RESULTS

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Juniors Whitney Diggs and Genna Settle added two new Big Sky qualifying standards for the Portland State track & field team Saturday, as the pair led the Vikings at the Aztec Invitational at the AzTrack at SDSU Sports Deck.
 
The Vikings now have 11 Big Sky qualifying marks through the first two weekends of the outdoor season, two more than the team set during the entire 2016 indoor season.
 
Diggs posted her Big Sky qualifying mark in the 400 meters while making a huge improvement from her time at the Vikings' season opener last weekend. Diggs finished in 55.17 second Saturday, shaving well over a second off her time of 56.40 seconds at the meet last weekend. Diggs' time vaults the junior up to second in the Big Sky this season, as well as 15th in the NCAA West region. Diggs also won her second straight race in the 400 Saturday, after winning the 400 last weekend by well over a second.
 
Settle, meanwhile, finished fourth in the 100 meters in a Big Sky-qualifying 11.87 seconds. Settle was making her debut in the 100 meters this season, and beat the Big Sky leading mark in the event going into the weekend by .14 seconds, which North Dakota's Natasha Brown set at 12.01 seconds last weekend.
 
Junior Akayla Anderson also made her 2016 debut in the 100-meter hurdles Saturday, and just missed out on a Big Sky qualifying mark while finishing in 14.55 seconds. Anderson's time still ranks her fifth in the Big Sky this season, however, and the junior shaved more than half a second off her season-opening time in the indoor 60-meter hurdles so should be in good position again for the outdoor season.
 
Sophomore Ta'mara Richey and freshman Raquel Pellecer narrowly missed Big Sky qualifying marks in the triple jump and javelin, respectively, as well. Richey jumped 37-05.00 (11.40m) in the triple jump – better than all but one of her marks in the indoor triple jump during the 2016 season – less than four inches from the Big Sky qualifying standard of 37-08.75 (11.50m). Pellecer, meanwhile, posted a six-foot improvement over her mark in the javelin last week, finishing with a mark of 132-06 (40.39m) – just over five feet from the Big Sky qualifying standard of 137-09 (42.00m).
 
Richey moved up to fourth in the Big Sky in the triple jump with her mark Saturday, while Pellecer moved up to 10th in the Big Sky in the javelin. Pellecer also moved up to seventh all-time at Portland State in the javelin with her mark Saturday, and just 18 inches out of fifth.
 
The Vikings will return to California next weekend, as the team splits up, as the Vikings' distance runners compete at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in San Francisco, Calif., while the rest of the team heads to the Mondo Mid-Major Team Challenge in Sacramento, Calif.
 
PSU BIG SKY QUALIFYING MARKS:
Women:
Amanda Boman – 5,000m – 17:08.25 – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)*
ChaQuinn Cook – Triple Jump – 40-03.25 (12.27m) – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
Whitney Diggs – 400m – 55.17 – Aztec Invitational (3/26/16)
Ta'mara Richey – Long Jump – 19-02.50 (5.85m) – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
Genna Settle – 100m – 11.87 – Aztec Invitational (3/26/16)
Genna Settle – 200m – 24.45 – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
 
Men:
Ben Richardson – 800m – 1:52.29 – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
Kevin Robinson – Decathlon – 6,274 points – Pacific Combined Events (3/22/16)
Spencer Russell – 800m – 1:53.24 – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
Spenser Schmidt – Long Jump – 24-03.50 (7.40m) – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
Jean-Luc Toku – Triple Jump – 47-07.25 (14.51m) – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
 
*Time cross-qualifies athlete for the 5,000 and 10,000 meters
 
Aztec Invitational
AzTrack at SDSU Sports Deck
San Diego, Calif.
March 26, 2016
 
Women's Results:
100m (Invite): 4. Genna Settle, 11.87. 200m (Invite): 14. Genna Settle, 24.61; 18. Whitney Diggs, 25.02; 25. Rachel Vinjamuri, 25.38. 400m (Invite): 1. Whitney Diggs, 55.17; 8. Rachel Vinjamuri, 56.61; 21. Dejuanae Toliver, 59.48. 100m Hurdles (Invite): 11. Akayla Anderson, 14.55. 400m Hurdles (Invite): 10. Roazena Miller, 1:03.95. High Jump (Invite): 12. Hannah Garrity, 5-01.25 (1.56m). Long Jump (Invite): 9. Brandi Williams, 17-09.50 (5.42m); 10. Ta'mara Richey, 17-08.25 (5.39m). Triple Jump (Invite): 4. ChaQuinn Cook, 38-04.75 (11.70m); 9. Ta'mara Richey, 37-05.00 (11.40m). Discus (Invite): 32. Sydney Johnson, 114-03 (34.83m). Javelin (Invite): 11. Raquel Pellecer, 132-06 (40.39m); 20. Shasta Wilson, 106-00 (32.32m).