PORTLAND, Ore. — By the end of Saturday's Inland Northwest Invitational at The Podium in Spokane, Wash., the Portland State track & field program will be officially halfway through the indoor season. Four weeks. Four meets. One month down. One to go.
 
Portland State head coach Joseph Blue has a specific feeling he wants to have by the end of Saturday.
 
 "When we come out of the meet, I want to feel confident that we can go into February and be prepared to go to conference and score some points," Blue said.
 
"That's what we hope to leave with, is just more confidence in our athletes in terms of their execution when it's crunch time. If we leave with that, and we leave with some good marks, then we'll be like, 'okay, we're good.' We can move forward, train through the rest of the season and knock out these couple meets we have before conference."
 
And if a school record falls Saturday, then that'll make Blue feel all the better, too.
 
A number could be on the line Saturday.
 
One athlete – Daniel Coppedge – will be chasing his own school record in the men's weight throw. The record came in the same venue last season, when Coppedge threw 56-00.00 (17.07m) at the Riverfront Invitational.
 
Blue said the concrete ring within The Podium should help Coppedge get the friction he needs for a good throw. The other throwing rings at which Coppedge and the Vikings have competed this season have all been made of wood. Even still, Coppedge approached the record with a seasonal best of 54-10.75 (16.72m) at the UW Preview on Jan. 16.
 
Emma Stolte also approached the record in the women's 800 meters while running a personal best of 2:11.99 at the Silver & Blue Invitational on Jan. 10. That left Stolte just 0.34 seconds off the current record that Katie Camarena set at 2:11.65 in 2022. Camarena's record came as part of seven she set that year between the cross country and indoor seasons. All seven records still stand…for now.
 
Isaiah Cadengo has been approaching records in the men's 200 and 400 meters. The freshman ranks fourth all-time in the 200 meters with a time of 21.81 seconds, just over two-tenths of a second behind the current record of 21.60 seconds that Ryon Edwards set in 2000. Cadengo ranks second in the 400 meters with his season-opening time of 48.56 seconds from the Silver & Blue Invitational. That's seven-tenths of a second behind Sheldon Prince's record of 47.86 seconds from 2014.
 
Cadengo will run both events again for the first time since the UW Preview on Jan. 16.
 
There are also a couple rarer events that could see a record fall. One record is guaranteed as the Vikings will run their first-ever women's 4x200-meter relay. Ocean Rideout, Sienna Rosario, Savannah Besley and Ashley Peterson will team up for the relay.
 
The other rare events include the men's and women's 300 meters. Dillon Bost and Jack Macdonald are entered on the men's side, while Peterson and Rosario are entered on the women's side. Macdonald already ranks sixth all-time in the 60 meters (6.93) and fifth all-time in the 200 meters (21.95).
 
Trevor Rollinger holds the current school record in the 300 meters at 35.35 seconds from 2007. Alyssa Tibbs set the women's record in the 300 meters in the same year, finishing in 41.56 seconds.
 
Blue wants all of his runners – those chasing records and not – to be confident in their approach Saturday.
 
"A lot of the work that we've done is already done. You've just got to go out and be confident and run. There shouldn't be super technical talks with us coaches going on. You've just got to be ready to execute. I think those people are ready," Blue said.
 
That leaves it for the Vikings to dig in, toe the line, and explode with confidence out of January and into the final month of the indoor season. February here we come.
 
MEET INFO
Jan. 31 – Inland Northwest Invitational – Spokane, Wash. (The Podium)
 
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MEET SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 31
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
9 a.m. – Women's 4x200-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Rideout, Rosario, Beasley, Peterson)
9 a.m. – Women's Weight Throw (Edwards, Fisher)
9:15 a.m. – Women's Long Jump (Latu-Alves, Rideout, Wheat)
9:15 a.m. – Men's Long Jump (Niyongere)
10:20 a.m. – Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (Beasley)
10:35 a.m. – Men's 60-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (Sweeney)
10:50 a.m. – Women's 60 Meters – Prelims (Peterson, Rideout, Rosario)
11:05 a.m. – Men's 60 Meters – Prelims (Bakkum, Brost, Macdonald, Stolp)
11:30 a.m. – Women's 60-Meter Hurdles – Final
11:34 a.m. – Men's 60-Meter Hurdles – Final
11:37 a.m. – Women's 60 Meters – Final
11:40 a.m. – Men's 60 Meters – Final
12:12 p.m. – Women's Mile (Jones, Schmitke, Zarrin)
12:35 p.m. – Men's Mile (Abade, Estrada, Gillingham, Ibrahim, Smith)
~12:45 p.m. – Men's Weight Throw (Coppedge, Green)
~12:45 p.m. – Women's Shot Put (Fisher, Sayler)
1 p.m. – Women's 300 Meters (Peterson, Rosario)
1:15 p.m. – Men's 300 Meters (Brost, Macdonald)
1:27 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters (Abdel Halim, Medina)
1:48 p.m. – Men's 400 Meters (Cadengo, Payne)
2:15 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters (Butterfield, Capozzi, López, Stolte)
2:24 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters (Abade, Ahmed)
2:36 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters (Abdel Halim, Medina, Wheat)
3 p.m. – Men's 200 Meters (Bakkum, Cadengo, Payne, Stolp, Sweeney)
3:50 p.m. – Men's 3,000 Meters (Ibrahim, Smith)
4:45 p.m. – Men's 4x400-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Cadengo, Payne, Macdonald, Brost)