RESULTS (PDF)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The hope at any conference meet is that your athletes will outperform the form chart, and the Portland State track & field team got just that on the first day of the Big Sky Indoor Championships Thursday as freshman Kristen O'Handley placed fourth in the pentathlon while smashing her personal best in the event by over 300 points.
 
O'Handley came into the meet ranked 10th in the pentathlon in the Big Sky, but set personal bests in four of the five events to finish fourth. O'Handley tallied 3,526 points in the pentathlon Thursday, more than 300 points better than her score of 3,218 points, which she scored at the Vandal Invitational and Multi Events at the beginning of the season.
 
O'Handley finished just 13 points out of third place, which would have made her the Vikings' first All-Big Sky honoree in the pentathlon since Joenisha Vinson won the event in 2013. Regardless, O'Handley's fourth-place finish marks the highest finish by a Viking in the pentathlon since Vinson's win in 2013.
 
O'Handley started the day with a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles, as she finished fourth in the event in 9.04 seconds. O'Handley set an overall personal best in the 60 hurdles by close to a tenth of a second, and set a pentathlon personal best by half a second.
 
O'Handley then tied for fourth with a clearance of 5-03.00 (1.60m) in the high jump, the lone event O'Handley didn't set a personal best in Thursday. O'Handley followed that up with her biggest personal best of the day in the shot put, however, as she placed ninth with a best throw of 32-08.50 (9.97m). That beat her throw at the Vandal Invite by more than eight feet, and gave her 168 more points towards her total than she scored at the beginning of the season.
 
O'Handley jumped up to third in the standings after the long jump, as she placed seventh in the event with a best jump of 17-07.50 (5.37m). That beat her overall best in the event by seven inches, and beat her pentathlon best by eight inches.
 
O'Handley fell back to fourth after the final event, the 800 meters, but still knocked close to half a second off her personal best with her finish in 2:29.58.
 
O'Handley's breakout score at the Big Sky meet moves her up to fifth all time in the pentathlon at Portland State, up from eighth where she ranked coming into the meet.
 
Teammate Katie Baxter also moved into the top 10 all time in the pentathlon Thursday, as she finished tied for 16th with a score of 3,056 points. Baxter had not completed a full pentathlon as a Viking before Thursday.
 
One athlete who is hoping the form chart stays true is Donté Robinson, who came into the Big Sky meet atop the Big Sky rankings in the heptathlon, and finds himself atop the standings after the first day of the competition Thursday.
 
Robinson leads with 2,924 points, putting him 67 points ahead of second-place Noah Martin of Montana State, and 79 points ahead of Max Jette of Sacramento State. Jette placed third in the heptathlon while Robinson placed second last season, but then beat out Robinson for the Big Sky decathlon title as the two finished 1-2 at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships.
 
Robinson set overall and heptathlon personal bests in the first two events of the day, and wasn't far off his personal bests in the final two.
 
Robinson opened the heptathlon with a fourth-place finish in the 60 meters, finishing in 7.14 seconds to edge out his old best in the event by one-hundredth of a second. Robinson then won the long jump with a personal-best jump of 22-06.25 (6.86m), which beat his old best by close to seven inches. Robinson's mark in the long jump was the best ever by a Viking during a heptathlon competition, and moved him up to eighth all time in the event at Portland State.
 
Robinson was a little bit off his personal best in the shot put, as he placed 12th with a best throw of 35-05.25 (10.80m). Robinson still moved within eight points of the lead despite missing out on a PR in the shot put, however, and then took the lead after the final event, the high jump. Robinson cleared 6-05.50 (1.97m) to finish second in the high jump, just half an inch off his heptathlon personal best in the event.
 
Robinson opens the second day of the heptathlon with the 60-meter hurdles at 10:30 a.m. (MT) Friday. The pole vault will follow afterwards, while Robinson and the rest of the heptathletes will conclude the competition with the 1,000 meters.
 
Big Sky Indoor Championships
J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome
Flagstaff, Ariz.
Feb. 22, 2018
 
Women's Results:
Pentathlon: 4. Kristen O'Handley, 3,526 points (60H: 5. 9.04, 902 points; High Jump: T-4. 5-03.00 (1.60m), 736 points; Shot Put: 9. 32-08.50 (9.97m), 527 points; Long Jump: 7. 17-07.50 (5.37m), 663 points; 800m: 7. 2:29.58, 698 points); T-16. Katie Baxter, 3,056 points (60H: 13. 9.45, 818 points; High Jump: 16. 4-10.25 (1.48m), 599 points; Shot Put: 13. 31-05.75 (9.59m), 503 points; Long Jump: 18. 16-02.25 (4.93m), 540 points; 800m: 15. 2:37.99, 596 points).
 
Women's Team Scores:
1. Idaho State, 11 points; 2. Montana 10 points; 3. Sacramento State, 6 points; 4. Portland State, 5 points; 5. Eastern Washington 4 points; 6. Northern Colorado, 3 points.
 
Men's Results:
Heptathlon (through four events): 1. Donté Robinson, 2,924 points (60m: 4. 7.14, 833 points; Long Jump: 1. 22-06.25 (6.86m); Shot Put: 12. 35-05.25 (10.80m), 534 points; High Jump: 2. 6-05.50 (1.97m), 776 points).