Going in to the championships, Portland Pilots’ Coach Rob Conner is realistic about his 8th ranked team's chances of standing on the podium come Monday. “0%,” he told me by phone, feeling that the seven teams in front of them are "all unbeatable."

Slightly skeptical, yes, but it's not without cause. The Portland team has already faced and finished runner up to three of those teams on their way to qualifying: BYU, Colorado, and Stanford. And with OK St, and Wisconsin runaway favorites, he's probably right.

That's not to say the 22nd year coach isn't very much pleased with the position his team is in - he is. Despite finishing 2nd in every meet, the loses have been close, and he says that's left his squad motivated and confident. And he expects them to be right there at Nationals, just not in front.

“We don’t have the budget of these other teams to build a team to win.” Conner said. Instead his focus is simple, “Develop success driven athletes.” And for this team, a top 10 finish would be a success, and an 8th place would be rather appropriate. They haven’t beaten anyone they shouldn’t have, and they haven’t been beaten by anyone they shouldn’t have.

At Pre-Nats Oct. 16th, the Portland team, led by Trevor Dunbar, and Alfred Kipchumba, were leading #6 Colorado at 5k before ultimately falling behind and losing by a score of 104-82.

At WCC Champs Oct. 29th,  the newcomers #3 BYU team snapped Portland’s streak of the 32 straight championships, but with just a 7 point differential.

Another close finish at the West Regionals behind the #5 Stanford(53-50) team was sort of  a blessing in Conner’s eyes, saying if they had beaten Stanford, "they’d be thinking about that instead focusing on the race(at Nationals).” Instead they go in to the race hungry, and he likes it that way.

The Pilots "big 4" are made up of the Senior Kipchumba, Juniors Dunbar, and Lars Malde, then Freshmen Joash Osoro. Redshirt Freshmen David Perry and Scott Fauble, who were held out of Regionals, are both capable 4/5 guys, and along with William Kincaid round out the team.

The kid from Kodiak, Trevor Dunbar, is feeling good going in to the race and is looking to improve on his 25th place finish from last year. Alfred Kipchumba was a disappointing 45th last year, but has run well at Nationals past, with 14th and 18th  place finishes under his belt. Given the depth of the field, and the unknowns, coach Conner says he would be happy with anything in the top 40 from the duo.

Some solid performances from the remainder of the team could, and should, give Portland their fourth top 10 finish in the last ten years.