of the year, and more remarkable academic success for the department.

Feel free to reach out to us on social media to share some of your favorite moments, or you can also let us know if we missed anything, as 2017-18 was truly a great year to be a Pilot. Thank you for your support this year and beyond!
 
Friday's Top University of Portland Athletics Moments of 2017-18
Chronologically listed accomplishments (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Honorable Mention)

June 6-9: Track and Field had a historic season as a program-record five student-athletes earned All-America honors at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Junior Taryn Rawlings (1,500) and freshman Riley Osen (Steeplechase) led the way with First Team All-America honors. Senior Matt Welch, sophomore Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse, and junior Lauren LaRocco each earned honorable mention in the men's and women's 10,000-meter race. This marked LaRocco's fifth All-America honor of her career.

June 8: Freshman Riley Osen earned First Team All-America honors after an eighth-place finish in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase at NCAA Track and Field Championships. Osen was the last qualifier in each preliminary event leading up to the final, and then finished strong in the finals to get Portland on the podium.  


June 9: Junior Taryn Rawlings earned the first All-America honor of her career, finishing sixth in the 1500-meter run at the 2018 NCAA Track and Field Championships. Rawlings' showing at the NCAA's capped an impressive spring that saw the junior break the UP program record in the outdoor 1500m three times.


June 20: After a historic fall cross country season highlighted by a runner-up finish at the 2017 NCAA Championships, Rob Conner and the Portland men's cross country team were honored at the Oregon Sports Awards. Conner was a co-recipient of the Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year award, while the men's cross country team was awarded the George Pasero Team of the Year. Conner is the second coach in Pilot history to receive the award, joining Clive Charles who received the award in 1995 and 2002. It marked the first time a Portland squad earned the team of the year award, which was established in 2007.


June 26: Senior men's tennis player Michail Pervolarakis and junior women's cross country and track runner Taryn Rawlings were named the University of Portland's 2017-18 Fr. Chester Prusynski Student-Athletes of the Year. Pervolarakis seized his second straight Father Pru Award, while Rawlings made it four straight years that a women's distance runner earned the award. Pervolarakis concluded his career as the most decorated men's tennis player in modern program history, while Rawlings earned cross country all-region honors in the fall to qualify for NCAA's and then earned All-America accolades on the track.















2017-18: It was another successful year in the classroom for the Pilots, who combined for a department-wide cumulative GPA of 3.245. Nearly 74 percent of all student-athletes had a 3.0 GPA or better, 39 Pilots posted a 4.0, and there were 205 selections to the Dean's List. The Pilots also placed a combined 36 student-athletes on the WCC's All-Academic Teams, and a remarkable 22 Pilots earned MPSF All-Academic honors for track and field. Portland also had excellent NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores, men's tennis and beach volleyball earned public recognition awards, and men's cross country was named the Division I Scholar Team of the Year.