The University of Portland men’s cross country team went out in style Monday as it wrapped up the season at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Waterloo, Iowa. The team had 615 points and finished 27th overall in the 31-team event that featured the best of the best collegiate cross country teams from across the nation. Ryan Craig led the way for Portland as he covered the 10k course at the Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course in a time of 30:26.0, good for 53rd place overall. To qualify for the Cross Country Championships, each seven-person team must have finished in the top two from each of the nine regional cross country meets. Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large with the University of Portland men’s team claiming one of the 13 bids. Thirty-eight individuals, the first four from each region whose team did not advance to the championship race, and two additional qualifiers, were selected to participate in the championship. All individual qualifiers must have finished in the top 25 in their region.

The Stanford men's cross country won the 2003 NCAA Division I Men's team championship in convincing fashion. The Cardinal took first place with 24 points, ahead of Wisconsin, which placed second with 174 points. Dathan Ritzenhein of Colorado nabbed the individual championship with a time of 29:14.1. Stanford had four of the five top individual finishers.

Other Portland Pilot runners included Jeff Driscoll who finished in 76th place (30:51.2) and Nick Schuetz who came in 120th (31:17.1). Joe Gray (32:17.9), Brett Carter (32:27.1), Trevor Coolidge (32:31.7) and Steve Schaefer (33:02.3) also posted solid times for the Pilots.

This was the sixth time since 1993 that the Portland men have competed at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. It’s also the sixth time during head coach Rob Conner’s 14-year tenure at the helm of UP’s cross country program. The best showing for the men at the NCAA Championship was in 2001 when the Pilots finished seventh overall. Portland placed 13th in 1993, 10th in 1996, 28th in 1998 and 26th in 1999.