Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Texas will live up to its "Lone Star State" nickname this weekend, at least for the Portland State track & field team, which sends a small group of five athletes to the Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas, Friday and Saturday.
 
Junior Ta'mara Richey will be the lone Viking competing Friday, as she competes in the women's triple jump at 4 p.m. (CT). The rest of the Vikings will compete Saturday, starting with the men's 800 meters at 12:05 p.m. (CT).
 
Richardson runs in the men's 800 for the Vikings, a week after making his 800-meter outdoor debut at the John Knight Twilight last Friday. Richardson suffered an injury at the end of the indoor season, and only returned from the injury two weeks ago at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival in Los Angeles on March 31. Richardson is still a two-time All-Big Sky runner in the 800 meters, however, and scored for the Vikings with a fifth-place finish in the indoor 800 meters in February.
 
Senior Akayla Anderson follows Richardson on the track Saturday, as she competes in the women's 100-meter hurdles at 12:15 p.m. (CT). Anderson ranks second in the 100-meter hurdles this season off her time of 13.95 seconds at the Legends of Track & Field Invitational on April 1. Anderson ranks second to Weber State's Tawnie Moore (13.77 seconds), who beat Anderson for the conference title in the indoor 60-meter hurdles back in February.
 
Genna Settle ranks first and second in the women's 100 and 200 meters, respectively, and will compete in both events this Saturday. Settle posted the Big Sky-leading time in the 200 meters on the first weekend of the outdoor season, as she finished in 23.97 seconds at the Trojan Invitational on March 18. Settle also ranks second in the Big Sky in the 100 meters off her time of 11.82 seconds at the Legends of Track & Field Invitational on April 1.
 
Settle will open her portion of the Texas Invitational with the 100 meters at 1:05 p.m. (CT), and will run the 200 meters at 2:15 p.m. (CT).
 
Richey will also compete in the women's long jump at 1 p.m. (CT) Saturday, along with senior Brandi Williams. The pair of them rank fourth and tied for seventh, respectively, in the women's long jump this season, while Richey also ranks fifth in the Big Sky in the women's triple jump.
 
MEET INFORMATION:
April 14-15 – Texas Invitational – Austin, Texas (Mike A. Myers Stadium)
 
LIVE RESULTS:
Live results will be available from the meet this weekend. Fans can find the link to live results on the track & field schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
TEXAS INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE:
Friday, April 14
Field Events
Start (CT)                  Event (PSU entries)
4 p.m.                          Women's Triple Jump (Flight 1 – Richey)
 
Saturday, April 15
Field Events
Start (CT)                  Event (PSU entries)
1 p.m.                          Women's Long Jump (Flight 1 – Williams; Flight 2 – Richey)
 
Running Events
Start (CT)                  Event (PSU entries)
12:05 p.m.                  Men's 800 Meters (Section 2 – Richardson)
12:15 p.m.                  Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Section 1 – Anderson)
1:05 p.m.                    Women's 100 Meters (Section 1 – Settle)
2:15 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters (Section 1 – Settle)
 
COMING UP:
The Vikings compete out of state again next week, as they head down to the Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif., April 21-22.
 
NO QUALIFYING STANDARDS FOR BIG SKY INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:
In a major change from previous seasons, the Big Sky no longer employs qualifying standards and instead gives coaches the power to fill out their rosters for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships as they please. Roster sizes will be capped at 28 athletes (men and women), leaving it up to coaches to determine how to maximize their scoring potential with that limit. The Big Sky Outdoor Championships take place, May 10-13, in Sacramento, Calif.
 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION:
Unlike the NCAA Indoor Championships, the path to the NCAA Outdoor Championships runs through a regional stage, giving the Vikings more of a 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 25-27, in Austin, Texas. The top 12 in each event at the NCAA West and East Preliminary Rounds then advance onto the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 7-10, 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.
 
RICH ALLEN CLASSIC RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team's throwers took over the show Saturday, as Mikenna Marchment, Ashley Liber and Kendra Negron competed at the Rich Allen Classic in Newberg, Ore., on April 8. Marchment led the way as she posted the Vikings' top marks in the discus (114-07, 34.93m) and javelin (109-04, 33.33m). Marchment's mark in the discus set a new personal best for the Viking freshman, as it beat her prep personal best of 105-03 (32.08m) by over nine feet. Sophomore Kendra Negron also set a new personal best in the discus with a throw of 90-04 (27.52m).
 
JOHN KNIGHT TWILIGHT RECAP:
Windy conditions hampered the Vikings at the John Knight Twilight, April 7, at McArthur Field in Monmouth, Ore., but the Vikings still pulled out four event-wins at the meet. Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.70 seconds despite battling a headwind of 3.9 meters per second. Sophomore Jean-Luc Toku did not battle a headwind in the long jump, instead jumping with a +4.6 meters per second win reading, and won with a jump of 21-10.00 (6.65m) on his first attempt of the day. The Viking men also pulled out a win in the 4x400-meter relay, beating the field by close to eight full seconds. Mitchell Gable, Ben Richardson, Donté Robinson and Christian Wood ran the relay for the Vikings, and won in 3:23.82 in their first completed relay of the outdoor season. Senior Cheryn Trapp pulled out a win for the Viking women, too, as she beat the field in the women's 5,000 meters by more than 17.5 seconds. Trapp won in 18:27.39, while fellow senior Kennedy Martin also set a new personal best in the race with her time of 18:48.97.
 
LEGENDS OF TRACK & FIELD INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle lowered her own Big Sky-leading time in the 100 meters at the Legends of Track & Field Invitational, March 31 – April 1, at UCLA's Drake Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. Settle lowered her time to 11.82 seconds, a tenth of a second better than her season-opening time of 11.92 seconds. Settle also placed fifth in the invitational section of the women's 200 meters, finishing in 24.33 seconds. Fellow senior Akayla Anderson lost the Big Sky lead in the 100-meter hurdles that she held coming into the week, but still lowered her time in the event while finishing seventh in the invitational section in 13.95 seconds. Anderson's time beat her previous best this season by close to two-tenths of a second, as she dipped under 14 seconds for the first time this season. Senior Mitchell Gable shaved three-tenths of a second off his personal best in the 200 meters Saturday, finishing the college section of the race in 22.04 seconds. Gable's time beat the PR of 22.34 he set at the Willamette Invitational last Saturday, and put him just outside the top 10 all-time in the outdoor 200 at Portland State.
 
BOB LARSEN DISTANCE CARNIVAL RECAP:
Distance took center stage for the Vikings at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival, as the Vikings posted several personal bests while competing at Drake Stadium, March 31, in Los Angeles, Calif. Sophomore Kaila Ann Gibson led the Vikings at the meet, as she posted a 50-second personal best while winning the 'B' section of the women's 5,000 meters in 17:48.92. Gibson's time crushed her old personal best of 18:39.11, which she set last year at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. Sophomore Jocelyn Reynolds showed similar improvement in the women's 10,000 meters, as she finished in 38:43.63 to beat her old PR of 39:39.43 by close to a full minute. Freshman Alec Hornecker, junior Alana Chaplin and freshman Liam Jemison all shaved 5-7 seconds off their personal bests in the men's 5,000, women's 1,500 and men's 1,500 meters, respectively. Jemsion placed second to senior Ben Richardson in the 'C' section of the men's 1,500 meters, as Richardson won the section in 4:01.59. Richardson finished four seconds ahead of any other runner, giving the senior a strong return to the track after he suffered an injury at the Big Sky Indoor Championships on Feb. 25.
 
PACIFIC COMBINED EVENTS RECAP:
Multi-eventers Ta'mara Richey and Donté Robinson completed their first heptathlon and decathlon at the Pacific Combined Events, March 27-28, at Hanson Stadium in Forest Grove, Ore. Richey placed second in the women's heptathlon with 4,147 points, while Robinson won the decathlon with his score of 6,328 points. Both scores placed the athletes in the top 10 all-time in their respective multi-events at Portland State, and Robinson moved up to second in the Big Sky with his score in the decathlon. Robinson won the decathlon while setting or tying personal bests in nine of the 10 events. Robinson won or tied for first in three of the 10 events, as well, and placed second or tied for second in three more events. Richey, meanwhile, set personal bests in five of the seven events in the heptathlon. Richey won the two events – 200 meters, long jump – that she didn't set a personal best in, and Richey recorded her highest point totals in those events as well. Richey now ranks 10th all-time at Portland State in the heptathlon, while Robinson ranks eighth all-time in the decathlon. Robinson also ranks just 42 points off the conference-leading score in the decathlon of 6,370 points that Alec Acevado set at the Sacramento State Hornet Invitational on the first weekend of the outdoor season.
 
WILLAMETTE INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Seniors Genna Settlle and Mitchell Gable sprinted to the front for the Portland State track & field team at the Willamette Invitational, March 18, leading the Vikings to a day of improvement at the Charles Bowles Track. Settle won the 200 meters in 24.09 seconds, beating Oregon State's Venessa D'Arpino and Kerissa D'Arpino by .08 and .18 seconds, respectively, and beating the rest of the field by more than a full second. Gable, meanwhile, led the group of Vikings who improved their marks at the meet, as he posted a pair of personal bests in the 100 and 200 meters, finishing third in both events in 10.95 and 22.34 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Troy Bacon improved on his season-opening throw in the discus that marked the best throw by a Viking men's athletes since 1996 at the time. Bacon finished with a best throw of 153-10.75 (46.90m) at the Willamette Invitational, beating his historic throw from last week by more than a foot. Six other Vikings improved their marks at the Willamette Invitational, while another six made their debuts in various events in the meet.
 
TROJAN INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle picked up where she left off from the indoor season while opening her outdoor season in impressive fashion at the Trojan Invitational, March 18, at the Loker Track in Los Angeles, Calif. Settle placed eighth overall in the 200 meters in a time of 23.97 seconds – her best debut ever outdoors as a Viking, and only two-tenths of a second behind her Big Sky-winning time of 23.75 seconds three weeks ago that broke the school, championship and conference records in the indoor 200. By comparison, Settle opened her 2016 outdoor season with a time of 24.45 seconds in the 200, putting her close to a half-second ahead of last season's pace, when she ended the season by placing second in the outdoor 200 by one-hundredth of a second. Settle also finished seventh overall in the 100 meters in 11.92 seconds. Junior Ta'mara Richey followed in Settle's footsteps with her own strong debut in the women's long jump, as she placed second overall with a best jump of 19-00.00 (5.79m). Richey was coming off a fourth-place finish at the Big Sky indoor meet where she set a new personal best of 19-08.25 (6.00m), and cracked 19 feet again in her outdoor debut at the Trojan Invite. Senior Brandi Williams also tied her Portland State personal best while placing third overall in the long jump with a best jump of 18-06.50 (5.65m). Fellow senior Mitchell Gable, meanwhile, rebounded from an injury that limited him at the Big Sky indoor meet to finish fifth overall in the men's 400 meters with his time of 48.27 seconds. Gable's time ranked just two-tenths of a second behind his outdoor personal best of 48.05 seconds, and beat all but two of Gable's time in the outdoor 400 last season.
 
L&C SPRING BREAK OPEN RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team opened its outdoor season at the L&C Spring Break Open, March 17-18, at the Eldon Fix Track in Portland, Ore., with 10 athletes making their career outdoor debuts at Portland State. No athlete impressed more than Troy Bacon, who moved into the top 10 all-time at Portland State in the discus after just one meet competing outdoors for the Vikings. Bacon – who will be a junior offensive lineman for the Portland State football team this fall – placed seventh overall in the discus with a throw of 152-08 (46.55m), moving him up to sixth all-time in the discus at Portland State. Bacon's throw also marked the best throw by a Viking men's athlete in the discus since Ryan Alexander set the school record at 162-04 (49.48m) in 1996. Outside of Bacon, the majority of the other debuts came in the men's distance events, including six newcomers making their debuts in the men's 1,500 meters. Freshman Andrew Stafford led the 1,500-meter group with a 16th-place finish in 4:08.60, while fellow newcomers Liam Jemison (21st, 4:12.75), Gabe Bader (23rd, 4:15.28), Jacob Emeterio (26th, 4:16.52), Austen Hvidsten (27th, 4:16.56) and Cameron Gaskell (33rd, 4:18.00) followed. Freshman Michael Biedebach also led a group of three Vikings in the men's 5,000 meters, and placed third overall in the event in a time of 14:56.23.
 
2017 INDOOR SEASON RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle punctuated the Portland State track & field team's indoor season with a 60-200 title sweep at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, while setting a personal best in each event. Settle became just the second Viking ever to sweep the 60- and 200-meter titles at a single Big Sky Indoor Championships, joining Jernise Saunders, who first did it in 2009. Settle capped the sweep with a record performance in the 200 meters, as she broke the school, championship and conference records with her time of 23.75 seconds. Settle's time edged out the records former Viking and World Outdoor Championship qualifier Karene King set at 23.77 seconds in 2012. Settle also won the finals of the 60 meters in a personal-best 7.44 seconds, tying her for fifth all-time in the Big Sky record book, as well as tying her for third all-time – with Saunders – in the Portland State record book. Besides Settle, senior Akayla Anderson also earned All-Big Sky honors with her third straight second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. Anderson finished second to Weber State's Tawnie Moore in a personal-best 8.38 seconds, .06 behind Moore, who finished in 8.32. Freshman Kamal-Craig Golaube tied the school record in the men's 60-meter hurdles, too, as he finished fourth in the finals of the event at the Big Sky meet in 8.22 seconds. Golaube tied Peter Jason Tait's school record from 2008, and became the Viking men's first scorer in the indoor 60-meter hurdles since DeShawn Shead in 2011. Junior Donté Robinson became the first Viking athlete to earn All-Big Sky honors in the heptathlon since Nick Trubachik in 2010. Robinson placed second in the heptathlon with a personal-best score of 5,230 points – a total that ranks him second only to Trubachik, who set the school record at 5,432 points as a senior in 2010. Outside of the Big Sky meet, Alex Cisneros set the school record in the men's 5,000 meters with his time of 14:43.07 at the UW Invitational on Jan. 27. Cisneros broke Andrew Salg's six-year-old school record of 14:50.81 by more than seven seconds, and beat his old personal best of 14:57.77 by more than 14 seconds.