PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State track & field program will ease into its 2026 outdoor season at a pair of in-state meets this Saturday. The sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and throwers head down to Eugene for the LCC Open, while the distance runners head to the Rich Allen Classic in Newberg.
 
The split opener comes with few expectations from head coach Joseph Blue.
 
"I just want them to open up. I just want them to go compete and continue to grow and we'll build from there," Blue said.
 
"This is a whole new season. Indoor is done. We're looking forward to seeing some of those outdoor events like hammer and javelin. And we get some of our high jumpers back – not this weekend, but down the line. It's just exciting to see them back outdoors and competing."
 
As Blue noted, the move outdoors brings with it a few event additions that should help the Vikings. The return of the javelin means Henry Glad will compete for the first time this season at the LCC Open Saturday, alongside teammate Carter Green. Glad scored for the Vikings with an eighth-place finish at last year's Big Sky Outdoor Championships.
 
Daniel Coppedge also scored for the Vikings in the men's hammer – another event that makes its return with the start of outdoor season – at last year's Big Sky outdoor meet. Coppedge is coming off a strong indoor season in which he re-set his own school record in the weight throw twice.
 
Coppedge already owns the record in the hammer, too, meaning any improvement during the outdoor season will result in another record for the Viking senior.
 
The Vikings will have three women's hammer throwers this season, too, between Avonlea Edwards, Natalie Fisher and Princess Fletcher. Those three will join Jaelyn Sayler in the women's discus – another event that makes its debut with the start of the outdoor season – this Saturday.
 
On the track, the Vikings get back the 400-meter hurdles, an event that they'll have three different athletes competing in this weekend. Carson Schall will compete on the men's side of the 400 hurdles this Saturday, while Savannah Beasley and Ashley Peterson compete on the women's side. All three set personal bests across various events during the indoor season.
 
Even the distance events change a bit with the turn to outdoor. The mile becomes the 1,500 meters, which the Vikings will run their first of this Saturday at the Rich Allen Classic.
 
The turn to outdoors gives the Vikings a chance to build on what was at times a successful indoor season. The Vikings set five school records at the Inland Northwest Invitational while other overall top 10 marks and freshman records fell over the other weeks.
 
The one sour note during indoor season, unfortunately, came at the end as the Vikings finished last in both the men's and women's standings at the Big Sky Indoor Championships. They had hoped to score a few more points or even move up a spot or two in the standings. But that didn't happen.
 
"All we can do in that situation is grow. Use it as a reality check. That's what I talked to them about after the meet. Use that butt-whooping as a reality check. Let's get it together. Everything matters. We've got to compete at practice, we've got to listen to our coaches and be bought in," Blue said of the indoor meet.
 
"I got pretty emotional when I was talking to them about it because it means a lot. To show up and do what we're supposed to do. I was telling them, 'we've just got to do what we need to do. You guys have got it. We've just got to do the little things right and come ready to go."
 
Fortunately, the outdoor season gives a bit more time for development than indoor season. That should benefit a young Portland State team that's still in its first year under Blue.
 
"It'll be a long season and things will be spread out in terms of events. With indoor, the events – because it's such a short season – you've got to get in what you can get in. You may be doing two or three events that day. Now that we have more time, we can really strategize on hitting these certain marks at certain meets because we have more time," Blue said.
 
It's why Blue hasn't put much pressure on his athletes competing this weekend. There's time to develop during the outdoor season.
 
And there should be an enticing carrot at the end of the outdoor season for the Vikings. That's because the Vikings host their first Big Sky Outdoor Championships since 2013, May 13-16, at the Mt. Hood Community College.
 
The path to that weekend starts Saturday.
 
MEET INFO
March 14 – LCC Open – Eugene, Ore. (Titan Stadium)
March 14 – Rich Allen Classic – Newberg, Ore. (Stoffer Family Stadium)
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Results – LCC Open | Rich Allen Classic
 
LCC OPEN SCHEDULE (Rolling Schedule so most times are estimates)
Saturday, March 14
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
9 a.m. – Men's Discus (LaGris)
9 a.m. – Men's Long Jump (Parrow)
~10:30 a.m. – Men's Javelin (Glad, Green)
~10:30 a.m. – Women's Discus (Edwards, Fisher, Fletcher, Sayler)
~10:30 a.m. – Women's Long Jump (Latu-Alves, Rideout)
11:30 a.m. – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Rosario, Forst, Beasley, Rideout; Portland State 'B' – Latu-Alves, Peterson, Abdel Halim, Medina)
11:40 p.m. – Men's 4x100-Meter Relay (Portland State 'A' – Macdonald, Payne, Stolp, Sweeney; Portland State 'B' – Brost, Bakkum, Jones, Schall)
11:50 a.m. – Women's 1,500 Meters (Wapsheli)
12 p.m. – Women's Hammer (Edwards, Fisher, Fletcher)
~12 p.m. – Men's High Jump (Mathers)
12:30 p.m. – Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Beasley)
12:45 p.m. – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles (Schall, Sweeney)
1 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters (Medina)
1:10 p.m. – Men's 400 Meters (Jones)
1:25 p.m. – Women's 100 Meters (Beasley, Jolivette, Latu-Alves, Medina, Peterson, Rideout, Rosario)
1:30 p.m. – Women's Shot Put (Edwards, Fisher, Sayler)
~1:30 p.m. – Men's Hammer (Coppedge, Green)
~1:30 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump (Parrow)
1:45 p.m. – Men's 100 Meters (Bakkum, Brost, Payne, Schall, Stolp, Sweeney)
2:05 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters (Amarillas)
2:40 p.m. – Women's 400-Meter Hurdles (Beasley, Peterson)
2:55 p.m. – Men's 400-Meter Hurdles (Schall)
~3 p.m. – Men's Shot Put (LaGris)
3:10 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters (Abdel Halim, Latu-Alves, Medina, Rideout)
3:30 p.m. – Men's 200 Meters (Bakkum, Brost, Macdonald, Payne, Schall, Stolp)
 
RICH ALLEN CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 14
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
11:40 a.m. – Women's 1,500m (Heat 1 of 3 – Nichols, Schmitke, Zarrin; Heat 3 of 3 – Wapsheli)
~12:10 p.m. – Men's 1,500m (Heat 1 of 3 – Gillingham; Heat 2 of 3 – Brown, Muradas, Parks, Sarver Huber, Walsh; Heat 3 of 3 – Chen)
1:45 p.m. – Women's 800m (Heat 1 of 3 – Amarillas, Butterfield, Capozzi, López, Zarrin; Heat 2 of 3 – Schmitke)
~1:55 p.m. – Men's 800m (Heat 1 of 3 – Ahmed, Arthur, Smith; Heat 2 of 3 – Brown, Parks; Heat 3 of 3 – Ahmed, Walsh)
~3:10 p.m. – Men's 5,000m (Heat 1 of 1 – Gillingham, Sandoval, Thake)
~3:40 p.m. – Men's 4x400-Meter Relay (Heat 1 of 1 – Portland State 'A' – Ahmed, Arthur, Smith, Ibrahim)