Complete Meet Notes (PDF)

THE STARTING BLOCK
If collegiate track & field had a midterm, it would come this week in Los Angeles. That's where a small group of Vikings find themselves for a quartet of meets that will determine whether they advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, the NCAA Outdoor Championships or any of the USATF outdoor meets later in the summer.
 
It makes for a busy schedule for the Vikings, who head to the Bryan Clay Invitational, April 17-19, in Azusa, Calif., the Mt. SAC Relays, April 18-19, in Torrance, Calif., and the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate, April 18, and Beach Invitational, April 19, in Long Beach, Calif.
 
It'll be a mix of upper and lower classmen for the Vikings at the meets, with the upperclassmen seeking marks that will qualify them for the NCAA West Prelims or national meet later this season.
 
The multi-eventers – Donté Robinson in the decathlon and Kristen O'Handley in the heptathlon – compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational Wednesday and Thursday. Unlike everyone else, the multi-eventers skip the NCAA West Prelims, with the top 24 nationally in the heptathlon and decathlon instead advancing straight to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
 
Robinson missed the NCAA Outdoor Championships by a narrow margin last season, as his Big Sky winning total of 7,307 points was just 168 points short of the final qualifying mark in the decathlon. BYU's Kevin Nielsen was the 24th and last qualifier in the decathlon, advancing to nationals with a score of 7,475 points. It's conceivable that the final qualifying mark in the decathlon this season would be lower since half of the 24 athletes in the decathlon at last season's NCAA Outdoor Championships were seniors, but Robinson will likely need to set a new personal best in the event if he hopes to advance to nationals this season.
 
Robinson has been relatively quiet since winning his second straight Big Sky heptathlon title during the indoor season back in February. He has yet to complete a full decathlon during the outdoor season, and has been focusing on only a few events. Still, head coach David Hepburn had always planned to hold Robinson back until the Bryan Clay Invitational, where Robinson should have the benefit of a quality field around him to push for a better score.
 
Robinson will compete in the third of four groups in the decathlon at the Bryan Clay Invitational, and will open the competition with the 100 meters at 12:30 p.m. (PT) Wednesday. O'Handley was seeded in the third of five groups in the heptathlon, and will open the meet with the 100-meter hurdles at 9:45 a.m. (PT) Wednesday.
 
Sarah Medved and Alex Cisneros, meanwhile, head over to the Mt. SAC Relays where they will hope to repeat the magic they produced at the same meet last season. Medved and Cisneros broke the school records in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase and men's 10,000 meters, respectively, at the 2018 Mt. SAC Relays, and became the first Vikings to ever qualify in each event at the NCAA West Prelims on the backs of their record times.
 
Medved has already run one 3,000-meter steeplechase this season at the Stanford Invitational on March 29. That race came amid adverse conditions for Medved, however, as someone broke into the Vikings' van the day before the race and stole her contact lenses. Medved ran the steeplechase in her glasses as a result, but the splashes from the water jump quickly mucked up her glasses and made for a less-than-ideal season opener.
 
Despite all that, Medved finished in 10:42.03 – a time that ranks her 44th in the NCAA west region going into the week. The top 48 in each individual event qualify for the NCAA West Prelims at the end of the season, meaning Medved would theoretically qualify for the meet if the season ended today. Medved is likely to be pushed won the rankings if she doesn't run a faster time this week, however. The final qualifying time last season was about 10 seconds faster than Medved's time at the Stanford Invite, as Washington State's Devon Bortfeld was the final qualifier last season at 10:32.47.
 
Medved finished in 10:21.56 at last season's Mt. SAC Relays, and should run in a fast section of the race again this season after being placed in the invitational division of the race.
 
Medved will also face a rematch in her section of the race, as Montana State's Patricia Carlson, who Medved out-sprinted for the Big Sky title in the steeplechase last season, will also run in the invitational section of the race. The two were in the same section of the steeplechase at last season's Mt. SAC Relays, as well, when Medved made up a second and a half in the final lap to nip Carlson by seven-hundredths of a second.
 
The two face off against each other for a third time at 7:25 p.m. (PT) Friday.
 
Cisneros will compete in the invitational section of the men's 10,000 meters Thursday at 10:10 p.m. (PT). Cisneros also ran in the invitational section last year, and finished in 29:25.74. Cisneros broke a 34-year-old school record in the event with his finish, bettering the old record of 29:30.04, which Dave Henderson set in 1984.
 
Cisneros has been working his way back into form after he sat out the cross country season and did not race during the indoor season until the conference meet. Cisneros was well off his best during his first race of the outdoor season, when he finished the 5,000 in 15:22.87 at the L&C Spring Break Open on March 16. Cisneros chopped more than 30 seconds off that time two weeks later at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, however, finishing the 5,000 in 14:45.81.
 
Running a sub 29:30 10k again this season would be a huge accomplishment for Cisneros considering his time off, though Cisneros may not need to break 29:30 to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims. The final qualifying time in the 10k last season was 29:38.44, and the final qualifying time the year before that was 29:39.95.
 
Redshirt junior Kaila Gibson has already run a time that will likely qualify her for the women's 10,000 meters this season. As a result, Gibson will skip the 10k this week, and instead try to for a qualifying mark in the women's 5,000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational. Winny Koskei of Wichita State was the final NCAA West Prelims qualifier in the 5,000 meters last season, and qualified with a time of 16:30.16.
 
Breaking 16:30 would mean a huge personal best for Gibson, but she's come close to that already this season. Gibson broke her own school record with a time of 16:33.38 in the indoor 5k at the UW Invitational back in January, and opened her outdoor season with a time of 16:58.48 at the L&C Spring Break Open back in March. Gibson set her outdoor personal best in the 5k at last season's Bryan Clay Invitational, when she finished in 16:47.04.
 
Gibson runs in the secondsection of the women's 5,000 meters at 9:20p.m. Thursday.
 
Freshman Phoebe Jacques joins Gibson in the women's 5,000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational, and will be chasing her own qualifying mark in the race. Jacques won't be chasing an NCAA West Prelims qualifying time like Gibson, but will instead hope to qualify for the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, June 21-23, in Miramar, Fla.
 
Jacques will need to beat 17:30 to qualify for the meet, which would mean about a 30-second personal best for the freshman. Jacques finished in 18:01.47 in her first 5,000-meter race as a Viking at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic on March 29.
 
Jacques competes in the sixthsection at 6:40p.m. Thursday. 
 
Fellow freshmen Josh Snyder and Ian Vickstrom will chase their own qualifying marks at the Bryan Clay Invitational between the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 10,000 meters, respectively.
 
Snyder likely would have qualified for the U.S. junior meet in the steeplechase if he didn't trip and go under the final barrier with 200 meters to go at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic. Going under the barrier resulted in Snyder being disqualified, but assistant coach Josh Seitz estimates that his time would have beaten the 9:32.00 needed to qualify had he not tripped at all.
 
Vickstrom, meanwhile, will run his first 10,000-meter race as a Viking, needing to beat 32:05.00 to qualify for the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships. Vickstrom's only action so far during the outdoor season came at the L&C Spring Break Open on March 16, when he finished the 5,000 meters in 15:24.98.
 
Vickstrom will compete on the first day of the Bryan Clay Invitational at 7:15p.m. on Wednesday, while Snyder runs the steeplechase at 3 p.m. Thursday.
 
Mid-distance stars Chase Lovercheck and Linnaea Kavulich also compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational Friday, as they run in the men's 800 and women's 1,500 meters, respectively. Lovercheck will run in two different 800-meter races during the week, simulating the prelims and finals of the event that he'll face at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships three weeks later. Lovercheck will first run the 800 meters at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate at 4:05 p.m. Thursday, and then the 800 at the Bryan Clay Invitational at 1:55 p.m. Friday.
 
Freshman Drew Seidel and sophomore Delaney White will also compete at Long Beach, though they will do so at the Beach Invitational meet Friday. Seidel and White run the men's and women's 5,000 meters, respectively, with White running at 10 a.m. while Seidel runs at 10:20 a.m.
 
MEET INFO
April 17-19 – Bryan Clay Invitational – Azusa, Calif. (Cougar Athletic Stadium)
April 18-19 – Mt. SAC Relays – Torrance, Calif. (Murdock Stadium)
April 18 – Pacific Coast Intercollegiate – Long Beach, Calif. (Jack Rose Track)
April 19 – Beach Invitational – Long Beach, Calif. (Jack Rose Track)
 
BRYAN CLAY INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Wednesday, April 17
Heptathlon Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
9:45 a.m.                     100-Meter Hurdles – Group 3 (O'Handley)
10:30 a.m.                   High Jump – Group 3 (O'Handley)
12:30 p.m.                   Shot Put – Group 3 (O'Handley)
2 p.m.                          200 Meters – Group 3 (O'Handley)
 
Decathlon Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
12:30 p.m.                   100 Meters – Group 3 (Robinson)
1:15 p.m.                     Long Jump – Group 3 (Robinson)
3 p.m.                          Shot Put – Group 3 (Robinson)
4:30 p.m.                     High Jump – Group 3 (Robinson)
6:30 p.m.                     400 Meters – Group 3 (Robinson)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
7:15 p.m.                     Men's 10,000 Meters – Section 2 (Vickstrom)
8:30 p.m.                     Men's 10,000 Meters – Section 1 (Cisneros)
 
Thursday, April 18
Heptathlon Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                        Long Jump – Group 3 (O'Handley)
                                    Javelin – Group 3 (O'Handley)
                                    800 Meters – Group 3 (O'Handley)
 
Decathlon Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
1 p.m.                          110-Meter Hurdles – Group 3 (Robinson)
                                    Discus – Group 3 (Robinson)
                                    Pole Vault – Group 3 (Robinson)
                                    Javelin – Group 3 (Robinson)
                                    1,500 Meters – Group 3 (Robinson)
 
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
3 p.m.                          Men's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Section 2 of 6 – Snyder)
4:20 p.m.                     Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Section 6 of 6 – Medved)
6:40 p.m.                     Women's 5,000 Meters – Section 6 (Jacques)
7:40 p.m.                     Men's 5,000 Meters – Section 4 (Cisneros)
9:20 p.m.                     Women's 5,000 Meters – Section 2 (Gibson)
10:40 p.m.                   Women's 5,000 Meters – Section 8 (White)
 
Friday, April 19
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
1:55 p.m.                     Men's 800 Meters (Sections TBD – Lovercheck)
10:05 p.m.                   Women's 1,500 Meters – Open (Section 4 of 9 – Kavulich)
 
MT. SAC RELAYS SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 18
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
10:10 p.m.                   Men's 10,000 Meters – Invitational (Section 1 of 2 – Cisneros)
 
Friday, April 19
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
7:25 p.m.                     Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase – Invitational (Section 1 of 2 – Medved)
 
PACIFIC COAST INTERCOLLEGIATE SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 18
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
4:05 p.m.                     Men's 800 Meters (Section 2 of 3 – Lovercheck)
 
BEACH INVITATIONAL TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Friday, April 19
Running Events
Start (PT)                    Events (PSU entries)
10 a.m.                        Women's Gold Invitational 5,000 Meters (White)
10:20 a.m.                   Men's Gold Invitational 5,000 Meters (Seidel)
 
UPCOMING
The Vikings return to Oregon for the OSU High Performance meet next weekend, April 26-27, in Corvallis, Ore.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Vikings set 17 personal or collegiate bests at the Jay Hammer Invitational last Saturday despite unfavorable conditions that included high winds and steady rain. The Vikings' distance runners accounted for 13 of the 17 personal or collegiate bests, though two of the Vikings' sprint and field-event stars in sophomores Braden Masanga and Kristen O'Handley may have stolen the show.
 
Masanga won the men's pole vault with a new collegiate-best clearance of 15-05.00 (4.70m), close to a foot better than his previous best this season. Masanga moved up to third all time in the outdoor pole vault at Portland State with his clearance Saturday, while he came within three-quarters of an inch of matching his prep personal best.
 
O'Handley set two new bests Saturday as she set a collegiate best in the 100 meters and an overall personal best in the javelin. O'Handley and Kameron Smith each set new collegiate bests in the 100 meters with times of 12.50 and 12.88 seconds, respectively. O'Handley posted a bigger improvement in the javelin, however, as she surpassed 100 feet in the event for the first time, and did it by some margin with a throw of 106-01 (32.33m).
 
O'Handley beat her previous best by more than 17 feet, topping the mark of 88-11 (27.12m) that she set at the Pacific Open earlier this season. O'Handley's personal best in the javelin coming into the season was only 61-05 (18.74m), but she's improved that mark by close to 45 feet over the first five weekends of the outdoor season. With Saturday's mark, O'Handley has now set a new personal best in the javelin at three of the four meets at which she's competed in the event this season.
 
Twin brothers Andy and Erik Solano have also been on a run of personal bests recently, and continued that with new bests in the outdoor 3,000 meters. Both Solanos cracked nine minutes in the 3,000 for the first time, as Andy Solano finished in 8:57.38 while Erik Solano finished in 8:58.36. The brothers also set new personal or collegiate bests in the 1,500 meters last Friday at the John Knight Twilight.
 
Liam Jemison joined the Solanos in the men's 3,000 meters, and beat his indoor personal best at the distance by more than 27 seconds. Jemison finished in 9:00.90 Saturday, crushing his indoor best of 9:27.43 that he set at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open back in January.
 
Freshman Phoebe Brown won the women's 3,000 meters, edging out Seattle U's Rachel Kastama for the victory with a time of 10:35.10. Brown, who also set a new collegiate best in the 1,500 meters last Friday at the John Knight Twilight, beat her prep personal best in the 3,000 by 15 seconds Saturday.
 
Sophomore Alana Baldwin-Joiner posted another event win for the Vikings while finishing her first collegiate 10,000-meter race in 39:40.71. Like Brown and the Solanos, Baldwin-Joiner has been on a good run of form recently, as she set a new 1,500-meter personal best last Friday at the John Knight Twilight, and won the 5,000 meters at the Pacific Open the week before.
 
Nigel Leonis and Cody Jones each shaved more than a minute off their personal bests in the men's 10,000 meters while finishing fourth and sixth, respectively, Saturday. Leonis lopped more than 80 seconds off his personal best in the 10,000 meters while finishing in 32:57.32. Jones, meanwhile, finished just over 10 seconds back in 33:07.98, crushing his previous best of 34:16.17, which he set at the Portland Twilight last May.
 
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. 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 44th 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).
 
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. 
 
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.