Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Like a pasty nerd, the Portland State track & field team could do with some time outdoors. Unlike a pasty nerd, the Vikings will go outdoors willingly, as they open their outdoor season at the L&C Spring Break Open this weekend at the Eldon Fix Track on the campus of Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
 
The Vikings have been idle from competition since the Big Sky Indoor Championships three weeks ago in Flagstaff, Ariz. Donté Robinson won the Big Sky title in the heptathlon at the indoor meet, out-kicking Sacramento State's Max Jette in the final event, after the two sat tied through the first six events of the competition.
 
Robinson joined former NCAA first-team All-American Nick Trubachik as the only two Vikings to ever win the Big Sky title in the heptathlon. Robinson won while setting personal bests in four of the seven events, and three of those four personal bests moved Robinson up in the all-time ranks in those events. Robinson jumped 22-06.25 in the long jump on the first day of the heptathlon, moving him up to eighth all time in the event at Portland State. Robinson then opened the second day of the heptathlon with a time of 8.31 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, moving him up to fifth all time at PSU. Robinson followed with a clearance of 13-09.00 (4.19m) in the pole vault, moving him up to seventh all time.
 
Robinson's win was the clear highlight for the Vikings at the Big Sky meet, but sophomore Kamal-Craig Golaube added another with back-to-back record-breaking performances in the prelims and finals of the men's 60-meter hurdles. Golaube tied the school record in the 60 hurdles as a freshman at the Big Sky meet, but took it over on his own with his time of 8.19 seconds in the prelims this season. Golaube then chopped another five-hundredths of a second off his record by finishing in 8.14 seconds in the finals a day later.
 
Nia Powdrell, meanwhile, had a breakout meet at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, as she set huge personal bests in the prelims of both the 60 and 200 meters. Powdrell knocked .23 seconds off her personal best in the 60 meters while finishing the prelims in 7.54 seconds. Powdrell shaved even more time off her personal best in the 200 meters, as she finished the prelims in 24.45 seconds to beat her old personal best by close to half a second, as well as her previous seasonal best by .70 seconds.
 
Kristen O'Handley also had a breakout meet of sorts at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, as she scored for the Vikings in the pentathlon and high jump as a freshman. O'Handley outperformed the form chart in both events, as she came into the meet ranked 10th in the Big Sky in the pentathlon, and didn't event rank in the top 20 of the high jump.
 
O'Handley placed fourth in the pentathlon, however, while setting personal bests in four of the five events. O'Handley finished with a personal-best score of 3,526 points, 300 points better than her season-opening score of 3,218 points at the Vandal Invitational and Multi Events. 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.
 
O'Handley then placed fifth in the high jump with a clearance of 5-06.50 (1.69m) on her first attempt at the height, more than two inches better than her previous best of 5-04.25 (1.63m).
 
Josh Pikes did not need a breakout meet at the Big Sky meet, but moved up to second all time in the 60 and 200 meters with his finishes in 6.86 and 21.64 seconds, respectively. Pikes' time in the 200 meters put him just .04 seconds behind the current school record of 21.60 seconds that Ryon Edwards set in 2000.
 
Pikes will run the 100 and 200 meters at the L&C Spring Break Open Saturday, and will also run a leg for the Vikings in the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays.
 
Pikes will be one of the busiest Vikings Saturday, as will be the Vikings' multi-eventers in Robinson, O'Handley and Katie Baxter. Robinson is entered in the discus, pole vault and 400 meters Saturday, while O'Handley will compete in the women's long jump Friday, and the 200 meters, 100-meter hurdles and 4x100-meter relay Saturday. Baxter, meanwhile, will compete in the Vikings' other 4x100-meter relay team Saturday, and also joins O'Handley in the 200 meters and 100-meter hurdles.
 
The most interesting event for the Vikings might be the men's 400 meters Saturday, as several Vikings who don't typically run the 400 are entered in the event. Will Payton and Robinson are the only typical 400-meter runners entered for the Vikings, as Golaube – usually a 110- and 400-meter hurdler – as well as Jaron Barrow, David Brannan, Jean-Luc Toku and Chance Whitehurst – all typically horizontal jumpers – join Payton and Robinson in the 400.
 
Whitehurst, who moved up to second all time in the men's triple jump during the indoor season, will also compete in the high jump for the first time as a Viking Friday.
 
The Vikings also entered nine runners in the men's 5,000 meters, headlined by Alex Cisneros, who did not score for the Vikings at the Big Sky Indoor Championships but had a breakout indoor season nonetheless. Cisneros broke the school records in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters during the indoor season, and could make a run at a top 10 mark in the outdoor 5,000 Saturday. The most recent mark in the top 10 of the outdoor 5,000 meters came in 2005, when Blake Flanders finished in 14:44.91. Cisneros set his school record in the indoor 5,000 at 14:19.95, however, which would rank him fifth all time if he ran the same time outdoors. Dave Henderson set the school record in the outdoor 5,000 with his finish in 13:48.04 in 1984.
 
The Vikings will open the L&C Spring Break Open at 4 p.m. Friday with the start of the women's long jump and men's high jump. The Vikings will then open the meet at 10 a.m. Saturday with the start of the women's discus, women's pole vault and women's triple jump.
 
MEET INFO:
March 16-17 – L&C Spring Break Open – Portland, Ore. (Griswold Stadium on the Eldon Fix Track)
 
L&C SPRING BREAK OPEN SCHEDULE:
Friday, March 16
Field Events
Start (PT)              Events (PSU entries)
4 p.m.                   Women's Long Jump (O'Handley, Powdrell, Richey, Terry, Williams)
4 p.m.                   Men's High Jump (Whitehurst)
After W-LJ             Men's Long Jump (Barrow, Brannan, Luyamba, Toku)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)              Events (PSU entries)
6 p.m.                   Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Medved)
 
Saturday, March 17
Field Events
Start (PT)              Events (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                 Women's Discus Throw (Mumford)
10 a.m.                 Women's Pole Vault (Collmer)
10 a.m.                 Women's Triple Jump (Richey)
After M-SP            Women's Shot Put (Mumford)
After W-DT           Men's Discus Throw (Robinson)
After W-PV           Men's Pole Vault (Johnson, Masanga, Moen, Robinson)
After W-TJ            Men's Triple Jump (Barrow, Brannan, Luyamba, Toku, Whitehurst)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)              Events (PSU entries)
11 a.m.                 Men's 4x100-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Barrow, Luyamba, Whitehurst, Toku; Portland State 'B' – Pikes, Desaki, Park, Davis)
11:05 a.m.            Women's 4x100-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Cummings, Powdrell, Richey, O'Handley; Portland State 'B' – Buckhaults, Terry, Baxter, Smith)
11:10 a.m.            Men's 1,500 Meters (Hvidsten, Maule, Rubalcave, Solano)
11:30 a.m.            Women's 1,500 Meters (Gibson, Karp, Martin)
12 p.m.                 Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Baxter, Buckhaults, O'Handley)
12:20 p.m.            Men's 400 Meters (Barrow, Brannan, Golaube, Payton, Robinson, Toku, Whitehurst)
12:35 p.m.            Women's 400 Meters (Cummings)
12:50 p.m.            Men's 100 Meters (Davis, Desaki, Park, Pikes)
1:10 p.m.              Women's 100 Meters (Jackson, Powdrell)
1:30 p.m.              Men's 800 Meters (Navy)
2:05 p.m.              Women's 400-Meter Hurdles (Buckhaults)
2:20 p.m.              Men's 200 Meters (Davis, Desaki, Golaube, Payton, Pikes)
2:40 p.m.              Women's 200 Meters (Baxter, Cummings, Jackson, O'Handley, Smith)
3 p.m.                   Men's 5,000 Meters (Cisneros, Emeterio, Jemison, Jones, Leonis, Rae, Solano, Stafford, Wikler)
3:50 p.m.              Women's 5,000 Meters (Baldwin-Joiner, Chaplin, Reynolds)
4:35 p.m.              Men's 4x400-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Davis, Payton, Desaki, Pikes)
 
UPCOMING:
The Vikings stay in the state for the Willamette Invitational in Salem, Ore., next Saturday, March 24.
 
BIG SKY INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:
The Big Sky Conference eliminated qualifying standards for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships last season, and will continue in that mold this season. Roster sizes will be capped at 28 athletes (men and women), leaving it up to coaches to determine how to maximize their scoring potential at the meet. The Big Sky Outdoor Championships take place, May 8-11, in Moscow, Idaho.
 
NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION:
Unlike the NCAA Indoor Championships, the path to the NCAA Outdoor Championships runs through a regional stage, giving the Vikings a better 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 24-26, in Sacramento, Calif. The top 12 in each event at the NCAA West and East Preliminary Rounds then advance onto the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 6-9, 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.
 
2018 INDOOR SEASON RECAP:
Donté Robinson out-kicked Sacramento State's Max Jette in the final event of the heptathlon – the 1,000 meters – at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, giving the redshirt junior his first Big Sky title. Robinson and Jette were tied through the first six events of the heptathlon, but Robinson passed Jette with a lap to go in the 1,000 meters and didn't look back, finishing in 2:51.65 to beat Jette by three-and-a-half seconds. Robinson became the Vikings' first Big Sky champion in the heptathlon since former NCAA first-team All-American Nick Trubachik won the event in 2010. Robinson won the event with a personal-best score of 5,248 points, and set personal bests in four of the seven events during the competition. Besides Robinson, the Vikings set five school records during the season, including two for Alex Cisneros. Cisneros broke his own school record in the 5,000 meters at the UW Invitational, finishing in 14:19.95 – 23 seconds faster than the time he ran at the same meet last season. Cisneros also broke the school record in the 3,000 meters at the UW Indoor Open, finishing in 8:16.45 to beat the old record of 8:21.04 by more than four seconds. Kaila Gibson joined Cisneros in a sweep of the men's and women's 5,000-meter records at the UW Invite, as she set the women's record with her finish in 16:53.60. Saraia Collmer, meanwhile, broke the school record in the women's pole vault in back-to-back meets during the season. Collmer first broke the record with a clearance of 11-05.25 (3.49m) at the Idaho Duals, and then broke it again a week later with a clearance of 11-07.25 (3.54m) at the UW Indoor Open. Kamal-Craig Golaube also broke the school record in the men's 60-meter hurdles twice, as he broke the record in the prelims and then the finals of the Big Sky Indoor Championships. Golaube finished the prelims of the 60 hurdles in 8.19 seconds, and then finished the finals in 8.14 seconds.