By Nicholas Slepnikoff
On March 28, freshman cross country runner Trevor Dunbar will represent the University of Portland and the United States in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. After leaving Monday, Dunbar is now preparing for the event.
After running the fastest 3000 meter in the nation, Dunbar, a native Alaskan, took to Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane Valley. Running in the U.S. Junior Cross Country Championships on Feb. 13, Dunbar conquered the Spokane course with a six-second gap between him and the second runner.
Winning the 8000 meter race with a 24 minute and 4 second time, Trevor qualified for the U19 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
The IAAF World Cross Country Championships, which brings the top six runners from each country together, gives harriers the opportunity to not only improve their running, but also run against the top athletes in the world, according to Coach Robert Connor.
"I think it's a fantastic opportunity to get to represent your country," Connor said. "And then compete against the best in the world in your age group."
Although Connor thinks Dunbar will do well, Connor said that the meet is highly competitive. However, with recent snowy weather followed by sunny conditions in Poland, Dunbar may have an advantage in the competition.
"He's in good shape, and he's going to be fine," Connor said. "When we look at Poland, it's been in the thirties and snowy. Apparently, it just warmed up and now all the snow has melted. And - it's a mud pit."
Dunbar, Connor continued, is from Kodiak, Alaska. Connor hopes his experience in running in adverse conditions, will level the playing field.
With the race fast approaching, Trevor said that resting for the event is extremely important since Poland is 10 hours ahead.
"Pretty much all the hard work has been done," Dunbar said. "Everything is pointing in the right direction. From here on out, it's just resting up for the week and trying to adjust to the time change."
The IAAF World Cross Country Championships will start at noon (3 a.m. for Portland).
Cori Moore
Starting the season with a national ranking, senior harrier Cori Moore continues to impress. On Jan. 16, Moore secured the second best one-mile performance all-time for a Pilot, running a 4:52.96 at the UW Indoor Preview. Less than two weeks later, Moore set a school record in the 800 meter, running a 2:08.43. Moore is happy to see herself doing well, but did not think that this would happen this season.
"The whole season was a big surprise," Moore said. "The last few years I have had just nagging little injuries that have kept me from training at my best."
Taking off a month here and six weeks there, Moore thinks that she has never reached her potential since she started college.
"Finally, I just had a few solid months of training," Moore said. "The key was to keep my mileage really low and my intensity high. Everything just went right for once."
Once she broke the 2:10 time in the 800, Moore said she knew she was in great shape.
"And then things just kept rolling, things just kept going well," Moore continued. "I ran another mile and I was real sick that day."
Running a 4:48.64 at the Husky Classic on Feb. 12, Moore said that this continued to make her confident about the season. Another race at the UW Final Qualifier indoor and Linfield Eric Anderson Icebreaker on March 6 led to yet another accomplishment.
Moore ran an 800-meter in 2 minutes and 5 seconds (2:05.41), earning her a national ranking (14th) and qualification for the NCAA Indoor. She also continued to impress herself.
"I knew I could go under 2:08 because I knew I was in better shape than that," Moore said. "But, three seconds is pretty big in the 800. It was all unexpected and really exciting."
On March 12, Moore ran a 2:06.62 in the 800 meter at the 2010 NCAA Track and Field Indoor Championships.
Just .72 seconds shy of the final qualifying for the final round, Moore faced new obstacles on the course.
With a sloped 200 meter long track, Moore, who was used to outdoor track, had to adjust to the different conditions.
"It was a really interesting experience," Moore said. "I learned a ton and it was great to see the best athletes in the nation competing. I ended up getting tenth."
Moore, along with the men's and women's track teams, now turns to the outdoor season, running the 1500 meter this Friday at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
Moore, who started off running outdoors, said she began running when she was young.
"I started running in middle school, so I thought I would try running cross country," Moore said.
Inspired by her father and her early success with running, she joined her middle school team and ran in the Junior Olympics.
Here, Moore said she got used to the large meets. In high school, she continued to surge forward and was eventually recruited by UP.
Women's Coach Ian Solof is likewise impressed by her success.
"Cori is doing great," Solof said. "She had a fantastic indoor season. She ran PR's in basically in everything that she ran."
Solof was pleased to see her improvement and move towards become "a national class middle distance runner."
"We expect her to be running just as well outdoors," Solof said.
