The Pioneers schedule had a little different look in 2007. The teams started the season with home meets two of the first three weeks. The men and women each placed second in the season-opener, taking on competitors from neighboring NAIA schools. After a trip to Tacoma, they came back to the Eldon Fix Track to host the NWC South Meet, with the men again finishing second and the women placing third.

The Pioneers spent their spring break in Spokane, the first time in many years they competed at a meet hosted by Whitworth College.

Conference finish and the success of the season as a whole all comes down to performances at the Northwest Conference Championships. Hosted this year by the University of Puget Sound, the Pioneers headed to Tacoma April 20-21 for the competition. The Pioneers had four individual All-Conference performances at the meet. Roxanne Gilbride (sophomore, Bend, Ore.) earned the first honor for the Pioneers, finishing third in the javelin with a mark of 124-02. Tamma Carleton (sophomore, Elk, Calif.) added to her All-Conference cross country honors by earning her first All-Conference designation in track. She finished second in the 5000m, running a 17:39.11, a time that broke her own school record in the event. Her mark was also a provisional-qualifying time for the NCAA National Championships. For the men, two seniors earned their first All-Conference honors in their final NWC meet. Jarrod McCann (senior, Moorehead, Minn) was second in the 800m with a 1:55.16. Steve Bianchi (senior, Hollister, Calif.), the leading scorer for the Pioneers, was third in the triple jump (44-2). Bianchi also scored in the high jump (seventh place), high jump (tie for fourth), and long jump (fifth place). Amanda Phillips (junior, Phoenix, Ore.) was fifth in the 1500m, but the time was good enough to set a school record in the event.

Phillips, along with McCann, Gilbride, and Carleton, inspired by their performances at the NWC Championships, continued to compete at a handful of meets after school got out, trying to hit provisional marks strong enough to earn a spot in the NCAA III Championships. Gilbride hit a provisional mark with her victory in the javelin at the Ken Shannon Invitational, throwing 128-09. McCann’s best performance also came at the Ken Shannon where he missed a provisional mark by just two-tenths of a second. Amanda Phillips dropped six seconds off her top-time to hit a provisional time in the 1500m at the Western Oregon Twilight.

Amanda Phillips, Roxanne Gilbride, and Tamma Carleton all had provisional qualifying times for the NCAA championships, but had to wait until the official announcements were made on May 20th as to whether or not their times and marks would hold up. Gilbride and Carleton were just edged out of the field in their events with just Amanda Phillips heading to Nationals held in Oshkosh, Wisc the final weekend of May.

Phillips gave it her all in her preliminary race, beating the odds to advance to the 1500m finals. On Saturday, May 26th’s final, Phillips finished 12th with a time of 4:43.88. Phillips had also competed at the NCAA III Cross Country National Championships in the fall, placing 96th overall in that race.

Tamma Carleton grabbed the final headline of the season as she became the third Pioneer athlete of the year to earn ESPN the Magazine Acadmeic All-District VIII honors. The award is voted on based on a combination of athletic and academic merit. Carleton was one of eleven track and field/ cross country athletes in the district to earn the prestigious honor.