Camarena Qualifies for Nationals; Men, Women Set Program-Best Finishes at Vikings' Best-Ever NCAA West Regional

RESULTS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Portland State jersey will be at the National Cross Country Championships for the first time in program history. Katie Camarena gifted the Vikings that program-first with the best performance ever by a Viking at the NCAA West Regional Friday at Haggin Oaks Golf Course.

Camarena placed fifth individually, securing one of the four individual berths to nationals that go to runners not on qualifying teams. Camarena stuck her nose in with the leaders from the start of the women's 6k Friday. She remained within a second of the overall leader through the first four kilometers of the race, and passed two runners over the final two kilometers to place fifth.

The national qualifying performance from Camarena headlined what will also go down as the best NCAA West Regional on a program-wide basis. The Viking men crushed their previous best team finish at the meet while placing eighth as a team. For context, the men's team's previous best finish had been 16th from 1998, meaning they halved that with their finish Friday. The women's team also tied their best finish ever while placing 11th as a team.

Both the men's and women's teams placed their entire top five among the first 100 finishers at the NCAA West Regional for the first time in program history. The men had never placed more than three runners in the top 100 before Friday, and yet were two spots away from having all five runners finish in the top 75. The women, meanwhile, were one spot away from having six runners finish in the top 100, after they had only ever placed four runners in the top 100 before Friday.

Camarena's gutsy running helped set the tone for what was to come Friday. The Viking grad transfer was never lower than 8th at any split during the race, and closed the final two kilometers in just over five minutes. Camarena's finishing time of 20:06.6 was 42 seconds faster than any other 6k finish at the NCAA West Regional for the Vikings, beating the time of 20:48.1 that Sarah Medved set on the same course in 2018.

Friday's feat solidifies Camarena's 2021 cross country season as the best individual season in program history, as it's featured:

First national qualifier in program history
Best individual finish at Big Sky Championships (4th)
Best individual finish at NCAA West Regional (5th)
4k school record (at Viking Rust Buster, Sept. 3)
5k school record (at Big Sky Championships, Oct. 29)
6k school record (at Santa Clara Bronco Invitational, Oct. 16)

Some years, the Viking men's eighth-place finish may have earned them an at-large bid to nationals, which would have put them on the same plane as Camarena, going to Tallahassee, Fla., next Saturday, Nov. 20.

Two pairs, with Josh Snyder between them, got the job done for the Viking men. Keynan Abdi and Jordan MacIntosh ran together in the lead pack for the Vikings, finishing 40th and 43rd overall. The pair moved up well over the first half of the race, going from 83rd and 84th, respectively, after the opening mile, to 50th and 51st by the halfway point of the race.

Dom Morganti and Drew Seidel made their big jump between the 1.5- and 3.1-mile splits while running in the Vikings' chase pack. Seidel went from 125th after the opening 1.5 miles to 92nd at the halfway point of the race, passing 33 runners in little over a mile and a half. Morganti, meanwhile, went from 120th at 1.5 miles to 94th at the 5k split. The pair dropped around eight runners over each of the next two splits, before finishing within two spots of each other, as Morganti finished 75th and Seidel 77th.

The Vikings' entire top five finished within 47 seconds of each other. Abdi and MacIntosh finished in 30:40.4 and 30:41.8, respectively, moving them up to second and third all-time in the cross country 10k at Portland State. Josh Snyder, who finished between the two pairs, placed 60th overall in 31:09.8, moving him up sixth all-time in the 10k. Morganti and Seidel, meanwhile, finished in 31:25.0 and 31:27.6, respectively, moving them up to seventh and eighth all-time in the cross country 10k.

Luke Ramirez and Evan Peters also ran for the Vikings, finishing 127th overall in 32:32.3 and 149th overall in 33:07.5, respectively.

The Viking women also used late surges and tight bunching in tying their record finish at the meet. Every Viking runner behind Camarena passed at least 20 other runners after the opening mile. Maya Irving passed the most of anybody, as she vaulted from 114th after the opening mile to 56th by the 6k finish. Irving made her biggest move between the 1.5- and 2.5-mile splits, as she went from 90th at the 1.5-mile split to 59th at the 2.5-mile split.

Liza Sajn made a similar move to Irving, going from 110th after the opening mile to 60th by the finish. Sajn dropped 24 runners between the 1.5- and 2.5-miles splits, then kicked past another 10 runners over the final 0.85 kilometers of the race.

Abi Swain also passed 24 runners between the 1.5- and 2.5-mile splits before placing 88th overall as the team's fourth finisher.

Hunter Storm made her big move late in the race, as she passed 12 runners after the 3.2-mile split, vaulting herself up to 89th, right behind Swain.

Natalia Martino nearly gave the Vikings a sixth runner in the top 100, as she moved up well after the opening mile to place 101st overall.

Irving, Sajn, Swain, Storm and Martino all placed within 44 seconds of each other in closing out the Vikings' team score behind Camarena. Irving and Sajn finished with four seconds of each other in 21:03.2 and 21:07.3, respectively, while Swain and Storm crossed the line within two seconds of each in 21:37.4 and 21:39.4. Martino finished only eight seconds behind Storm, as she hit the mat in 21:47.0.

Tatum Miller was also within 20 seconds of Martino, as she placed 117th overall in 22:07.9.

Camarena's national qualification extends the cross country season for the Vikings another week. She'll now head to Tallahassee, Fla., for the NCAA Championships next Saturday, Nov. 20. The women's 6k is scheduled for 7:20 a.m. PT / 10:20 a.m. ET that day.

And for the first time in program history, some Viking green will be in amongst the pack.

NCAA West Regional
Haggin Oaks Golf Course
Sacramento, Calif.
Nov. 12, 2021

Women's Top Ten Finishers (6k):
1. Julia Heymach, Stanford, 20:01.1; 2. Ruby Smee, San Francisco, 20:01.6; 3. Kristen Garcia, Gonzaga, 20:03.2; 4. Alessia Zarbo, Oregon, 20:04.0; 5. Katie Camarena, Portland State, 20:06.6; 6. Aneta Konieczek, Oregon, 20:08.8; 7. Zofia Dudek, Stanford, 20:10.4; 8. Lucy Jenks, Stanford, 20:10.7; 9. Christina Aragon, Stanford, 20:11.5; 10. Allie Schadler, Washington, 20:12.2.

Women's Team Scores (6k):
1. Stanford, 42 points; 2. Washington, 84 points; 3. Oregon, 100 points; 4. Gonzaga, 148 points; 5. Portland, 161 points; 6. San Francisco, 202 points; 7. Oregon State, 206 points; 8. Boise State, 214 points; 9. UC Davis, 259 points; 10. Cal State Fullerton, 281 points; 11. Portland State, 298 points; 12. Washington State, 317 points; 13. Idaho, 329 points; 14. Cal Poly, 394 points; 15. UCLA, 450 points; 16. UC Irvine, 455 points; 17. California, 536 points; 18. Santa Clara, 577 points; 19. St. Mary's (Calif.), 580 points; 20. Sacramento State, 589 points; 21. Arizona State, 639 points; 22. USC, 639 points; 23. San Diego State, 657 points; 24. Long Beach State, 661 points; 25. UC Riverside, 679 points; 26. Loyola Marymount, 716 points; 27. UC Santa Barbara, 773 points; 28. Eastern Washington, 800 points; 29. Seattle U, 846 points; 30. UNLV, 851 points; 31. San Diego, 877 points; 32. Pacific, 941 points; 33. Pepperdine, 962 points; 34. Hawaii, 969 points; 35. CSUN, 1137 points.

Portland State Runners (out of 235):
5. Katie Camarena, 20:06.6; 56. Maya Irving, 21:03.2; 60. Liza Sajn, 21:07.3; 88. Abi Swain, 21:37.4; 89. Hunter Storm, 21:39.4; 101. Natalia Martino, 21:47.0; 117. Tatum Miller, 22:07.9.

Men's Top Ten Finishers (10k):
1. Kieran Lumb, Washington, 29:28.5; 2. Charles Hicks, Stanford, 29:29.5; 3. Cooper Teare, Oregon, 29:29.7; 4. Aaron Bienenfeld, Oregon, 29:33.3; 5. James Mwaura, Gonzaga, 29:35.2; 6. Brian Fay, Washington, 29:36.0; 7. Ky Robinson, Stanford, 29:41.8; 8. Dario De Caro, Boise State, 29:43.7; 9. Leo Daschbach, Washington, 29:45.3; 10. Zak Kirk, Portland, 29:47.6.

Men's Team Scores (10k):
1. Stanford, 61 points; 2. Washington, 66 points; 3. Portland, 94 points; 4. Oregon, 100 points; 5. Gonzaga, 107 points; 6. Boise State, 115 points; 7. Washington State, 244 points; 8. Portland State, 295 points; 9. Santa Clara, 372 points; 10. UC Santa Barbara, 375 points; 11. Cal State Fullerton, 395 points; 12. UCLA, 398 points; 13. Idaho, 405 points; 14. St. Mary's (Calif.), 407 points; 15. Cal Poly, 414 points; 16. Grand Canyon, 424 points; 17. Arizona State, 451 points; 18. California, 471 points; 19. Loyola Marymount, 537 points; 20. UC Davis, 567 points; 21. San Francisco, 573 points; 22. Eastern Washington, 584 points; 23. Long Beach State, 611 points; 24. Pepperdine, 617 points; 25. UC Irvine, 623 points; 26. CSUN, 690 points; 27. UC Riverside, 725 points; 28. San Diego, 739 points; 29. Seattle U, 880 points.

Portland State Runners (out of 191):
40. Keynan Abdi, 30:40.4; 43. Jordan MacIntosh, 30:41.8; 60. Josh Snyder, 31:09.8; 75. Dom Morganti, 31:25.0; 77. Drew Seidel, 31:27.6; 127. Luke Ramirez, 32:32.3; 149. Evan Peters, 33:07.5.

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