Oregon State track and field no longer an afterthought

CORVALLIS, Ore. — When it comes to track and field, the Oregon State women have historically been the underdogs - especially when compared to their rivals in Eugene.

But that's not as much the case this year as the Beavers rank 15th in the nation entering the Pac-12 Championships.

Senior distance runner Kaylee Mitchell has been a major factor in that success.

Over the weekend, she captured gold in the 1500 meters at the Oregon Twilight.

Here's what the Salem native had to say about her team's chances entering the conference tournament:

"We're currently ranked 15th as a team in the NCAA, which has never happened before. So I think bringing that into Pacs, we have a lot of momentum going into it. It's kind of like making it a game to see even how much better we can do than we're projected to do. We're pretty stoked with that."

The tournament runs March 12-14 in Walnut, Calif.

The Ducks enter the meet ranked 4th in the nation.