Cross country teams head to Salem

The Portland State men’s and women’s cross country teams return to the course Saturday when they travel to Salem for the Charles Bowles Invitational.

Hosted by Willamette University, Saturday’s race marks the halfway point in the cross country season and is the first in a string of three races in the state of Oregon that the Portland State squads are set to run in.

The Vikings will come into Salem well rested after having nearly two weeks to recoup from the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, where both the men’s and women’s teams finished seventh. Hosted by the University of Washington on Sept. 18, the Sundodger was bright for several Vikings.

Senior John Lawrence broke the 25-minute mark in the 8-kilometer race for the first time in his career. His time of 24 minutes and 53.1 seconds earned him 22nd place in the race and was more than half a minute faster than his recorded time from last year. Lawrence’s under-25 minute finish in the 8k marks the first time in six years that a Portland State distance runner has done so.

Sophomore Julie Pedersen paced the women’s team by finishing 19th in the 6k with a time of just over 22 minutes.

The course for the Charles Bowles, which takes runners around McCulloch Stadium and Bush Park, then loop around neighboring woods before bringing them back to the stadium, will be 5k for the women and 8k for the men. At the same event last year, Lawrence led the men’s team with his then-best time of 25:14.82 to finish 31st out of 198. Former PSU runner Amelia Holcombe led the women with a 24th place finish.