Portland State has shared a rich history in its nearly 60 years of existence with a countless number of all-america honors and five individual national championships. Athletes who've competed on the Park Blocks have gone on to compete at some of nation's most prestigious competitions at the collegiate and professional level and the present looks no different.

On February 26 at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, the next chapter in Portland State's history became more clear. Entering the pentathlon sophomore Joenisha Vinson ranked ninth in the Big Sky. After the dust settled from five event competition, Vinson took to the medal stand with a bronze medal around her neck. The following day she would claim silver in the 55-meter hurdles by shattering her own school-record in the event set a day earlier.

While some athletes may gloat over this kind of ability, Vinson is far from the type. Often Head Coach Ronnye Harrison has said that "She keeps things very quiet, if she had a birthday you would never know it. She's like a ninja." Though she's quiet, "she's very easy to meet and will always say hello."

A year earlier, Vinson only competed in three track meets, including the outdoor championships, where she finished ninth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.83.

Today, she is nearly a second faster in the hurdles and has already qualified for the conference championships in five different events - one of only three women in the Big Sky to accomplish the same feat. She's qualified and will compete in the 200-meters, 100-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and the heptathlon at the championships in Ogden, Utah May 12-15.

Her coach in the multi-events, Seth Henson, said" Joenisha is an extremely valuable athlete in our program. She runs in our relays, she scores individually, she scores in the heptathlon. Eventually, she will be the face of our program."

During the 2009-10 school-year, Vinson has broken five school records, three during indoors and two so far in the outdoor season. Her value also extends to the classroom as she pulled a 3.66 grade point average last term. That is also why Henson believes she will be the face of the Portland State track program as she covers all basis as a student-athlete.

However, Vinson did not always earn exceptional grades in college, she admitted "My first term was terrible and (after that) I felt like I needed to start doing something. This year was a big adjustment because I was missing a lot of class (because of competitions) and I was learning what it was like to be a student-athlete." She also felt like she needed to work harder on her studies since she was going to be missing so much class this year.

Spending most of her track career as a hurdler and sprinter, Vinson made the move to the multi-events this season after Henson nudged Harrison to let her train for the pentathlon and heptathlon. "I tried it last year and I quit on the first day because it was so hard," laughed Vinson. "At the beginning of the season we had a pentathlon that the whole team competed in and I won it. I had the second fastest time in the 30-meters and I won all the throws and because of that they thought I could be a multi."

After the pentathlon, "I sat out for two weeks with pneumonia and when I came back the coaches announced at the end of practice, in front of the whole team, 'Joenisha you will be competing in the multis' and I just said 'ok.'"

Harrison is a big believer in Vinson's talent and said "I am in awe of her all the time… Every coach wants to coach the athlete with the talent. I already knew she was monstrous hurdler and to be honest when she went over to the multis I know I looked over at her a lot because I was missing an integral part of my speed and power group. She's not doing anything that I didn't expect by being (with the multis). I think she is someone who works well with anyone you put her with. It's another plus in her corner."

Vinson came to Portland State from Phoenix, Ariz., where she attended South Mountain High School and competed in volleyball, basketball and track. She recalls "Kebba (Tolbert) recruited me at the (Arizona) state championship track meet. I ran the 100 and 300-meter hurdles and I won both of them. After the track meet, my high school coach came up to me and said this coach was up here looking at you. He gave me a notebook that Kebba had gave him and then I contacted Kebba a couple of weeks later."

Winning has also been her way for many years. At South Mountain, Vinson's track team won state four-times. The basketball team won state her senior year and advanced to the state championship game all-four years as well. Individually, she won the 100 and 300-meter hurdles as a senior.

With a fiery, competitive tone she laughed "In all the other years I ran track I was competing against my cousin and she was good. She graduated when I was a junior and opened the door for me to win championships." Her cousin ran at Central Arizona, the same school as Vinson's current 4x100-meter relay teammate Karene King attended before Portland State.

When asked about her volleyball background, Vinson shrugged and said "Volleyball was just for fun." A natural lefty, she was able to serve and attack with both her left and right hands. The ambidextrous gift helps her to this day as she throws the javelin with both her right and left.

Because her basketball team was so good, Vinson always came out late for the track season. "The state tournament would be in March and I would usually go out for track in late March-early April. I usually needed a week or two off to recuperate."

When her coaches were asked to describe Vinson's value to the program, Henson's simple reply was "She is calm, collected and poised in big competitions." He followed up with a story at the Big Sky Indoor Championships when the team met the night before the first day of competition.

"Joenisha is someone that does not talk very much, so when she speaks people really listen. She told the other girls 'don't worry about what the other girls are doing. They put their shoes on the same way you did this morning. They're going to go when the gun goes off as well. So worry about your race and what you need to do and see where you finish.'

"When she spoke those words I knew they came from the heart. She means it when she says it - It's her M.O. - It's the way she goes about things. That's why I think the sky is the limit for her because technically and athletically, she does things right. When we're breaking down film, she's doing the things that we are trying to get our other athletes to do and she just does it naturally."

A glowing Harrison said "She has raw talents that are off the charts. She has that one thing that cannot be coached - the will and drive to win. And that's what keeps her excelling at the level that she is excelling at because she will not quit. I wish I could take some of that out her and give it to other people as well."

Harrison expressed that Vinson could compete in the 2012 Olympic Trials if she made that a goal for herself because "I know she'll put in the work."

"Raw talent wise she has that ability because we already know when she's running at the high caliber level, she's going to be right up there with the best in the country. If she decides that she is going to be that type of person, believe me, she will be that type of person - she'll be going to nationals wherever they are and then she'll be going to the trials wherever they are.

"Will she make the team? I don't know the answer to that, but she could be at the show. She is so far away from her pure potential in all of her events. She's strong, but not strong enough. She's technical, but not technical enough in every event. She's fast, but as fast as she could be if she sells in her mind that i want to be the best, and again, that's a choice."

With the conference championship beginning Wednesday morning Vinson stated she wants to at least run a 13.80 in 100-meter hurdles and "finish the (heptathlon) in a better spot than I am ranked now." She currently ranks third in the heptathlon, trailing the second-best score by 50 points. Vinson recently fell to second in the 100-meter hurdles after posting a 13.84 at the Mondo Invitational.

When Coach Harrison broke the news to her on Monday about the 100-meter hurdles, she said with a confident smile "that'll change."

It's fair to say that Vinson is a well-rounded athlete and has already began her march to the top of the Big Sky as a sophomore. Viking fans can expect to see Vinson represent Portland State in some of the biggest meets in country much like her predecessors due to her ability, and most importantly, her focus and attention to detail.

Vinson is looking to become Portland State's first Big Sky Champion in the heptathlon. Mackenzie Winkle finished second in 2005. 10 years earlier when PSU was a Division II Independent, Robin Unger was the NCAA National Champion in the heptathlon in 1995 and 1996.

Henson closed by saying "I don't know how good she can be honestly, but if I had to say it today I might not give her enough credit because she could be an all-america hurdler. She is very, very talented."