Vikings on track once again

This past Saturday, the Portland State men and women’s cross country teams travelled to Fernhill Park in Northeast Portland to compete in the Adidas Cross Country Classic hosted by Concordia University. Portland State’s top finishers were sophomore Zach Carpenter and junior Brandy Castillo. Carpenter placed 11th in the 8,000-meter race with 25:23. Castillo finished 32nd overall in the 5,000-meter, carossing the line with a time of 18:49.

“We had a decent day in general as a team, we did pretty well. It’s good preparation for conference,” Carpenter said.

Captain of the women’s team, junior Amber Rozcicha, sat out the event at Concordia this past weekend. Rozcicha hasn’t been able to run or compete for the past two weeks due to a hip injury, but she kept her eye on the action and cheered on her team from behind the scenes.

“I’m very proud of how the girls did this weekend.” Rozcicha said. “They raced with heart and they all looked very strong and had some great PRs.”

Rozcicha has led the Vikings women’s team in every event she’s participated in this season. In the first event of the season, Rozcicha placed second overall at the John Frank Memorial. She followed that with a 10th place finish at the Stanford Invitational, then paced the team at Dellinger Invitational and Adidas Classic.

Despite Rozcicha’s success in the sport, the Portland State standout didn’t get involved with cross country in a typical fashion. When she was considering college, Rozcicha had no plans for running cross country, but during her application process Rozcicha was told that in order to run long distance in track (her main event), she would have to run cross country in the fall.

“I had never done cross country before and I was like, ‘Okay, well, I guess I’m doing cross country now!’” Rozcicha said with a smile. “But I was excited because it would be something new…and I knew it would be really good fitness for track.” Rozcicha recalled her very first cross country meet for Portland State and remembered feeling worried about being able to complete a full 5,000-meter race when the longest distance she had ran in the past was a 3,000-meter.

“My first race I didn’t know what to expect and I was freaking out. It was really scary for me, ” Rozcicha said. “I’ve developed a lot more respect and love for [cross country] with every year, and I’ve learned so much about it, but I didn’t know what I was doing freshman year.”

For Rozcicha, running has become a form of therapy. She said that whenever she’s stressed or upset running helps calm her down, and sometimes she tries to not think about anything at all when she’s running. Then there are other times, especially during races when she finds herself thinking a lot about her strategy, her goals and other general self-reflection. One of her favorite aspects to running is winning a race. “[Winning is] one of the best feelings in the world,” Rozcicha said. “Nothing can compare to that feeling when you PR, or when you win a race, or when you win the whole meet.”

Rozcicha has definitely warmed up to the cross country over the years and has embraced the role of team captain for the Viking women’s team. Her dedication and passion for not only the sport, but for her teammates is clear when speaking to Rozcicha.

“I love my team, I love being their captain, I love leading them… the girls team has so much potential and so much talent, it’s just tough because we’ve been injured and dealing with sicknesses,” Rozcicha said. “You can definitely see the talent and the true potential when we’re racing out there.” On Oct. 22 the Portland State men’s and women’s cross country teams will return to action at the Beaver Classic in Corvallis.