This past weekend, Portland State cross country headed down to Palo Alto, Calif. to compete in the Stanford Invitational, the team’s third meet of the 2011 season. Both the men’s and women’s teams have burst out of the gate quickly, including strong showings in their first two meets, the John Frank Memorial held on Sept. 1 in Corvallis and the Pier Park Invitational on Sept. 10 in Portland.
This past weekend, Portland State cross country headed down to Palo Alto, Calif. to compete in the Stanford Invitational, the team’s third meet of the 2011 season. Both the men’s and women’s teams have burst out of the gate quickly, including strong showings in their first two meets, the John Frank Memorial held on Sept. 1 in Corvallis and the Pier Park Invitational on Sept. 10 in Portland.
“Both teams have opened up surprisingly well,” assistant coach Kevin Jeffers said. “There were shoes that needed to be filled due to graduating seniors, and both teams have stepped up and filled missing gaps and roles. Both are young teams, but they are starting to look and carry themselves like veterans.”
Viking coaches and players have communicated that the men’s and women’s teams are developing well, despite the fact that both sides’ rosters are made of about half freshmen and new runners.
“We have four new boys who have been working very hard all season long,” sophomore Zach Carpenter said. “The returners are looking stronger than last season and I feel that we will move up at the conference meet.”
In the first two meets, Carpenter showed his enormous potential, winning both events. As for the women, junior Amber Rozcicha finished in the top 10 at both meets. Carpenter was also named the Big Sky Conference athlete of the week on Sept. 13 after he won his second consecutive meet.
“Being chosen as Big Sky’s athlete of the week is an honor to me. It means that my efforts are beginning to draw attention, particularly on a conference level, which is a very big deal,” Carpenter said.
In Palo Alto, the Vikings faced a step up in competition, as participating schools included Stanford, UCLA, UC Davis and Loyola Marymount University. Not only was the level of competition higher, but also the number of runners was substantially greater than in previous events. Both the men and women’s teams had over 200 runners.
“I feel due to the circumstances and conditions of the [Stanford Invitational] we did well. This was our first meet at a championship distance, so it was a different experience for our men and women this weekend. It was also the biggest race [in terms of number of racers] that these athletes will be in this season,” Jeffers said. “It’s good going toe-to-toe with athletes of that level because no matter the result, you always come away with something that you can improve upon or continue doing.”
The top two runners for the Viks were Carpenter, placing 61 out of 242 in the 8,000-meter with a time of 25:25, and Rozcicha, who finished 64 out of 278 in the 6,000-meter with a time of 22:20. For the Viking freshman who competed this weekend, this was their first taste of running these specific distances in competition, and all of those who participated posted new personal records. Freshman William Ferguson did particularly well, finishing 118 and paced the race at 26:23, finishing only .98 behind Carpenter.
“Competing against nationally-ranked teams is a humbling yet rewarding experience,” Carpenter said. “It would be very easy to go to smaller races every weekend and come home with a victory each time. When we race against the big dogs it shows me what I should strive to be. There is a lot that can be learned by watching the best, from running form to racing strategy.”
The Vikings return to action again on the first of October in Eugene at the Bill Dellinger Invitational.
