8 Pilots compete at NCAA Track West Regionals
Apr 27, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; General view of the 119th Penn Relays at Franklin Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
One of my favorite programs at Portland is the Cross Country/Track Program. Coach Rob Conner has built a program that is consistently attracting the nations top distant runners. Distance running as a collegiate sport is interesting as there is no real offseason: Cross Country in the fall followed by an indoor season during the winter and finally outdoor track in the spring.
Portland has built a national power of a program in distance running focusing on Cross Country but that doesn’t mean these athletes aren’t versatile. The West Regionals started today in Austin, TX and the Pilots are represented by 8 athletes (Lyndy Davis and Kellie Houser are competing in the women’s 10,000-meter race. David Perry, Scott Fauble and Robert Krebs in the men’s 10,000-meter race, Marit Tegelaar in the women’s 5000-meter race, Woody Kincaid in the men’s 5000-meter race, and Jared Bassett in the steeplechase)
Most impressively is that Kincaid, Bassett, and Perry all chose to scratch out of the 1,500 meter race, a race all three competed in at the West Coast Invitational earlier in May. At that competition Bassett, Kincaid, and Perry finished 2nd, 5th, and 6th overall all running the race in less than 3 minutes and 46 seconds. Here is a list of things that takes longer than the 3 minutes 46 seconds it took for these three to finish a 1500 meter race:
- Fill up my car with gas
- Microwave and eat a hot pocket without scolding my mouth
- Watch the final 20 seconds of an NBA game
- Shower
- Listen to any song on the new Daft Punk record
Seriously that is fast, and the fact that all of them like their chances better in other events is crazy.
A link for the video feed for Regionals can be found here