The Vikings took a trip to Duck country and competed in the sixth annual Bill Dellinger Invitational this past weekend. The top two finishers were junior Amber Rozcicha and sophomore Zach Carpenter.
Rozcicha placed 44th with 17:53.78 in the 5,000-meter race, which was close to a four-second improvement from last season. Coming in behind Rozcicha were fellow classmates, Brandy and Brittany Castillo finishing 83rd and 87th, respectively.
Carpenter paced the men’s 8,000-meter at 24:58.15 and placed 49th overall. Carpenter is one of the few PSU runners within the past couple of years to make it under the 25-minute mark. Fellow teammate and sophomore Cary Dunagan came in 71st with 26:23.22, while freshman William Ferguson ran a new personal record of 26:31.01 and placed 72nd.
Portland State was invited to participate in this event as a Division I school and went up against top teams such as Oregon and Wisconsin. Carpenter sees the opportunities of running against fast teams as one of the perks of Portland State.
“We’re not necessarily winning it, but we’re there. We got invited, which is pretty cool,” Carpenter said. The men’s team came in ninth with 272 points, and Wisconsin won the event with 24 points. Oregon won the women’s event with 26 points, while the Viking women did not place as a team.
The Vikings have three more meets left before the conference meet, which will be held in Pocatello, Idaho.
Fortunately for the Vikings, the two upcoming meets will be held here in Portland. On Oct. 8 they will compete in the Portland Invitational hosted by the University of Portland, and on Oct. 15 they will participate in the Concordia Classic.