PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots will compete at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational on Saturday at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Ore. The men will be withholding some of their top runners and women teams will be running their "B" team after both varsity squads swept the Roy Griak Invitational last weekend. The meet will entail four races involving teams from all collegiate divisions.
The Portland men will first compete in the Cardinal 8-kilometer race, which will feature teams from NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III at 9:30 a.m. The Pilots will be led by transfer Brady Johnson, and redshirt sophmores Gabriel Haughey and Logan Orndorf.
"We are running a very competitive group, so we should see some good performances," said head coach Rob Conner.
The women will compete after the conclusion of the men's race at 10:10 a.m. in the Cardinal 5-kilometer. This race will also include teams from all three NCAA Divisions. The Pilots are led by red-shirt junior Mathilde Sagnes, and this will be her first race in the Portland jersey.
"There is a lot of confidence within our program after last weekend's big meet for the varsity," said head coach Ian Solof. "I'm excited for tomorrow to see how our 'B' team can perform. They have been training well and should be very competitive in this field."
A total of 10 teams entered in the meet are ranked at the national level and three more teams received votes in their respective national rankings. On the men's side the Pilots were ranked No. 7 in this week's NCAA Division I Poll, and No.1 in the Division I Western Region. Several NCAA Division III men's teams are ranked in the West Region, with Willamette at No. 3, Whitman College at No. 4, Lewis & Clark College at No. 7, Pacific Lutheran University at No. 8, George Fox University at No. 9 and University of Puget Sound at No. 10.
Two teams are nationally ranked in the women's race including the Portland women at No. 7 in NCAA Division I and Whitworth University at No. 26 in NCAA Division III. The Pilots are also ranked No. 3 in the Western Region for Division I. The West Region rankings from NCAA Division III are well represented in the women's Cardinal race by Whitworth No. 2, Willamette No. 5, Lewis & Clark No. 9, and George Fox No. 10.
Although most of the course will take runners through Bush's Pasture Park, all of the races will finish inside McCulloch Stadium on the Willamette campus.
Participating Teams
(Men and Women unless otherwise indicated)
NCAA Division I (M, W)
New Mexico State University
University of Portland
Portland State University
NCAA Division II
University of Alaska-Fairbanks
Central Washington University
Concordia University (Ore.)
Hawaii Pacific University
University of Hawai-Hilo - women
Saint Martin's University (Wash.)
Western Oregon University
NCAA Division III
Lewis & Clark College
Linfield College
Pacific University
Pacific Lutheran University
University of Puget Sound
College of St. Benedict (Minn.) - women
University of California, Santa Cruz
Whitman College
Whitworth University
NAIA
Biola University (Calif.)
University of British Columbia
Corban University
Eastern Oregon University
University of Great Falls (Mont.)
Multnomah University (Ore.)
Northwest Christian University (Ore.)
Northwest University (Wash.)
Oregon Institute of Technology
Soka University (Calif.)
University of Victoria (B.C.)
Junior Colleges
Clackamas Community College
Everett Community College (Wash.)
Lane Community College
Rogue Community College
Spokane Community College (Wash.)
Southwestern Oregon Community College
Treasure Valley Community College (Wash.)
Club
University of Oregon Running Club
