PORTLAND, Ore. — Let's face it. The steeplechase is the coolest track event. Sorry to all the other track & field events, but none of you feature seven water jumps and 28 jumps over intimidating wooden barriers during the course of your events. Racing cars boast about ridiculous quantities of horsepower, but no racing car is jumping over a 2.5- or 3-foot tall wooden barrier every 70 meters like a show horse.
 
And no school in the NCAA has the unique coaching connection to the steeplechase like Portland State. Assistant coach Josh Seitz, the team's lead distance coach, ran the steeplechase at Southern Oregon. Assistant coach Griffin Humphreys ran the steeplechase at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Add in head coach David Hepburn's expertise in the hurdles as a former multi-eventer, and that's a pretty good trifecta right there.
 
That doesn't even account for the Vikings' connection to two of the elite steeplers in the world right now. Colleen Quigley, a 2016 Olympian and former NCAA national champion in the steeplechase, joined the Vikings' coaching staff at the beginning of 2017 as a volunteer assistant. Meanwhile, Quigley's Bowerman Track Club teammate Courtney Frerichs, another 2016 Olympian and the current American record holder in the steeplechase, serves in no official role within the program, but has ties to it as Humphreys' wife.
 
"I love all of the events, but [the steeplechase] is something that a lot of people shy away from because there is so much going on," Seitz said of the event. "It's a great equalizer. Like they say, mud is on the golf course. You've got to be gritty in the end. And there's a lot to work on. You can get to your senior year after having four years of working on something and you're still trying to fine tune things and get better at things. It's a beautiful sport and a beautiful event."
 
It seems like a no-brainer then that the Vikings' program – a program newly focused on the distance events – would grow its steeplechase presence.
 

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The experience on the coaching staff probably made a shift to the steeplechase inevitable. Still, the experiment could have stalled out of the gates without a strong test subject, and the Viking coaches couldn't have picked a better one than redshirt senior Sarah Medved.
 
Medved became the Vikings' first-ever Big Sky champion and NCAA West Prelims qualifier in the steeplechase in her first year running the event last season. Additionally, Medved broke the school record in her first-ever race in the event, and then lowered her own record by 36 seconds while finishing in 10:21.56 at last season's Mt. SAC Relays. Medved has never run slower than 11 minutes in the steeplechase, something no Viking had ever done before her. 
 
Again, it seems like a no-brainer that an athlete as strong as Medved, coupled with a coaching staff as experienced in the steeplechase as the Vikings', would find success. It was still a process for Medved and the Vikings to get those points last year, however, and one that didn't come right away.
 
Medved and Seitz remember the conversation a little differently, but they both remember joking about Medved competing in the steeplechase during what would have been her redshirt sophomore season in 2017.
 
"I always kind of wanted to try the steeplechase because it always kind of intrigued me. So I joked about it with coach a bit," Medved said of her memory of the conversation. "I was like, 'so coach, steeplechase? Ever in my future?'"
 
Seitz remembers planting the seed in Medved's brain a little bit more, but also remembers the reaction he got from former Viking head coach Brent Ericksen when he brought the idea up following that conversation.
 
"My first year [the 2017 track season] I was considering it and I was talking to her about it and coach Ericksen actually shut it down. He was like, 'no, she's too uncoordinated.' And he's not wrong in a lot of senses [laughing]," Seitz said.
 
Ericksen left the Vikings' program after the 2017 season, however, and with Hepburn named as the Vikings' new head coach and yet another steepler joining the staff that fall in Humphreys, Seitz brought the idea up again to Medved, who agreed to give it a try.
 
One of the early road blocks for Medved and Seitz was the fact that the track they trained on at Lincoln High School didn't have a steeple pit. That limited previous coaches' attempts at building the event group, and Seitz ultimately moved the Vikings' training to other locations throughout the city.
 
The other obstacle from the start were…well, the obstacles. The steeplechase is not run much at the high school level, and Medved didn't have any experience hurdling before. She did, however, have experience in other sports – something Hepburn and Seitz said they look for in any potential steepler.
 
"The first question we ask on the phone to all recruits we're talking about steeple with is, 'have you ever played basketball?' Or a lot of the time on the women's side, it's 'did you play soccer growing up?' Just having that raw ability to be an athlete first," Seitz said.
 
Medved fit the bill as a former soccer player through middle school, as did her training partner last season in Alana Chaplin. Chaplin spent her first two years as a Viking playing for the Portland State women's tennis team, and had a gymnastics background.
 
Having Chaplin, who broke the 2,000-meter steeplechase record last season, practicing with Medved helped Medved pick up the event faster than she would have otherwise.
 
"Alana actually picked up the drill work a lot more quickly than Sarah did," Seitz said. "They just kind of played off each other as they were learning the event. Really it helped having that enthusiasm in two novice people figuring it out together. Every day was just, 'oh, you do that a little bit better, let me try and do that.'"
 
And two weeks after Chaplin broke the 2,000-meter steeplechase record, Medved broke the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (the more typical distance) at the L&C Spring Break Open at the beginning of the outdoor season.
 
"I think there were only five girls in my race including myself," Medved said of her memories of that race. "There was a pretty good gap between me in front and the person behind me. And so it was kind of almost just like a time trail, which was kind of nice. I got all the barriers to myself and the water pit to myself. I didn't have to worry about running into anybody. It was kind of just a fun little race to get out there and just have fun with it."
 
Medved's time in her first-ever steeplechase was 10:58.17, shaving 13 seconds off the old school record that Mandy Peterson set 15 years ago in 2003.
 
"The first time she did it, the nice thing was she was just so comfortable over the barriers," Seitz said of Medved's first race. "Normally, the mental block in the steeplechase is the hardest thing to get over initially. But over the barriers and especially the water pit, she just looked really comfortable over them. She just had the raw athleticism."
 
However, while the isolation at that season-opening meet helped ease Medved into the event, it also meant she didn't have anyone to race against between the barriers. To that end, Seitz entered Medved into the elite Mt. SAC Relays where she could sharpen her skills against more competitive runners.
 
It wasn't a smooth start for Medved at the meet – she fell on the very first barrier – but that initial stumble turned into a net positive, according to Seitz.
 
"The fall was the best thing for her," Seitz said. "I think it jarred her so much that she just shut off her brain and started running to catch up. She went on to win that heat and break her own school record. That's when we knew that this was definitely going to be her event."
 
Medved – who finished in 10:21.56 at the meet, 36 seconds faster than her first attempt in the event – beat Montana State's Patricia Carlson in that race after trailing by a second and a half going into the bell lap. The two moved to 1-2 in the conference rankings after the race, and would square off again three weeks later at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships.
 
Medved had the luxury of having an NCAA West Prelims qualifying time already going into conference, and so she and Seitz could strategize for the rematch against Carlson at the Big Sky meet.
 
"Going into conference, we were in a comfortable spot because she already had a qualifying time and she had a really strong kick. We had been doing some stuff that just showed that she could finish hard. So the only strategy going into [conference] was, 'there's nothing you really need to do. Just sit behind the wall of two or three girls and don't lead until some point in the last lap, hopefully 200 to go,'" Seitz said.
 
Medved, for her part, executed the plan perfectly. She was shoulder-to-shoulder with Carlson going into the final water jump but then moved past her over the barrier like it was no trouble at all and didn't look back.
 
"My mind just switched to, 'time to go!' And so then I was like, 'oh shoot, there's 150 meters left, let's go for it.' Coming out of the water pit, I was able to move one step ahead of her with my momentum and then it was just time to go. My brain shut off and I was just sprinting as hard as I could."
 

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Medved followed up her fairy tale first year in the steeplechase with All-Big Sky honors in cross country during the fall, raising hopes for another strong year in the steeplechase in her redshirt senior season.
 
Things got off to a rough start at the Stanford Invitational, however, when someone broke into the Vikings' van and stole her spikes and contact lenses the day before her first race of the season. Medved ran in someone else's spikes as a result, and wore her glasses for the race. The problem with running with your glasses in a steeplechase, however, is – of course– the water. Medved said she was having problems seeing the barriers through the muck on her glasses by the end of the race.
 
"She was in great shape to [qualify at Stanford] but she said afterwards that she thought she was running awful because there were 15 girls running ahead of her when she was on pace to qualify with a K to go. She's normally someone who can run that last K really strong, but it was that, coupled with not seeing the barriers and falling," Seitz said of Medved's performance at Stanford.
 
Despite all that, Medved still finished with a time of 10:42.03, not far off her best times from the year before. Medved needed to run faster if she wanted to make a return trip to the NCAA West Prelims, however, and she would likely need to do it in a return trip to the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
 
The oddity around the Stanford meet made for a different lead-in than Medved had at last year's Mt. SAC Relays, but a conversation between Seitz and Medved – another key one between the two – put the redshirt senior back on course.
 
"The discussion after [the Stanford Invitational] was, 'okay, why did you think you were doing bad?' And, 'it doesn't matter how others are doing in a race compared to you. All you have to do is be more intrinsically focused and just think about hurdling right, putting yourself in the right position, hitting the water pit right and running your own race,'" Seitz said.
 
"And so we went into Mt. SAC a lot more calm and with the attitude of 'whatever happens, happens. Just make sure you're racing to the line.' I don't know if she knew but they were on 10:30 pace with 600 meters to go, but she was actually racing and she got a secure qualifier in 10:23.
 
A 10:30 time would have put Medved right on the bubble for making the NCAA West Prelims as the final qualifying time the last two years was 10:29.13 in 2017 and 10:32.47 in 2018. Medved's time of 10:23.36, however, should safely qualify her for her second straight appearance at the NCAA West Prelims.
 
Medved, for her part, believes that she has a firmer grasp on the steeplechase now as a redshirt senior, which should help her as she defends her Big Sky crown eight days from now.
 
"I honestly just think I understand the race better now. And I understand how the barriers work now," Medved said. "I'm starting to realize that every barrier I can come one step in front of the girl I was side-by-side with going into the barrier. And it makes all that much of a difference.
 
"The first year of the steeplechase, it's honestly just learning the race and getting used to it. And the second year is just so much easier because now you can work on getting those extra steps and those extra techniques over other girls in the race."
 

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Medved – despite being in only her second year of competing in the steeplechase – has also taken the mantle as the experienced one in the Vikings' steeplechase training group. Chaplin is gone, graduating after last season, and in her place four Viking freshmen have taken up the steeplechase mantle. Linnaea Kavulich and Phoebe Brown have competed in the steeplechase for the Viking women, while Drew Seidel and Josh Snyder have competed on the men's side.
 
Kavulich has already moved up to third all time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as a freshman, with her best time of 11:13.66 standing just two seconds back of Peterson's old school record of 11:11.60. Additionally, Brown set her best time in the steeplechase at 11:28.44 last Friday, while Seidel moved up to 10th all time after finishing in 9:29.98 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic earlier this season.
 
It's added a dimension to Medved's redshirt senior season since in addition to her individual success, she's also someone that the Vikings' young runners can look up to.
 
"I try to be a role model of just, 'this is what accomplishable. I'm here. You all can get here, too.' The improvement that can be made from race one to the end of the year can be good for them to see," Medved said. "For me, I've fallen plenty of times during my races. You just get back up and keep on running. There's nothing to be afraid of. I think that's one way that I can be helpful for the young runners is to be an example."
 
And the examples available to the young runners at Portland State are an embarrassment of riches. Besides Medved, Seitz and Humphreys both ran the steeplechase, and volunteer assistant Alan Webb, a 2004 Olympian and the American record holder in the mile, also brings a wealth of professional running experience, even if it's not in the steeplechase.
 
Meanwhile, Hepburn, despite also being the Vikings' head coach, has years of hurdling expertise to draw on as both a former multi-event athlete and coach.
 
"It's interesting to watch people whose barriers are better," Hepburn said. "They'll make up a yard or two yards getting over the barrier. And someone who was right on their tail is now two yards behind them and they have to catch up to them."
 
Two of the biggest role models a steepler can have at the moment, however, are undoubtedly Quigley and Frerichs, who just happen to have ties to the Vikings' staff
 
"I think having that many eyes and having that many ways of explaining the same thing helps Sarah and all of our young, freshmen steeplers get ideas," Seitz said. "Sometimes I'll say something and it doesn't click and Hepburn will say something another way and with a lot more enthusiasm and the athlete's like, 'oh, I get it now.'
 
"And then on top of that, I think it helps to have two of the most competitive female distance runners in the country right now in the sport in our practice facility, giving our athletes belief that, 'okay, these are two of the best in the sport to do it, what they're saying isn't complete nonsense.'"
 
Medved says she still gets nervous talking to Frerichs, not due to any aloofness from Frerichs, but because she looks up to her so much. All of the Vikings also look up to Quigley, but she's at least at practice once a week when she isn't competing somewhere herself so the Vikings have gotten more used to her presence.
 
Still, used to her presence or not, the Vikings listen eagerly to whatever advice Quigley provides.
 
"I try to give as much mental advice as I can. You have to think about each hurdle as it comes. You can't be thinking of the next one or the one you just did. You have to stay in the moment because otherwise you're going to fall," Quigley said.
 
"All of the kids just soak everything up and hang onto all the nuggets that you say. They're really listening to any advice that you can give."
 
Quigley has also shared her own journey with the steeplechase, since she, like all of the Viking steeplers, didn't compete in the steeplechase until she got to college. Quigley took to the event well, of course, finishing fifth nationally as a freshman and second as a junior before winning the national title as a senior at Florida State.
 
Seitz was the interim women's distance coach at Florida State when Quigley won the national title as a senior, and the two have stayed close sense then. Quigley was the first of the two to move to Portland after she signed with the Bowerman Track Club, but Seitz followed soon after when he got the job at Portland State and Quigley immediately offered herself as a volunteer for the program.
 
Quigley's presence on the coaching staff has also resulted in some playful competition with the Viking men's runners, since her steeplechase times are consistently 10-15 seconds faster than their times. Quigley's lifetime best, for instance, is 9:10.27, which would rank her second all time – less than one second off the school record – in the men's steeplechase at Portland State.
 
"Last year, Colleen texted after one of our sophomore guys ran a big PR and was like, 'almost getting me.' It's fun having that weird, little rivalry going," Seitz said.
 

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The next step for the Vikings' steeplechase group will be to find a replacement for Medved when she's gone next season. The four freshmen have gotten the Vikings' started, but it can be a difficult event to recruit for since so few high schoolers compete in it.
 
Medved and Quigley can again help as role models in that regard, however, as they both competed in other sports besides track & field growing up. Both Medved and Quigley competed in soccer as kids, while Quigley also credits her nine years of dance in helping her transition so well to the steeple.
 
"In dance you're constantly taking critique about your arms or what muscle groups to engage and you have to take that and do what they say and apply it to your body. And that can be hard. It's one thing to take it and understand it, but it can be hard to implement it. And it's the same thing in the steeple," Quigley said.
 
The final piece of the puzzle for Seitz is just simply the buy in. Medved had it, and that's why she's gone on to great success in the event. Not everybody does, though. Hepburn said they've taken some runners through the drills and they've found that they didn't actually want to do it.
 
Still, others like Seidel weren't even initially thought of for the steeplechase but found their way to it because of their eagerness.
 
Portland State would appear to be a place anyone could be eager about the steeplechase considering the depth of experience among the Viking coaches. Whether that will lead the next Quigley or Frerichs to come through Park Blocks remains to be seen, but you'd have to like the Vikings' chance.
 
"I think it's something we're just going to continue to grow," Seitz said. "We want to be Steeple U here."