As an example of how much assistant coach Josh Seitz has remade the Portland State distance program, 11 of the 22 school records in the distance events -- men's and women's indoor 800m, 1,000m, mile, 3,000m and 5,000m; men's and women's outdoor 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m, 2k steeple and 3k steeple -- have been set since Seitz took over the program in Jan. 2017. Additionally, the best men's and women's team finishes at the Big Sky Conference and NCAA West Regional cross country meets have come under Seitz.
All told, in six-plus years at the helm, Seitz has helped the Vikings’ distance runners to:
- 3 NCAA National Qualifications (Women's Cross Country: Katie Camarena, 2021; Women's Indoor: Katie Camarena, Mile, 3k, 2022)
- 2 NCAA All-American Honors (Katie Camarena, second-team honoree in indoor mile & 3k in 2022)
- 1 USTFCCCA All-Region honoree (Women: Katie Camarena, 2021)
- 2 Big Sky Individual Titles (Sarah Medved, 3k Steeple, 2018, 2019)
- 7 NCAA West Prelims Qualifiers (Women: Sarah Medved, Steeple, 2018, 2019; Kaila Gibson, 10k, 2019, 2021 – Men: Alex Cisneros, 10k, 2018; Chase Lovercheck, 800m, 2022; Josh Snyder, Steeple, 2021)
- 2 Big Sky Conference Records (Women's Indoor: Katie Camarena in the Mile & 3k)
- School Records in 15 different events (Women’s Cross Country: 4k, 5k, 6k; Men's Cross Country: 6k; Women’s Indoor: 800m, Mile, 3k, 5k; Men’s Indoor: Mile, 3k, 5k; Women’s Outdoor: 2k Steeple, 3k Steeple; Men’s Outdoor: 10k, 3k Steeple)
- 5 Podium Finishes at Big Sky Outdoor Championships (Women: Sarah Medved, Steeple, 2018, 2019 – Men: Ben Richardson, 800m, 2017; Chase Lovercheck, 800m, 2019, 2022)
- 1 Podium Finish at Big Sky Indoor Championships (Women: Katie Camarena, 800m, 2022)
- 3 All-Big Sky Honorees in Cross Country (Kaila Gibson, 2018; Sarah Medved, 2018; Katie Camarena, 2021)
- 12 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Honors
- 6 USTFCCCA All-Academic Individual Honorees (Women: Kaila Gibson, 2019, 2020, 2021 – Men: Donté Robinson, 2019; Braden Masanga, 2020; Josh Snyder, 2021)
- Men’s Program’s Best Finish at Big Sky Cross Country Championships (5th at 2021 Winter Champs)
- Women’s Program’s Best Finish at Big Sky Cross Country Championships (3rd at 2021 Fall Champs)
It’s become a yearly tradition for the Vikings to set a program-best cross country season since Seitz joined the staff, but even still, the Vikings took a large leap forward in 2021. For the first time in program history, the Vikings had representation at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Katie Camarena inserted some Viking green into the national meet after placing fifth at the NCAA West Regional, and finished 70th overall out of 250 of the best runners in the country.
Camarena’s appearance at nationals tied the bow around a season that included the:
- Best men’s team finish at NCAA West Regional (8th)
- Best women’s team finish at NCAA West Regional (11th, tied)
- Best women’s team finish at Big Sky Championships (3rd)
- Best individual finishes for a Viking woman at the Big Sky (3rd), NCAA West Regional (5th) and NCAA D1 National meets (70th, Katie Camarena every time)
- Best individual finish for a Viking man at the Big Sky Championships (14th, tied, by Jordan MacIntosh)
- First Top 10 regional ranking in USTFCCCA West Region (men ranked ninth on Oct. 18)
The Viking men’s eighth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional halved their previous best finish of 16th. Additionally, the Viking women’s third-place finish at conference beat their previous best finish by two spots.
The Viking women’s entire top five finished among the first 30 runners at the Big Sky meet, as depth was a theme throughout the season. The Vikings had never placed more than three runners in the top 30 before the 2021 meet, let alone five. The Vikings accomplished a similar feat at the NCAA West Regional where both teams placed their entire top five among the first 100 finishers. The men nearly placed their entire top five among the first 75 finishers, missing out by only two spots, while the women were one spot away from putting six runners in the top 100 of their race.
The highlight of the 2021 cross country season remained Camarena’s accomplishments, however. A transfer from UC Santa Barbara, Camarena made a quick impact in her time on the Park Blocks, as she would either set or become the Vikings’:
- First national cross country qualifier in Division I program history
- First USTFCCCA All-Region honoree in cross country
- 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)
Camarena's success continued into the 2022 track & field indoor season in which she swept the Portland State school records in the 800 meters, mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Camarena's records in the mile and 3k also set new standards within the Big Sky Conference, and came on back-to-back days at the Husky Classic. Camarena became the first woman ever in the Big Sky Conference ever to crack nine minutes in the 3k while finishing in 8:57.08. Camarena then followed with an even-more-impressive mile race the following day as she beat out a deep field that included BYU's Courtney Wayment and Elizabeth Bird, a 2020 Olympic Finalist in the steeplechase for Great Britain. Camarena's winning time of 4:32.27 broke a 19-year-old conference record that Northern Arizona's Johanna Nilsson set in 2003.
Camarena went on to become the Vikings' first-ever double qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships, as she finished the regular season ranked third and 11th nationally in the mile and 3k, respectively. Camarena finished ninth and 13th in the finals of both events, making her the Vikings' first-ever two-time NCAA Second-Team All-American.
The NCAA Indoor Championships wrapped up Camarena's Viking career, which was admittedly short but incredibly impactful. In just one cross country and one indoor track & field season, Camarena:
- Set 7 school records (Cross Country: 4k, 5k, 6k; Indoor: 800m, mile, 3k, 5k)
- Set 2 Big Sky Conference Records (indoor mile, 3k)
- Became the first woman in Big Sky Conference history to crack nine minutes in the indoor 3k (8:57.08 at the Husky Classic on Feb. 11)
- Became the first Viking to qualify for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships
- Became the Vikings' first qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships since Geronne Black in 2013, and the only Viking ever to qualify in two different events in the same year
- Became the Vikings' first two-time NCAA second-team All-American during the Division I era
Seitz continues to coach Camarena post-collegiately, and saw her qualify for her first USATF Outdoors meet in 2022, when she finished as the first runner out of the finals of the women's 1,500 meters.
Outside of Camarena, the Viking men set three school records during the 2022 indoor track & field season between two for Jordan MacIntosh and another for Keynan Abdi. MacIntosh and Abdi both went under the old record in the indoor 3k at the UW Indoor Preview, with MacIntosh finishing in 8:07.94 and Abdi in 8:14.04. MacIntosh then set the indoor mile record at 4:04.28 at the UW Invitational, while Abdi followed with the indoor 5k record (14:17.70) at the Husky Classic.
The 2022 outdoor season saw Chase Lovercheck return to the Big Sky podium in the 800 meters. Lovercheck made a surprise podium appearance as a freshman in 2019, but then battled the pandemic and a foot injury over the next two years before returning to the podium as a senior. Lovercheck placed second in the conference in a new personal best of 1:50.24. His time, which got altitude-adjusted down to sub-1:50, qualified him for the NCAA West Prelims, making him the first Viking to qualify in the 800 meters since Tony Crisofulli in 2011.
MacIntosh added another school record late in the outdoor season at the Bell Canadian Track & Field Championships. MacIntosh finished fourth at the Canadian national meet in a time of 8:35.44, which bettered the record Josh Snyder set a year before. MacIntosh's time would have ranked him 13th in the NCAA had he competed during the collegiate season.
The success of fall 2021 came after Seitz helped the Vikings produce a strong 2021 track season despite restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic. Forced to train in pods of anywhere from four to 15 athletes, the Vikings still came through with five marks that were the program's fastest or second-fastest times in their respective events in at least 20 years. The crown jewel of that set was the school record in the men's steeplechase, which Snyder set twice during the season. Snyder topped out at 8:56.64 at the Oregon Relays, breaking a 39-year-old school record in the process. Besides that mark, Kaila Gibson ran the fastest women's 10k since 1987 (33:55.99), Tom Richardson ran the fastest men's 1,500m since 2001 (3:48.39), Keynan Abdi ran the fastest men's 5k since 2001 (14:14.00), and Cayla Seligman ran the second-fastest women's 5k since 1987 (16:38.83).
Snyder and Gibson also both made the NCAA West Prelims in 2021, marking a historic debut and long-awaited return for both runners, respectively. Snyder became the Vikings' first-ever qualifier in the men's steeplechase, while Gibson returned to the NCAA postseason after missing out on a chance to qualify in 2020 due to the pandemic. Gibson joined Camelia Mayfield as the Vikings' only two-time NCAA West Prelims qualifiers in the women's 10k.
The Vikings only competed at one meet during the unique 2021 winter cross country season, but that meet -- the Big Sky Cross Country Winter Championships -- brought more history as the Vikings posted a program-best finish. The Viking men set a program record by placing fifth, while the women's sixth-place finish meant the Vikings saw their best combined finish ever between their men's and women's teams. The finish at the Big Sky meet earned the Viking men their first-ever USTFCCCA West Region ranking (12th), while the women finished the season ranked 14th. The end-of-season rankings for both teams marked the first time both had been ranked simultaneously in program history.
In their second year since shifting to a distance-events focus, Seitz helped led the Vikings to one of the program's best cross country seasons in the fall of 2019. The Viking men set a program-best finish at the Big Sky Championships, finishing seventh out of 11 teams. The Viking men also placed three runners in the top 100 of the NCAA West Regional for only the second time in program history.
Richardson led the Viking men with a 54th-place finish at the NCAA West Regional, the third-best individual finish ever by a Viking at the meet. Richardson's time of 31:00.2 also marked the second-best ever by a Viking in the cross country 10k. Snyder and Max Norman joined Richardson in the top 100 at 95th and 96th, respectively. Norman became only the second Viking men's runner to place in the top 100 in back-to-back years, joining one of the program's all-time greats in Michael Devenport.
All that amounted to a 20th-place team finish for the Viking men, the first time they've placed in the top 20 of the NCAA West Regional since 2003. The Vikings were a bit unlucky to not finish even higher, as only 46 points separated the Vikings from the 13th-place team at the meet.
The Viking women, meanwhile, placed two runners in the top 75 at the NCAA West Regional for the second straight season. Hunter Storm and Delaney White led the Viking women at 70th and 72nd overall, respectively. Storm led the Vikings at every meet during the season, and moved into the all-time top five in the cross country 4k and 6k. Storm came within 3.3 seconds of the school record in the 6k while finishing in 20:51.4 at the Bronco Invitational.
On the track, four Viking distance runners have qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds during Seitz's tenure.
Sarah Medved became the Vikings' first-ever qualifier in the steeplechase in 2018, and then repeated the feat as a fifth-year senior in 2019. Medved also repeated as the Big Sky champion in the steeplechase in 2019, a year after becoming the Vikings' first-ever conference champion in the event.
Gibson joined Medved at the 2019 NCAA West Prelims after she qualified in the women's 10,000 meters. Gibson qualified after running the 10k in 34:12.51 at the Stanford Invitational, a time that marked a 70-second personal best for Gibson and moved her up third all time in the outdoor 10k at Portland State.
Alex Cisneros joined Medved at the NCAA West Prelims in 2018, becoming the Vikings' first-ever qualifier in the men's 10,000 meters that season.
Chase Lovercheck also made a surprise podium finish in the outdoor men's 800 meters at the 2019 Big Sky meet. Lovercheck, ranked 18th in the men's 800 going into the meet, placed third in a time of 1:50.92 -- four seconds faster than his personal best in the 800 coming into the Big Sky meet. Lovercheck's time was the best by a Viking freshman in the past 16 years by more than a second.
Luke Ramirez set the best time by a Viking freshman in the men's 1,500 meters while running the prelims of the 1,500 meters in 3:56.26 at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships.
Seitz also helped lead the Vikings to their best cross country season in program history in 2018, his second year with the Viking cross country teams. The Viking women tied their highest team finish ever at the Big Sky meet with a fifth-place finish, after being picked to finish in a tie for ninth. Additionally, the Vikings' fifth-place finish came in the 11-team Big Sky Conference, making it the Vikings' best finish ever within the conference relative to the size of the field. The Viking women followed it up with a 15th-place finish at the NCAA West Regional, their highest finish at the meet since they placed 11th in 2002.
Gibson and Medved led the Viking women to their historic performances throughout the year, as they traded off going first and second all season. Medved and Gibson became the first Viking teammates – male or female – to place in the top 40 together at the NCAA West Regional, just under two weeks after they became the first Viking teammates to place in the top 10 together at the Big Sky Conference meet. The Vikings had never had two runners place in the top 50 of the NCAA West Regional before Medved and Gibson, let alone the top 40.
Medved led the Vikings with a 39th-place finish at the NCAA West Regional, the second highest finish ever by a Viking women's runner, behind only Melissa Telford's 28th-place finish in 1999. Medved broke the school record in the 6k with her finish at the NCAA West Regional meet, while Gibson also broke the previous record while finishing only three-tenths of a second behind her. Gibson broke the school record in the 4k earlier in the season.
Medved became only the second two-time All-Big Sky honoree in program history while finishing 10th at the Big Sky meet behind Gibson at ninth. Medved and Gibson finished with seven top-10 finishes between them during the season, including at the Cougar Classic where they each placed in the top five to lead the Vikings to their first-ever team win at a meet hosted by a Pac-12 school (Washington State). The Vikings upset regionally-ranked Washington State and Idaho at that meet, moving them into the USTFCCCA West Region rankings at 15th. The Vikings remained ranked 15th for three straight weeks, the longest period of time that the Vikings have ever been ranked in the poll.
The Viking men, meanwhile, recorded their second-best finish ever at the Big Sky meet relative to the size of the conference, as they placed eighth out of 11 teams after being picked to finish dead last before the season. The men also recorded their best finish at the NCAA West Regional meet since 2003 with a 21st-place finish.
Norman and Drew Seidel led the Viking men to their strong finishes at both meets. Norman and Seidel placed 31st and 32nd, respectively, at the Big Sky meet, making them the Vikings' first pair of freshmen men's runners to place in the top 35 of the Big Sky meet since 2002.
Norman and Seidel also led the Vikings with 98th- and 99th-place finishes at the NCAA West Regional, making them the first freshmen teammates to place in the top 100 together at the regional meet in program history. The Viking men hadn't had two runners of any classification finish in the top 100 of the NCAA West Regional since 2003, when Devenport and Blake Flanders placed 56th and 93rd overall, respectively. Norman's 98th-place finish also marked the highest finish by a first-year Viking men's runner at the regional since Devenport placed 64th overall in 2002.
Seitz also oversaw one of the best indoor and outdoor track seasons ever by the Viking distance crew in 2018. Medved won the Vikings' first-ever Big Sky title in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2018, and also became the Vikings' first-ever qualifier for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in the men's or women's steeplechase. Cisneros joined Medved as the Vikings' first-ever West Prelims qualifier in the men's 10,000 meters, as well as the first Viking men's runner to qualify in any event longer than 800 meters.
Cisneros and Medved qualified for the West Prelims on the back of school record-breaking performances in the men's 10,000 meters and women's steeplechase, respectively. Medved broke the school record in the steeplechase twice during the season, the second of which put her more than 50 seconds clear of the old record -- 10:21.56 to 11:11.60. Cisneros, meanwhile, broke a 34-year-old school record in the men's 10,000 meters with his finish in 29:25.74 at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Cisneros also set the school records in the men's indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters, while Gibson and Alana Chaplin added school records in the women's indoor 5,000 meters and outdoor 2,000-meter steeplechase. Overall, six of the 10 school records set during the 2018 indoor and outdoor track seasons came from the Vikings' distance runners.
Seitz led Cisneros and Gibson to a couple of record performances in his first year assisting with the Viking cross country teams in the fall of 2017. Cisneros ran the fifth-best 8k time ever by a Viking at the Bronco Invitational, dipping below the 24-minute barrier for the first time with his finish in 23:54.20. Cisneros' time represented the best 8k time ever by a Viking outside the 2010 Big Sky Championships.
Gibson, meanwhile, ran the fourth-best 6k time ever by a Viking while finishing in 21:09.9 at the NCAA West Regional. Gibson's time placed within 12 seconds of the school record in the cross country 6k, which Sarah Dean set at 20:58.00 at the 2013 NCAA West Regional.
In his first year with the track programs, Seitz helped then-senior Ben Richardson overcome an injury at the end of the indoor season to earn All-Big Sky honors with a third-place finish in the men's 800 meters. Seitz also led Alex Cisneros to a school record in the indoor 5,000 meters, as Cisneros broke a six-year-old school record in the event by more than seven seconds with his finish in 14:43.07.
Since February 2021, Seitz also coaches Olympian and Team USA mainstay Colleen Quigley in addition to his role at Portland State. Additionally, Seitz serves on the USTFCCCA Cross Country Coaches Executive Committee as the Men's West Region Representative.
Seitz came to the Vikings after spending parts of four seasons working in various positions for the Florida State cross country and track & field programs.
Seitz most recently served as a volunteer assistant for the Seminoles’ men’s distance program during the 2016 cross country season. Before that, Seitz worked as the interim assistant coach for the women’s distance program from March 2015 to July 2015, in between stints of working as the operations assistant for the women’s team from July 2014 to Dec. 2015. In addition to that position, Seitz also worked as a volunteer assistant coach for the Seminoles women’s distance program between July 2013 and July 2014.
Seitz worked extensively on the recruiting side of things while at Florida State, as he served as the primary recruiting researcher for the Seminole women while the program’s operations assistant, and was the lead recruiting coordinator for the men’s distance program while a volunteer assistant in 2016.
Seitz also worked with several elite athletes while at Florida State, including Quigley, the 2015 NCAA Steeplechase champion and world championship qualifier, who joined Seitz as a volunteer assistant on the Viking staff. Outside of Quigley, Seitz also coached Linden Hall to All-American honors in the 1,500 meters in 2015, and coached Georgia Peel, Pippa Woolven, Chelsi Woodruff and Bridget Blake to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds.
Florida State also completed the ACC triple crown in 2013-14 with conference titles in women’s cross country and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field.
Seitz began his coaching career at Morehead State, where he worked as an assistant from 2012-13 under his former coach, Brent Ericksen.
Seitz ran for Ericksen as a cross country and track athlete at Southern Oregon, and followed Ericksen to Morehead State as a graduate transfer. Seitz was a member of Ericksen’s 2010 men’s cross country team at Southern Oregon that won an NAIA national title.
Seitz has also spent time working outside of the world of cross country and track & field, including as a Fulbright ETA in Kenya from Jan. to Oct. 2016. Seitz taught English and a U.S. Embassy funded cultural exchange program at the Bungoma Muslim Secondary School in Bungoma, Kenya, where he also encouraged young female distance athletes to complete secondary school. Additionally, Seitz worked as a post-graduate assistant in the office of national fellowships at Florida State while working as a volunteer assistant coach with the women’s program from 2013-14.
Seitz earned his Bachelor of Science in business administration with a marketing emphasis in 2011, and earned a Master of Art in Teaching from Morehead State in 2013. Seitz also earned his USTFCCCA Endurance Specialist Certification in July 2015, and earned his USATF Level 1 Certificate in Dec. 2012.
