PORTLAND, Ore. — The month of May represents the beginning of the end for the collegiate track & field season. The Vikings enter that end game this weekend at the OSU High Performance Meet in Corvallis.
 
The Vikings will be well-rested for their first meet in May, as they took last weekend off from competition. They last competed at the L&C Larry Byerly Invitational, April 18-19, on the campuses of Pacific University and Lewis & Clark College.
 
Noah Meucci set a top 10 mark in the discus the last time out. It was the latest in a run of three straight personal bests in the event for Meucci, who pushed his best to 146-08 (44.72m) with his mark at the Larry Byerly Invite. He'll open this weekend's meet in the discus at 10 a.m. Friday, alongside freshman Jackson Wurz.
 
Friday's events will also see Ania Kapustka return to the steeplechase for the first time since she debuted in the event at the John Knight Twilight on April 11. Kapustka won in 11:07.79, ranking her sixth all-time after only one attempt at the event.
 
Deghlan Johnson and James Timmins will open events on the track for the Vikings Friday in the men's 400-meter hurdles at 2:50 p.m. Johnson set the No. 9 mark all-time in the event at the Oregon Preview on March 22, when he finished in a personal best of 55.15 seconds. Timmins has run the faster times out of the two at the last two meets, however.
 
Emma Stolte will return to the women's 1,500 meters Friday for the first time since setting the No. 9 mark all-time in the event at the John Knight Twilight on April 11. Stolte shaved more than four seconds off her personal best at the meet while finishing second overall in 4:31.56. The second-place finish actually snapped a streak of back-to-back wins for Stolte at the distance, as she recorded an overall win at the L&C Electric Forest Opener on March 8, then a heat win at the Oregon Preview on March 21.
 
Emily Schmitke, who will join Stolte in the 1,500 meters Friday, heads into the weekend having won her last two 1,500-meter heats. Both recent wins have come by healthy margins, including a seven-second win at the Larry Byerly Invite in a personal-best time of 5:00.50.
 
Abdi Ibrahim and Nick Moore will close out Friday night's events in the invitational section of the men's 5,000 meters. Both have success at the distance. Ibrahim ranks seventh all-time in the 5k with a personal best of 14:17.48 from the 2023 Portland Track Festival. Moore, meanwhile, set the freshman record in the 5k with a finish in 14:45.84 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic on April 4 earlier this season.
 
Both Ibrahim and Moore performed well in the 1,500 meters two weeks ago at the Larry Byerly Invite. Ibrahim shaved 11 seconds off his personal best while finishing fourth overall in 3:53.42. Moore, meanwhile, moved up to fourth in the freshman rankings at the distance while finishing in 3:57.10.
 
The throwers, just as they do Friday, will open Saturday's events for the Vikings. Henry Glad, Carter Green and Wurz will compete in the men's javelin while Natalie Cunningham steps into the ring for the women's shot put.
 
The Vikings have four entrants in the men's triple jump, including Dieumerci Migani. The school record holder in the event, Migani has yet to register a mark in the triple jump during the outdoor season. He's instead focused on the sprints so far this outdoor season. He finished the 100 meters in a seasonal-best 10.59 seconds at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, which represents his best time ever at sea level. At the Larry Byerly Invite, Migani won the 100 meters in 10.68 seconds while also running the anchor leg on the Vikings' 4x100-meter relay. Migani and his relay teammates finished in 41.86 seconds for the Viking men's fastest time in the event since 2016.
 
Migani is scheduled to run the 4x100-meter relay again Saturday alongside Tommie Olubisi, Ty Hawkins and Dillon Brost. Immediately afterwards, Amir Ahmed will lead a group of four Vikings in the men's 800 meters. Ahmed moved up to ninth all-time in the event with a finish in 1:52.15 at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational on April 5. He followed up with an overall win in 1:52.72 two weekends ago at the Larry Byerly Invite.
 
Interestingly, Moore is entered alongside Ahmed in the men's 800 meters. If Moore runs, it'll be his first 800-meter race of the indoor or outdoor season. If he can beat Ben Richardson's time of 1:56.57 from 2014, which currently ranks 10th in the freshman record book, then he'll have freshman top 10 marks in the 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meters by the end of the weekend.
 
Irina López moved up in the freshman top 10 on the women's side of the 800 meters two weeks ago at the Larry Byerly Invite. She jumped one spot to seventh with a seasonal best of 2:16.34. She's entered in the 800 meters again Saturday alongside teammates Ahmeah Brown, Addison Capozzi, Taylor Nichols, Schmitke and Stolte.
 
The Vikings would love to see more overall and freshman top 10 marks come with their return to competition this weekend. It'll be May, after all, by the time Friday's opening events take place. That's the time to deliver in track & field, and the Vikings are putting on the finishing touches so they can do just that.
 
MEET INFO
May 2-3 – OSU High Performance Meet – Corvallis, Ore. (Whyte Track and Field Center)
 
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MEET SCHEDULE
Friday, May 2
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
10 a.m. – Men's Discus (Meucci, Wurz)
~11 a.m. – Men's Hammer Throw (Meucci)
11:30 a.m. – Women's Long Jump (Garcia)
11:30 a.m. – Men's Long Jump (Becker, Hawkins, Migani)
2:50 p.m. – Men's 400-Meter Hurdles (Johnson, Timmins)
3:05 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters (Olivier, Peterson, Rosario, Wheat)
3:35 p.m. – Men's 200 Meters (Bakkum, Brost, Kargbo, Latscha, Olubisi)
4:40 p.m. – Women's 5,000 Meters – Open Section 1 (Nichols)
5:25 p.m. – Women's 1,500 Meters – Open Sections (Faust, Schmitke, Stolte)
5:36 p.m. – Men's 1,500 Meters – Open Sections (Brown, Muradas, Sarver Huber)
7:52 p.m. – Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase – Invitational (Kapustka)
8:47 p.m. – Men's 5,000 Meters – Invitational (Ibrahim, Moore)
 
Saturday, May 3
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
~12 p.m. – Men's Javelin Throw (Glad, Green, Wurz)
12:30 p.m. – Women's Shot Put (Cunningham)
1 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump (Mathers, Migani, Niyongere, Sharps)
~1 p.m. – Men's High Jump (Mathers, Niyongere)
2:05 p.m. – Men's 4x100-Meter Relay – Collegiate (Portland State 'A' – Olubisi, Hawkins, Brost, Migani)
2:25 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters – Open Sections (Ahmed, Moore, Muradas, Ramirez)
3 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters – Open Sections (Brown, Capozzi, López, Nichols, Schmitke, Stolte)
3:48 p.m. – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – Collegiate (Johnson, Sweeney, Timmins)
3:58 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters – Collegiate (Coté, Peterson)
4:18 p.m. – Men's 400 Meters – Collegiate (Ahmed, Bakkum, Chen, Olubisi, Walsh)
4:40 p.m. – Women's 100 Meters – Collegiate (Rosario, Wheat)
5:05 p.m. – Men's 100 Meters – Collegiate (Bakkum, Brost, Hawkins, Latscha)