Cross Country to compete in Willamette Meet

This weekend, the Vikings’ Cross Country is back in action at one of the largest West Coast meets of the season. PSU will be competing against the legs of 47 other squads in Salem, Ore. at the Willamette Invitational.

The Vikings will face well-rounded competition, including Division I teams, nationally ranked Division III teams and some of the very best from the NAIA level. Some of the teams are: University of Portland, University of Oregon and nationally ranked Claremont-Mudd and nationally ranked host Willamette University. The meet will run through McCulloch Stadium and Bush Park.

The Vikings’ last meet took place back on Sept. 22 at the Sundodger Invitational where the men placed seventh out of eight teams and the women came in last of 10 teams. The men were led by Kyle Boyd, who turned in a time of 26:14, and finished 52nd. Chris Hollis and Paul Loprenzi did not trail far behind finishing in the same minute. The trio looks to be PSU’s leaders heading into this weekend. The top finisher of the meet was Bryan Green, running for UCLA, who finished in 24:11.

Some of the teams the women competed against were Auburn, UCLA, Portland and Washington State.

Anne Kawasaki finished first for PSU in 18th place with a time of 18:26. The top runner, Sabrina Monro, finished at 16:06 and lead Washington to the team victory. Kawasaki should lead Portland State’s team this Saturday as well, along with returning runner Ashley Tendick and Jenny Rodgers.