RESULTS (PDF)

MOSCOW, Idaho — Sarah Medved remarked before the Big Sky Outdoor Championships that you could make up a lot of time at the water jump in the steeplechase if you needed to.
 
On Thursday, she proved to be her own prophet, passing Montana State's Patricia Carlson on the final water jump before kicking home to become the first Viking – man or woman – to win a Big Sky title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. No Viking woman had ever even scored a point for the Vikings in the steeplechase before Medved.
 
Medved showed good control throughout the race Thursday, as she shadowed Carlson by a pace or two going into the final water jump before catching up and passing her coming out of the water. Medved then cleared the final barrier in first and powered down the home straightaway to beat Carlson by more than two seconds, 10:30.35 to 10:32.56.
 
Medved went into the race as the Big Sky leader in the event after breaking the school record for a second time this season with her finish in 10:21.56 at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 19. Medved out-kicked Carlson for the win in that race as well, coming back from a second and a half behind at the bell lap to beat Carlson by seven-hundredths of a second.
 
Medved came into the week ranked 24th in the NCAA west region in the steeplechase on the back of her time at the Mt. SAC Relays. That makes Medved a strong candidate to do something else no Viking has ever done in the steeplechase: qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, which takes the top 48 individuals in each region for each event.
 
Program firsts weren't limited to Medved Thursday, as Viktor Moen became the Vikings' first-ever All-Big Sky honoree in the men's OR women's pole vault, outdoor OR indoor. Moen was one of four athletes to top out at 15-05.50 (4.71m), but hadn't missed a bar before that and won the tiebreaker for third place as a result. Moen cleared on his first attempt at 4.71 meters, which bettered his personal best in the event by close to four inches.
 
Moen took three attempts with the bar at what would have been a school-record 4.81 meters, but he missed on all three attempts to bow out of the competition. Moen already ranked second all time in the outdoor pole vault, but moved within 3.5 inches of the school record Ben Cogdill set at 15-09.00 (4.80m) in 2007. Cogdill was also the Vikings' last scorer in the outdoor men's pole vault when he placed tied for seventh in 2007.
 
Kaila Gibson – running her first 10,000-meter race ever as a Viking – placed fifth in 35:24.64, moving her up to fifth all time in the event at Portland State. Gibson ran at the front or near the front of the lead group for three quarters of the race before dropping to eighth with about seven laps to go. Gibson moved back up to fifth with two laps to go and then held that position the rest of the way.
 
Ceil Dunleavy also scored for the Vikings in the women's high jump, as she tied for seventh with a clearance of 5-04.50 (1.64m).
 
Kamal-Craig Golaube didn't have a final Thursday but ensured that he would have two tomorrow as he advanced to the finals of the 110- and 400-meter hurdles while setting massive personal bests in both.
 
Kamal-Craig Golaube advanced to the finals of the 110-meter hurdles after placing seventh overall in the prelims. Golaube advanced after finishing in a personal-best 14.44 seconds, two-tenths of a second better than his prep personal best of 14.64 seconds. Golaube beat his previous best at PSU by nearly four-tenths of a second, jumping from eighth to second all time at PSU as a result.
 
Golaube knocked even more time off his personal best in the 400-meter hurdles, as he advanced to the final of the event in 54.44 seconds. Golaube's previous best was 56.69 seconds, 2.25 seconds slower than his time Thursday, which came under two weeks ago at the OSU High Performance meet. Golaube moves up to eighth all time in the event as a result, and becomes the first athlete to crack the top 10 in the men's 400-meter hurdles since Nate Lightner in 2010.
 
Katie Baxter cracked the top 10 in the women's 400-meter hurdles while advancing to the finals with her own personal best Thursday. Baxter finished in 1:02.43, tying her for seventh all time with Robin Unger from 1996.
 
Nia Powdrell joined Golaube in going 2-for-2 in advancing to finals, setting personal bests, and cracking top 10s, as she pulled the trifecta in the 100 and 200 meters Thursday.
 
Powdrell advanced to the finals of the 100 meters with the third-best time in the prelims at 11.74 seconds. Powdrell beat her previous PSU best by more than four-tenths of a second, and beat her prep personal best by .16 seconds. That moved Powdrell into a tie for sixth all time in the women's 100 meters at Portland State, equaling Alyssa Tibbs from 2007.
 
Powdrell was even better later in the day, as she advanced to the finals of the 200 meters in 24.10 seconds – two-tenths of a second faster than her prep personal best coming into the meet, and six-tenths faster than her previous best at PSU. Powdrell's big PB in the 200 moved her up to seventh all time in the event at Portland State, her second top 10 finish of the day.
 
Natalie Cummings also set PSU or overall personal bests in the 100 and 200 meters Thursday, but was unlucky in that she didn't advance to the finals in either event. Cummings opened with a new PSU personal best in the 100 meters with her finish in 12.33 seconds. Cummings was even better in the 200 meters later in the day, though, as she set an overall personal best with her finish in 25.40 seconds.
 
Several Vikings set personal bests despite not advancing in their respective events, including both Kristen O'Handley and Alexis Buckhaults in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Both O'Handley and Buckhaults ducked below 15 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles for the first time as Vikings, as they finished in 14.70 and 14.87 seconds, respectively.
 
Justin Desaki set PSU personal bests in both the 100 and 200 meters Thursday, while freshman classmate Zack Davis joined him with a PSU personal best in the 200 meters. Desaki ran the 100 meters in 11.04 seconds Thursday, and then followed with his first sub-23-second time in the 200 meters at PSU, as he finished in 22.45 seconds. Davis also cracked 23 seconds in the 200 meters for the first time as a Viking, as he finished in 22.82 seconds.

Will Payton set a personal best in the prelims of the 800 meters, finishing in 1:59.35. Neither Payton nor Austen Hvidsten, who placed 16th in the prelims with a time of 1:56.92, advanced to Friday's final, however.
 
Jean Rwandika added a PSU personal best in the javelin, as he posted the best mark in the first flight of the event. Rwandika finished with a best throw of 179-08 (54.78m), more than four and a half feet longer than his previous best at PSU. Donté Robinson, fresh off his Big Sky title in the decathlon that swung his way largely thanks to a monster throw in the javelin, placed third in the first flight of the regular javelin with a best throw of 176-08 (53.85m).
 
Robinson will open the final day of the Big Sky Outdoor Championships for the Vikings, as he competes in the men's high jump at 11 a.m. Friday. Robinson will also be part of the Vikings' first track event, as he'll join Desaki, Golaube and Se Min Park on the Vikings' 4x100-meter relay at 2 p.m.
 
Big Sky Outdoor Championships
Moscow, Idaho
Dan O'Brien Outdoor Track Complex
May 8-10, 2018
 
Women's Results:
100m (Prelims): 4. Nia Powdrell, 11.74; 14. Natalie Cummings, 12.33. 200m (Prelims): 4. Nia Powdrell, 24.10; 13. Kristen O'Handley, 25.04; 17. Natalie Cummings, 25.40. 400m (Prelims): 19. Maya Jackson, 59.39; 20. Mirannda Shulman, 1:01.08. 10,000m: 5. Kaila Gibson, 35:24.64; Meggie Karp, DNF. 100H (Prelims): 13. Kristen O'Handley, 14.70; 16. Alexis Buckhaults, 14.87. 400H (Prelims): 6. Katie Baxter, 1:02.43. 3,000m Steeplechase: 1. Sarah Medved, 10:30.35; 14. Alana Chaplin, 11:45.81. High Jump: T-7. Ceil Dunleavy, 5-04.50 (1.64m); Taylor Elliott, NH; Kristen O'Handley, NH. Long Jump: 21. Brandi Williams, 16-10.50 (5.14m); 22. Ta'mara Richey, 16-06.50 (5.04m); 25. Nicole Terry, 16-02.50 (4.94m). Discus: 29. Angela Mumford, 114-05 (34.89m). Heptathlon: 6. Kristen O'Handley, 4,578 points (100H: 5. 15.10, 828 points; High Jump: 2. 5-04.50 (1.64m), 783 points; Shot Put: 5. 33-07.50 (10.25m), 546 points; 200m: 1. 24.80, 905 points; Long Jump: 9. 17-00.50 (5.19m), 612 points; Javelin: 13. 61-05 (18.74m), 266 points; 800m: 11. 2:34.49, 638 points); 7. Katie Baxter, 4,565 points (100H: 8. 15.32, 800 points; High Jump: 4-09.50 (1.46m), 577 points; Shot Put: 10. 31-02 (9.50m), 497 points; 200m: 2. 25.41, 850 points; Long Jump: 12. 16-08.50 (5.09m), 584 points; Javelin: 4. 108-10 (33.19m), 537 points; 800m: 7. 2:27.86, 720 points).
 
Women's Team Scores:
1. North Dakota, 52 points; 2. Weber State, 37.5 points; 3. Northern Arizona, 33 points; 4. Idaho State, 27 points; 5. Montana State, 24 points; 6. Portland State, 20.5 points; 7. Southern Utah, 19 points; 8. Sacramento State, 18 points; T-9. Montana, 13 points; T-9. Eastern Washington, 13 points; 11. Northern Colorado, 9 points; 12. Idaho, 7 points.
 
Men's Results:
100m (Prelims): 23. Justin Desaki, 11.04. 200m (Prelims): 21. Justin Desaki, 22.45; 22. Zack Davis, 22.82. 800m (Prelims): 16. Austen Hvidsten, 1:56.92; 21. Will Payton, 1:59.35. 10,000m: 21. Justin Wikler, 34:27.97. 110H (Prelims): 7. Kamal-Craig Golaube, 14.44. 400H (Prelims): 4. Kamal-Craig Golaube, 54.44; 16. Donté Robinson, 58.74. Pole Vault: 3. Viktor Moen, 15-05.50 (4.71m). Long Jump: 15. Jaron Barrow, 22-06.25 (6.86m); 18. Jean-Luc Toku, 21-09.00 (6.63m); 21. Chance Whitehurst, 20-07.75 (6.29m). Javelin: 10. Jean Rwandika, 179-08 (54.78m); 12. Donté Robinson, 176-08 (53.85m). Decathlon: 1. Donté Robinson, 7,307 points (100m: 3. 11.11, 836 points; Long Jump: 2. 22-05.00 (6.83m), 774 points; Shot Put: 5. 38-05.50 (11.72m), 589 points; High Jump: 4. 6-02.75 (1.90m), 714 points; 400m: 6. 50.12, 809 points; 110H: 2. 14.89, 863 points; Discus: 6. 106-02 (32.37m), 511 points; Pole Vault: T-1. 14-05.50 (4.41m), 734 points; Javelin: 1. 203-08 (62.08m), 769 points; 1,500m: 3. 4:35.67, 708 points).
 
Men's Team Scores:
1. Montana State, 44 points; 2. Southern Utah, 41 points; 3. Weber State, 36 points; 4. Sacramento State, 26.5 points; 5. Montana, 25 points; 6. Northern Arizona, 23.5 points; 7. Eastern Washington, 22 points; 8. North Dakota, 17 points; T-9. Idaho, 16 points; T-9. Portland State, 16 points; 11. Idaho State, 6 points.