PORTLAND, Ore. — Finals week on the campus of Portland State University ends Friday. But the Portland State track & field program will have one more test as the Vikings head to the PNW Invite, hosted by Oregon State University, this Friday and Saturday at the Whyte Track and Field Center.
 
Calling it a test may be a little much this early in the outdoor season. The Vikings only opened up last week across two different meets between the LCC Open and Rich Allen Classic.
 
And the focus over the early part of the outdoor season for head coach Joseph Blue is on execution over external results.
 
"I'm not speaking motivation as much as execution," Blue said of his coaching style. "Because motivation should come intrinsically. You should want to beat somebody. You should want to get better. I shouldn't be building people's motivation. If I'm doing that, I've got the wrong athletes. But right now, we're just speaking about execution and getting better. If we can do that, everything else will take care of itself."
 
The Vikings got better last week. Daniel Coppedge broke his own school record in the hammer as part of 10 event wins for the Vikings across both meets. Savannah Beasley provided two of the 10 wins while sweeping the 100- and 400-meter hurdles. She also ran a leg on the Vikings' winning 4x100-meter relay at the LCC Open.
 
The distance crew that competed at the Rich Allen Classic provided three wins for the Vikings between the women's 800 (Irina López) and 1,500 (Taylor Nichols) meters, as well as the men's 800 meters (Ari Smith).
 
The wins were a nice confidence booster for the Vikings in their outdoor season openers. But Blue, again, shifted from any external focus to an internal one.
 
"We're not really looking for placements – obviously, we want to win – but we're looking to get better. We're looking to beat our best," Blue said.
 
"We've already moved far from where they started. From last year and with new kids, we've moved far from that. There's just still more work to do. And I don't want to rush it and put all these expectations on them when they've still got room to grow and it's still a process. We'll keep trucking until May."
 
The long buildup for the Vikings this outdoor season is a blessing. Blue noted that he still has a relatively young and inexperienced team. It's why the Vikings are competing through spring break when other teams take a break. The Vikings need the experience. After this weekend's PNW Invite, they'll compete again at the Willamette Invitational on March 28.
 
"We just need more time to get there," Blue said of the decision to compete through spring break. "We don't need to be backing off if we're not ready yet. There will be a time for that once we feel like things are being executed. You get the patterns down, and the habits are there, then you just need to go. But right now, we're still working and learning, and we need to compete through that."
 
It goes back to finals week at PSU. You can't show up to a final expecting to ace it with little prep. You've got to be executing along the way.
 
MEET INFO
March 20-21 – PNW Invite – Corvallis, Ore. (Whyte Track and Field Center)
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Results
 
MEET SCHEDULE
Friday, March 20
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
12 p.m. – Women's Hammer (Edwards, Fisher)
~1 p.m. – Women's Discus (Edwards, Sayler)
~1 p.m. – Men's Hammer (Coppedge)
2:30 p.m. – Men's High Jump (Mathers)
4 p.m. – Women's 400-Meter Hurdles (Beasley)
4:25 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters (Abdel Halim, Beasley, Peterson, Rideout)
4:55 p.m. – Men's 200 Meters (Brost, Cadengo, Jones, Macdonald, Payne, Stolp)
6:20 p.m. – Men's 5,000 Meters (Gillingham)
7 p.m. – Women's 1,500 Meters (Butterfield, Nichols, Schmitke, Stolte)
7:23 p.m. – Men's 1,500 Meters (Ahmed, A., Arthur, Ibrahim, Smith)
8:25 p.m. – Men's 3k Steeplechase (Thake)
 
Saturday, March 21
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
11 a.m. – Men's Javelin (Glad)
11 a.m. – Women's Shot Put (Fisher, Sayler)
1:30 p.m. – Women's Long Jump (Rideout)
1:30 p.m. – Men's Long Jump (Mathers)
2:05 p.m. – Women's 100-Meter Hurdles (Beasley)
2:20 p.m. – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles (Sweeney)
2:35 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters (Abdel Halim, Peterson)
2:55 p.m. – Men's 400 Meters (Jones, Payne)
3:20 p.m. – Women's 100 Meters (Beasley, Forst, Jolivette, Rideout, Rosario)
3:40 p.m. – Men's 100 Meters (Brost, Cadengo, Macdonald, Stolp, Sweeney)
4:08 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters (Butterfield, Capozzi, López, Nichols, Stolte, Tagesson)
4:32 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters (Ahmed, A., Ahmed, M., Arthur, Ibrahim, Smith)