It’s official.

Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar signed his national letter of intent to run cross country and track for the Univesity of Portland, Wednesday evening.

Pilots coach Rob Conner is extremely pleased to have landed the prized recruit.

“I feel he is the top long-distance prospect in the nation,” Conner wrote an in e-mail to the Kodiak Daily Mirror Thursday evening.

Conner wrote Dunbar’s signing has already giving the Pilots a ton of credibilty with recruits.

“We will probably end up with one of the top classes in the nation,” he wrote.

Wednesday was a special moment for the Kodiak High School senior as his father and coach Marcus Dunbar, mother Kathleen and sister Hannah gathered around the dining room table to watch their son put pen to paper.

Signs of University of Portland were everywhere in the Dunbar house. Laying across the table was a purple blanket with Kathleen’s Univeristy of Portland letter she earned in cross country. Hanging up behind the table was Marcus’ blanket he earned while running for the Pilots. Kathleen also dug out her letterman’s jacket for the occasion.

The family was there to support Trevor, who also was wearing a purple shirt that had Portland written across the chest.

“We are proud of the boy,” Marcus Dunbar said. “He has a great future at Portland.”

Marcus and Kathleen both ran with Conner at Portland. Conner said reminds him of Marcus in many ways, but is quick to add that his talents seem to be an equal split between both parents.

Trevor Dunbar will join a Portland team that placed seventh in the 2008 NCAA National Championships.

Conner expects Dunbar to impact the team immedeatly.

“It’s not often that you expect a freshman to be a team leader, but we will count on that, too,” Conner wrote. “We have some equally talented guys who are looking forward to having him on the team. He is one of those guys that other runners gravitate toward.”

Dunbar is eager to start running for Portland, a member of the West Coast Conference, but also sad that his time is coming to an end at Kodiak.

“My experience at Kodiak has been one that I will never forget,” Dunbar said. “The commodore around the team and the coaching staff has been incredible. The success we have had will be unforgettable as I go into college at the University of Portland. But, I’m really excited to move onto a new level and experience a change and just do as much as I can for my team next year.”

Dunbar, who just finished eighth in the boys junior mile at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in Boston, has found most of his prep success in cross country. This season he finished second at the Foot Locker National cross country race and became only the second Alaskan to three-peat as the 4A state champion. He also guided Kodiak to its third-straight state title.

In track, Dunbar captured the 2008 4A state title in the 1,600 meters and in 2007 he was the 4A state champion in the 3,200.

Dunbar came onto the national scene thanks to youtube. His snowy 3,200 time-trial last november in which he ran 9 minutes, 1 second launched Dunbar was uploaded on youtube and quickly became the talks of most running message boards.

Wednesday just represented all the hardwork Dunbar has put in the last four years, which earned him a full-ride scholarship.

“Professionalism is not a word comonly used in college running, but for someone of Trevor’s demenor, professionalism is the word that comes to mind,” Conner wrote. “I’m really looking forward to working with him.”