MONMOUTH, Ore. — Ari Smith posted his third straight top 10 finish to open the season while leading a wave of year-to-year improvements from the Portland State men's and women's cross country teams Saturday at the Mike Johnson Classic.
 
Smith's time of 24:32.9 in the men's 8k marked a 55-second improvement over his time at the same meet last season. He was one of 10 Vikings between the men's and women's teams to set a new personal best, and three of those were improvements over times from last year's Mike Johnson Classic.
 
Smith's fifth-place individual finish followed a sixth-place finish over the same Ash Creek Preserve course two weeks ago at the Ash Creek Collegiate. Smith opened his season by winning the Lewis & Clark XC Opener. He now has the most top 10 finishes by a Viking men's runner since Alex Cisneros recorded three over the 2014 season.
 
The low stick from Smith meant the Viking men placed sixth as a team with 148 points. Host Western Oregon won the race on the men's side with 27 total points. The women's 6k featured a few more teams as Oregon, Portland and Oregon State joined the field and finished 1-2-3. The Viking women placed eighth with 238 points.
 
Behind Smith on the men's side, Vince Estrada also posted a big improvement over his time from last year's Mike Johnson Classic. Estrada shaved 59 seconds off his time from a year ago while placing 17th overall in 25:27.4.
 
Landen Sandoval followed at 45th overall in 26:18.4. That marked a personal best by 21 seconds and a year-to-year improvement from last season's Mike Johnson Classic by more than 75 seconds.
 
Luke Gillingham and JD Arthur closed out the Viking men's team score at 53rd and 58th, respectively, finishing in times of 26:32.6 and 26:39.2.
 
Aidan Brown shaved six seconds off his 8k personal best from the 2024 Bill Dellinger Invitational, placing 66th overall in 27:03.6.
 
Freshman Eli Levinsohn and junior Kyle Chen finished back-to-back at 74th and 75th, respectively, in times of 27:27.3 and 27:28.4. It was the first-ever 8k for Levinsohn.
 
Mika Sarver Huber rounded out the Viking men's runners at 80th overall in 27:44.6.
 
Freshman Brianna Mazilu led the Viking women for the second straight meet. She ran the race like a veteran, moving up from 58th after the first kilometer to 28th by the end of the race. She made her biggest move after that opening kilometer, moving up 26 spots by the 4k split.
 
Mazilu finished in 21:56.7, making her the second Viking freshman to crack 22 minutes in the 6k out of the last two seasons, following Sam Sharp a year ago.
 
Sharp placed 49th overall as the Viking women's second runner, finishing in 22:29.7. Fellow sophomore Libby Fox followed at 58th overall in 22:45.7, shaving close to 30 seconds off her time from last season.
 
Viola Alessandrini didn't race at the Mike Johnson Classic last season but bettered her 6k personal best by exactly a minute from the 2024 Bill Dellinger Invitational. Alessandrini placed 64th overall in 22:56.3.
 
Addison Capozzi closed out the team score for the Viking women with a 71st overall finish in 23:12.9. That was a 25-second improvement over Capozzi's previous 6k best, which came at the 2023 Mike Johnson Classic during her freshman season.
 
Hannah Butterfield posted the biggest improvement of the day, shaving more than two minutes and 20 seconds off her time from last season's Mike Johnson Classic while finishing 81st overall in 23:30.0.
 
Shayda Zarrin followed in 87th overall in 23:48.6. Emily Schmitke added another personal best with her finish in 24:12.4, placing her 96th overall. Schmitke bettered her personal best from the 2024 NCAA West Regional by more than 20 seconds.
 
Riley Amarillas and Talise Wapsheli closed out the Viking women's runners at 103rd and 109th overall, respectively, in times of 25:00.9 and 25:33.3. Wapsheli's time marked a 70-second improvement over her previous best in the 6k from the 2024 Bill Dellinger Invitational.
 
The Vikings will have two weekends off from competition now before returning to action Oct. 17 at the George Oja Invitational.
 
Mike Johnson Classic
Ash Creek Preserve
Monmouth, Ore.
Sept. 26, 2026
 
Women's Top Ten Finishers (6k):
1. Juliet Cherubet, Oregon, 18:36.7; 2. Ava Parekh, Oregon, 20:15.0; 3. Landen LeBlond, Oregon, 20:37.3; 4. Kendall Martin, Oregon, 20:44.2; 5. Viola Paoletti, Portland, 20:51.8; 6. Lindsey Kaines, Portland, 21:03.2; 7. Selena Bangerter, 21:09.3; 8. Samantha McDonnell, Oregon, 21:11.9; 9. Anna Connor, Unattached, 21:13.0; 10. Kelsey Rodli, Oregon State, 21:13.1.
 
Women's Team Scores (6k):
1. Oregon, 18 points; 2. Portland, 40 points; 3. Oregon State, 79 points; 4. Northwest Nazarene, 134 points; 5. Western Oregon, 166 points; 6. Seattle Pacific, 167 points; 7. Southwestern Oregon CC, 235 points; 8. Portland State, 238 points; 9. Cal Poly Humboldt, 242 points; 10. Seattle U, 246 points; 11. Alaska Anchorage, 272 points; 12. Linfield, 375 points; 13. Mt. Hood CC, 424 points.
 
Portland State Runners (out of 134 runners):
28. Brianna Mazilu, 21:56.7; 49. Sam Sharp, 22:29.7; 58. Libby Fox, 22:45.7; 64. Viola Alessandrini, 22:56.3; 71. Addison Capozzi, 23:12.9; 81. Hannah Butterfield, 23:30.0; 87. Shayda Zarrin, 23:48.6; 96. Emily Schmitke, 24:12.4; 103. Riley Amarillas, 25:00.9; 109. Talise Wapsheli, 25:33.3.
 
Men's Top Ten Finishers (8k):
1. Ethan Bothwell, Western Oregon, 24:08.1; 2. Luke Stockett, Northwest Nazarene, 24:13.5; 3. Matthew Resnik, Western Oregon, 24:26.4; 4. Remedan Seman, Western Oregon, 24:28.5; 5. Ari Smith, Portland State, 24:32.9; 6. Benjamin Peck, Alaska Anchorage, 24:35.2; 7. Zander Campbell, Western Oregon, 24:50.4; 8. Sam Griffin, Alaska Anchorage, 24:52.5; 9. Ewen Wilkinson, Alaska Anchorage, 24:57.0; 10. Emmitt Warren, Northwest Nazarene, 25:05.2.
 
Men's Team Scores (8k):
1. Western Oregon, 27 points; 2. Alaska Anchorage, 65 points; 3. Northwest Nazarene, 92 points; 4. Southwestern Oregon CC, 138 points; 5. Cal Poly Humboldt, 139 points; 6. Portland State, 148 points; 7. Seattle U, 173 points; 8. Seattle Pacific, 237 points; 9. Linfield, 263 points; 10. Bushnell (Ore.), 275 points; 11. Clackamas CC, 325 points; 12. Umpqua CC, 350 points.
 
Portland State Runners (out of 129 runners):
5. Ari Smith, 24:32.9; 17. Vince Estrada, 25:27.4; 45. Landen Sandoval, 26:18.4; 53. Luke Gillingham, 26:32.6; 58. JD Arthur, 26:39.2; 66. Aidan Brown, 27:03.6; 74. Eli Levinsohn, 27:27.3; 75. Kyle Chen, 27:28.4; 80. Mika Sarver Huber, 27:44.6; Simon Walsh, DNF.