MISSOULA, Mont. ? Jernise Saunders added a fourth and fifth conference championship to her resume on Saturday by winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes as Portland State finished the final day of the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Missoula. Both Viking squads finished the meet in ninth place, with totals of 36 points for the women's team and 24 for the men.
Saunders wrapped up her senior season in the Big Sky as one of the most dominant sprinters in conference history after winning the 100-meter title last year as well as taking gold in the 60- and 200-meter dashes at the Big Sky Indoor Championship this February. The Nassau, Bahamas native clocked in at 11.79 to claim first in the 100m, and won the 200m with a time of 23.96, which set a new Portland State school record and also qualified her for the event at the NCAA West Regional. She qualified for the regional in the 100m last Saturday at the Oregon Twilight.
Saunders joins Ena Shemi (2005) as the only Vikings to take both the 100m and 200m titles, and her victory in the 100 marks the fifth time in the past six years that Portland State has won the event. Saunders's time in the 200 broke a 30-year old mark at PSU, set by Merit Stilson in 1979.
Former PSU basketball star Kelsey Kahle also made her way to the medal stand on Saturday after posting a 5-8.75 high jump to take third place. Kahle's height was the same as the first- and second-place finishers, but the senior finished third due to the tiebreaker rules. Her mark was the fourth-best in school history, and also qualified her for the regional meet later this month in Eugene.
Amirah Karim also took home a bronze after she posted a mark of 19-0.00 in the long jump. The leap was more than eight inches further than Karim's longest this season, and makes her the fourth Viking in the past five outdoor seasons to take home a Big Sky medal in the event. Karim's mark also places her fifth in the Portland State record book among the school's best female long jumpers.
Two other Vikings added points to the women's team total as well, with Katie Blue placing seventh in the 10k run in 39:59.25, and Mikeya Nicholson also taking seventh with a 39-4.50 triple jump.
On the men's side, Jason Tait was the top performer for Portland State and claimed second place in the 110-meter hurdles. The senior from Silverdale, Wash. clocked in at 14.56 to win his first conference medal after narrowly missing with a fourth-place finish last year. Tait also added two more points to the men's score by finishing seventh in the 100m with a time of 11.04 after running 11.02 in the preliminaries.
Nick Trubachik finished second in the decathlon on Thursday, and contributed to the Vikings' total again on Saturday with a javelin throw of 195-8.00 to finish in eighth. He also tied the third-best high jump height with four other contestants, but as a result of tiebreakers ended up finishing in ninth.
Fourth-place decathlon finisher DeShawn Shead was the third Viking who added points to the men's team total on Thursday.
Northern Arizona took the men's conference title with 169 points, while Sacramento State's women claimed first with 161 points.
Next up on the schedule for Portland State is the NCAA West Regional, hosted by the University of Oregon from May 29-30.
