PORTLAND, Ore. — There's a part of every superhero movie where the heroes are separated, gathering what they need for the final conflict. They're off in their own separate storylines, but they're about to come together soon and kick some…well, you know.
 
That's the Portland State track & field program this week. The Vikings split up across three different meets this weekend between the Oregon Twilight Friday, and the Oxy Invite and Portland Twilight Saturday.
 
The twin twilight meets give the Vikings' superhero movie theme an appropriate lighting. They also give the Vikings two final local meets during the regular season ahead of the Big Sky Outdoor Championships the following week in Bozeman, Mont.
 
Friday's Oregon Twilight will see Laura Beghin be the lone Viking competing down at Hayward Field in Eugene. Beghin will run in the early sections of the women's 1,500 meters at 4:19 p.m. Friday, alongside a competitive field that'll feature four Oregon runners and a conference foe in Idaho State's Presley Timmons.
 
Beghin set her 1,500-meter personal best at Hayward Field earlier this season, running 4:33.94 at the Oregon Preview on March 23. All seven of Beghin's personal bests have come during this 2024 indoor and outdoor seasons. That includes her first outdoor 5k, which she ran last week at the OSU High Performance Meet, finishing in 17:26.54.
 
Beghin ran her last 1,500-meter race at the Bryan Clay Invitational, where she finished just off her time from the Oregon Preview while finishing in 4:34.85.
 
Beghin is also entered in the 800 meters at Saturday's Portland Twilight, which will take place at Lewis & Clark's Eldon Fix Track. The back-to-back competitions, albeit at two different distances, will model what Beghin could face at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, should she advance out of the prelims and into the next day's final.
 
The other Vikings competing at the Portland Twilight will do so entirely on the track. The Viking women only have athletes competing in the 400, 800 and 1,500 meters, in fact, and only Ashley Peterson will be running the 400. The Viking men aren't much more spread out, as they have athletes in the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 meters.
 
For the women, Beghin has the top 800-meter time for the Vikings, having set her personal best at 2:14.05 at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 12. Ania Kapustka has the No. 2 time, after she ran a collegiate best of 2:19.12 at the OSU High Performance Meet last Saturday. Ahmeah Brown and Campbell Faust will join Beghin and Kapustka in the women's 800 meters Saturday.
 
Taylor Nichols and Emma Stolte set the Vikings' No. 2 and No. 3 times, respectively, in the women's 1,500 meters behind Beghin, finishing in 4:52.83 and 4:53.73 last Friday at OSU. They'll join Dyllan Newville in Saturday's 1,500 meters at the Portland Twilight.
 
The Viking men will see Aleks Braich and Hunter Leeder run the 100, GG Nitunga run the 200 and Eman Kargbo run the 400 meters Saturday. In the middle distances, Lyness Ota and Ian Parks will run the 800, while Tom Thake competes in the 1,500 meters.
 
The greatest event diversity for the Vikings come in California at the Oxy Invite, which takes place at Occidental College's Bill Henry Track in Los Angeles. Five Vikings will be heading down that way, ranging from Noah Meucci in the men's hammer to Wendy Hare in the women's 400-meter hurdles.
 
Three of the five Vikings traveling to the Oxy Invite have top 10 marks to their name. That includes Meucci, who ranks sixth all-time in the hammer, which he'll return to Saturday. Alison Calvin-Stupfel ranks tied for ninth all-time in the women's high jump, which she'll compete in Saturday.
 
Dieumerci Migani has two top 10 marks during the outdoor season, having added one last weekend at the OSU High Performance Meet. Migani moved up to eighth all-time in the men's long jump last weekend, after posting the No. 4 mark all-time in the triple jump earlier in the season. Migani nearly added a third top 10 mark last Saturday when he came within one one-hundredth of a second in the 100 meters while finishing in 10.85 seconds.
 
Migani will return to the 100 meters Saturday while also competing in his first triple jump since the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 13.
 
Hare came within one one-hundredth of a second of the top 10 in the women's 400-meter hurdles last season and will enter Saturday's race with a seasonal best of 1:04.10.
 
Amir Ahmed is the fifth Viking competing at the Oxy Invite, which he'll do in the 800 meters. Ahmed will be coming off some strong recent results, including a dominant heat win in the 800 at the L&C Larry Byerly Invitational on April 13 when he set a personal best of 1:55.16.
 
So, the Vikings have had recent success. They're at the part of the hero's journey where they're just gathering strength before the climactic battle.
 
Good thing they'll have some cinematic lighting of twilight this weekend.
 
MEET INFO
May 3 – Oregon Twilight – Eugene, Ore. (Hayward Field)
May 4 – Oxy Invite – Los Angeles, Calif. (Bill Henry Track)
May 4 – Portland Twilight – Portland, Ore. (Eldon Fix Track)
 
FOLLOW
Oregon Twilight – Live Results | Live Video
Oxy Invite – Live Results
Portland Twilight – Live Results | Live Video
 
MEET SCHEDULES
Oregon Twilight
Friday, May 3
Start (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
4:19 p.m. – Women's 1,500 Meters – "B" Sections (Heat 1 of 2 – Beghin)
 
Oxy Invite
Saturday, May 4
Start (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
2:05 p.m. – Men's 100 Meters (Heat 3 of 8 – Migani)
~3 p.m. – Women's High Jump (Flight 1 of 1 – Calvin-Stupfel)
3:10 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters (Heat 5 of 8 – Ahmed)
3:45 p.m. – Women's 400-Meter Hurdles (Heat 1 of 1 – Hare)
After Women's Hammer at ~3 p.m. – Men's Hammer (Flight 1 of 1 – Meucci)
After Women's Triple Jump at ~3 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump (Flight 1 of 1 – Migani)
 
Portland Twilight
Saturday, May 4
Start (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
2:50 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters – Heat 1 (Faust)
2:55 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters – Heats 1-2 (Heat 1 of 2 – Ota, Parks)
3:05 p.m. – Women's 1,500 Meters – Heats 1 (Newville)
3:12 p.m. – Men's 1,500 Meters – Heats 1-2 (Heat 1 of 2 – Thake)
3:35 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters (Peterson)
3:43 p.m. – Men's 400 Meters (Heat 2 of 2 – Kargbo)
4:04 p.m. – Men's 100 Meters (Heat 1 of 2 – Leeder; Heat 2 of 2 – Braich)
4:15 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters – Heats 2-5 (Heat 1 of 4 – Brown, Kapustka; Heat 3 of 4 – Beghin)
5:37 p.m. – Men's 200 Meters (Heat 2 of 3 – Nitunga)
5:47 p.m. – Women's 1,500 Meters – Heats 2-3 (Heat 1 of 2 – Nichols, Stolte)