Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — There's another Gold Rush coming to California this weekend, as the Portland State track & field team heads down to the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, May 10-13, at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif.
 
No Viking has his or her eyes more on that gold than senior Genna Settle, who enters the Big Sky meet with the conference leads in the women's 100 and 200 meters. Settle holds sizeable leads in both events, as she leads the 100 meters by more than two-tenths of a second, and leads the 200 by nearly the same time.
 
The size of Settle's leads raises the prospect of a 100-200-meter title sweep for Settle, something only three Vikings have done before in Ena Shemi (swept the titles in the 2005), Jernise Saunders (2009) and Karene King (2011).
 
Settle already swept the 60- and 200-meter titles at the Big Sky Indoor Championships earlier in 2017, something only Saunders had done before. Settle also has the chance to become the only Viking besides Saunders to win four Big Sky individual titles in the same calendar year, as Saunders swept indoor 60 and 200 as well as the outdoor 100 and 200 in 2009.
 
Settle's closest competition in both the 100 and 200 meters comes in Northern Colorado's Moriah Zacharay, who ranks second to Settle in both events. Settle beat Zachary for the Big Sky title in the indoor 200 meters by more than a quarter of a second while setting the school, championship and conference records with her time of 23.75 seconds.
 
Settle's breakout meet came at last season's Big Sky Outdoor Championships, where she won her first Big Sky individual title in the 100 meters and came within one-hundredth of a second of winning the Big Sky title in the 200 meters. Settle tied the Big Sky championship record in the 100 meters with her finish in 11.46 seconds last season, and broke the school record in the 200 meters with her finish in 23.42 seconds. Settle would have also broken the championship and conference records in the 200 meters with her time last season, but was beat out by Weber State's Aaliyah Crawford.
 
Fellow senior Akayla Anderson joins Settle as a defending champion going into the Big Sky meet this weekend, after she won the conference title in the 100-meter hurdles. Anderson won the title in 13.70 seconds, .16 seconds ahead of Sacramento State's Kristen Robinson, who finished second to Anderson.
 
Anderson will not enter this year's meet with the conference lead, however, as Weber State's Tawnie Moore will instead take that claim. Moore and Anderson have been battling all outdoor season, ever since Moore edged Anderson for the conference title in the 60-meter hurdles at the Big Sky Indoor Championships in February. Moore and Anderson are the only two athletes to go under 14 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles this season, and should battle for the Big Sky title if both athletes get out of the prelims on Friday.
 
Moore and Anderson already squared off head-to-head at the Triton Invitational on April 22, with Moore posting the better time between the two while finishing in 13.56 seconds to Anderson's finish in 13.68 seconds.
 
The rest of the Vikings will have to battle without the luxury of being defending champions like Settle and Anderson, but could challenge for more hardware.
 
Junior Ta'mara Richey will be one of those Vikings, as she enters the meet with top three marks in both the women's long jump and triple jump. Richey's better event has been the triple jump, where she ranks second in the Big Sky to Montana's Samantha Evans.
 
Evans leads Richey by close to two feet with her mark of 42-08.25 (13.01m) at the Montana Open on April 27. Richey is the only other athlete to go over 40 feet in the triple jump, as she posted a personal best of 40-11.50 (12.48m) at the Texas Invitational on April 14. Evans also led the Big Sky in the triple jump going into last season's Big Sky meet, but was beaten by former Viking ChaQuinn Cook.
 
Richey will have a tough time pulling off a similar upset in the women's long jump, however, as Northern Arizona's Shanice McPherson holds a commanding lead in the event after breaking the conference record with her mark of 21-02.00 (6.45m) at the Texas Relays. Richey still ranks third in the Big Sky, though, after she jumped 19-09.75 (6.04m) at the Triton Invitational on April 22.
 
Senior Ben Richardson will similarly need to pull off an upset to bring home the hardware in the men's 800 meters, but will have a chance at the title after completing what can only be described as a magical comeback from an injury he suffered at the end of the indoor season. Richardson ranks fourth in the Big Sky off his time of 1:51.14 at the Triton Invitational, about 1.5 seconds off the Big Sky lead in the event, set by Idaho State's Daniel Garz at 1:49.71.
 
Richardson has shown the ability to lop several seconds off his time this season, however, as he shaved five seconds off his time between his first and second 800-meter races, and then chopped another two seconds off while posting his personal best at the Triton Invitational. If Richardson can knock another couple of seconds off his time at the Big Sky meet, then he could become the Vikings' first-ever Big Sky champion in the outdoor 800 meters.
 
Junior Donté Robinson doesn't have as far to go for a potential Big Sky title in the decathlon, even as he ranks lower in the Big Sky than Richardson at fifth. Robinson ranks fifth in the Big Sky off his score of 6,328 points at the Pacific Combined Events, but the top eight athletes in the decathlon all rank within 360 points of one another.
 
Robinson will also be coming off a second-place finish in the heptathlon at the Big Sky indoor meet, where he moved up to second all-time at Portland State with a personal-best score of 5,230 points.
 
Outside of chasing gold in California, the Vikings will also be chasing qualifying spots for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds at the end of the month. The top 48 within the NCAA west region in each event will qualify for the regional meet, and the Vikings have several athletes with that goal in sight.
 
Settle and Richey already rank securely in the top 48 in the women's 100 meters and triple jump, respectively, but both will also be looking to move into the top 48 in a second event. Settle will need to move up from her current position in the women's 200 meters if she hopes to qualify for the event, as she currently stands tied for 61st in the NCAA west. Richey also stands in a tie for 55th in the women's long jump currently, meaning she will need to add a few inches to her mark at the Big Sky meet if she hopes to qualify.
 
Anderson will also likely need to improve her mark in the women's 100-meter hurdles if she hopes to qualify, even as she currently ranks within the top 48 at 46th in the NCAA west. Several athletes are likely to PR at their conference championships this weekend, meaning Anderson could get bumped out of the top 48 if she doesn't improve herself.
 
Anderson was one of those athletes to PR at conference last season, as she qualified for the 2016 NCAA regional meet after posting a personal best of 13.59 seconds at the Big Sky outdoor meet.
 
The rest of the Vikings will need to post more dramatic improvements in order to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, which is not out of the question as the Vikings routinely peak for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships every season.
 
And if nothing else, with athletes peaking at just the right time, the Vikings could be in line for some of that California gold.
 
MEET INFORMATION:
May 10-13 – Big Sky Outdoor Championships – Sacramento, Calif. (Hornet Stadium)
 
LIVE RESULTS:
Live results will be available from the Big Sky Outdoor Championships this weekend. Fans can find the link to live results on the track & field schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
LIVE VIDEO:
Live video will be available from the Big Sky Outdoor Championships for all running and jump events on Friday and Saturday. Due to the setup at Hornet Stadium, the throw events will not be streamed. Fans can find the link to the live stream on the track & field schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
BIG SKY OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, May 10
Decathlon – Day 1*
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
11 a.m.                        100 Meters (Section 2 – Robinson)
                                    Long Jump (Flight 1 – Robinson)
                                    Shot Put (Flight 1 – Robinson)
                                    High Jump (Flight 1 – Robinson)
                                    400 Meters (Section 2 – Robinson)
 
Thursday, May 11
Decathlon – Day 2*
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
11 a.m.                        110-Meter Hurdles (Section 1 – Robinson)
                                    Discus (Robinson)
                                    Pole Vault (Robinson)
                                    Javelin (Robinson)
                                    1,500 Meters (Robinson)
 
* - Events will begin 30 minutes after the prior event concludes
 
Friday, May 12
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
1:45 p.m.                    Women's Long Jump (Flight 1 – Settle; Flight 2 – Richey, Williams)
5:30 p.m.                    Men's Discus (Flight 2 – Bacon)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
3 p.m.                          Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase – Final (Chaplin)
3:20 p.m.                    Men's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase – Final (Biedebach)
3:40 p.m.                    Women's 100-Meter Hurdles – Trials (Heat 1 – Anderson)
4 p.m.                          Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – Trials (Heat 2 – Golaube)
4:20 p.m.                    Women's 400 Meters – Trials (Heat 3 – Jackson)
4:30 p.m.                    Men's 400 Meters – Trials (Heat 2 – Gable, Wood)
4:45 p.m.                    Women's 100 Meters – Trials (Heat 2 – Anderson, Settle)
5:20 p.m.                    Men's 800 Meters – Trials (Heat 3 – Richardson)
6 p.m.                          Women's 200 Meters – Trials (Heat 1 – Jackson, Settle)
6:20 p.m.                    Women's 10,000 Meters – Final (Medved, Reynolds)
7 p.m.                          Men's 10,000 Meters – Final (Wikler)
 
Saturday, May 13
Field Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
1:30 p.m.                    Men's Triple Jump (Flight 2 – Toku)
1:45 p.m.                    Women's Triple Jump (Flight 2 – Richey)
1:45 p.m.                    Men's Javelin (Flight 1 – Robinson)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                  Event (PSU entries)
12:50 p.m.                  Women's 100-Meter Hurdles – Final (TBD)
1 p.m.                          Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – Final (TBD)
1:10 p.m.                    Women's 400 Meters – Final (TBD)
1:15 p.m.                    Men's 400 Meters – Final (TBD)
1:25 p.m.                    Women's 100 Meters – Final (TBD)
1:45 p.m.                    Men's 800 Meters – Final (TBD)
2:20 p.m.                    Women's 200 Meters – Final (TBD)
2:35 p.m.                    Women's 5,000 Meters – Final (Gibson, Medved)
3 p.m.                          Men's 5,000 Meters – Final (Biedebach, Hornecker)
3:35 p.m.                    Men's 4x400-Meter Relay – Final (Section 1 – Portland State 'A' – Wood, Richardson, Robinson, Gable)

COMING UP:
The Vikings who finish high enough in the NCAA west regional rankings at the end of the Big Sky Outdoor Championships will qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Austin, Texas, May 25-27.
 
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 gave coaches the power to fill out their rosters for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships as they pleased. Roster sizes were capped at 28 athletes (men and women), leaving it up to coaches to determine how to maximize their scoring potential with that limit.
 
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.
 
LINFIELD OPEN RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team's women's throwers and men's distance runners took the spotlight for the Vikings at the Linfield Open, May 6, at Maxwell Field in McMinnville, Ore. Sophomore Kendra Negron set a 10-foot personal best in the women's hammer at the meet, as she finished with a best throw of 107-01 (32.63m), crushing her old best of 96-10 (29.53m). Freshman Mikenna Marchment also posted a five-foot seasonal best in the javelin with a throw of 120-05 (36.70m). Sophomore Austen Hvidsten beat his personal best in the 800 meters by two-hundredths of a second with his finish in 1:58.56, which also beat his previous seasonal best of 2:02.75 by more than four seconds. Freshman Jacob Emeterio posted a personal best in the men's 5,000 meters, as well, as he finished in 16:23.18.
 
OSU HIGH PERFORMANCE MEET RECAP:
Senior Genna Settle swept the 100 and 200 meters at the OSU High Performance Meet, April 28-29, as the Vikings concluded their outdoor regular season at the Whyte Track & Field Center in Corvallis, Ore. Settle won the 200 meters in 23.71 seconds, giving her back the Big Sky lead in the event going into the Big Sky Outdoor Championships. Settle's time moved her ahead of Northern Colorado's Moriah Zachary, who had moved ahead of Settle with an altitude-adjusted time of 23.89 seconds the week before. Settle also won the 100 in 11.74 seconds at the OSU meet, winning the event by more than three-tenths of a second. Fellow senior Akayla Anderson beat the field in the 100-meter hurdles by .16 seconds, as she finished in 13.85 seconds. Freshman Maya Jackson beat her seasonal best in the 200 meters while finishing in 25.95 seconds at the meet, and nearly matched the one-second seasonal best she set at 57.70 seconds at the Triton Invitational a week earlier. Sophomore Troy Bacon also followed up his school record in the men's discus with a new personal best in the men's shot put. Bacon finished with a best throw of 45-10.25 (13.98m), beating his old best by nearly four feet. Ben Richardson, Christian Wood, Donté Robinson and Mitchell Gable all placed second in the men's 4x400-meter relay, as well, and moved up to eighth all-time in the event at Portland State with their finish in 3:16.98. Junior Sarah Medved also moved up to ninth all-time in the women's 5,000 meters on the first day of the meet, as she shaved 10 seconds off her personal best while finishing in 17:13.53. Sophomore Kaila Ann Gibson narrowly missed joining Medved in the top 10 all-time in the 5,000 meters while setting her own personal best by 26 seconds with her finish in 17:23.32.
 
COUGAR OPEN RECAP:
The Portland State women's throwers shared the spotlight at the Cougar Open, April 22, at Canby High School in Canby, Ore. Ashley Liber, Mikenna Marchment and Kendra Negron competed in the discus, hammer and javelin at the meet, with all three competing in the discus. Marchment led the Vikings in the discus, though Liber posted a new personal best with a throw of 95-10 (29.20m). Negron, meanwhile, posted a near-10-foot seasonal best in the hammer, as she finished with a throw of 96-03 (29.34m).
 
TRITON INVITATIONAL RECAP:
Two school records fell at the Triton Invitational, April 22, at the Triton Track & Field Stadium in La Jolla, Calif. Jean-Luc Toku and Troy Bacon set the records for the Vikings, as they broke a pair of 20-plus-year-old records in the men's triple jump and discus, respectively. Toku broke a 44-year-old school record in the triple jump while winning the Division I section of the event with a mark of 48-07.25 (14.81m). Toku bested Don Hall for the record at the meet, beating the mark Hall set at 48-06.00 (14.78m) in 1973. Toku also moved up to seventh in the Big Sky with his mark at the meet, and moved into a tie for 61st in the NCAA west region. Bacon, meanwhile, broke a 21-year-old record while setting a new personal best by nearly 10 feet with his throw of 163-08 (49.88m). Bacon beat Ryan Alexander's old record of 162-04 (49.48m) that he set in 1996. A number of other Vikings move up the Portland State record books with their own performances, too, including senior Ben Richardson, who moved up to fifth all-time in the men's 800 meters with a personal best of 1:51.14. Richardson has shaved more than seven seconds off his seasonal best in the 800 meters over the last two weeks, going from 1:58.87 on April 7 to 1:51.14 on April 22. Michael Biedebach and Alana Chaplin also knocked significant chunks of time off their personal bests while moving up the record books in the men's and women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Biedebach shaved 17 seconds off his personal best while moving up to sixth all-time with his finish in 9:23.10. Chaplin, meanwhile, moved up one spot to ninth in the women's steeplechase while posting an eight-second personal best of 11:48.15. Sarah Medved also moved up to eighth all-time in the 3,000 meters with her finish in 9:57.43 at the meet. Junior Ta'mara Richey remained at fifth all-time in the women's long jump, but cracked six meters for the first time in the event with a new personal best of 19-09.75 (6.04m). Freshman Maya Jackson nearly entered the top 10 all-time in the women's 400 meters as she finished in 57.70 seconds Saturday, only two-hundredths of a second behind the current No. 10 time at Portland State of 57.68 seconds.
 
TEXAS INVITATIONAL RECAP:
The Portland State track & field team beat four Big Sky-leading marks at the Texas Invitational, April 14-15, at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. Junior Ta'mara Richey got it started on the first day of the meet Friday, as she beat the conference-leading mark in the triple jump coming into the weekend with a jump of 40-11.50 (12.48m). Richey also moved into a tie for 25th in the NCAA west region with the jump, and moved up to fourth all-time at Portland State in the event as well. Seniors Akayla Anderson and Genna Settle followed with three more Big Sky-leading marks Saturday, starting with Anderson in the 100-meter hurdles. Anderson finished the hurdles in 13.71 seconds, beating her seasonal best coming into the meet by more than two-tenths of a second. Settle also posted dramatic improvements while beating the conference-leading marks in the 100 and 200 meters. Settle beat her own Big Sky-leading time in the 200 meters, finishing in 23.91 seconds – .06 better than the time of 23.97 seconds that she ran at the season-opening Trojan Invitational. Settle posted her best showing in the 100 meters, however, as she finished in 11.51 seconds, beating the conference-leading time coming into the weekend by more than two-tenths of a second, and beating her seasonal best by more than three-tenths of a second. Both Anderson and Settle also moved within the top 48 of the NCAA west region in the 100-meter hurdles and 100 meters, respectively, with their times at the meet. Outside of the conference-leading times, the Vikings also went 6-for-6 in terms of setting seasonal bests at the Texas Invitational. Richey returned to post a seasonal best in the long jump Saturday, jumping 19-04.25 (5.90m). Senior Brandi Williams joined Richey with a Portland State personal best in the long jump with her own mark of 19-00.75 (5.81m) that moved her up to ninth all-time at Portland State. Senior Ben Richardson added a sixth seasonal best in the men's 800 meters, and did so while posting the most dramatic improvement of the day. Richardson finished the 800 in 1:53.56, more than five seconds better than his first time in the 800 this season of 1:58.87, set at the John Knight Twilight a week before.
 
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.