Complete season recap (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Historic.
 
That was the word that kept coming up during the 2014 Portland State cross country season, and with good reason.
 
The Portland State women's cross country team recorded some of its best finishes in program history at the Big Sky and NCAA West Regional meets, while both the Viking men and women recorded their first dual wins in several seasons during the regular season.
 
"When I think about the success that we had this past cross country seasons, the two words that come to mind are preparing and delivering," PSU head coach Ronnye Harrison said. "The athletes clearly understood the philosophy of [assistant coach Jonathan] Marcus and [volunteer assistant coach Bob] Williams. They prepared themselves in training as a unit without losing their individual goals and allowed the training to choose the front runners of the entire group."
 
The historic element of the season started at the Viking XC Classic on Oct. 4, the team's second home meet of the season, which was itself a historic feat, as the program had never previously hosted two meets in a season before. Besides the program's role as host, though, both the Viking men and women also recorded their first dual wins in close to 10 seasons at the meet, marking the first of several historical accomplishments during the season.
 
The Viking men beat a team from the University of Portland at the meet, giving the men's program its first dual win since 2004, when they beat Oregon and Saint Mary's at the Pier Park Invitational. The Viking women, meanwhile, beat teams from the University of Portland and Oregon State at the Viking XC Classic, giving them their first dual wins since 2005, when they beat Western Oregon in a head-to-head meet.
 
The dual win launched the Viking women into more success later in the season, too, starting with the team's final regular-season meet of the season, the Beaver Classic on Oct. 24. The Viking women won the team title for the first time in program history with 43 total points at the meet, placing them 18 points ahead of the second-place team, the University of Portland with 61.
 
The win at the Beaver Classic in turn led into the Viking women's biggest feat of the season, as they placed sixth at the Big Sky Championships on Nov. 1 in Grand Forks, N.D., the team's best finish at the conference meet since 2007. The team totaled 172 points at the meet for their lowest total since 2005, while the sixth-place finish out of 12 teams marked the program's highest-ever finish in the Big Sky relative to the size of the conference.
 
All that came after the Viking women had been picked to finish 12th in the Big Sky during the preseason.
 
The Viking women then posted one of their best finishes ever at the NCAA West Regional meet to end the season. The Vikings tied their second-best finish in program history at the meet, as they placed 17th out of 34 teams with 456 total points. The team's 17th-place finish marked the Vikings' best finish at the meet since 2003, when they also placed 17th.
 
Individually, senior Camelia Mayfield and junior Amanda Boman led the Viking women throughout their historic season, as one or the other finished as the team's top runner at all six meets during the season. Mayfield led the Vikings at the Bill Dellinger Invitational (9/5), Viking XC Classic (10/4), Beaver Classic (10/24) and Big Sky Championships (11/1), while Boman led the Vikings at the Big Sky XC Triangular Meet (9/20) and NCAA West Regional (11/14).
 
Mayfield also had back-to-back overall top five finishes in the middle of the regular season, as she placed third at the three-mile Viking XC Classic in 17:02.05, then followed it up with a fourth-place finish at the 6,000-meter Beaver Classic in 22:07.9. Mayfield also placed 15th at the Big Sky meet, putting her just outside of finishing in the top 10 and among the All-Big Sky performers.
 
Meanwhile, juniors T-Roy Brown and John Talik joined freshman Alejandro Cisneros to lead the Viking men throughout the season. Those three made up the team's top three runners at five of the six meets during the season, while one of the three led the Viking men at all six meets.
 
The freshman, Cisneros, led the Vikings at three meets during the season, including the Big Sky Championships in Grand Forks, N.D. Brown, meanwhile, led the Vikings with back-to-back top 10 finishes at the team's two home meets during the season – the Big Sky XC Triangular and the Viking XC Classic – while Talik led the Vikings at the team's longest run of the season, the 10,000-meter NCAA West Regional.
 
All three of the Viking men's top three will return next season as well, as both the Viking men and women should be set up well for another historic season in 2015.
 
"The youth of this team is probably it's best asset," Harrison said. "I expect the climb to continue as we move into the indoor season. The adjustments will be minimal and the running surface flat, but the expectations will remain the same."
 
The Viking distance runners will return to action as the indoor season starts at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 17, 2015.