Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State track & field team heads into the final weekend of its indoor regular season this weekend, as the Vikings split up between three different meets.
 
The Vikings will send nine athletes to the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., this Friday and Saturday, while the rest of the Vikings compete at the Husky Classic and UW Indoor Open in Seattle, Wash., Saturday and Sunday.
 
The Don Kirby Elite Invitational gives the Vikings a chance to compete against some of the best athletes in the nation ahead of the Big Sky Championships in two weeks time.
 
Several of the Vikings' top athletes will compete at the Don Kirby meet, including seniors Genna Settle and Akayla Anderson, who each rank in the top three of the Big Sky in the events they'll compete in this weekend.
 
Settle moved up to third in the Big Sky in the 60 meters with her time of 7.61 seconds at the Cougar Indoor Invitational last Saturday, and will run in the qualifying rounds of the 60 meters at the Don Kirby meet Friday evening. Settle also ranks second in the Big Sky with her time of 24.66 seconds in the 200 meters, which she'll run at 7:15 p.m. (MT) Friday.
 
Anderson, meanwhile, ranks tied for third in the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 8.60 seconds at the UW Indoor Preview, and will open the 60-meter hurdles in the qualifying rounds at 3:50 p.m. (MT) Friday.
 
Sophomore Jean-Luc Toku also ranks in the top five of the Big Sky in the men's triple jump, and will compete in the second flight of the event at 11 a.m. (MT) Saturday. Toku has cracked 14 meters in the triple jump at three of the four meets at which he's competed this season.
 
Outside of the Don Kirby Elite Invitational, senior Ben Richardson will be the lone Viking competing at the Husky Classic, as he runs in the 800 meters at 11:55 a.m. (PT) Saturday. Richardson won the 800 meters with an indoor personal best of 1:52.73 at the Idaho Duals last Friday, moving him up to seventh in the Big Sky this season.
 
The Vikings will then have 10 athletes compete at the UW Indoor Open Sunday, with events starting at 9 a.m. (PT).
 
Multi-event athlete Donté Robinson will be busy at the UW Indoor Open, as he's entered in the long jump, shot put, 60 meters and 60-meter hurdles.
 
Troy Bacon will join Robinson in the shot put, as the junior offensive lineman for the Portland State football team makes his track & field debut at the meet.
 
Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube also joins Robinson in the 60-meter hurdles, after breaking through in the event at the Cougar Indoor Invitational last Saturday. Golaube finished in 8.38 seconds last Saturday, moving him up to fourth all-time in the event at Portland State, and giving him the best time by a Viking men's athlete in the 60-meter hurdles since 2011.
 
MEET INFORMATION:
Feb. 10-11 – Husky Classic – Seattle, Wash. (Dempsey Indoor)
Feb. 10-11 – Don Kirby Elite Invitational – Albuquerque, N.M. (Albuquerque Convention Center)
Feb. 12 – UW Indoor Open – Seattle, Wash. (Dempsey Indoor)
 
LIVE RESULTS:
Live results will be available from all three meets this weekend. Fans can find all the live results links on the track & field schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
LIVE VIDEO:
A live video stream will be available for all three meets this weekend with a paid subscription. Fans can find the links to subscribe for all the live video streams on the track & field schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
DON KIRBY ELITE INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE:
Friday, Feb. 10
Field Events
Start (MT)                 Event (PSU entries)
4 p.m.                          Women's Long Jump (Flight 2 – Powdrell, Williams; Flight 4 – Richey)
 
Running Events
Start (MT)                 Event (PSU entries)
3:50 p.m.                    Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Qualifying (Heat 4 – Anderson)
4:30 p.m.                    Women's 60 Meters – Qualifying (Heat 6 – Settle)
6:15 p.m.                    Men's 200 Meters (Gable)
7:15 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters (Powdrell, Settle, Vinjamuri)
 
Saturday, Feb. 11
Field Events
Start (MT)                 Event (PSU entries)
11 a.m.                        Women's Triple Jump (Flight 1 – Richey)
11 a.m.                        Men's Triple Jump (Flight 2 – Toku)
 
Running Events
Start (MT)                 Event (PSU entries):
10:45 a.m.                  Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Semifinal (TBD)
11:05 a.m.                  Women's 60 Meters – Semifinal (TBD)
12:30 p.m.                  Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Final (TBD)
12:40 p.m.                  Men's 400 Meters (Gable)
1:20 p.m.                    Women's 400 Meters (Vinjamuri)
2:10 p.m.                    Women's 60 Meters – Final (TBD)
 
HUSKY CLASSIC SCHEDULE:
Saturday, Feb. 11
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
11:55 a.m.                  Men's 800 Meters (Section 2 – Richardson)
 
UW INDOOR OPEN SCHEDULE:
Sunday, Feb. 12
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU accepted entries)
9 a.m.                          Men's Pole Vault – Flight 1 (Winkle – Flights TBD)
9 a.m.                          Men's Long Jump (Robinson, Simpson)
1:30 p.m.                    Men's Pole Vault – Flight 2 (Winkle – Flights TBD)
1:30 p.m.                    Men's Triple Jump (Simpson, Wood)
~2:30 p.m.                 Men's Shot Put (Bacon, Robinson)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU accepted entries)
9:22 a.m.                    Men's 60-Meter Hurdles (Golaube, Robinson)
10:10 a.m.                  Men's 60 Meters (Park, Robinson)
11:15 a.m.                  Men's Mile (Biedebach, Stafford)
11:45 a.m.                  Women's 400 Meters (Jackson)
12:10 p.m.                  Men's 400 Meters (Wood)
1:50 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters (Jackson)
 
COMING UP:
The Vikings take a weekend off before entering the championship portion of their schedule with the Big Sky Championships, Feb. 23-25, in Pocatello, Idaho.
 
NO QUALIFYING STANDARDS FOR BIG SKY INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:
In a major change from previous seasons, the Big Sky no longer employs qualifying standards and will instead give coaches the power to fill out their rosters for the Big Sky Indoor Championships as they please. Roster sizes will be capped at 26 athletes (men and women), and it will be up to the coaches to determine how to maximize their scoring potential with that limit. The Big Sky Indoor Championships will take place, Feb. 23-25, in Pocatello, Idaho, this season.
 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION:
The NCAA Indoor Championships have been much harder for Viking athletes to qualify for than outdoors, and not surprisingly considering the different qualifying procedures. The top 16 declared student-athletes in each event, as well as the top 12 declared relay teams, qualify for the indoor national championship – a much different procedure than the one the outdoor national championship utilizes. Outdoors, the top 48 athletes in each event in the east and west advance to a regional stage, and the top 12 at each of those meets then advance to the national stage. Only two Vikings have ever qualified for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, with Gayle Imran-Sideris the first to do it in 2006, when she qualified in the triple jump. Geronne Black matched the feat in 2013, when she qualified in the 60 meters. No Viking currently stands in qualifying position, but junior Donté Robinson and redshirt sophomore Alex Cisneros rank 75th and 97th in the men's heptathlon and 5,000 meters, respectively.
 
COUGAR INDOOR INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube broke out with a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles to lead the Vikings at the Cougar Indoor Invitational Saturday, Feb. 4, at the WSU Indoor Practice Facility. Golaube shaved more than a tenth of a second off his previous personal best while finishing in 8.38 seconds, moving him up to fourth in the 60-meters hurdles at Portland State. Senior Akayla Anderson also won the women's 60-meter hurdles at the meet, the second straight win for the senior following her win at the Idaho Duals a day earlier. Fellow senior Genna Settle nearly posted another win for the Vikings in the finals of the 60 meters, as she placed second in a seasonal-best time of 7.61 seconds. Redshirt sophomore Alex Cisneros also placed third in the mile while setting a new personal best in the event with his time of 4:20.63.
 
IDAHO DUALS RECAP:
The Vikings got into the competitive spirit Friday, Feb. 3, as the Vikings competed in a rare five-team, round-robin dual meet in the Idaho Duals, and won six events while finishing with 17 total podium finishes. The Viking women accounted for four of the event wins for the Vikings, and senior Genna Settle led the way with a 60-200 meter sweep. Settle won the finals of the 60 meters in 7.63 seconds, and won the 200 meters in 24.76 seconds. Settle blew away the field in the 200 meters, as she beat teammate Rachel Vinjamuri, who placed second, by more than half a second. Vinjamuri won the 400 meters earlier in the day, as she finished a full second ahead of her nearest competitor while finishing in a seasonal-best 57.01 seconds. Senior Akayla Anderson showed similar dominance in winning the finals of the 60-meter hurdles by four-tenths of a second with her time of 8.63 seconds in the final. The Viking men, meanwhile, picked up event wins behind Ben Richardson in the 800 meters and Donté Robinson in the high jump. Richardson won the 800 meters while finishing in an indoor personal-best 1:52.73, beating his nearest competitor by more than three-quarters of a second. Robinson also won his event with a new personal best, as he cleared 6-06.75 (2.00m) in the high jump, three-quarters of an inch better than his old best of 6-06.00 (1.98m). Outside of the event winners, senior Mitchell Gable, freshman Nia Powdrell and sophomore Jean-Luc Toku all were double-podium finishers at the meet. Gable made the podium in the 200 and 400 meters while setting a new personal best in each event with his times of 22.35 and 48.73 seconds, respectively. Powdrell, meanwhile, placed second in the long jump and third in the 200 meters, and nearly made a third podium while placing fourth in the 60 meters. Toku placed third in the men's long jump, and also placed second in the triple jump.
 
UW INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Redshirt sophomore Alex Cisneros provided the fireworks for the Vikings at the UW Invitational, as he set a school record in the men's 5,000 meters on the first evening of the meet at Dempsey Indoor facility in Seattle, Wash. Cisneros finished the 5,000 in 14:43.07, beating Andrew Salg's six-year-old school record of 14:50.81 by more than seven seconds. Cisneros' record came in his first appearance of the season for the Vikings, and beat his old personal best in the event by more than 14 seconds. Senior Genna Settle also lowered her own Big Sky-leading time in the women's 200 meters that first day, as she finished in 24.66 seconds to beat her season-opening time in the 200 by a quarter of a second. The second day of the UW Invitational, meanwhile, was a day of improvement for the Vikings, as several athletes bettered the marks they set in their season openers two weeks prior. Sophomore Jean-Luc Toku led the way with a seven-inch indoor personal best in the long jump with his mark of 22-02.25 (6.76m). Both men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams also shaved more than six seconds off their season-opening times, while freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube moved up to seventh all-time in the 60-meter hurdles at Portland State with a personal best of 8.50 seconds.
 
UW INDOOR PREVIEW RECAP:
The majority of the Portland State track & field team opened their 2017 indoor seasons at the UW Indoor Preview, Jan. 14, and the team's three returning Big Sky champions proved up to the challenge of leading a young Viking team. All three opened their seasons ahead of their 2016 paces, led by junior Spenser Schmidt, who was busy between the 60 meters, 200 meters and long jump at the meet. Schmidt set a new personal best in the prelims of the 60 meters with his time of 7.00 seconds, and then also finished third overall in the long jump with a mark of 22-08.00 (6.91m). Schmidt's mark beat the 22-07.25 (6.89m) he opened the 2016 indoor season with, and Schmidt finished that season as the Big Sky champion. Senior Genna Settle – 2016 Big Sky champion in the 100 meters – also got her 2017 season off to a strong start at the meet, as she finished the 60 meters in 7.64 seconds and 7.66 seconds – both faster times than her first six marks during 2016. Settle also cracked 25 seconds in the 200 meters with her time of 24.91 seconds, more than half a second faster than her opening time in 2016, and moving her into the Big Sky lead in the event. Meanwhile, Akayla Anderson – 2016 Big Sky champion in the 100-meter hurdles – opened her season with times of 8.60 and 8.66 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Anderson only ran faster than that twice in 2016, and not until the Big Sky indoor meet, where she placed second in the finals of the event. Outside of the returning Big Sky champions, sophomore Jean-Luc Toku also got his season off to a good note in the triple jump, as he placed second in the event with a personal-best mark of 47-03.50 (14.41m). Toku finished behind only Stanford's Jack Uudmae in the event, and also moved into second place within the Big Sky this season.
 
ED JACOBY INVITATIONAL/MULTI RECAP:
Neither Ta'mara Richey nor Donté Robinson had completed a full pentathlon or heptathlon before, but that didn't hinder them at the Ed Jacoby Invitational/Multi, Jan. 13-14, where both athletes moved into the top 10 all-time in their respective events at Portland State. Robinson had the more impressive of the two debuts, as he won the heptathlon with a score of 4,900 points, giving him the Big Sky lead in the event and moving him up to sixth all-time in the heptathlon at Portland State. Robinson won by 566 points as he dominated the field, taking home first place in six of the seven individual events in addition to placing first overall. Robinson also set a new personal best in all seven events of the heptathlon, and was remarkably consistent across all events as he scored 700 or more points in five of the seven events. Richey, meanwhile, placed second in her first pentathlon, as she finished with a score of 3,145 points to move into eighth all-time in the event at Portland State. Richey gave herself a chance to win the event, too, as she won the penultimate event of the pentathlon, the long jump, by 16 inches to jump way up to within 29 points of the lead. Richey couldn't make up the rest of the gap in the final event, the 800 meters, however, and settled for second.