PORTLAND, Ore. --- The University of Portland men’s (full team) and women’s (B team) cross country programs will compete in the 2010 Charles Bowles Invitational this Saturday, October 2nd, at Bush Park in Salem. Races begin at 9:30 A.M. local time with the women’s 5k competition followed by the men’s 8k. The women’s varsity squad will also be in action this weekend as they will participate in the Wisconsin adidas Invitational 6k at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The race is scheduled to begin at 11:00 A.M. central time on Saturday.
Men’s Cross Country
The No. 9 ranked Pilot men are coming off a first place finish at the 2010 Pier Park Invitational. Sophomore Joash Osoro finished first place in the individuals with a time of 24:42.
Portland plans to run both its Varsity and 'B' teams at the 2010 Charles Bowles Invitational, one of the largest meets on the West Coast each season. The 2010 edition will feature over 1,140 runners in the four races with teams from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Hawaii, Alaska, Tennessee, Texas, Nebraska, British Columbia, and Montana scheduled to compete.
Head Coach Rob Conner is looking forward to this competition. “This will be a great opportunity for our fans to see our entire team in action in the same race,” said Conner. “We are going to run hard and see where our fitness is.”
Women’s Cross Country
The Portland women finished 14th in the 19-team field with a score of 369 at the 2009 Charles Bowles Invitational. Chico State finished first with a team score of 43. Hailee Knettles, a sophomore in 2009, paced the Pilots with a 46th place finish in the individuals with a time of 18:34.17.
The Pilots ran to a first place finish at the 2010 Pier Park Invitational with a score of 20 while placing 10 of the top 15 finishers. Redshirt Freshman Kellie Houser outlasted the field for a first place finish in the individuals with a time of 17:51.
The varsity squad will also be in action this Saturday as they travel to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the Wisconsin adidas Invitational. This will be the first year that Portland has run at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational.
Head coach Ian Solof shared his thoughts on the upcoming races.
On the 2010 Charles Bowles Invitational: “We will be running a very strong B team at Willamette. I am excited to see how this group stacks up against the varsity squads of so many northwest schools. This is probably the best team we have sent to this meet in quite a few years.”
On the Wisconsin adidas Invitational: “We are very excited to finally run our top people. Training has been going well and I have been impressed with the fitness level of this group. This team has a ton of potential and I am hoping we can surprise some people this weekend.”
Complete results will be posted on portlandpilots.com following the races.