It’s still early in the outdoor season, but the Portland State track and field squad is off to a promising start. The Vikings sent athletes to two events over the weekend, competing at the Texas Relays in Austin and the Stanford Invite in California.
Senior Geronne Black was the only Viking to compete at the Texas Relays, where she finished in 11th place in the 100-meter event. The sprinter’s time qualified her for the Big Sky Championships next month.
Three of the team’s distance runners made the trip out to Stanford. Bianca Martin took the opportunity to put her name in the PSU record books, recording the best time for a Viking in the 1,500-meter since 1987 with a time of 4 minutes, 23.89 seconds. In the process, she also qualified for the conference championships.
“It was an excellent race by Bianca,” assistant coach Jonathan Marcus said. “We’re glad to have her running for PSU.”
Martin will be joined at the Big Sky meet by senior Amber Rozcicha and freshman Camelia Mayfield, both of whom logged qualifying times in their respective events.
“It was a really successful meet for our distance runners,” Marcus said. “It was a positive experience.”
After an indoor season in which the women came very close to coming home as Big Sky Conference champions, PSU is gearing up to build on that success. The Vikings are back in heavy training mode and are ready to find out just how far they can go. Judging by the performances so far, they have every reason to be confident.
“We can be in the conversation to win the conference meet,” Marcus said. “We’re looking to develop our up-and-coming athletes and get them clicking on all cylinders.”
PSU will have some added motivation this year, as this is the first season in which the Vikings will host the outdoor championships. The meet will take place in Forest Grove May 8–11.
“We have a huge home-field advantage,” Marcus said. “Usually, we have to go to altitude in the majority of conference meets we run in, but we get to stay at sea level and we are here in Oregon, at our house. That is going to create a world of difference for us.”