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PORTLAND, Ore. - 18 members, 10 men and eight women, of the Portland State track and field team will be competing at the Big Sky Indoor Championships Feb. 25-26 in Pocatello, Idaho. The Vikings return three medalists, four medals total, from last year's competition and one conference champion, sophomore Geronne Black (55-meters).

LAST YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2010 championship in Bozeman, Mont., was full of surprises for Portland State. The 2009 Big Sky Champion in the heptathlon, Nick Trubachik, would repeat in 2010 and set a new conference championship and PSU record in the event with 5,432 points scored.

An unknown freshman sprinter from New York City, Geronne Black, would claim the conference championship in the 55-meters at 7.01 seconds. Right behind Black in the race was junior transfer Karene King, finishing third and collecting bronze with a 7.11.

A star emerged over the course of two days for Portland State in sophomore Joenisha Vinson. She won the silver medal in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.95 seconds and won the bronze medal in the pentathlon with 3,579 points.

Just one spot shy of reaching the medal stand was sophomore Tony Crisofulli in the 800-meters, clocking a 1:52.22 for fourth place. The women's 4x400 relay team, seeded eighth entering the competition, finished fourth with a school-record 3:48.66 and beating its previous season-best by seven-seconds.

Click below to view highlight video of last year's championship.



THE VIKINGS CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
Below is the complete list of athletes competing in the 2011 Big Sky Indoor Championship, listed alphabetically with events and personal-records.

WOMEN
Name / Event(s) / PR
Geronne Black / 60m / 7.47
Shae Carson / Shot put / 40-4.75
Adrienne Davis / Shot put / 44-5
P'Lar Dorsett / 60m, 60m hurdles / 7.83, 8.72
Karene King / 60m, 200m / 7.55, 24.02*
Anaiah Rhodes / 60m, 200m / 7.73, 25.26
Amber Rozcicha / 800m / 2:15.01
Joenisha Vinson / 60m hurdles, long jump, pentathlon / 8.66*,18-4, 3,647 points*

MEN
Name / Event(s) / PR
Zach Carpenter / 3,000m DMR^ / 8:29.28
Tony Crisofulli / 800m, DMR^ / 1:50.32*
Nate Endicott / DMR
John Lawrence / Mile, DMR^ / 4:13.41
Luke Leddige / DMR^, 4x400 (alternate)
Nate Lightner / 400m, 4x400 / 50.96
Jaret Rockenbach / Shot put / 49-3.25
J.J. Rosenberg / 400m, heptathlon, 4x400 / 49.01, 4,401 points
Andrew Salg / 5,000m / 14:50.81
DeShawn Shead / 60m hurdles, 4x400 / 8.45

* - School record
^ - Distance medley relay team has not competed this season

VINSON - SO AMAZING
At last year's championship Joenisha Vinson walked away with bronze and silver medals in the pentathlon and 55-meter hurdles, respectively. The bronze medal was a shock to Vinson and the coaches as she entered the pentathlon as the ninth seed.

Entering the final event, 800-meters, Vinson was in fourth-place and needed to make up 69 points to move up to third-place. She made up the point deficit when Montana's Lindsay Hall, who was in third entering the race, took a spill and finished last, almost 10 seconds behind Vinson. Click here to read the 2010 pentathlon championship recap.

Another note of interest on the Phoenix, Ariz., native was the fact that in all-three 55-meter hurdle races, she broke or tied the school record in the event. In the pentathlon she ran a 7.99 in the morning and followed up with a 7.99 in the qualifying round of the open race later that afternoon. In the finals, she recorded 7.95 seconds and was a mere .01 behind the first-place winner.

SHORT-TRACK CHAMPIONS
Portland State has been the cream of the crop in the short track the last two seasons, winning the Big Sky's crown in the 55-meters (Geronne Black, 2010) and the 60-meters (Jernise Saunders, 2009). More impressively, the Vikings have won four of the last six indoor conference championships in the short track races.

The Vikings champions are listed below.

2010: Geronne Black, 55m
2009: Jernise Saunders, 60m
2007: Utica Edgecombe, 55m
2005: Ena Shemi, 55m

A HUNTING SHE WILL GO
Senior Karene King will be on the hunt for the Big Sky Conference Championship record in the 200-meters this weekend in Pocatello, Idaho. The current championship meet record is 24.03 seconds, set by Idaho State's Selena Frazier in 2002.

King ran a 24.02 at the Don Kirby Invitational Feb. 11 and has stated a goal of surpassing the conference's all-time indoor record in the 200-meters of 23.82.

IT ONLY TAKES ONE NIGHT
Junior DeShawn Shead, a three-time All-Big Sky cornerback for the PSU football team, competed in the Viks final meet of the regular-season on Feb. 12 and attempted to qualify for the Big Sky Championship in the 60-meter hurdles and the 4x400 relay.

Shead punched his ticket to Pocatello, twice, running the 60-meter hurdles in 8.45 seconds and aiding the relay team to a 3:20.58. The Palmdale, Calif., native is No. 2 all-time in the 110-meter hurdles and No. 8 in decathlon.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
This weekend will be Portland State's last chance to qualify athletes for the NCAA Indoor Championship, held March 11-12 in College Station, Texas.

At press time, Joenisha Vinson was the only Viking athlete in the top-50 nationally. Vinson is ranked 39th nationally in the pentathlon (3,647) and would need to crack the top-14 to qualify for the NCAA Championship. She would likely need to score 4,000 points to compete at Texas A&M.

The top-24 times in the country advanced to last year's 60-meters championship and the top-20 advanced in the 200-meters in FayetteVille, Ark., in 2010.

NEXT UP
Individuals that do not qualify for the NCAA Championships will conclude the indoor season and move outdoors. PSU kicks off the outdoor season March 12 at the Northwest Conference Preview in Forest Grove, followed by the Oregon Preview March 20.