Courtney Klatt and Jakob Kintzele Running

Men's Cross Country 11/10/2022 11:00:00 AM

Pilots Prepare for NCAA West Regional Championships

Event: NCAA West Regional Championships
Host: University of Washington
Date: Friday, Nov. 11, 2022
Location: University Place, Wash.
Live Results: portlandpilots.com

Schedule of Events:
Women's 6K: 10:00 a.m.
Men's 10K: 11:00 a.m.

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots will hit the road to compete in the NCAA Western Regional Championships at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, Wash. The women's 6K race will take place at 10:00 a.m. while the men's 10K race will be at 11:00 a.m.
• Both the men and women's races will be made up of the top-7 runners from each of the 35 women's and 29 men's teams in the Western Region.
• The women will continue racing the 6k distance, as they've done all season. The men will make the jump from the 8k distance to the 10k for the first time this season.
• The top female finisher for the Pilots last year was Anna Pataki (13th), while the top male finisher was Zak Kirk (tenth).

THIS SEASON
• The Pilots competed in and hosted the WCC championships at Fernhill Park in Portland, Ore. Both the men and the women finished third overall. The women were led by Laura Pellicoro's second place finish, while the men were led by Bradley Peloquin who placed 10th overall.
• The Pilot women were led to their third place finish by scorers Laura Pellicoro (second), Courtney Klatt (10th), Mie Nielsen (23rd), Claire Fagan (24th) and Sam Prusse (27th).
• The Pilot men's third place finish was secured by their five scorers Bradley Peloquin (10th), Matt Strangio (13th), Zak Kirk (16th), Jakob Kintzele (19th) and Ahmed Sado (22nd).
• For the first time in their careers, Laura Pellicoro, Bradley Peloquin and Courtney Klatt earned First Team All-WCC honors.
• Matt Strangio earned Second Team All-WCC honors for the first time in his career.
• Nolan Hosbein was awarded WCC Freshman of the Year for his 26th place finish.
• The Pilots competed at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational where the men finished 11th and the women finished 33rd. The men beat several ranked teams including No. 9 Syracuse, No. 10 North Carolina, and No.11 Iowa State. Matt Strangio led the Pilots finishing 38th. Jakob Kintzele made his Pilot debut to finish third for the Pilots. The women were led by Laura Pellicoro who finished 32nd overall.
• The Pilots raced at the Lewis & Clark Invitational where the men won the meet. The men were led by Daniel Racle who finished second overall. The women finished ninth overall in the meet and were led by Lauren Block who finished 27th overall.
• The Pilots raced at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational hosted by University of Willamette. The Pilot men finished first overall, and the Pilot women finished fourth overall.
• The men were led by Chris Anderson who finished in sixth, followed by Cohen Williams, Eiliason Kabasenche, Leo Donlea, and Justin Hazell to round out the winning team's top-five.
• The Pilot women were led by Teresa Perez who finished fourth overall, finishing in a PR 5K mark.
• The Pilots competed at the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by University of Oregon. The Pilot men finished second overall, while the Pilot women finished fifth overall.
• Laura Pellicoro was named WCC Runner of the Week for her second place finish in a 6k PR time of 19:58.3.
• The Pilot men raced at the Ash Creek Invitational hosted by Western Oregon. Justin Hazell was Portland's top finisher, finishing second. • Hazell was named WCC Runner of the Week for his team leading efforts.
• Hazell was followed closely by Cohen Williams (fourth), Brady Martisus (eighth), Kevin Williams (ninth) and Kai Vickers (15th) to round out the Pilot's scoring five. The Pilots finished second overall with 38 points.
• The Pilot men started off with a strong finish in their first outing of the 2022 season, winning the Viking Rust Buster 19 points led by Henry Mong. The remaining scorers were Daniel Rackle (third), Leo Donlea (fifth), Eliason Kabasenche (sixth) and Justin Hazell (seventh).
• The Pilot women opened their season with a third place finish (51 points) this season, led by Abby Lawrence who finished second. Their scoring five were rounded out by Courtney Klatt (third), Teresa Perez (15th), Lauren Block (24th), and Tiahna Woodger (27th).
• The Portland men return five of their top seven runners who competed at last year's NCAA Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Fla.: redshirt sophomores Bradley Peloquin and Jonas Gertsen, as well as redshirt seniors Zak Kirk, Cathal Doyle and Leo Donlea.
• Kirk returns as the Pilots' first finisher from the race (52th place) held at Apalachee Regional Park.
• The Pilots men's cross country team also welcomes 19 newcomers to the Bluff this fall.
• The Portland women return five of the seven who competed at last year's NCAA Cross Country West Regional: sophomores Mie Gam, Anna-Sophie Meusburger, Laura Pellicoro and Samantha Prusse and senior Emma Jenkins.
• The Pilots women's cross country team has also added two athletes to their roster for the upcoming 2022 season.
• In the preseason rankings, both the Pilots men and the Pilots women were ranked third in the WCC. For the women, Laura Pellicoro and Emma Jenkins were selected for the preseason team, while Zak Kirk and Cathal Doyle were selected for the preseason team for the men.
• Laura Pellicoro was named WCC Freshman of the Year in cross country for 2021 as a result of her 11th place finish. She later finished 16th at regionals - the second highest finish for the Pilot women. During track, Laura set school records in the mile (4:34.45) and 800m (2:03.17) disciplines on her way to qualifying for the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships where she finished 11th and 20th, respectively. She also ranks No. 2 All-time in the 1500m (4:15.30)
• Emma Jenkins finished 19th in the 2021 WCC Championships, and then finished 50th in the NCAA West Regional Championships. Jenkins ranks No. 8 in the 10,000m (34:15.67) and No. 9 (4:24.23) in the 1500 in school history. Jenkins was an NCAA West Regional qualifier on the track in the Spring of 2022.
• Zak Kirk was the top finisher for the Pilots in 2021 cross country, finishing ninth at WCC, 10th at the NCAA West Regional Championships, and 52nd at the NCAA National Championships.
• Cathal Doyle excelled on the track in both the 2021 and 2022 track seasons. Doyle ranks No. 2 all-time in the 5,000m (13:38.01) and is the school record holder in the 1500m (3:38.05). In both 2021 and 2022, Doyle qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in track placing 13th and 19th respectively.

LAST SEASON
• Matt Strangio and Laura Pellicoro each picked up individual wins in the men's 6K and women's 4K, respectively, at the PSU Rust Buster on September 3.
• The Pilot men defeated Portland State in the team scores while the Portland women finished second only to No. 22 Oregon State.
• The Pilots later finished 16th for the men and 17th for the women at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational. Our highest finisher on the men's side was Bradley Peloquin who finished 56th. In the women's race, the Pilot's top finisher was Anna Pataki who finished 30th overall.
• Both the men and the women finished third at the WCC Cross Country Championships. Four Pilot men received All-WCC honors - Zak Kirk (ninth) and Stan Niesten (10th) each claiming All-WCC First Team honors, and Bradley Peloquin (12th-place) and George Duggan (15th) nabbing spots on the All-WCC Second Team. For the Pilot women, Anna Pataki received First-team honors (sixth), while Laura Pellicoro (11th) received Second-team honors.
• At NCAA West Regionals, the Pilot men placed third overall earning themselves an NCAA National Championship berth. The Pilot women finished in fifth. Anna Pataki (13th), Laura Pellicoro (16th) and Veerle Bakker (19th) all received All-Regional Honors. For the men, Zak Kirk (10th), Jonas Gertsen (11th), Stan Niesten (16th) and Jacob Klemz (25th) finished with All-Regional honors.
• The Pilots men would finish off their 2021 season with a 16th place finish at the NCAA championships, beating 14 teams ranked ahead of them in the previous coach's poll. The team was led by Zak Kirk, who finished in 52nd.

PILOTS IN THE POLLS
• The Pilot men are ranked 24th in the Week 6 national coaches poll. Pilot men currently sit at 6th in the NCAA West Regional Rankings, while the women sit at 9th.
• In the preseason coaches poll, the Pilot men were ranked 15th, their highest preseason ranking since 2019. For reference, the Pilots were ranked 14th in 2017 - the year they went on to finish second at nationals. Portland men were also ranked 4th in the NCAA West Regional poll. For the women, the Pilots were ranked seventh in the NCAA West Regional poll.

PILOT HISTORY
The Pilot men have qualified for the NCAA Cross Country National Championships 22 times, 18 of which have been top-20 finishes under head coach Rob Conner. In 2017, the team finished an astounding second and in 2018, the team finished in a respectable third. The Pilot women have qualified for the NCAA Cross Country National Championship three times, with a highest finish of 12th under coach Ian Solof.
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