Complete meet notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State cross country teams race at their final regular-season meet Friday, Oct. 24, at the Beaver Classic at Avery Park in Corvallis, Ore. The women race a 6,000-meter race at 4 p.m. (PT) to kick off the meet, while the men follow with an 8,000-meter race at 5 p.m. (PT).
 
The Beaver Classic will be the Vikings' first race in close to three weeks, as both the men's and women's teams ramp up their training in anticipation of the Big Sky Championship meet next Saturday, Nov. 1, in Grand Forks, N.D.
 
The 6,000-meter race for the women will be their second 6K of the season after they ran a 6K at the season-opening Bill Dellinger Meet on Sept. 5. The men, meanwhile, have only run 8Ks this season, making the Beaver Classic 8K their fourth of the season. The team scoring should be a good matchup on the women's side, as the Viking women narrowly beat Oregon State in a dual, 27-29, at the Viking XC Classic on Oct. 4.
 
The course should also set up for some fast times, as it will be a relatively flat and circular course over a 2K grass loop.
 
MEET SCHEDULE:
4 p.m.             Women's 6,000-meter race
5 p.m.             Men's 8,000-meter race
 
THE COURSE (Map):
Both the men's and women's races will be on a grass 2K loop that's relatively flat with only one uphill and one downhill section. The course should be spectator friendly.
 
VIKINGS' HISTORY AT BEAVER CLASSIC:
The Vikings ran at the Beaver Classic most recently in 2012, when the women placed third out of 12 teams, while the men placed 10th out of 14. Amber Rozcicha led the PSU women in the 6,000-meter race that day, as she placed second overall in 21:37.00. Current junior Neil Seibert, paced the Portland State men, finishing the 8,000-meter men's race 35th overall in 25:56.00. Seibert, along with John Talik, Katie Hendricks and Erica Contos are the only holdovers from the teams that raced at the 2012 Beaver Classic. The Viking men also raced at the Beaver Classic in 2011, 2010, 2008 and 2007, while the only the other time the women have raced at the meet was 2007. Rozcicha and the PSU women's second and third-place finishes in 2012, respectively, stand as the best finishes by a women's runner and women's team at the meet for the Vikings, and Rozcicha's time still stands as the best individual time. Meanwhile, Brookman Holmes set the best finish for the Portland State men with a 29th-place finish in 2007, though Seibert's time of 25:56.00 in 2012 stands as the best time by a PSU men's runner at the meet. The Viking men's team had their best finish at the meet come in 2007, when they placed sixth out of nine times at the meet.
 
VIKING XC CLASSIC RECAP:
The Portland State men's and women's teams recorded their first dual wins in close to 10 years at the Viking XC Classic on Oct. 4 at Blue Lake Park in Fairview, Ore. The Viking men beat a team from the University of Portland, 24-33, at the meet, giving the men's program its first dual win since the 2004 Pier Park Invitational. The Viking women, meanwhile, beat Portland 23-32 and Oregon State 27-29 at the meet for their first dual wins since 2005. Junior T-Roy Brown paced the Portland State men at the race, as he led a tight lead group of three runners for the Vikings. Brown placed fifth overall in 25:13.92 at the meet, just ahead of teammates John Talik and Alejandro Cisneros, who finished within 10 seconds of Brown at sixth and seventh, respectively. Senior Camelia Mayfield, meanwhile, led the Portland State women, as she placed third overall in 17:02.05. Junior Amanda Boman also placed in the top five for the PSU women, as she finished just over four seconds back of Mayfield in 17:06.52. Watch a full recap of the meet on the Vikings' YouTube channel.
 
BIG SKY XC TRIANGULAR MEET RECAP:
The Portland State men and women hosted their first meet of the season Saturday, Sept. 20, with the Big Sky XC Triangular Meet at Pier Park in North Portland. The Viking men and women competed against their respective counterparts at Eastern Washington and Idaho, while the Viking women also competed against the University of Portland women. Both teams failed to pick up a dual win at the meet, but the Viking women came extremely close to upsetting Eastern Washington, only losing by a point, 27-28. Additionally, junior Amanda Boman made an amazing individual turnaround to lead the Viking women at the meet, as she finished the 5,000-meter women's race sixth overall in 18:13 two weeks after she finished dead last at the season-opening Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore. Junior T-Roy Brown, meanwhile, paced the Viking men in their 8,000-meter men's race, as he also finished sixth overall in 26:01. Watch a full recap of the meet on the Vikings' YouTube channel.
 
BILL DELLINGER INVITATIONAL RECAP:
The Viking men and women opened their 2014 seasons Friday, Sept. 5, at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore. The Viking men placed fourth among a talented field, scoring 106 points behind freshman Alejandro Cisneros' 26th-place finish. Cisneros ran the 8,000-meter race in 26:02 to place as the Vikings' top runner, while redshirt junior T-Roy Brown finished right behind Cisneros at 27th in 26:13. Senior Camelia Mayfield, meanwhile, led the Portland State women to a fifth-place finish with 131 team points, as she finished as the Vikings' top women's runner by a long shot. Mayfield finished the women's 6,000-meter race 24th overall in 21:27, more than a minute ahead of the next PSU runner, Cheryn Trapp, who finished 35th in 22:31.
 
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Vikings will next compete at the Big Sky Championship meet Saturday, Nov. 1, in Grand Forks, N.D.
 
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Viking XC Classic on Oct. 4 was the second home meet of the season for Portland State, after the Big Sky XC Triangular Meet on Sept. 20. The two meets came as a concerted effort from the Vikings to host more cross country events, and marked the first time the Vikings had hosted two regular-season meets in the same season since Portland State became a Division I program in 1996. The Vikings had never hosted a regular-season meet of any kind as a Division I program until last season, when the Vikings hosted the inaugural Viking XC Classic. That race was also the Vikings' first home meet since they hosted the Big Sky Championships in 2008.
 
VIKING WOMEN EARN FIRST-EVER USTFCCCA REGIONAL RANKING:
The Portland State women earned their first-ever ranking in the USTFCCCA West Region poll during the preseason, as they opened the season 15th in the region. The PSU women maintained that ranking in the first regular-season edition of the poll, too, before dropping out of the poll after their second meet of the season.