A STOCKER STUFFER FOR VIKING FANS
December 14, 2011
by Mike Lund, Athletics Media Relations

While I full expect the Viking basketball teams to add to the highlight list over
the next two weeks... I took a look back at everything that happened this year
in Viking Athletics and selected just a few of the many highlights.
Take a look. Pretty impressive...

• Four conference championships
• An appearance on the top morning TV show in America
• Best women's sports program in the Big Sky
• Finest APR score ever for Viking student-athletes
• Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, All-American, Academic All-American
• Overcoming cancer
• It's all in a year's work for the Viking Athletic Program…

(links to the full stories included)

THE YEAR IN VIKING SPORTS: 2011

Feb
4: Viking basketball player Melvin Jones was the subject of a feature on
NBC's Today Show, "American Story by Bob Dotson." The story centered on
how Jones rose up from a high school student on a path to failure to an
Academic All-Conference level student, excelling in Division I
basketball and earning his college degree, with the assistance of his
adoptive mother, Jennifer Annable, his former high school coach, Kasey
Poirrer, and their family.

5: The Viking athletic program's Wine and Roses fund-raising event sells
out and earns more than $180,000 for athletics scholarships.

26: Geronne Black won the 60-meter sprint at the Big Sky Conference Indoor
Championship with an altitude adjusted time of 7.45 seconds. Teammate
Karene King won the 200 meters with a clocking of 24.10 seconds.

March
5: Portland State women’s basketball went on a six-game winning streak to
wrap up the Big Sky Conference Championship on the season's final day,
beating Montana State, 65-63. It was Portland State's first Big Sky
regular season title. PSU finished the season with a 20-12 record and
made a third straight post-season appearance, playing in the WNIT.
Junior guard Eryn Jones was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the
Year, while Head Coach Sherri Murrell, who has led the Vikings to 83
wins in four seasons, was selected as Big Sky Conference co-Coach of the
Year.

10: Senior guard Melvin Jones scored a season-high 25 points in his final
career game in his hometown of Seattle, leading the Vikings to an 81-71
win over the Seattle Redhawks. The win was PSU's 14th of the season,
improving over the previous year. For the fourth straight year, PSU led
the Big Sky Conference in scoring (72.3 ppg) and guard Charles Odum was
named second team All-Big Sky Conference.

April
20: Britney Yada leads a dominant performance by the Viking golf team as it
 wins the Big Sky Conference Championship for the third time in four
years and sixth time in nine seasons. Yada set a school and conference
record with a six-under 210 at Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler, AZ. The
Vikings broke the school and conference record with a 54-hole total of
880. Yada, Tiffany Schoning and Lauren Taylor all earned first team
All-Big Sky Conference honors, while Kalyn Dodge was named to the second
 team. Taylor was also the Big Sky Freshman of the Year. Senior Alexia
Brown, a four-year starter, was a three-time Big Sky Champion. Head
Coach Kathleen Takaishi earned Conference Coach of the Year honors for
the second straight year. PSU tied or broke 12 school records and won
three tournaments during the spring season.

26: Yuki Sugiyama was named first team All-Big Sky Conference for the
women's tennis team, going 13-4 at the number one position for the
Vikings. She led the Big Sky Conference in wins at the number one
position and had a 6-2 conference record.

30: Two-sport star Julius Thomas was taken in the fourth round of the NFL
Draft by the Denver Broncos, becoming the highest drafted Viking since
Neil Lomax in 1981 (2nd round). JT was a first team All-Big Sky
Conference tight end in 2010 after have a decorated four-year basketball
 career that included four school records and two trips to the NCAA
Tournament.

May
14: The softball team wins the Pacific Coast Softball Conference title,
sweeping Loyola Marymount, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The
championship comes after winning the PCSC Mountain Division. The
conference championship is the second in three years under Coach Tobin
Echo-Hawk. Second baseman Carly McEachran was named Mountain Division
co-Player of the Year, while Nichole Latham was Mountain Division
Pitcher of the Year. Echo-Hawk was selected as co-Coach of the Year
after leading the team to a 34-18 mark. The Vikings had eight first team
 selections on the All-Mountain Division team.

14: Sprinter Karene King had a meet an athlete dreams of, winning the Big
Sky Conference Championship in the 100 meters (11.83), 200 meters
(23.93) and 4x100 meter relay (45.75).

17: The Portland State women's athletics program won the Big Sky Conference
 All-Sports Trophy for 2010-11, sharing the honor with the University of
 Montana. It marked the first time that PSU has finished atop the
All-Sports standings in the conference. The award came on the strength
of conference titles in volleyball, women's basketball and golf, and a
second-place finish in soccer.

24: The Portland State Athletics program received its highest grades ever
from the NCAA for Academic Progress Rate. The NCAA gave PSU a score of
956 out of a possible 1,000 for its 2009-10 academic year. Seven teams
scored a perfect 1,000: men's basketball, men's cross country, men's
tennis, men's indoor track, women's golf and women's soccer. All 15
Viking programs had an APR score of over 900. The women's golf program
was recognized as having an APR score in the nation's top 10 percent
with its fourth successive year of perfect 1,000 scores.

June
Portland State wraps up the 2010-11 academic year with a remarkable list of
achievements: Four conference champion teams (volleyball, women’s
basketball, softball, golf), three NCAA tournament appearances, one WNIT
 appearance, six individual conference champions, one academic
All-American, one Academic All-District, four All-District honors, 41
All-Conference athletes, 70 academic All-Conference honors, 40
Player/Athlete of the Week honors, seven Player of the Year honors and
four Coach of the Year honors.

July
At the end of the first year of the "Our Town, Your Team" campaign
(2010-11), Portland State student-athletes have racked up more than
3,000 hours of community service.

September
1: Junior Joey Esposito earned the start on the offensive line in the
season-opening football game against Southern Oregon, which was not a
story in itself until you knew he had overcome cancer for a second time
in his young life to get back on the field and compete at the Division I
 level. Esposito was playing in his first game since signing a national
letter of intent with Portland State in 2010. Shortly after competing in
 spring football that year, Esposito was diagnosed with cancer for the
SECOND TIME in his life. Having previously battled testicular cancer,
Esposito this time was told he had a spot on his lung. The 6-4,
300-pound Esposito had previously overcome the insidious disease while
in junior college. This time, he underwent chemotherapy throughout the
summer of 2010 and eventually surgery to remove a piece of his lung. He
returned to the field for spring football in 2011 and became one of many
 feel-good stories for the Viking football team in the fall.

4: The women's soccer program capped a four game winning streak with
a 2-0 victory over Detroit at the Wolf Pack Invitational. The four game
winning streak is the longest since 2002.

10: For the second week in a row, Viking sophomore Zach Carpenter won a
cross country meet. Carpenter won the Pier Park Invitational in Portland
 one week after capturing the John Frank Memorial in Corvallis. He was
named Big Sky Conference Runner of the Week on Sept. 13, and went on to
be the Vikings' top finisher at the Big Sky Championship meet in
October.

October
1: Connor Kavanaugh and Cory McCaffrey become the first Viking football
teammates to rush for at least 200 yards in the same game in a win over
Idaho State, 42-35. While McCaffrey rushes for 218 yards and two
touchdowns, Kavanaugh is named National Player of the Week for rushing
for 212 yards and four touchdowns, and completing 6-11 passes for 102
yards. The Vikings set a school record for rushing in the game with 436
yards. Kavanaugh goes on to set Portland State and Big Sky Conference
quarterback rushing records for a season and a career.

7: Women's Soccer Head Coach Laura Schott became the all-time leader in career coaching wins at Portland State with her 30th career win at Eastern Washington. She passed Bernie Fagan (1993-96) and Tara Erickson (2001-2004) who both won 29 matches in their time at Portland State. She finished the season with a total of 32 career wins.

23: The women's soccer program clinches a share of the Big Sky Conference
championship with a 1-0 overtime win at Idaho State. It is the second
title in three seasons for Head Coach Laura Schott's team, and the 15th
conference championship for a Viking team over the past four years.
Junior Megan Martin was named the Big Sky Conference's Offensive MVP as
nine players in all earn All-Conference honors. Martin also won the Golden
Boot becoming only the third Viking to win the Offensive MVP and
Golden Boot in the same season.

November
13: Junior guard Eryn Jones became the 15th Portland State women's
basketball player in history to reach the 1,000-career point mark. Jones scored
15 points in the Vikings’ 65-51 win over UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 13 to
pass 1,000 points.

16: Chehales Tapscott hits a short jump shot in the lane with four seconds
to play to cap off an improbable comeback and beat Seattle, 66-65, in
the Vikings' home opener. PSU trailed by 14 in the second half, and
65-58 with just 1:39 to play. But Tapscott scored six of the final eight
 points including the game-winner.

19: Although the football team loses its season finale to Weber State, the
Vikings cap off their finest season in five years with a 7-4 record and
come within one game of serious NCAA playoff consideration. Head Coach
Nigel Burton turns the Vikings into one of the most improved teams in
the nation and is named as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National
Coach of the Year.

26: After a slow start to the season, in which at one point the Viking
volleyball team was 4-9 and had lost eight straight matches, it roared
back to a second place finish and made it to the Big Sky Conference
Tournament Championship match. PSU won 10 of 11 and 14 of 17 before
losing in the title match to Northern Colorado. Setter Garyn Schlatter
and hitter Megan Ellis were named first team All-Big Sky Conference.

December
7: Viking junior Zach Brown is named first team All-American after putting
 together the finest season by a kicker in school history. Brown leads
the nation in field goals made with 24 (2.18 per game). He was twice
named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week and became a finalist for
the prestigious Fred Mitchell Award, recognizing one kicker in the
nation for on-field excellence and community service. In all, Brown
breaks or extends 10 Portland State records.


NOVEMBER 2011 VIKING BLOG