Complete Meet Notes (PDF)
THE STARTING BLOCKS
For most of the track & field season, coaches are focused on two things: time and finish.
However, when it comes to a championship weekend, there's only one concern: finish.
Beat the runners around you, regardless of time.
"There's a number. That number is a number of people. It's not the number on the watch. It's the number of people ahead of you. As long as it's seven or less [indicating a runner has placed in the top eight and scored for the team], you've done well and I don't care what the time is," Portland State head coach
David Hepburn said ahead of this weekend's Big Sky Indoor Championships, Feb. 27-29, in Pocatello, Idaho.
The Vikings open their portion of the Big Sky meet Friday at Holt Arena. Due to the program's distance focus, the Vikings will have one of the smaller contingents at the meet as they chase a few standout performances rather than a large team score.
"We're not there for scrounging up points because otherwise I'd bring everybody and their mom. That's not who we are and that's not ever who we're going to be," Hepburn said of his team's strategy going into the weekend.
"The people who are going are really like: we're here to podium. We're here to win. We're here to race well. Hopefully that doesn't get into their heads. People who are in that position should have confidence in themselves."
Hepburn stated his own confidence in the 16 athletes who will be competing for the Vikings this weekend. Of the 16, most will compete Friday, especially on the field events side when all five of the Vikings' field eventers will be active.
Jaron Barrow opens the meet for the Vikings in the men's long jump at 12:30 p.m. (PT) Friday.
Taylor Elliott and
Ceil Dunleavy follow in the women's high jump at 2 p.m. (PT), while
Braden Masanga gets started in the men's pole vault at the same time.
Angela Mumford will also be in action in the women's shot put beginning at 4 p.m. (PT).
Of the field eventers, Elliott and Masanga rank highest within the Big Sky as they each rank second in their events going into the Big Sky meet.
Elliott ranks second in the women's high jump after setting a new overall personal best with a clearance at 5-07.25 (1.71m) at the Ed Jacoby Invitational on Jan. 25. Elliott moved up to third all time in the women's indoor high jump at Portland State as she set the best clearance by a Viking in 14 years with that mark.
Elliott sits tied with two other athletes for second in the Big Sky in Idaho State's Ashley Vanvleet Sturgis and Northern Colorado's NeNe Phenix. Montana State's Lucy Corbett leads the Big Sky with a clearance at 5-08.75 (1.75m).
Masanga, meanwhile, broke the school record in the pole vault twice during the season, and surpassed the old record at three of the four meets at which he competed. Masanga initially broke the record while winning the pole vault with a clearance of 16-04.75 (5.00m) at the Vikings' season-opening meet, the Vandal Open, on Jan. 11. Masanga then extended the record to 16-07.25 (5.06m) at the UW Invitational on Feb. 1, putting him more than a foot clear of the old record that had stood for 13 years.
Masanga has not competed since the UW Invitational, but comes into this weekend ranked second to Weber State's Trey Deveraux. Deveraux has cleared 17 feet at his last two meets, including a conference-best 17-09.00 (5.41m) at the Mountain State Games, Feb. 7-8. Montana State's Wyatt Thompson-Siporen is also in the pole vault field after winning the event last year.
Friday's field events will be the only diversion from the track for the Vikings at the meet, as distance events dominate the team's schedule otherwise.
Will Payton and
Chase Lovercheck both race in the trials of the 400 and 800 meters, respectively, Friday, before finals in the women's 5k, men's 5k and men's Distance Medley Relay take over the evening portion of the schedule.
Fifth-year senior
Kaila Gibson joins sophomore
Phoebe Jacques in the finals of the women's 5,000 meters with Gibson ranked second in the conference going into the meet. Gibson ranks second to Northern Arizona's Mikayla Malaspina, though a number of athletes are entered in Friday's race who don't have 5k times this season.
Gibson and Malaspina set their 5k times while competing in the same race, the Husky Classic on Feb. 14. Gibson finished in 16:36.74 – missing out on breaking her own school record by three and a half seconds – while Malaspina finished in 16:11.00.
Gibson also ranks behind Malaspina in the 3k, which she could race in on Saturday if she feels fresh enough after Friday's 5k. Gibson ranks third within the Big Sky in the 3k this season after coming within six seconds of the school record at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 18. Gibson shaved 10 seconds off her personal best while finishing in 9:42.58 at the UW Indoor Preview. Idaho State's Molly Olsen leads the Big Sky in the event with a time of 9:34.02 at the UW Invitational, while Malaspina ranks second with an altitude-adjusted time of 9:37.01 at the Mountain T's Invitational.
Miranda Ross will join Gibson in the women's 3k if Gibson ends up doubling Saturday.
Ian Vickstrom could also double in the 3k and 5k on the men's side. He's the lone Viking entered in the men's 5k Friday night, while
Josh Snyder and
Zac Witman join him in the 3k Saturday afternoon.
Snyder will face his own double as the anchor leg in the men's DMR Friday night.
Luke Ramirez, Payton and
Garrett Vasta will join Snyder in Friday's DMR, while Ramirez and Vasta double back in the final of the men's mile at 11:50 a.m. (PT) Saturday.
Liam Jemison will also run in the men's mile Saturday.
Hepburn said he's not too worried about his athletes doubling, trusting that they're fit enough and the adrenaline of a conference race will be enough to counteract any fatigue.
"There's just an added level of excitement, an added level of adrenaline," Hepburn said of the conference meet. "It'll be new for most everybody. Running on the wood, running on the bank. Most people have probably never run on a banked track so that will be interesting to get them there, get them on it, and get them used to it.
"I just think the excitement about it is probably the biggest change [from a regular meet]. They're excited about regular meets and things like that, but it ratchets up to a whole new level for conference."
That excitement should feed into the aggressive racing Hepburn said he wants to see out of his athletes this weekend.
"Get in there, stick your nose in the race," Hepburn said. "If you run out of gas and you're just not going to make it, I'd rather have you do that than go out there, jog for too long and come in dead last. That's a wasted race. You've got to stick your nose in the race, that's really what it comes down to."
Time doesn't matter on a conference weekend, after all. Just the finish.
SPU FINAL QUALIFIER PREVIEW
Saturday will also see 22 Vikings head up to Seattle for the SPU Final Qualifier. Seattle Pacific University will host the meet, though it will take place at the University of Washington's Dempsey Indoor facility. Events start at 4:30 p.m. and will continue on a rolling schedule.
MEET INFO
Feb. 28-29 – Big Sky Indoor Championships – Pocatello, Idaho (Holt Arena)
Feb. 29 – SPU Final Qualifier – Seattle, Wash. (Dempsey Indoor)
BIG SKY INDOOR MEET SCHEDULE
Friday, Feb. 28
| Start (PT) |
Events (PSU entries) |
| 12:30 p.m. |
Men's Long Jump (Barrow) |
| 2 pm |
Women's High Jump (Dunleavy, Elliot) |
| 2 pm |
Men's Pole Vault (Masanga) |
| 4 pm |
Women's Shot Put (Mumford) |
Running Events
| Start (PT) |
Events (PSU entries) |
| 3:20 p.m |
Men's 400 Meters – Trials (Payton) |
| 4:20 p.m. |
Men's 800 Meters – Trials (Lovercheck) |
| 5:05 p.m |
Women's 5,000 Meters – Final (Gibson, Jacques) |
| 5:25 p.m. |
Men's 5,000 Meters – Final (Vickstrom) |
| 6 p.m. |
Men's Distance Medley Relay – Final (Portland State 'A' – Ramirez, Payton, Vasta, Snyder) |
Saturday, Feb. 29
| Start (PT) |
Events (PSU entries) |
| 11:50 a.m |
Men's Mile – Final (Jemison, Ramirez, Vasta) |
| 12:50 p.m. |
Men's 400 Meters – Final (TBD) |
| 1:35 p.m. |
Men's 800 Meters – Final (TBD) |
| 2:05 p.m. |
Women's 3,000 Meters – Final (Gibson, Ross) |
| 2:20 p.m. |
Men's 3,000 Meters – Final (Snyder, Vickstrom, Witman) |
SPU FINAL QUALIFIER SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 29
Running Events
Start (PT): Rolling schedule starting at 4:30 (only PSU events Included)
Events (PSU only):
- Women's Mile (Jones, Wolf)
- Men's Mile (Tolander)
- Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (Buckhaults)
- Women's 60 Meters – Prelims (Buckhaults, Smith)
- Women's 800 Meters (Rodriguez)
- Men's 800 Meters (Omondi)
- Women's 200 Meters (Smith)
- Women's 3,000 Meters (Brown, Eberspecher, Salazar, Seligman, White)
- Men's 3,000 Meters (Grams, Hippe, Jones, Leonis, Lingwall, Rubalcave, Shedd, Solano, A., Solano, E.)
- Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Finals (TBD)
- Women's 60 Meters – Finals (TBD)
UPCOMING
The Vikings have three weeks off before opening their outdoor season at the L&C Spring Break Open, hosted by Lewis & Clark College in Portland on March 21.
