Senior runner putting finishing touches on fine career
Amber Rozcicha has covered a lot of ground as a Viking. She came to Portland from Newberg, Ore. in 2009 and immediately began making her mark. Rozcicha excelled at 800 meters, finishing with a time of 2 minutes, 16.73 seconds at the University of Washington Indoor Preview in her freshman season, and was the Vikings’ top finisher in three races for the cross country team that year. Her best long distance result was a 13th place showing at the 4,800-meter Pre’s Trail Run event.
Since then, Rozcicha has continued to move up, both in distance and performance. In her senior year, she beat her 2009 best time in the 6k by just over two minutes, coming in at 21:28 at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships, where she placed 89th out of 207 runners. Rozcicha has frequently been the Vikings’ top finisher in a number of meets during her career at PSU. Highlights include a first-place finish in the 5k at the 2011 Willamette Invitational and another win at the MONDO Challenge earlier this year. She also finished second at the Warner Pacific Invite in October and ran a career-best 5:02.08 in the mile at the Cherry and Silver Invitational in January.
Rozcicha led a talented cast of runners during this year’s cross country season, and was in the mix for a spot in the national championships when she competed in the 6k at the West Regionals this month. She will exit her career as one of the most successful athletes at PSU in the past four years.
The Vikings cross country team now transitions to the indoor track and field season, which kicks off on Nov. 30 at the Jacksons Open in Boise, Idaho.
