Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

THE STARTING BLOCK
The final season of Game of Thrones premieres Sunday, April 14, and perhaps appropriately, the Portland State track & field heads north the day before. The Vikings travel north up I-5 for the Jay Hammer Invitational, hosted by Saint Martin's University, in Lacey Wash., Saturday.
 
Game of Thrones and track & field have a unique connection, after all, considering The Night King showed some serious javelin ability while slaying one of Daenerys' dragons last season. The Viking javelin throwers won't be up to anything nearly as sinister Saturday, however. Jean Rwandika opens the field events for the Vikings in the men's javelin at 10 a.m., while Megan Cornett, Taylor Matsuzaki, Savanna Milroy and Kristen O'Handley all compete in the women's javelin.
 
Cornett has led the Viking women in the javelin at all three meets at which she's competed this season, while Savanna Milroy and Kristen O'Handley have both increased their personal bests in the event by 16 feet or more this season.
 
Junior Angela Mumford increased her personal best in the shot put by 18 inches last Friday, while leading the Vikings at the John Knight Twilight meet. Mumford placed second in the women's shot put with a throw of 43-07.25 (13.29m), moving her up to sixth all time in the event in PSU history.
 
Sophomore Alexis Buckhaults was another star for the Vikings last Friday, as she won the 100-meter hurdles in a new seasonal-best 14.90 seconds. That was close to four-tenths of a second better than Buckhaults' first 100-meter-hurdle time this season, and came within three-hundredths of her collegiate best.
 
Buckhaults will run the 100-meter hurdles again Saturday, while Mumford returns to the shot put and discus at the Jay Hammer Invitational.
 
Redshirt senior Donté Robinson will mirror Mumford in the men's discus, one of four events the three-time Big Sky champion is entered in Saturday. Besides the discus, Robinson is also entered in the men's pole vault, as well as the 100 and 200 meters.
 
Robinson will use the Jay Hammer Invitational as a final tune up before competing in his first decathlon competition of the season at the Bryan Clay Invitational next Wednesday and Thursday.
 
The Vikings' distance crew will also head north to the Jay Hammer Invitational Saturday after setting a number of personal bests in the men's and women's 1,500 meters last Friday at the John Knight Twilight.
 
Phoebe Brown shaved over nine seconds off her PSU best in the 1,500 while winning her section of the race in 5:01.11. Alana Baldwin-Joiner ran in the same section as Brown and shaved eight seconds off her 1,500-meter personal best with a time of 5:10.20.
 
Twin brothers Erik and Andy Solano also set personal or PSU bests in the men's 1,500 meters. Erik Solano shaved five seconds off his PSU best with a time of 4:11.59, while his brother Andy Solano set an overall personal best with his finish in 4:13.54.
 
Brown and the two Solanos will compete in the women's and men's 3,000 meters Saturday, the first time the Vikings will run a 3,000-meter race this season. Brown and Monica Salazar compete in the women's 3,000 meters for the Vikings, while the two Solanos join teammates Liam Jemison, Jason Rae and Andrew Stafford in the men's 3,000 meters.
 
Freshman Luke Ramirez, meanwhile, will run his first 1,500-meter race since posting the best time in the event by a Viking freshman since freshman records date back through the 2003 season. Ramirez set the time while finishing in 3:56.34 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic on March 29.
 
Baldwin-Joiner, fresh off her own 1,500-meter personal best, will open the meet for the Vikings as she runs the women's 10,000 meters at 9:45 a.m. (PT).
 
MEET INFO
April 13 – Jay Hammer Invitational – Lacey, Wash. (SMU Track & Field Complex)
 
JAY HAMMER INVITATIONAL TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 13
Field Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                        Men's Javelin (Flight 2 of 2 – Rwandika)
11 a.m.                        Women's Long Jump (Flight 3 of 3 – Terry)
11:30 a.m.                   Women's Shot Put (Flight 1 of 1 – Mumford)
After M-Jav at 10        Women's Javelin (Flight 1 of 3 – Milroy, O'Handley; Flight 2 of 3 – Matsuzaki; Flight 3 of 3 – Cornett)
After W-LJ at 11          Women's Triple Jump (Flight 1 of 1 – Buckhaults)
After W-PV at 11         Men's Pole Vault (Flight 1 of 1 – Masanga, Robinson)
1:30 p.m.                     Women's Discus (Flight 2 of 2 – Mumford)
~3:15 p.m.                   Men's Discus (Flight 2 of 2 – Robinson)
After M-HJ at 2           Women's High Jump (Flight 1 of 1 – Dunleavy, Elliott)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
9:45 a.m.                     Women's 10,000 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Baldwin-Joiner)
10:35 a.m.                   Men's 10,000 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Jones, Leonis)
11:15 a.m.                   Women's 3,000 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Brown, Salazar)
11:35 a.m.                   Men's 3,000 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Jemison, Rae, Solano, A., Solano, E., Stafford, Werth)
12:50 p.m.                   Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Section 1 of 3 – Buckhaults)
1:40 p.m.                     Women's 1,500 Meters (Section 2 of 2 – Walker, White)
2 p.m.                          Men's 1,500 Meters (Section 1 of 3 – Ramirez; Section 2 of 3 – Maule; Section 3 of 3 – Lawrence)
2:20 p.m.                     Women's 100 Meters (Section 1 of 5 – Cummings; Section 2 of 5 – O'Handley; Section 3 of 5 – Smith)
2:30 p.m.                     Men's 100 Meters (Section 1 of 6 – Robinson)
3:25 p.m.                     Men's 800 Meters (Section 1 of 6 – Lovercheck, Hvidsten; Section 2 of 6 – Payton)
3:40 p.m.                     Women's 200 Meters (Section 1 of 5 – Cummings; Section 3 of 5 – Smith)
3:50 p.m.                     Men's 200 Meters (Section 2 of 5 – Robinson)
4:30 p.m.                     Men's 5,000 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Shelevy)

UPCOMING
The Vikings head down to the Los Angeles area for a trio of meets during the middle of next week. The Vikings will compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational, April 17-19, in Azusa, Calif., as well as the Mt. SAC Relays, April 18-20, in Torrance, Calif. In addition to those two meets, Chase Lovercheck will run the 800 meters at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Long Beach, Calif., on April 18.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Angela Mumford moved up to sixth all time in the shot put with an 18-inch personal best to lead the Vikings at the John Knight Twilight meet last Friday at McArthur Field in Monmouth, Ore. Mumford placed second in the event with a throw of 43-07.25 (13.29m), beating her previous seasonal best in the event by close to three and a half feet.
 
Alexis Buckhaults put down an event win for the Viking women earlier in the day, as she won the women's 100-meter hurdles in a seasonal-best 14.90 seconds. Kristen O'Handley also set a new seasonal best in the 100-meter hurdles, as she cracked 15 seconds for the first time in 2019 while finishing in 14.98 seconds.
 
The Vikings posted personal bests seemingly across the board in the men's and women's 1,500 meters. Phoebe Brown shaved over nine seconds off her PSU best in the 1,500 while winning her section of the race in 5:01.11. Alana Baldwin-Joiner ran in the same section as Brown and shaved eight seconds off her 1,500-meter personal best with a time of 5:10.20.
 
Twin brothers Erik and Andy Solano also set personal or PSU bests in the men's 1,500 meters. Erik Solano shaved five seconds off his PSU best with a time of 4:11.59, while his brother Andy Solano set an overall personal best with his finish in 4:13.54.
 
Savanna Milroy set a new personal best in the women's javelin, the second time out of three meets this season that she's set a new best in the event. Milroy made her biggest strides in the javelin Friday, as she improved her best in the event by more than 16 feet with a throw of 111-0 (34.05m).
 
Braden Masanga added another event win for the Vikings in the men's pole vault while clearing 14-03.25 (4.35m).
 
NCAA WEST RANKINGS WATCH
Kaila Gibson's performance in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational on March 29 put her in good standing to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds at the end of May. The top 48 in the NCAA West rankings in each of the individual events qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds. The only group that skips the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds are the multi-eventers, as the top 24 athletes nationally in the heptathlon and decathlon by the end of the second weekend of May advance straight to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. 
 
Gibson ranks 27th in the NCAA west regional rankings after her 10k at the Stanford Invite, well within the qualifying zone for the NCAA West Prelims. Sarah Medved also stands in qualifying position in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, as she ranks 42nd in the west at the moment. Medved will likely need to lower her time later in the season to qualify, however, since her time at the Stanford Invite (10:42.03) was slower than the final qualifying time last season (10:32.47).
 
ROBINSON GOES FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT MULTI-EVENT TITLE DURING OUTDOOR SEASON
Redshirt senior Donté Robinson defended his Big Sky heptathlon title at the Big Sky Indoor Championships earlier this season, and will be looking to become the first men's athletes in the history of the Big Sky Conference to win four straight multi-event titles when he defends his decathlon title at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, May 8-11, in Missoula, Mont.
 
Robinson already joined elite company when he swept the multi-event titles at last year's Big Sky meets. Robinson became just the second Viking ever to sweep both the heptathlon and decathlon titles in a single year, joining PSU hall-of-famer Nick Trubachik, who swept the titles in 2010 – the season he went on to become the Vikings' first NCAA first-team All-American.
 
Robinson and Trubachik are also the only athletes to repeat as Big Sky champion in the heptathlon. No athlete has repeated as the Big Sky decathlon champion since Idaho State's Nathan Capps won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.
 
Robinson missed breaking Trubachik's school record in the heptathlon by only 36 points at the UW Invitational, but could be chasing Trubachik's record in the decathlon during the outdoor season. Trubachik set the school record with a score of 7,510 points at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he earned his All-American honors with a seventh-place finish in the event. Robinson set his best in the decathlon at 7,307 points while winning the event at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships last season.
 
CISNEROS COMING OFF HISTORIC 2018 SEASON
Redshirt senior Alex Cisneros will be more excited than anyone to get outdoors. Cisneros did not compete until the Big Sky Indoor Championships during the indoor season, and had to sit out the cross country season in the fall due to exhausting his eligibility. Cisneros became the first Viking to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims in the men's 10,000 meters after breaking a 34-year-old school record in the event last outdoor season. Cisneros broke the 10,000-meter record with his finish in 29:25.74 at the Mt. SAC Relays, making him the first Viking to crack 29:30 in the 10k.
 
Cisneros also broke the school records in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters earlier in 2018, and became the first Viking since 2005 to crack the top 10 all time in the outdoor 5,000 meters despite running through a steady downpour at his first outdoor meet of the season last year.
 
GIBSON, MEDVED READY TO PUSH EACH OTHER IN FINAL SEASON TOGETHER
Training partners Kaila Gibson and Sarah Medved have been reliable headliners for the Portland State distance runners so far this season, and should be again during the outdoor season.
 
During the indoor season, Gibson scored for the Vikings with a sixth-place finish at the Big Sky meet in the women's indoor 5,000 meters – just the third time a Viking has scored in the event, though the second time for Gibson. Medved, meanwhile, anchored the Vikings' distance medley relay team that scored with an eighth-place finish.
 
Gibson also shaved 20 seconds off her own record in the indoor 5,000 meters at the UW Invitational on Jan. 25 this season. Gibson also moved up to third all time in the 3,000 meters with her time of 9:52.40 at the UW Indoor Open last season.
 
The two really pushed each other to greater heights during the fall cross country season, however. Gibson and Medved became the first pair of Viking teammates to earn All-Big Sky honors in the same race at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships. Gibson placed ninth for her highest finish ever at a Big Sky cross country meet, while Medved placed 10th after also placing 10th in 2016. Medved then took the lead at the NCAA West Regional while the pair placed 39th and 40th overall, respectively, making them the first Viking teammates to place together in the top 50 – let alone the top 40 – at the regional meet.Medved broke the school record in the cross country 6k with her finish in 20:48.1 at the NCAA West Regional, while Gibson's time of 20:48.4 would have also broken the previous record.
 
Medved's strong cross country season came on the heels of a breakout 2018 outdoor track & field season in which she became the Vikings' first-ever Big Sky champion in the steeplechase. Medved also became the Vikings' first-ever NCAA West Prelims qualifier in the steeplechase, and broke the school record in the event twice – the last time coming with a finish in 10:21.56 at the Mt. SAC Relays.
 
Gibson attempted to join Medved at the NCAA West Prelims last season, but a heroic effort in the 10,000 meters at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships came up short. Gibson still placed fifth in the 10,000 meters in a personal-best 35:24.64 despite having to hold the lead for most of the race.