Pilot Cross Country recruiting list announced

Rob Conner continues his roll!!

UP Release

20 guys, holy cow. I love how Conner always likes to talk about how something is the "greatest (insert time/place/group) in Pilot xc history!" An eternal optimist.

coldsmokeAT wrote:20 guys, holy cow. I love how Conner always likes to talk about how something is the "greatest (insert time/place/group) in Pilot xc history!" An eternal optimist.

Funny, I look at the group coming in even before today, and I thought the same thing Connor did.

The athletic department website has just posted the list of men's cross country recruits. It's quite a collection of athletes. Not only has Rob Conner recruited some star power, there's quite a few of the very good performers that have represented the typical recruit that UP usually gets. It looks like our cross country program is really beginning to establish itself as a top-ten national program.

Rob must be the energizer bunny.


He's signed another runner - from Europe this time. The latest addition is Lars Erik Malke from Norway. I haven't tracked down times, but he dd finish 16th in the European u20 championships. Rob says that with UP's training regimen, he should improve greatly, as he has only been training a short time.

Rob said "The future of Pilot cross country has never looked better.”

Same thing Garrett said about soccer when he signed Marta.

http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2009/7/30/MXC_0730092802.aspx?path=mcross

Lars Erik Malke is an incredible pick-up. As purplegeezer points out he was 16th in the European U-20 championships for cross country. He was 10th in the European U-20 track meet at 5000 meters a few days ago. He ran a 14:41.97 at the championships. A few weeks ago he ran 14:30.70 in the 5k in a meet to qualify for U-20 meet. That time is better than any 5K run by a high school student in the U.S. this year (Solomon Haile has the best U.S. prep time at 14:32.36). So it appears at Malke is probably the equal of Trevor Dunbar. What an amazing recruiting class Coach Conner has put together.

He usually **** all freshmen. Interesting that some of these guys might not redshirt, at least not immediately.

I'm going to have to defer to someone who knows more about these things, but don't most states run the 3K and not the 5K? So maybe that explains why there aren't that many great 5K times to compare Malde's 5K time to?

I don't mean to say Malde's isn't a great addition - he definitely seems like he is. I just think it might be a bit of an overstatement to say that he's an equal to Dunbar. I mean, Dunbar has the fastest 3K time in the country this year, which is just unreal.

I think Dunbar and Malde are pretty similar in their skill levels. It should be pointed out that Malde is a bit older than Dunbar (Malde's already 19), so it is conceivable that Dunbar has a "better upside". As a point of comparison, both of them ran highly-competitive 5K races this summer. Dunbar ran at the Junior Nationals in Eugene and placed third in 14:43.98. Malde ran at the European Under-20 Championships and placed 10th in 14:41.97. The European field was a bit tougher and I don't know a great deal about conditions in either place or how either race was paced, but the data I've seen and the reports I've gotten indicate that the two are fairly comparable. I think, in basketball terms, both are 5-star recruits, with Dunbar only getting a very slight edge on "potential." Bottom line is that Pilot Cross Country may have entered a new phase where they are players for the best recruits available.

coldsmokeAT wrote:He usually **** all freshmen. Interesting that some of these guys might not redshirt, at least not immediately.

Why am I seeing stars?

College is 8K/10K so who knows how those times extrapolate at longer distances. Dunbar is just unreal, can Malde run a 4:06 mile? I'm going to speculate he has not, and that Dunbar has more speed.

ekrauss wrote:Bottom line is that Pilot Cross Country may have entered a new phase where they are players for the best recruits available.

We've had Europeans before (Uli Steidl). But given recent increases in exposure and bumps in the incoming talent, I would have a hard time arguing against you.

coldsmokeAT wrote:

coldsmokeAT wrote:He usually **** all freshmen. Interesting that some of these guys might not redshirt, at least not immediately.

Why am I seeing stars?

Let me guess- I misspelled "redshirt?"