By David Thompson
While the University of Portland's women's basketball team prepared for its showdown against Gonzaga on Friday afternoon in the Chiles Center, runners from across Oregon and Washington gathered to have a little showdown themselves. The Chiles Center played host to the Pilot Indoor, the second indoor meet for the men's team and third of the season for the women's team.
The Pilot men and women represented well, finishing second and third respectively against schools such as Western Oregon, Seattle University and Gonzaga.
Historically, the University of Portland running program has been dominant in cross country and less competitive on a national level during the track seasons.
"With a school our size it's hard to win them all," Men's Head Coach Rob Conner said. "We focus on the distance in cross country and outdoor track. The indoor season just hardens our race mentality and allows some of our runners to get some experience."
While it may seem like the indoor track season is meaningless to the University of Portland, it is quite the opposite.
"These meets allow us to let some of the JV runners get a chance against top competition without the pressure to win," Conner said. Conner added that this pays dividends for the future of the program while allowing the runners something to work toward in the present.
Conner commented that the top runners, such as two time All-American senior David Kinsella, take the indoor season very lightly and do not compete in many events if any to prevent injury. With the top runners not competing, younger runners get to experience a competitive race with competitive runners to better prepare for the outdoor track and cross country seasons.
Junior and 3000-meter run winner Jordon Foster appreciates the indoor track season for other reasons.
"While the indoor season isn't my favorite, it's cool to run at facilities like they have at (the University of Washington) and against some of the top competition in the nation," Foster said. "I mainly use the indoor season to get into and keep in shape."
Many distance runners share Foster's opinion when it comes to the indoor season, but take advantage of the competitive nature of the races, an element that is difficult to create in regular training sessions.
"It's nice to be indoor from the cold, but the small size of the track seem to bother everybody," freshman Jacob Lampe said. Lampe, who was competing in his first indoor track meet, took fifth place in the men's high jump. "I'm definitely more excited for the outdoor track season."
With competitive seasons in the fall, winter and spring, the runners at the University of Portland enjoy a limited offseason. "In the fall we have the cross country season then right after, we start indoor track then outdoor track in the spring," Conner said. "The distance team gets a little break over Christmas but that's about it."
Besides Foster other UP winners include the Women's 2400 m sprint medley team made up of freshman Elizabeth Keaveny, sophomores Theresa Hailey and Kamauri Yeh, and junior Tiffany Spaulding; freshman Sean Spaulding and senior Arturo Bimrose in the 200 meter dash; freshman Brent Groulik in the 600 meter run: and freshman Jarred Bassett in the mile.
Both men and women continue the indoor track season in Seattle on Saturday at the Husky Invitational. The indoor track season will continue into March leading up to Nationals March 13 and 14 in College Station, Texas.
Final Results:
Women
Western Oregon - 84
Seattle U. - 75
Portland - 62
Willamette- 20
Warner Pacific- 20
Men
Western Oregon - 114.5
Portland - 102.5
Seattle U. - 64
Willamette - 46
Warner Pacific - 11.5
Gonzaga - 8
