Complete Results
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. --- Senior Tommy Betterbed came up big for a young Portland Pilots cross country squad on Saturday at the NCAA West Regional meet held at Springfield Country Club. Betterbed finished fifth individually to lead the Pilots to an automatic NCAA Championships bid with a second-place finish. He was the only upperclassmen of seven Portland runners, all of which finished among the top 76 individually. The No. 8 Pilots scored 84 points, trailing only No. 1 Stanford (27), while beating out No. 3 Oregon by 25 points to match the second highest regional finish in school history.
Head coach Rob Conner raced five freshmen, a sophomore and Betterbed as his lone senior. Joining Betterbed with all-region honors were freshmen Joash Osoro (8th place) and Trevor Dunbar (12th place). Sophomore Alfred Kipchumba, Portland’s usual top runner, finished 22nd.
“The guys did a nice job of executing our race plan and finishing hard over the last half of the race,” Conner said. “The fact that we have five freshmen and a sophomore going made it even more impressive. Usually it’s hard to get the younger guys to be patient. Tommy really came through with a nice race today. He was 52nd at nationals last year, so he still has some unfinished business remaining.”
Portland’s top four has been solid all season, but a consistent No. 5 was Conner’s primary concern entering regionals. He was pleasantly surprised by redshirt freshman Shane Geiger placing 40th. True freshman Lars Erik Malde was on his heels in 42nd place, while redshirt freshman Jared Bassett also raced well for a 76th place finish.
Stanford had the top three individual finishers as Chris Derrick won the title with a time of 30:38.94. Washington (120) finished fourth in team scoring, while Cal Poly (155) and Arizona State (155) tied for fifth.
The Pilots will now set their sights on the national meet, scheduled for Monday, Nov. 23 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. Last year, Portland matched its best ever team finish at nationals by finishing seventh overall. Conner and the Pilots are hoping for a trophy this year, which would be fourth or better.