Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — A little rain never stopped an Oregonian from going outdoors, and it won't stop the Portland State track & field team, which opens its outdoor season this weekend.
 
Some of the Vikings will avoid the rain altogether, as half the team heads south to the Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif., while the rest of the Vikings compete at the L&C Spring Break Open on the Lewis & Clark campus in Portland, Ore.
 
The Vikings' three All-Big Sky honorees at this year's indoor meet will all head south for the Trojan Invitational, including double-champion Genna Settle.
 
Settle will be competing for the first time since sweeping the 60 and 200-meter titles at the Big Sky indoor meet. Settle became just the second Viking ever to sweep the 60- and 200-meter titles at the same indoor meet, joining Jernise Saunders, who first did it in 2009.
 
Settle finished off the sweep with a record-breaking win in the 200 meters, as she broke the school, conference and championship records in the 200 with her time of 23.75 seconds. Settle's time beat the old record that former Viking and World Outdoor qualifier Karene King set at 23.77 seconds in 2012.
 
Settle also set a new personal best while winning the 60 meters in 7.44 seconds, moving her into a tie for fifth all-time in the Big Sky record book.
 
Settle's times at the Big Sky indoor meet put her way ahead of where she started last year's outdoor season, when Settle finished the season with a near-sweep of the 100- and 200-meter titles. Settle won the 100 meters in a personal-best 11.46 seconds – tying the Big Sky championship meet record in the process – and came within one-hundredth of a second of winning the 200 meters with another personal best of 23.42 seconds.
 
Settle might not start the season near those marks, but plenty of eyes will be on the Big Sky's latest double champion when she toes the line Saturday. Settle will first compete in the 100 meters at 12:10 p.m. (PT) Saturday, and then return to the track a little over an hour later when the 200 meters starts at 1:25 p.m. (PT).
 
Fellow senior Akayla Anderson will also open her outdoor season at the Trojan Invitational Saturday, as she opens the defense of her 2016 Big Sky title in the 100-meter hurdles at 11:35 a.m. (PT).
 
Anderson nearly pulled off another win in the indoor 60-meter hurdles this season, but finished just behind Weber State's Tawnie Moore to place second in the event for the third straight season. Anderson still set a personal best in the event, however, as she finished in 8.38 seconds to give her some momentum going into the outdoor season.
 
Junior Donté Robinson was the Vikings' other All-Big Sky honoree at this year's indoor meet, and will open his outdoor season at the Trojan Invitational along with Settle and Anderson.
 
Robinson earned his All-Big Sky honors while placing second in the heptathlon, becoming just the second Viking to earn All-Big Sky honors in the heptathlon in the process. Robinson placed second with a personal-best 5,230 points, ranking him second all-time in the event at Portland State – behind only former NCAA All-American Nick Trubachik, who set the school record at 5,432 points as a senior in 2010.
 
Robinson won't be competing in a multi-event Saturday, however, as he'll instead focus on the men's high jump and 110-meter hurdles. Robinson has frequently competed in the indoor and outdoor high jump outside of a multi-event, but has never competed in a 110-meter hurdle race at Portland State.
 
Robinson will start his day with the 110-meter hurdles at 11:45 a.m., and then compete in the high jump at 1 p.m.
 
Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube will join Robinson in the 110-meter hurdles Saturday, and will carry some momentum with him into the event.
 
Golaube tied the school record in the men's 60-meter hurdles while placing fourth in the finals of the event at the Big Sky indoor meet in 8.22 seconds. Golaube's time tied Peter Jason Tait's school record from 2008, and made Golaube the first Viking men's athlete to score in the 60-meter hurdles since DeShawn Shead in 2011.
 
Golaube considerably lowered his 60-meter hurdle time over the course of the indoor season, as he started the year with a time of 8.62 at the UW Indoor Preview, but lowered that by four-tenths of a second to 8.22 seconds at the Big Sky meet.
 
Junior Ta'mara Richey also finished her indoor season with a big personal best in the long jump, as she placed fourth in the event with a mark of 19-08.25 (6.00m) to move up to third all-time at Portland State. Richey's mark at the Big Sky meet also beat her outdoor personal best, which she set at 19-06.00 (5.94m) at the OSU High Performance Meet in 2015.
 
Richey will open the Trojan Invitational along with senior Brandi Williams in the long jump at 10 a.m. (PT) Saturday, and will also compete in the triple jump at 1 p.m. later in the day.
 
Meanwhile, the Vikings staying in rainy Portland for the L&C Spring Break Open will largely compete Saturday with one exception, as sophomore transfer Kendra Negron will make her PSU debut in the women's hammer at 2 p.m. (PT) Friday at Clackamas Community College.
 
The rest of the meet will take place Saturday at the Eldon Fix Track on the Lewis & Clark campus starting at 10 a.m.
 
Negron will again open things for the Vikings Saturday, as she and Troy Bacon compete in the women's discus and men's shot put, respectively, at 10 a.m.
 
Sophomore Jean-Luc Toku will be the lone individual scorer from the Big Sky indoor meet competing for the Vikings at the L&C Spring Break Open, and he'll have a busy meet between the men's long jump, triple jump and 100 meters. Toku scored for the Vikings with a sixth-place finish in the indoor triple jump, and will compete in his first outdoor triple jump Saturday.
 
Toku will certainly be hoping for a dry runway when he competes in the triple jump, but either way it's got to be nice to get outdoors.
 
MEET INFORMATION:
March 17-18 – L&C Spring Break Open – Portland, Ore. (Eldon Fix Track – field events on Friday will be held at Clackamas CC)
March 18 – Trojan Invitational – Los Angeles, Calif. (Loker Track)
 
TROJAN INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE:
Saturday, March 18
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                        Women's Long Jump (Richey, Williams)
1 p.m.                          Men's High Jump (Robinson)
1 p.m.                          Women's Triple Jump (Richey)
1 p.m.                          Women's Javelin (Liber, Marchment)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
11:15 a.m.                  Women's 1,500 Meters (Chaplin, De Luca, Gibson, Medved, Reynolds, Trapp)
11:35 a.m.                  Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Anderson)
11:45 a.m.                  Men's 110-Meter Hurdles (Golaube, Robinson)
11:55 a.m.                  Women's 400 Meters (Jackson)
12 p.m.                       Men's 400 Meters (Gable)
12:10 p.m.                  Women's 100 Meters (Powdrell, Settle)
1:25 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters (Powdrell, Settle)
 
L&C SPRING BREAK OPEN SCHEDULE:
Friday, March 17
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
2 p.m.                          Women's Hammer (Negron)
 
Saturday, March 18
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                        Men's Shot Put (Bacon)
10 a.m.                        Women's Discus (Negron)
~After W-LJ at 9         Men's Long Jump (Toku)
~After W-DT at 10     Men's Discus (Bacon)
~After W-TJ                Men's Triple Jump (Toku, Wood)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
12:10 p.m.                  Men's 1,500 Meters (Bader, Emeterio, Gaskell, Hvidsten, Jemison, Stafford)
1:30 p.m.                    Men's 400 Meters (Wilder, Wood)
2:10 p.m.                    Men's 100 Meters (Park, Toku)
4:15 p.m.                    Men's 200 Meters (Park, Wilder, Wood)
4:40 p.m.                    Women's 5,000 Meters (Martin)
5:30 p.m.                    Men's 5,000 Meters (Biedebach, Hornecker, Wikler)
 
COMING UP:
The Vikings head down I-5 to compete at the Willamette Invitational next Saturday, March 25, in Salem, Ore.
 
NO QUALIFYING STANDARDS FOR BIG SKY INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:
In a major change from previous seasons, the Big Sky no longer employs qualifying standards and instead gives coaches the power to fill out their rosters for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships as they please. Roster sizes will be capped at 28 athletes (men and women), leaving it up to coaches to determine how to maximize their scoring potential with that limit. The Big Sky Outdoor Championships take place, May 10-13, in Sacramento, Calif.
 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION:
Unlike the NCAA Indoor Championships, the path to the NCAA Outdoor Championships runs through a regional stage, giving the Vikings more of a chance of qualifying for the national meet. Indoors, the Vikings could only qualify for the national meet if they finished in the top 16 in each individual event, but outdoors, the Vikings only need to finish in the top 48 of the NCAA west region to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, May 25-27, in Austin, Texas. The top 12 in each event at the NCAA West and East Preliminary Rounds then advance onto the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 7-10, in Eugene, Ore. The qualification procedure differs a bit for the relay events, as only the top 24 relay teams qualify for the regional stage. Qualifying for the multi-events also differs, as they skip the regional stage and instead advance the top 24 in the nation in the heptathlon and decathlon directly to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
2017 INDOOR SEASON RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle punctuated the Portland State track & field team's indoor season with a 60-200 title sweep at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, while setting a personal best in each event. Settle became just the second Viking ever to sweep the 60- and 200-meter titles at a single Big Sky Indoor Championships, joining Jernise Saunders, who first did it in 2009. Settle capped the sweep with a record performance in the 200 meters, as she broke the school, championship and conference records with her time of 23.75 seconds. Settle's time edged out the records former Viking and World Outdoor Championship qualifier Karene King set at 23.77 seconds in 2012. Settle also won the finals of the 60 meters in a personal-best 7.44 seconds, tying her for fifth all-time in the Big Sky record book, as well as tying her for third all-time – with Saunders – in the Portland State record book. Besides Settle, senior Akayla Anderson also earned All-Big Sky honors with her third straight second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. Anderson finished second to Weber State's Tawnie Moore in a personal-best 8.38 seconds, .06 behind Moore, who finished in 8.32. Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube tied the school record in the men's 60-meter hurdles, too, as he finished fourth in the finals of the event at the Big Sky meet in 8.22 seconds. Golaube tied Peter Jason Tait's school record from 2008, and became the Viking men's first scorer in the indoor 60-meter hurdles since DeShawn Shead in 2011. Junior Donté Robinson became the first Viking athlete to earn All-Big Sky honors in the heptathlon since Nick Trubachik in 2010. Robinson placed second in the heptathlon with a personal-best score of 5,230 points – a total that ranks him second only to Trubachik, who set the school record at 5,432 points as a senior in 2010. Outside of the Big Sky meet, Alex Cisneros set the school record in the men's 5,000 meters with his time of 14:43.07 at the UW Invitational on Jan. 27. Cisneros broke Andrew Salg's six-year-old school record of 14:50.81 by more than seven seconds, and beat his old personal best of 14:57.77 by more than 14 seconds.