SALEM, Ore. — The Portland State track & field program frequently found itself in the winner's circle Saturday as the Vikings won 10 of the 26 events they entered at the Willamette Invitational. The program had athletes in the top three of six other events, putting them on the podium more often than not at McCulloch Stadium.
 
The victory-filled day should be another confidence booster for the Vikings, after they set two school records and two more freshman records last week at the PNW Invite. Both meets serve as tune-ups for the Vikings' trip to California next week, April 3-4, when they'll compete across three meets in the Bay Area between the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, Stanford Invitational and Brutus Hamilton Invitational.
 
The most impressive of the Vikings' 10 wins Saturday will be a point of internal debate leading up to the California trip. Regardless of who comes out on top of that exchange, one of the most encouraging victories for the Vikings Saturday may have come from Tori Forst in the women's 100 meters.
 
Forst has had a journey back from injury this season. The Vikings' best sprinter when healthy, she was shut down after only a couple weeks last outdoor season, then competed in only two meets during the 2026 indoor season. She came back to run a leg of the Vikings' 4x100-meter relay at the LCC Open, but Saturday marked her return to individual events.
 
Forst won Saturday's 100 meters in 12.11 seconds, three-hundredths of a second faster than Oregon State's Riley Patera. The time may not have been a personal best for Forst, but it did mark an improvement over her season opener a year ago. Akanesi Latu-Alves and Norhan Abdel Halim also set personal bests in the 100 meters with their finishes in 12.91 and 13.16 seconds, respectively.
 
Forst's win highlighted a sprints and hurdles group that accounted for six of the Vikings' 10 wins Saturday. Elsewhere, Isaiah Cadengo finished two-tenths of a second ahead of his nearest competitor in the men's 200 meters, winning in 21.98 seconds. Cadengo also ran the opening leg of the Vikings' winning 4x100-meter relay that finished in 41.44 seconds. That marked the Viking men's fastest 4x1 since 2016 as Cadengo, Jack Macdonald, Beckett Stolp and Dillon Brost moved up to eighth all-time at Portland State with their finish Saturday.
 
The Viking women, meanwhile, got wins out of the open 400 and 400 hurdles, as well as the 4x400 relay. Ashley Peterson won the 400 hurdles in a personal best of 1:05.26, shaving a half-second off her previous best that she set two weeks ago at the LCC Open. Peterson also ran the third leg of the Vikings' 4x400-meter relay that won in 4:08.39. Ocean Rideout, Lydia Medina and Hannah Butterfield ran the other three legs.
 
Irina López won the open 400 meters for the Viking women in a personal best of 59.20 seconds. López finished nearly a quarter of a second ahead of Oregon State's Ruby Lorenz in second, while Butterfield followed in third with her own personal best of 59.48 seconds. Butterfield's time moved her up to seventh in the freshman top 10 at Portland State.
 
Butterfield was one of six Vikings to set a freshman top 10 mark Saturday. Two of the six came from the women's discus where Princess Fletcher and Avonlea Edwards finished 1-2 for the Vikings. Fletcher passed Edwards for the lead with a throw of 124-08 (38.01m) on her second attempt and then held onto the lead from there. Fletcher's mark represented a new personal best by 13 and a half feet while it also moved her up to eighth in the freshman top 10. Edwards, meanwhile, added more than 10 feet to her seasonal best with a throw of 124-03 (37.89m), moving her up to ninth in the freshman top 10. Jaelyn Sayler set a seasonal best while placing fifth in the discus with a throw of 111-03 (33.91m).
 
Natalie Fisher – another of the Vikings' throwers – contributed her own freshman top 10 mark in the women's shot put. Fisher and Sayler finished third and fourth while setting a pair of personal bests with their marks of 39-01.75 (11.93m) and 38-03.25 (11.66m), respectively. For Fisher, the mark added two inches to the personal best she set last week at the PNW Invite, which moved her up to fifth in the freshman top 10 at Portland State.
 
Henry Glad produced another win for the Viking throwers in the men's javelin. Glad won the javelin by close to 12 feet while setting a seasonal best for the second straight week with his mark of 178-07 (54.44m). That was only four inches short of the personal best Glad set at last year's Big Sky Outdoor Championships. It came on his second of six attempts, and he had one more go past his previous best this season.
 
Jackson Mathers added another event win from the field for the Vikings in the men's high jump. Mathers came through with a clutch third-attempt clearance at his opening height of 1.85 meters, then won it when he was the only athlete to clear the bar at 1.90 meters. Mathers cleared on his first attempt at 1.90 meters, then did so again with the bar at 1.93 meters. He took three attempts at what would have been a personal best of 1.98 meters – a height that would have tied him for ninth all-time at Portland State – but he missed on all three.
 
Mathers also placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 44-04.25 (13.52m). Damien Parrow followed in fourth with a mark of 42-03.25 (12.88m). Parrow's mark represented a collegiate best by 2.5 inches and moved him up one spot to ninth in the freshman top 10.
 
Shayda Zarrin provided the other event win for the Vikings – and by the widest margin on the track – with a victory in the women's 1,500 meters. Zarrin won by more than seven seconds over Corban's Josephine Rothman with her finish in 4:57.24. That was three seconds faster than her season-opening time from the Rich Allen Classic. Talise Wapsheli also set a personal best in the 1,500 meters by close to four seconds with her finish in 5:24.63.
 
Carson Schall, meanwhile, set the other freshman top 10 mark for the Vikings in the men's 110 hurdles. Schall finished third in 15.92 seconds, shaving three-tenths of a second off his collegiate best and moving up one spot to seventh in the freshman record book.
 
Other notable marks from the Vikings outside of the event wins and freshman top 10s included Rideout's debut in the 100 hurdles, as she finished in 17.06 seconds. Rideout doubled back to lead a group of five Vikings in the women's 200 meters, as she placed fifth in 25.84 seconds – one-hundredth of a second behind the personal best she set last week at the PNW Invite.
 
Additionally, Macdonald – a week after breaking or tying freshman records in the men's 100 and 200 meters – competed in his first 400-meter race of the season. He led a group of four Vikings in the event while placing sixth overall in 51.42 seconds. Brost and James Timmins followed with personal bests of their own in 51.90 and 51.98 seconds, respectively.
 
The Vikings also got a wave of personal bests in the men's 800 meters. Luke Gillingham led that group with a third-place finish in 1:57.14, shaving two seconds off his previous best. Zach Payne – usually a 200- or 400-meter sprinter – followed in sixth while running his debut 800-meter race in 2:00.62. Ian Parks and Simon Walsh added an outdoor and overall best in the 800 meters, respectively, while finishing in 2:02.85 and 2:05.53.
 
Mikey LaGris was one of the first Vikings in action Saturday. He set a collegiate best in the shot put with a mark of 32-07.50 (9.94m), bettering a mark he set just two weeks ago at the LCC Open.
 
Carter Green, LaGris' fellow thrower, added more than 20 feet to his personal best in the hammer. Green threw 122-11 (37.48m) on this opening attempt of the day while placing eighth overall. All five of Green's legal throws (he had one foul) were past his old best.
 
Willamette Invitational
McCulloch Stadium; Outdoor Athletic Complex (Hammer only)
Salem, Ore.
March 28, 2026
 
Women's Results:
100m: 1. Tori Forst, 12.11; 6. Akanesi Latu-Alves, 12.91; 8. Norhan Abdel Halim, 13.16. 200m: 5. Ocean Rideout, 25.84; 7. Olivia Jolivette, 26.84; 8. Norhan Abdel Halim, 27.11; 12. Lydia Medina, 27.73; 13. Riley Amarillas, 28.96. 400m: 1. Irina López, 59.20; 3. Hannah Butterfield, 59.48; 6. Lydia Medina, 1:04.04; 7. Riley Amarillas, 1:04.80. 800m: 4. Stina Tagesson, 2:21.13. 1,500m: 1. Shayda Zarrin, 4:57.24; 7. Talise Wapsheli, 5:24.63. 100H: 8. Ocean Rideout, 17.06. 400H: 1. Ashley Peterson, 1:05.26. 4x400m Relay: 1. Portland State 'A' (Rideout, Medina, Peterson, Butterfield), 4:08.39. Long Jump: Akanesi Latu-Alves, ND. Shot Put: 3. Natalie Fisher, 39-01.75 (11.93m); 4. Jaelyn Sayler, 38-03.25 (11.66m). Discus: 1. Princess Fletcher, 124-08 (38.01m); 2. Avonlea Edwards, 124-03 (37.89m); 5. Jaelyn Sayler, 111-03 (33.91m). Hammer: 2. Avonlea Edwards, 145-02 (44.26m); 7. Natalie Fisher, 116-00 (35.37m); Princess Fletcher, ND.
 
Men's Results:
100m: 4. Isaiah Cadengo, 11.19; 10. Phoenix Bakkum, 11.52; 12. Carson Schall, 11.62; 14. Preston Jones, 12.00. 200m: 1. Isaiah Cadengo, 21.98; 12. Phoenix Bakkum, 23.39; 16. Preston Jones, 24.36. 400m: 6. Jack Macdonald, 51.42; 8. Dillon Brost, 51.90; 9. James Timmins, 51.98; 12. Becket Stolp, 54.78. 800m: 3. Luke Gillingham, 1:57.14; 6. Zach Payne, 2:00.62; 7. Ian Parks, 2:02.85; 9. Simon Walsh, 2:05.53; 10. Aidan Brown, 2:07.61; 11. Luis Muradas, 2:13.59. 1,500m: 3. Abdinajib Abade, 4:06.94; 4. Vince Estrada, 4:10.14; 7. Luis Muradas, 4:16.53; 8. Tom Thake, 4:17.45; 11. Kyle Chen, 4:24.71. 5,000m: 4. Mika Sarver Huber, 16:27.76; 54. Landen Sandoval, 16:55.83. 110H: 3. Carson Schall, 15.92. 4x100m Relay: 1. Portland State 'A' (Cadengo, Macdonald, Stolp, Brost), 41.44. High Jump: 1. Jackson Mathers, 6-04.00 (1.93m). Long Jump: 9. Damien Parrow, 19-07.00 (5.97m). Triple Jump: 3. Jackson Mathers, 44-04.25 (13.52m); 4. Damien Parrow, 42-03.25 (12.88m). Shot Put: 7. Mikey LaGris, 32-07.50 (9.94m). Discus: 12. Mikey LaGris, 94-01.00 (28.69m). Hammer: 8. Carter Green, 122-11 (37.48m). Javelin: 1. Henry Glad, 178-07 (54.44m); 7. Carter Green, 136-04 (41.56m).