MEET NOTES (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Fresh off a weekend that netted the Vikings nine Big Sky qualifying marks – the same total the team had during the entire indoor season – the Portland State track & field team will look to keep things going as it heads to the Aztec Invitational down in San Diego, Calif., this weekend.
 
The Vikings will only compete on the women's side of the meet, with 14 athletes making the trip south over Spring Break. The meet will run on Friday and Saturday, but the Vikings will only compete in events on Saturday.
 
Among the Vikings competing will be freshman ChaQuinn Cook, who has been on a dominant run of late in the triple jump. Cook has cracked 40 feet at her last two meets, which included a win at the Big Sky Indoor meet. Cook jumped 40-01.50 (12.23m) in winning the Big Sky title in the indoor triple jump, but topped that mark in her outdoor season opener last weekend, jumping a personal-best 40-03.25 (12.27m) at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open.
 
Cook's mark last weekend already has the freshman in contention for a spot at the NCAA West Preliminary at the end of May. The top 48 declared athletes make the regional meet – which is one step before nationals – and Cook currently ranks 11th in the west. Cook will likely have to inch her mark up another few inches in order to make the meet, however, as 40-06.00 (12.34m) was the 48th-best mark in the west last season, while 40-06.25 (12.35m) was the 48th-best mark the year before that.
 
Besides Cook, junior Genna Settle could be another contender for the NCAA West Preliminary for the Viking women this season. Settle qualified for the regional meet in the 100 meters as a freshman, and has made the meet as a member of the Vikings' 4x100-meter relay team in each of her first two seasons at Portland State.
 
Settle won the 200 meters with an overall seasonal-best time of 24.45 seconds last weekend, and will compete in the 100 and 200 meters at the Aztec Invitational Saturday.
 
Sophomore Ta'mara Richey has been another Viking on a roll of late as well, as she's coming off All-Big Sky performances in the long and triple jump at the Big Sky Indoor meet. Richey already holds the Big Sky qualifying standard in the outdoor long jump, too, after winning the event last weekend with a mark of 19-02.50 (5.85m). Richey will compete in the long jump again Saturday, when she will also go after the Big Sky qualifying mark in the outdoor triple jump.
 
Junior Akayla Anderson, meanwhile, is scheduled to make her outdoor season debut in the 100-meter hurdles Saturday. Anderson placed second in the 60-meter hurdles at the Big Sky Indoor meet for the second straight season, and placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at last year's Big Sky Outdoor meet.
 
Anderson will kick off the events on the track for the Vikings with 100-meter hurdles at 10:15 a.m. (PT) Saturday, while field events get going at 10 a.m. with Sydney Johnson competing for the Vikings in the women's discus.
 
MEET INFORMATION:
March 25-26 – Aztec Invitational – San Diego, Calif. (AzTrack at SDSU Sports Deck)
 
LIVE RESULTS:
Live results will be available from the Finished Results Live app on mobile devices. Fans will need to pay $0.99 to download the app, however.
 
Saturday, March 26
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                        Women's Discus – Invitational (Flight 2 – Johnson)
10:30 a.m.                  Women's Long Jump – Invitational (Flight 2 – Williams; Flight 3 – Richey)
11 a.m.                        Women's High Jump – Invitational (Garrity)
1 p.m.                          Women's Javelin – Invitational (Flight 1 – Pellecer, Wilson; Flight 2 – Buss)
1:30 p.m.                    Women's Triple Jump – Invitational (Flight 2 – Cook, Richey)
 
Track Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
10:15 a.m.                  Women's 100-Meter Hurdles – Invitational (Section 1 – Anderson)
11:30 a.m.                  Women's 400 Meters – Invitational (Section 1 – Diggs; Section 2 – Toliver, Vinjamuri)
12:55 p.m.                  Women's 100 Meters – Invitational (Section 1 – Settle)
2:35 p.m.                    Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – Invitational (Section 12 – Miller)
3:50 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters – Invitational (Section 2 – Settle; Section 3 – Vinjamuri)
4:50 p.m.                    Women's 4x400-Meter Relay – Invitational (Section 1 – Portland State 'A' – Miller, Toliver, Vinjamuri, Diggs)
 
COMING UP:
The Vikings split up next weekend, with the team's distance crew heading to the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, April 1-2, while the rest of the squad heads to the Mondo Mid-Major Team Challenge, hosted by Sacramento State, on April 2.
 
PACIFIC COMBINED EVENTS RECAP:
Senior Kevin Robinson crushed his personal best while winning the decathlon at the Pacific Combined Events, March 21-22, beating his old PR by 556 points to finish with a score of 6,274 points and meet the Big Sky qualifying standard in the event. Robinson closed the competition with decathlon PRs in the final seven events at Hanson Stadium in Forest Grove, Ore., and beat his previous-best first- and second-day scores in the decathlon at the meet. Additionally, Robinsons' 6,274 points move him up to seventh all-time in the decathlon at Portland State, as well as third in the Big Sky this season. Robinson won the decathlon by 149 points over Corban's Jason Bracken, who had led Robinson by 77 points after the first day of the competition.
 
LEWIS & CLARK SPRING BREAK OPEN RECAP:
The Vikings hit eight Big Sky qualifying standards and won eight events at their first meet of the outdoor season, as they opened their outdoor schedule at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open, March 18-19, at Eldon Fix Track at Griswold Stadium in Portland, Ore. Senior Amanda Boman, junior Genna Settle, sophomore Ta'mara Richey and freshman ChaQuinn Cook hit qualifying standards in the women's 5,000 meters, 200 meters, long jump and triple jump, respectively, while sophomore Spenser Schmidt and freshman Jean-Luc Toku hit the standards in the men's long jump and triple jump, and senior Spencer Russell and junior Ben Richardson each ducked under the qualifying time in the men's 800 meters. Cook and Schmidt continued their strong finishes to the indoor season with their auto marks, as they are both coming off Big Sky individual titles during the indoor season. Cook, who won the Big Sky title in the indoor triple jump, won the outdoor triple jump at the meet with a personal-best mark of 40-03.25 (12.27m). Schmidt, meanwhile, followed his Big Sky title in the indoor long jump with a win in the outdoor long jump at the meet, finishing with a personal best of 24-03.50 (7.40) that beat the No. 2 mark at the meet by nearly a foot and a half. Schmidt's mark also put the sophomore in contention to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary, as it would have been enough to qualify him last year. Additionally, freshman Jean-Luc Toku set the best mark in the men's triple jump by a Viking in 43 years while winning the event with a personal best of 47-07.25 (14.51m). Toku now ranks second only to school record-holder Don Hall, who set the triple jump record at 48-06.00 (14.78m) in 1973.
 
2016 INDOOR RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team's 2016 indoor season ended with a pair of Big Sky titles for the Vikings, as sophomore Spenser Schmidt and freshman ChaQuinn Cook claimed the Big Sky titles in the men's long jump and women's triple jump, respectively. Schmidt won his Big Sky title with a huge personal best of 24-07.00 (7.49m), more than a foot better than his personal best entering the meet. Schmidt's win in the long jump marked the Vikings' first Big Sky indoor title in the event since 2003, and also gave Schmidt the best mark by a Viking since Brown set the school record at 24-08.50 (7.53m) that same year. Cook, meanwhile, became the first Viking female athlete to win a Big Sky title in the indoor triple jump since 2005. Cook beat her nearest competitor by over a foot, cracking 40 feet for a personal best of 40-01.50 (12.23m). The Vikings also got seven more All-Big Sky performances, including two each for sophomore Ta'mara Richey and junior Genna Settle. Richey placed third in both the long jump and triple jump at the meet, while Settle earned All-Big Sky honors with a second-place finish in the 60 meters and a third-place finish in the 200 meters. Settle now has five All-Big Sky honors in her Portland State career, the most of any current Viking athlete. Juniors Akayla Anderson and Whitney Diggs also earned All-Big Sky honors with second-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles and 400 meters, respectively. Ben Richardson pulled off the biggest surprise at the Big Sky meet, as he finished third in the 800 meters to earn All-Big Sky honors in an event in which he entered the meet ranked 14th in the Big Sky. Senior Rockwell Tufty did not earn All-Big Sky honors as he placed fourth in the high jump, but broke the school record in the event with a clearance of 6-09.50 (2.07m). Tufty's record gives him sole possession of both the indoor and outdoor records at Portland State, making him indisputably the best high jumper in school history.
 
BIG SKY QUALIFYING STANDARDS:
The Vikings hit nine Big Sky qualifying standards over the first weekend of the 2016 outdoor season, the same total the team hit during the entire 2016 indoor season. Qualifying marks assure an athlete of competing in the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, which will take place in Greeley, Colo., from May 12-14. The top 20 declared student-athletes in each event will qualify for the meet, except in the multi-events, where the top 16 declared student-athletes will make the meet.
 
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)
Ta'mara Richey – Long Jump – 19-02.50 (5.85m) – Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (3/19/16)
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