OUT OF THE BLOCKS
It's an opener that's not an opener for the Portland State track & field program Saturday at the UW Indoor Preview.
 
You would think it'd be the program's first indoor meet of the season, but it isn't. That came on Dec. 2 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston. But like the rest of us just waking up from our post-holiday stupor, that feels like a lifetime ago. Saturday represents the de facto season opener, then, as the Vikings gear up for a busy 2024 winter schedule.
 
There will still be plenty of debuts for the Vikings Saturday. Out of the 34 Vikings who will compete at the meet, 22 will be competing in their first track & field meets in Portland State gear.
 
That group includes three Portland State football players in Christian Grubb, Michael Jackson and Travis West. Jackson and West ran for the Vikings last season, but Grubb will be new to the Vikings this year. All three will run the prelims of the men's 60 meters (10:30 a.m.), while Grubb is also scheduled to run the men's 200 meters (2:30 p.m.).
 
The list of debutants for the Vikings also includes six Portland State women's soccer players making their track debuts. That group includes Meg DeVall, who will run alongside Ania Kapustka in the women's 600 meters (1:15 p.m.). Fellow soccer players Ocean Rideout, Kainani Jacang, Elle Frazier, Liv Frazier and Kiara Van Duesen will also compete in the women's 200 meters (2:05 p.m.).
 
You could count a seventh women's soccer player in Ashley Peterson, though she transitioned fully to the Portland State track & field program after competing with the women's soccer program in the fall. Peterson will likely be the busiest Viking in action Saturday as she is entered in the women's 400 meters (12:45 p.m.), long jump (1 p.m.) and 200 meters (2:05 p.m.).
 
Among the few returners competing for the Vikings Saturday include such stalwarts as Abi Swain (women's mile, 10:50 a.m.), as well as Zach Grams and Abdi Ibrahim (men's mile, 11:20 a.m.). Veterans Campbell Faust and Dylan Newville will also compete in the women's 1,000 meters (12:25 p.m.), while Laura Beghin joins freshman Addison Capozzi on the entry list for the women's 800 meters (1:35 p.m.).
 
It's fitting that a January meet such as the UW Indoor Preview would feature a mix of old and new. It's in the spirit of entering a new year, after all. The Vikings will take that to heart in a new era of the program that will feature a lot more non-distance events than they've competed in in the past. In fact, out of the 19 events the Vikings have entries in, just seven – the men's and women's 600 meters, women's 800 meters, men's and women's 1,000 meters, and men's and women's mile – could be considered middle distance events. The rest are either field events or sprints.
 
The Vikings are so eager to show off their new era they left for Seattle a day earlier than anticipated. Someone who follows the news would likely tie that (correctly) to the winter weather coming to the area Friday. But we'll claim it as symbolic all the same.
 
MEET INFO
Saturday, Jan. 13 – UW Indoor Preview – Seattle, Wash. (Dempsey Indoor)
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Results | Live Video
 
MEET SCHEDULE
Time                Event (PSU entries)
10 a.m.            Men's Triple Jump (Flight 1 of 1 – Migani, Niyongere)
10 a.m.            Women's High Jump (B section – Calvin-Stupfel)
10:30 a.m.       Men's 60 Meters – Prelims (Heat 3 of 8 – Migani; Heat 5 of 8 – Grubb; Heat 6 of 8 – West; Heat 7 of 8 – Jackson)
10:50 a.m.       Women's Mile (Section 2 of 5 – Swain)
11 a.m.            Men's Weight Throw (Flight 1 of 1 – Meucci)
11:20 a.m.       Men's Mile (Section 1 of 6 – Grams; Section 2 of 6 – Ibrahim)
12:20 p.m.       Men's 60 Meters – Final (TBD)
12:25 p.m.       Women's 1,000 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Faust, Newville)
12:30 p.m.       Men's 1,000 Meters (Section 1 of 4 – Parks; Thake)
12:45 p.m.       Women's 400 Meters (Section 2 of 6 – Brown; Section 4 of 6 - Peterson
1 p.m.              Women's Long Jump (Flight 1 of 2 – Calvin-Stupfel, Peterson)
1 p.m.              Men's Shot Put (Flight 1 of 1 – LaGris, Meucci)
1 p.m.              Men's Long Jump (Flight 2 of 2 – Braich, Migani, Niyongere)
1 p.m.              Men's 400 Meters (Section 3 of 6 – Hawkins)
1:15 p.m.         Women's 600 Meters (Section 1 of 3 – Kapustka, DeVall)
1:25 p.m.         Men's 600 Meters (Section 1 of 2 – Ota; Section 2 of 2 – Abade, Ahmed)
1:35 p.m.         Women's 800 Meters (Section 1 of 4 – Beghin, Capozzi)
2:05 p.m.         Women's 200 Meters (Section 1 of 14 – Rideout; Section 2 of 14 – Jacang, Frazier, E., Frazier, L., Van Duesen; Section 3 of 14 - Peterson)
2:30 p.m.         Men's 200 Meters (Section 2 of 8 – Dawson, Nitunga; Section 3 of 8 – Kargbo, Leeder; Section 6 of 8 – Grubb)