Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — What does the Portland State track & field team have as an encore? Two records fell last weekend, after all, giving the Vikings some momentum as they close out the regular season at the OSU High Performance Meet this Friday and Saturday at Whyte Track & Field Center in Corvallis, Ore.
 
Sophomores Jean-Luc Toku and Troy Bacon set the records for the Vikings last weekend at the Triton Invitational, as each of them broke 20-plus-year-old records in the men's triple jump and men's discus, respectively.
 
Toku broke a 44-year-old record in the men's triple jump while winning the Division I section of the event with a mark of 48-07.25 (14.81m). Toku bested Don Hall for the school record, beating the mark Hall set at 48-06.00 (14.78m) in 1973.
 
Bacon, meanwhile, broke a 21-year-old school record in the men's discus with a 10-foot personal best of 163-08 (49.88m). Bacon moved past Ryan Alexander, who set the record at 162-04 (49.48m) in 1996.
 
Bacon will return to the men's discus Saturday, and will also compete in the men's shot put at the OSU High Performance Meet. Toku won't return to the men's triple jump Saturday, but will compete in the long jump at 12:30 p.m.
 
Toku and Bacon weren't alone at the Triton Invitational, either, as a number of other Vikings moved up the Portland State record books at the meet. Senior Ben Richardson, for instance, moved up to fifth all-time in the men's 800 meters with a personal best of 1:51.14.
 
Richardson's finish continued a dramatic showing in the 800 meters over the past few weeks for the two-time All-Big Sky runner. Richardson ran his first 800 meters of the season at the John Knight Twilight on April 7, and finished in 1:58.87. Richardson shaved five seconds off that time the next week, finishing in 1:53.56 at the Texas Invitational, and then knocked two more seconds off of that with his time last week at the Triton Invitational.
 
Richardson will run the 800 again at the OSU High Performance Meet, which will feature three sections of the men's 800 meters at 1:30 p.m., 3:05 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
 
Junior Ta'mara Richey did not move up in the PSU record books at the Triton Invitational, but surpassed a big benchmark as she cracked six meters for the first time in her career with a personal-best jump of 19-09.75 (6.04m). That mark moved Richey into a tie for 41st in the NCAA west region in the women's long jump, well within the top 48 that will qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds at the end of May.
 
Richey returns to the women's long jump Saturday, as she and senior Brandi Williams compete in the event at 1 p.m.
 
A couple of other Vikings will attempt to lower their marks with an eye towards the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, including senior Akayla Anderson, who has set a new seasonal best in the 100-meter hurdles in each of her past three meets. Anderson made the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in the 100-meter hurdles last season, and currently stands in qualifying position at 43rd in the NCAA west region off her time of 13.68 seconds last week at the Triton Invitational.
 
Anderson could protect her qualification by lowering her time even further Saturday, as she'll run the 100 hurdles at 1:40 p.m.
 
Senior Genna Settle also stands in qualifying position in the women's 100 meters, but will be looking to move up her standing in the women's 200 meters, as well, Saturday. Settle, who qualified for both events at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds last season, currently ranks 34th in the NCAA west region in the 100 meters, but stands in a tie for 84th in the 200 meters.
 
Settle will run the 100 meters at 2:35 p.m. Saturday, and will return to the track for the 200 meters at 3:50 p.m.
 
The Vikings will open the OSU High Performance Meet Friday, with distance events taking center stage in an evening session.
 
MEET INFORMATION:
April 28-29 – OSU High Performance Meet – Corvallis, Ore. (Whyte Track & Field Center)
 
LIVE RESULTS:
Live results will be available from the meet this weekend. Fans can find the link to live results on the track & field schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
OSU HIGH PERFORMANCE MEET SCHEDULE:
Friday, April 28
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
4:35 p.m.                    Men's 1,500 Meters – Section 1 (Jemison)
5:35 p.m.                    Men's and Women's Combined 10,000 Meters (Martin)
6:30 p.m.                    Women's 5,000 Meters – Section 1 (Chaplin, Gibson, Medved, Reynolds, Trapp)
9 p.m.                          Men's 5,000 Meters – Section 1 (Biedebach, Hornecker)
 
Saturday, April 29
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
After W-SP at 12        Men's Shot Put (Flight 1 – Bacon)
After W-HJ at 12        Men's High Jump (Flight 1 – Robinson)
12:30 p.m.                  Men's Long Jump (Flight 1 – Toku)
1 p.m.                          Women's Long Jump (Flight 2 – Richey, Williams)
After W-Dis at 2:30    Men's Discus (Flight 1 – Bacon)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
1:40 p.m.                    Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Section 1 – Anderson)
1:55 p.m.                    Men's 110-Meter Hurdles (Section 1 – Golaube; Section 2 – Robinson)
2:10 p.m.                    Women's 400 Meters (Section 2 – Jackson)
2:35 p.m.                    Women's 100 Meters (Section 1 – Anderson, Settle)
2:45 p.m.                    Men's 100 Meters (Section 2 – Gable)
3:50 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters (Section 1 – Settle; Section 3 – Jackson)
4 p.m.                          Men's 200 Meters (Section 2 – Gable; Section 3 – Tropio)
4:30 p.m.                    Men's 800 Meters – Sections 3&4 (Richardson – Section 4)
5:10 p.m.                    Men's 4x400-Meter Relay (Section 1 – Portland State 'A' – Wood, Richardson, Robinson, Gable)

COMING UP:
The Vikings take a week off before heading to Sacramento, Calif., for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, May 10-13.
 
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.
 
COUGAR OPEN RECAP:
The Portland State women's throwers shared the spotlight at the Cougar Open, April 22, at Canby High School in Canby, Ore. Ashley Liber, Mikenna Marchment and Kendra Negron competed in the discus, hammer and javelin at the meet, with all three competing in the discus. Marchment led the Vikings in the discus, though Liber posted a new personal best with a throw of 95-10 (29.20m). Negron, meanwhile, posted a near-10-foot seasonal best in the hammer, as she finished with a throw of 96-03 (29.34m).
 
TRITON INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Two school records fell at the Triton Invitational, April 22, at the Triton Track & Field Stadium in La Jolla, Calif. Jean-Luc Toku and Troy Bacon set the records for the Vikings, as they broke a pair of 20-plus-year-old records in the men's triple jump and discus, respectively. Toku broke a 44-year-old school record in the triple jump while winning the Division I section of the event with a mark of 48-07.25 (14.81m). Toku bested Don Hall for the record at the meet, beating the mark Hall set at 48-06.00 (14.78m) in 1973. Toku also moved up to seventh in the Big Sky with his mark at the meet, and moved into a tie for 61st in the NCAA west region. Bacon, meanwhile, broke a 21-year-old record while setting a new personal best by nearly 10 feet with his throw of 163-08 (49.88m). Bacon beat Ryan Alexander's old record of 162-04 (49.48m) that he set in 1996. A number of other Vikings move up the Portland State record books with their own performances, too, including senior Ben Richardson, who moved up to fifth all-time in the men's 800 meters with a personal best of 1:51.14. Richardson has shaved more than seven seconds off his seasonal best in the 800 meters over the last two weeks, going from 1:58.87 on April 7 to 1:51.14 on April 22. Michael Biedebach and Alana Chaplin also knocked significant chunks of time off their personal bests while moving up the record books in the men's and women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Biedebach shaved 17 seconds off his personal best while moving up to sixth all-time with his finish in 9:23.10. Chaplin, meanwhile, moved up one spot to ninth in the women's steeplechase while posting an eight-second personal best of 11:48.15. Sarah Medved also moved up to eighth all-time in the 3,000 meters with her finish in 9:57.43 at the meet. Junior Ta'mara Richey remained at fifth all-time in the women's long jump, but cracked six meters for the first time in the event with a new personal best of 19-09.75 (6.04m). Freshman Maya Jackson nearly entered the top 10 all-time in the women's 400 meters as she finished in 57.70 seconds Saturday, only two-hundredths of a second behind the current No. 10 time at Portland State of 57.68 seconds.
 
TEXAS INVITATIONAL RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team beat four Big Sky-leading marks at the Texas Invitational, April 14-15, at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. Junior Ta'mara Richey got it started on the first day of the meet Friday, as she beat the conference-leading mark in the triple jump coming into the weekend with a jump of 40-11.50 (12.48m). Richey also moved into a tie for 25th in the NCAA west region with the jump, and moved up to fourth all-time at Portland State in the event as well. Seniors Akayla Anderson and Genna Settle followed with three more Big Sky-leading marks Saturday, starting with Anderson in the 100-meter hurdles. Anderson finished the hurdles in 13.71 seconds, beating her seasonal best coming into the meet by more than two-tenths of a second. Settle also posted dramatic improvements while beating the conference-leading marks in the 100 and 200 meters. Settle beat her own Big Sky-leading time in the 200 meters, finishing in 23.91 seconds – .06 better than the time of 23.97 seconds that she ran at the season-opening Trojan Invitational. Settle posted her best showing in the 100 meters, however, as she finished in 11.51 seconds, beating the conference-leading time coming into the weekend by more than two-tenths of a second, and beating her seasonal best by more than three-tenths of a second. Both Anderson and Settle also moved within the top 48 of the NCAA west region in the 100-meter hurdles and 100 meters, respectively, with their times at the meet. Outside of the conference-leading times, the Vikings also went 6-for-6 in terms of setting seasonal bests at the Texas Invitational. Richey returned to post a seasonal best in the long jump Saturday, jumping 19-04.25 (5.90m). Senior Brandi Williams joined Richey with a Portland State personal best in the long jump with her own mark of 19-00.75 (5.81m) that moved her up to ninth all-time at Portland State. Senior Ben Richardson added a sixth seasonal best in the men's 800 meters, and did so while posting the most dramatic improvement of the day. Richardson finished the 800 in 1:53.56, more than five seconds better than his first time in the 800 this season of 1:58.87, set at the John Knight Twilight a week before.
 
RICH ALLEN CLASSIC RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team's throwers took over the show Saturday, as Mikenna Marchment, Ashley Liber and Kendra Negron competed at the Rich Allen Classic in Newberg, Ore., on April 8. Marchment led the way as she posted the Vikings' top marks in the discus (114-07, 34.93m) and javelin (109-04, 33.33m). Marchment's mark in the discus set a new personal best for the Viking freshman, as it beat her prep personal best of 105-03 (32.08m) by over nine feet. Sophomore Kendra Negron also set a new personal best in the discus with a throw of 90-04 (27.52m).
 
JOHN KNIGHT TWILIGHT RECAP:
Windy conditions hampered the Vikings at the John Knight Twilight, April 7, at McArthur Field in Monmouth, Ore., but the Vikings still pulled out four event-wins at the meet. Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.70 seconds despite battling a headwind of 3.9 meters per second. Sophomore Jean-Luc Toku did not battle a headwind in the long jump, instead jumping with a +4.6 meters per second win reading, and won with a jump of 21-10.00 (6.65m) on his first attempt of the day. The Viking men also pulled out a win in the 4x400-meter relay, beating the field by close to eight full seconds. Mitchell Gable, Ben Richardson, Donté Robinson and Christian Wood ran the relay for the Vikings, and won in 3:23.82 in their first completed relay of the outdoor season. Senior Cheryn Trapp pulled out a win for the Viking women, too, as she beat the field in the women's 5,000 meters by more than 17.5 seconds. Trapp won in 18:27.39, while fellow senior Kennedy Martin also set a new personal best in the race with her time of 18:48.97.
 
LEGENDS OF TRACK & FIELD INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle lowered her own Big Sky-leading time in the 100 meters at the Legends of Track & Field Invitational, March 31 – April 1, at UCLA's Drake Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. Settle lowered her time to 11.82 seconds, a tenth of a second better than her season-opening time of 11.92 seconds. Settle also placed fifth in the invitational section of the women's 200 meters, finishing in 24.33 seconds. Fellow senior Akayla Anderson lost the Big Sky lead in the 100-meter hurdles that she held coming into the week, but still lowered her time in the event while finishing seventh in the invitational section in 13.95 seconds. Anderson's time beat her previous best this season by close to two-tenths of a second, as she dipped under 14 seconds for the first time this season. Senior Mitchell Gable shaved three-tenths of a second off his personal best in the 200 meters Saturday, finishing the college section of the race in 22.04 seconds. Gable's time beat the PR of 22.34 he set at the Willamette Invitational last Saturday, and put him just outside the top 10 all-time in the outdoor 200 at Portland State.
 
BOB LARSEN DISTANCE CARNIVAL RECAP:
Distance took center stage for the Vikings at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival, as the Vikings posted several personal bests while competing at Drake Stadium, March 31, in Los Angeles, Calif. Sophomore Kaila Ann Gibson led the Vikings at the meet, as she posted a 50-second personal best while winning the 'B' section of the women's 5,000 meters in 17:48.92. Gibson's time crushed her old personal best of 18:39.11, which she set last year at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. Sophomore Jocelyn Reynolds showed similar improvement in the women's 10,000 meters, as she finished in 38:43.63 to beat her old PR of 39:39.43 by close to a full minute. Freshman Alec Hornecker, junior Alana Chaplin and freshman Liam Jemison all shaved 5-7 seconds off their personal bests in the men's 5,000, women's 1,500 and men's 1,500 meters, respectively. Jemsion placed second to senior Ben Richardson in the 'C' section of the men's 1,500 meters, as Richardson won the section in 4:01.59. Richardson finished four seconds ahead of any other runner, giving the senior a strong return to the track after he suffered an injury at the Big Sky Indoor Championships on Feb. 25.
 
PACIFIC COMBINED EVENTS RECAP:
Multi-eventers Ta'mara Richey and Donté Robinson completed their first heptathlon and decathlon at the Pacific Combined Events, March 27-28, at Hanson Stadium in Forest Grove, Ore. Richey placed second in the women's heptathlon with 4,147 points, while Robinson won the decathlon with his score of 6,328 points. Both scores placed the athletes in the top 10 all-time in their respective multi-events at Portland State, and Robinson moved up to second in the Big Sky with his score in the decathlon. Robinson won the decathlon while setting or tying personal bests in nine of the 10 events. Robinson won or tied for first in three of the 10 events, as well, and placed second or tied for second in three more events. Richey, meanwhile, set personal bests in five of the seven events in the heptathlon. Richey won the two events – 200 meters, long jump – that she didn't set a personal best in, and Richey recorded her highest point totals in those events as well. Richey now ranks 10th all-time at Portland State in the heptathlon, while Robinson ranks eighth all-time in the decathlon. Robinson also ranks just 42 points off the conference-leading score in the decathlon of 6,370 points that Alec Acevado set at the Sacramento State Hornet Invitational on the first weekend of the outdoor season.
 
WILLAMETTE INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Seniors Genna Settlle and Mitchell Gable sprinted to the front for the Portland State track & field team at the Willamette Invitational, March 18, leading the Vikings to a day of improvement at the Charles Bowles Track. Settle won the 200 meters in 24.09 seconds, beating Oregon State's Venessa D'Arpino and Kerissa D'Arpino by .08 and .18 seconds, respectively, and beating the rest of the field by more than a full second. Gable, meanwhile, led the group of Vikings who improved their marks at the meet, as he posted a pair of personal bests in the 100 and 200 meters, finishing third in both events in 10.95 and 22.34 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Troy Bacon improved on his season-opening throw in the discus that marked the best throw by a Viking men's athletes since 1996 at the time. Bacon finished with a best throw of 153-10.75 (46.90m) at the Willamette Invitational, beating his historic throw from last week by more than a foot. Six other Vikings improved their marks at the Willamette Invitational, while another six made their debuts in various events in the meet.
 
TROJAN INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle picked up where she left off from the indoor season while opening her outdoor season in impressive fashion at the Trojan Invitational, March 18, at the Loker Track in Los Angeles, Calif. Settle placed eighth overall in the 200 meters in a time of 23.97 seconds – her best debut ever outdoors as a Viking, and only two-tenths of a second behind her Big Sky-winning time of 23.75 seconds three weeks ago that broke the school, championship and conference records in the indoor 200. By comparison, Settle opened her 2016 outdoor season with a time of 24.45 seconds in the 200, putting her close to a half-second ahead of last season's pace, when she ended the season by placing second in the outdoor 200 by one-hundredth of a second. Settle also finished seventh overall in the 100 meters in 11.92 seconds. Junior Ta'mara Richey followed in Settle's footsteps with her own strong debut in the women's long jump, as she placed second overall with a best jump of 19-00.00 (5.79m). Richey was coming off a fourth-place finish at the Big Sky indoor meet where she set a new personal best of 19-08.25 (6.00m), and cracked 19 feet again in her outdoor debut at the Trojan Invite. Senior Brandi Williams also tied her Portland State personal best while placing third overall in the long jump with a best jump of 18-06.50 (5.65m). Fellow senior Mitchell Gable, meanwhile, rebounded from an injury that limited him at the Big Sky indoor meet to finish fifth overall in the men's 400 meters with his time of 48.27 seconds. Gable's time ranked just two-tenths of a second behind his outdoor personal best of 48.05 seconds, and beat all but two of Gable's time in the outdoor 400 last season.
 
L&C SPRING BREAK OPEN RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team opened its outdoor season at the L&C Spring Break Open, March 17-18, at the Eldon Fix Track in Portland, Ore., with 10 athletes making their career outdoor debuts at Portland State. No athlete impressed more than Troy Bacon, who moved into the top 10 all-time at Portland State in the discus after just one meet competing outdoors for the Vikings. Bacon – who will be a junior offensive lineman for the Portland State football team this fall – placed seventh overall in the discus with a throw of 152-08 (46.55m), moving him up to sixth all-time in the discus at Portland State. Bacon's throw also marked the best throw by a Viking men's athlete in the discus since Ryan Alexander set the school record at 162-04 (49.48m) in 1996. Outside of Bacon, the majority of the other debuts came in the men's distance events, including six newcomers making their debuts in the men's 1,500 meters. Freshman Andrew Stafford led the 1,500-meter group with a 16th-place finish in 4:08.60, while fellow newcomers Liam Jemison (21st, 4:12.75), Gabe Bader (23rd, 4:15.28), Jacob Emeterio (26th, 4:16.52), Austen Hvidsten (27th, 4:16.56) and Cameron Gaskell (33rd, 4:18.00) followed. Freshman Michael Biedebach also led a group of three Vikings in the men's 5,000 meters, and placed third overall in the event in a time of 14:56.23.
 
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.