PORTLAND, Ore. — When charting the growth of the Portland State track & field program over the next couple of years, people will point to Saturday's Spokane Invitational as a watershed moment.
 
The Vikings have 100 entries across 26 events scheduled to compete at the meet. While scratches may drop that number below triple figures, and several athletes are entered in two or three events, the sheer size of that number is beyond what the Vikings could have imagined just a couple years ago.
 
It's particularly game changing given the events where the Vikings will have the deepest numbers Saturday. Fifty-seven of the 100 entries are in distances 400 meters and below. The highest numbers in individual events include 11 Vikings in the men's 200 meters, 10 more in the men's 300 meters and eight in the women's 60 meters.
 
The chance to run some unique events have contributed to the Vikings' large numbers. The 300 meters – where the Vikings have five entries on the women's side in addition to their 10 on the men's side – is one of those unique events. The Vikings had 20 athletes run the 300 meters at last year's Portland Indoor One. But other than that, they hadn't regularly competed in the event since 2008.
 
The rarity of the event may have some Vikings looking at potential top 10 marks. Dieumerci Migani set a top 10 mark in the men's 300 meters with his finish in 36.77 seconds last season. He's not competing Saturday, but Deghlan Johnson may be looking to join him in the top 10 after he posted the top 200-meter time for the Viking men at their dual meet with UP on Nov. 25. Johnson finished in 23.21 seconds, while Eman Kargbo and Tommie Olubisi – both also entered in Saturday's race – finished in 23.76 and 23.77 seconds, respectively.
 
Tori Forst led the Viking women in the 200 meters at the PSU vs. UP Dual Meet, finishing in 26.03 seconds. She'll have to beat 43.20 seconds (Holly Hoagland, 2008) to enter the all-time top 10. The school records in the 300 meters stand at 35.35 seconds for the men (Trevor Rollinger, 2007) and 41.56 seconds for the women (Alyssa Tibbs, 2007).
 
Wendy Hare already set a school record in one of the other rare events that the Vikings will compete in Saturday, the 600 meters. Hare finished in 1:36.98 at the PSU vs. UP Dual Meet, breaking Melissa Owens' 17-year-old school record in the event. Irina López finished close behind Hare in 1:37.52, moving her up to third all-time in the event. They're both entered in the 600 meters again Saturday when they'll look to improve those times.
 
Amir Ahmed is entered on the men's side of the 600 meters where he'll be looking to improve his time from the PSU vs. UP Dual Meet as well. Ahmed finished in 1:22.93 to move up to seventh all-time. He has a way to go to catch Nate Boyer, who set the men's record at 1:19.48 in 2006. Only Boyer and Chase Lovercheck (1:19.73 in 2023) have cracked 1:22 in the 600 meters, though, so even a small improvement for Ahmed will see him rise among the rankings.
 
Perhaps the rarest event at Saturday's meet will be the mixed 4x400-meter relay. A relatively new event to the World Athletics Championships and Olympics, the Vikings don't have a listed record for the mixed 4x400-meter relay. That's how rare it is. So, the foursome of Sienna Rosario, Aidan Sweeney, Aida Wheat and GG Nitunga are guaranteed to make some history Saturday.
 
Outside of the rare events, Saturday's Spokane Invitational will see more of the Vikings' field-event athletes debut for the 2024-25 indoor track season. The PSU vs. UP Dual Meet featured exhibition sections in the shot put and weight throw, but no other field events. That won't be the case Saturday, as the Vikings will have entries in the men's and women's high jump, men's and women's long jump, men's and women's shot put and men's weight throw.
 
Out of the field event athletes, Noah Meucci will be coming off a new personal best in the weight throw from the PSU vs. UP Dual Meet. Meucci won the event with a best throw of 48-09.50 (14.87m), moving him up to third all-time. Jackson Wurz also entered the all-time top 10 with a throw of 36-11.75 (11.27m). They'll both return to the weight throw Saturday while also joining Mikey LaGris in the men's shot put.
 
Three other Vikings who will be competing again Saturday set top 10 marks at the PSU vs. UP Dual Meet. Ania Kapustka and Taylor Nichols moved up to fourth and eighth, respectively, in the women's 1k while finishing in 2:59.09 and 3:04.18. Neither will be running the 1k again Saturday, though. Nichols joins Campbell Faust, Emma Stolte and Talise Wapsheli in the women's mile. Kapustka, meanwhile, will run the 3k with Wapsheli.
 
Abdi Ibrahim jumped up to second in the men's 1k while finishing in 2:29.69. That gave him his fourth top 10 mark indoors as he also ranks third in the DMR, seventh in the 5k and ninth in the 3k. Like Kapustka, he'll be running the 3k Saturday alongside teammates Abdinajib Abade, Nick Moore, Luis Muradas, Lyness Ota, Mika Sarver Huber and Tom Thake. Ibrahim will be looking to improve on the personal best he set at 8:21.67 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener last December.
 
The advantage of having a big crew at any track meet is that once one domino falls in the form of a top 10 mark or personal best, several more start to fall. It's the cascading effect that the Vikings have been missing at times the past few seasons. Now, it's back.
 
MEET INFO
Saturday, Dec. 14 – Spokane Invitational – Spokane, Wash. (The Podium)
 
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MEET SCHEDULE
Saturday, Dec. 14
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
9 a.m. – Men's High Jump (Flight 2 of 2 – Mathers, Niyongere)
10 a.m. – Men's Long Jump (Flight 1 of 2 – Mathers, Sharps; Flight 2 of 2 – Niyongere)
10 a.m. – Women's Long Jump (Flight 1 of 2 – Calvin-Stupfel, Garcia, Latu-Alves)
11 a.m. – Women's 60 Meters – Qualifying (Heat 3 of 7 – Garcia; Heat 4 of 7 – Forst; Heat 5 of 7 – Beasley, Latu-Alves, Yancey; Heat 6 of 7 – Wheat; Heat 7 of 7 – Rosario)
11:20 a.m. – Men's 60 Meters – Qualifying (Heat 3 of 11 – Latscha; Heat 10 of 11 – Clark Anderson; Heat 11 of 11 – Isaacson)
12 p.m. – Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (Heat 2 of 5 – Beasley)
~12:15 p.m. – Men's Weight Throw (Flight 1 of 2 – Wurz; Flight 2 of 2 – Meucci)
12:35 p.m. – Women's 60 Meters – Prelims (TBD)
12:45 p.m. – Men's 60 Meters – Prelims (TBD)
1 p.m. – Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Final (TBD)
1:12 p.m. – Women's 60 Meters – Final (TBD)
1:17 p.m. – Men's 60 Meters – Final (TBD)
1:30 p.m. – Women's Shot Put (Flight 1 of 2 – Garcia)
1:40 p.m. – Women's Mile (Section 1 of 1 – Faust, Nichols, Stolte, Wapsheli)
2 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump (Flight 1 of 1 – Mathers, Sharps)
2:05 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters (Section 1 of 4 – Rosario; Section 3 of 4 – Forst; Section 4 of 4 – Peterson)
2:15 p.m. – Men's 400 Meters (Section 2 of 5 – Johnson; Section 3 of 5 – Bakkum, Olubisi; Section 5 of 5 – Kargbo)
2:30 p.m. – Women's 300 Meters (Section 2 of 6 – Frazier, E., Garcia; Section 3 of 6 – Frazier, L.; Section 5 of 6 – Wheat; Section 6 of 6 – Yancey)
2:45 p.m. – Men's 300 Meters (Section 1 of 9 – Sweeney; Section 2 of 9 – Johnson; Section 3 of 9 – Olubisi; Section 4 of 9 – Bakkum; Section 5 of 9 – Kargbo; Section 6 of 9 – Isaacson; Section 7 of 9 – Clark Anderson; Section 8 of 9 – Timmins; Section 9 of 9 – Nitunga)
2:45 p.m. – Women's High Jump (Flight 1 of 2 – Beasley; Flight 2 of 2 – Calvin-Stupfel)
~3 p.m. – Men's Shot Put (Flight 1 of 3 – LaGris, Wurz; Flight 2 of 3 – Meucci)
3:15 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters (Section 1 of 1 – Nichols)
3:20 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters (Section 1 of 2 – Ahmed; Section 2 of 2 – Ramirez, Walsh)
3:35 p.m. – Women's 600 Meters (Section 1 of 3 – Faust; Section 2 of 3 – López; Section 3 of 3 – Hare)
3:45 p.m. – Men's 600 Meters (Section 1 of 2 – Ahmed)
4 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters (Beasley, Forst, Frazier, E., Frazier, L., Hare, Jolivette, Peterson, Rosario, Wheat, Yancey)
4:25 p.m. – Men's 200 Meters (Bakkum, Clark Anderson, Dawson, Isaacson, Johnson, Kargbo, Latscha, Nitunga, Olubisi, Sweeney, Timmins)
4:55 p.m. – Women's 3,000 Meters (Section 1 of 2 – Kapustka; Section 2 of 2 – Wapsheli)
5:10 p.m. – Men's 3,000 Meters (Section 1 of 2 – Abade, Ibrahim, Moore; Section 2 of 2 – Muradas, Ota, Thake)
5:40 p.m. – Women's 4x400-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Peterson, Forst, Hare, López)
5:55 p.m. – Men's 4x400-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Kargbo, Johnson, Ahmed, Olubisi; Portland State 'B' – Bakkum, Brown, Ramirez, Walsh)
6:10 p.m. – Mixed 4x400-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Rosario, Sweeney, Wheat, Nitunga)