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SEATTLE, Wash. — Unlike a lot of Portlanders, Kaila Gibson must love Seattle. She has to. One day short of a year after she first broke the school record in the women's indoor 5,000 meters, Gibson broke it again at the same meet – the UW Invitational – and on the same track – Dempsey Indoor – Friday.
 
Gibson, competing among professional athletes in the invitational section of the 5,000 meters, shaved 20 seconds off the record she set last season with her finish in 16:33.38 Friday. No Viking had ever cracked 17 minutes in the indoor 5k before Gibson, who has now done it twice, including Friday when she did it by close to half a minute.
 
Gibson's record time placed her eighth overall in the 5,000 meters at the UW Invite, and ranked her third among the collegiate runners in the race. Gibson joined Southern Utah's Angie Nickerson – the 2018 Big Sky cross country individual champion – in the top 10 of the 5,000 meters Friday, with Nickerson placing sixth in 16:12.09.
 
Sarah Medved, meanwhile, ran a personal-best 17:29.47 in the first section of the 5,000 meters, shaving four seconds off the personal best she set at last year's UW Invitational. Medved moved her up to fourth all time in the indoor 5,000 at Portland State with her time Friday.
 
Redshirt senior Donté Robinson also opened his first heptathlon of the 2019 indoor season Friday, and sits in third after the first day of the competition with 2,943 points. Robinson ranks as the top collegiate athlete after the first day, as he trails only Phillip Bailey of the Santa Barbara Track Club and Mitch Modin, who is competing unattached but was a four-time All-American and the Pac-12 decathlon champion while at Oregon from 2013-17.
 
Robinson's first-day total of 2,943 points also puts him ahead of his first-day total at last season's Big Sky indoor meet, where he won his first conference title. Robinson also stands just 14 points off his personal best first-day score of 2,957 points, which he set at the 2017 Big Sky indoor meet.
 
Robinson only set one personal best out of the four events Friday, but wasn't far off his personal bests in the other events. Robinson opened with a time of 7.26 seconds in the 60 meters, and then followed with a fourth-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 22-05.00 (6.83m).
 
Robinson's big improvement came in the shot put, where he set a new heptathlon and overall personal best in the event with a throw of 40-06.25 (12.35m). Robinson's mark beat his old indoor best in the event by close to seven inches, and beat his outdoor personal best in the event by more than two feet.
 
The personal best moved Robinson up to fifth in the standings, and Robinson would jump two more spots with a second-place finish in the high jump. Robinson placed second in the high jump with a clearance of 6-04.25 (1.94m), less than two inches off his heptathlon best of 6-06.00 (1.98m).
 
Sophomore Kristen O'Handley competed in her second pentathlon of the young indoor season, and placed 17th overall with 3,386 points. O'Handley set her personal best with 3,529 points in the pentathlon at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open and Multi Events two weeks earlier, and while she wasn't able to match that Friday, she wasn't far off her marks at the earlier meet. O'Handley even bettered her mark in the shot put from two weeks ago, as she tied her personal best in the event with a throw of 32-08.50 (9.97m).
 
Sophomore Natalie Cummings, who placed second behind O'Handley in the 60 and 200 meters at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open, shaved seven-hundredths of a second off the personal best she set in the 200 meters two weeks earlier. Cummings finished in 25.70 seconds, beating her time of 25.77 seconds at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open.
 
The Vikings continue with the second day of the UW Invitational Saturday. Robinson opens the second day of the heptathlon with the 60-meter hurdles at 10 a.m., while Jaron Barrow will also compete in the first flight of the men's long jump at 10 a.m. Track events start for the Vikings at 10:15 a.m. with Cummings competing in the qualifying heats of the women's 60 meters.
 
UW Invitational
Seattle, Wash.
Dempsey Indoor
Jan. 25, 2019
 
Women's Results:
200m: 22. Natalie Cummings, 25.70. 5,000m: 8. Kaila Gibson, 16:33.38; 24. Sarah Medved, 17:29.47. 60H (Prelims): 27. Alexis Buckhaults, 9.32. Pentathlon: 17. Kristen O'Handley, 3,386 points (60H: 19. 9.25, 858 points; High Jump: T-11. 5-02.25 (1.58m), 712 points; Shot Put: 18. 32-08.50 (9.97m), 527 points; Long Jump: 15. 17-02.25 (5.24m), 626 points; 800m: 20. 2:32.40, 663 points).
 
Men's Results:
Pole Vault: Braden Masanga, NH. Heptathlon (through four events): 3. Donté Robinson, 2,943 points (60m: 10. 7.26, 792 points; Long Jump: 4. 22-05.00 (6.83m), 774 points; Shot Put: 7. 40-06.25 (12.35m), 628 points; High Jump: 2. 6-04.25 (1.94m), 749 points).