Always Watch Out For The Portland Men, And Now The Women Are Good Too
Always Watch Out For The Portland Men, And Now The Women Are Good Too
The Portland men have almost always been a team to watch. The West Coast Conference squad has a history of exceeding expectations and the Roy Griak Invitati
The Portland men have almost always been a team to watch. The West Coast Conference squad has a history of exceeding expectations and the Roy Griak Invitational was no different. But the women's team put themselves on the map for the first time ever with a No. 8 national ranking. It's impressive, especially for a team that has never qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The teams' Roy Griak victories indicate a program on the rise -- a Portland men's AND women's squad to watch out for this fall.
The men and women both won their respective races by a landslide. The men entered the meet with the No. 20 ranking, behind previously ranked No. 10 Colorado State, No. 16 Furman, No. 19 Boise State, and No. 18 Oklahoma. Led by a fifth-place finish from Jeff Thies and a team spread of 5-11-12-16-25, the Pilots ran as a solid pack all the way through the finish to beat Iowa State. Portland beat the Cyclones with a team total of 69 points, 28 points lower than the runner-up.
The women's team, led by a third-place finish from All American Lauren LaRocco, finished with 74 points and three runners in the top six. The previously unranked Pilots beat runner-up Michigan State, ranked ninth in the country, by a whopping 53 points! Not only did they beat the Spartans, but Portland also beat five other ranked teams -- previously ranked No. 4 Michigan, No. 10 Boise State, No. 17 Penn State, No. 18 Iowa State, and No. 20 San Francisco. Prior to Roy Griak, Portland held a No. 30 USTFCCCA ranking, which was the previous program high.
WATCH All Roy Griak Invitational Races
As a result of the dominating victories, the women catapulted up to No. 8 in the Saucony Flo50 rankings and the men jumped five spots to No. 15.
For the women, the performance and ranking are unprecedented. No team in the history of Portland women's cross country has qualified to compete at the NCAA championships, and the 2016 squad has the potential to finish inside the top 10.
"I want everybody to be proud of being ranked seventh [USTFCCCA ranking] in the nation, that's amazing, but at the same time, I don't want too much focus on that and I don't want us to lose sight of doing everything that we've done to get to this point," women's head coach Ian Solof said in Portland Pilots' post-race highlight video.
The Pilots pulled it off with a consistent low stick, a key addition and an improving sophomore.
It was no surprise that LaRocco finished third overall behind Brenna Peloquin and Erin Finn. The returning All American just wrapped up a track season that included a fourth-place finish in the 10K and a sixth-place finish in the 5K at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Parkes Kendrick, the Pilots' third scorer who finished sixth overall on Saturday, could be the team's secret weapon. Amazingly, the junior just recently joined the track and cross country team because she had been playing soccer for the past three years at Portland. This past spring marked her first track season since competing in high school, and she didn't waste time making an impact. She qualified to compete in the 5K at the NCAA west preliminary and notched personal bests of 4:22 in the 1500m and 16:19 in the 5K. According to TFRRS, Kendrick's sixth-place finish at Roy Griak marks her second cross country race for Portland.
Fourth scorer, Taryn Rawlings also had a standout performance with a 28th-place finish. Rawlings, who finished 75th in the NCAA west region last fall, is already showing signs of vast improvement.
The men's team's Roy Griak performance may have been shocking to some as the Pilots didn't even qualify to compete at the NCAA Championships last year. But to coach Rob Conner, it was the plan all along. According to second scorer, Nick Hauger, Conner told the team "we're planning to win this [Griak] in a couple weeks here so just get that in your minds." Hauger added, "and we went in with that attitude."
The game plan worked as Portland jerseys were visible running as a pack for the majority of the 8K race in Minneapolis. Fifth-place Griak finisher and team leader Thies finished 21st at NCAA west region last year and collected track PRs of 3:42 in the 1500m and 14:11 in the 5K, but has clearly stepped up to another level this fall. Hauger also showed signs of improvement in his second cross country season with an 11th-place finish. He's returning from a track season that included a 14:03 5K personal best at Stanford.
In Portland Pilots' highlight video, Conner noted that the duo show similarities to former Portland standouts Scott Fauble and David Perry.
"The two guys who really showed me major improvement were Jeff Thies and Nick Hauger. You certainly want your top returners to show a big improvement and I think they've jumped up to that national level category this year….we've got a nice tandem there, very similar to a [Scott] Fauble and [David] Perry of a couple years ago in reliability, mental make-up, and talent," Conner said.
The comparison is quite the compliment as Fauble and Perry were members of the 2014 Portland squad who finished third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, the program's highest finish in school history. That team gutted out a podium finish by stepping up on the biggest stage in the most impactful way -- with only five men crossing the finish line.
If Conner sees parallels between the current 1-2 duo and the 1-2 duo from the best team in school history, the Pilots may be even more dangerous than we thought.
The men and women both won their respective races by a landslide. The men entered the meet with the No. 20 ranking, behind previously ranked No. 10 Colorado State, No. 16 Furman, No. 19 Boise State, and No. 18 Oklahoma. Led by a fifth-place finish from Jeff Thies and a team spread of 5-11-12-16-25, the Pilots ran as a solid pack all the way through the finish to beat Iowa State. Portland beat the Cyclones with a team total of 69 points, 28 points lower than the runner-up.
The women's team, led by a third-place finish from All American Lauren LaRocco, finished with 74 points and three runners in the top six. The previously unranked Pilots beat runner-up Michigan State, ranked ninth in the country, by a whopping 53 points! Not only did they beat the Spartans, but Portland also beat five other ranked teams -- previously ranked No. 4 Michigan, No. 10 Boise State, No. 17 Penn State, No. 18 Iowa State, and No. 20 San Francisco. Prior to Roy Griak, Portland held a No. 30 USTFCCCA ranking, which was the previous program high.
WATCH All Roy Griak Invitational Races
As a result of the dominating victories, the women catapulted up to No. 8 in the Saucony Flo50 rankings and the men jumped five spots to No. 15.
For the women, the performance and ranking are unprecedented. No team in the history of Portland women's cross country has qualified to compete at the NCAA championships, and the 2016 squad has the potential to finish inside the top 10.
"I want everybody to be proud of being ranked seventh [USTFCCCA ranking] in the nation, that's amazing, but at the same time, I don't want too much focus on that and I don't want us to lose sight of doing everything that we've done to get to this point," women's head coach Ian Solof said in Portland Pilots' post-race highlight video.
Hear from @LadyPilotsXC about the team's win at #Griak2016 as well as being ranked No. 7 in the nation this week! pic.twitter.com/m8mBrWbgHV
— Portland Pilots (@PortlandPilots) September 27, 2016
The Pilots pulled it off with a consistent low stick, a key addition and an improving sophomore.
It was no surprise that LaRocco finished third overall behind Brenna Peloquin and Erin Finn. The returning All American just wrapped up a track season that included a fourth-place finish in the 10K and a sixth-place finish in the 5K at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Parkes Kendrick, the Pilots' third scorer who finished sixth overall on Saturday, could be the team's secret weapon. Amazingly, the junior just recently joined the track and cross country team because she had been playing soccer for the past three years at Portland. This past spring marked her first track season since competing in high school, and she didn't waste time making an impact. She qualified to compete in the 5K at the NCAA west preliminary and notched personal bests of 4:22 in the 1500m and 16:19 in the 5K. According to TFRRS, Kendrick's sixth-place finish at Roy Griak marks her second cross country race for Portland.
Fourth scorer, Taryn Rawlings also had a standout performance with a 28th-place finish. Rawlings, who finished 75th in the NCAA west region last fall, is already showing signs of vast improvement.
The men's team's Roy Griak performance may have been shocking to some as the Pilots didn't even qualify to compete at the NCAA Championships last year. But to coach Rob Conner, it was the plan all along. According to second scorer, Nick Hauger, Conner told the team "we're planning to win this [Griak] in a couple weeks here so just get that in your minds." Hauger added, "and we went in with that attitude."
"We've got a traditional Portland team lined up and ready to roll this year." -@PortlandPilotXC Pilots jump to No. 7 in the coaches poll! pic.twitter.com/LfOTKKRZkx
— Portland Pilots (@PortlandPilots) September 28, 2016
The game plan worked as Portland jerseys were visible running as a pack for the majority of the 8K race in Minneapolis. Fifth-place Griak finisher and team leader Thies finished 21st at NCAA west region last year and collected track PRs of 3:42 in the 1500m and 14:11 in the 5K, but has clearly stepped up to another level this fall. Hauger also showed signs of improvement in his second cross country season with an 11th-place finish. He's returning from a track season that included a 14:03 5K personal best at Stanford.
In Portland Pilots' highlight video, Conner noted that the duo show similarities to former Portland standouts Scott Fauble and David Perry.
"The two guys who really showed me major improvement were Jeff Thies and Nick Hauger. You certainly want your top returners to show a big improvement and I think they've jumped up to that national level category this year….we've got a nice tandem there, very similar to a [Scott] Fauble and [David] Perry of a couple years ago in reliability, mental make-up, and talent," Conner said.
The comparison is quite the compliment as Fauble and Perry were members of the 2014 Portland squad who finished third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, the program's highest finish in school history. That team gutted out a podium finish by stepping up on the biggest stage in the most impactful way -- with only five men crossing the finish line.
If Conner sees parallels between the current 1-2 duo and the 1-2 duo from the best team in school history, the Pilots may be even more dangerous than we thought.