And they’re off…

After a long winter break, the Portland State track and field teams return to action to face the brunt of their indoor season.

Beginning with tomorrow’s UW Indoor Preview in Seattle, Wash., the Vikings will compete for the next five weekends until the conference championship on Feb. 26–27. Head coach Ronnye Harrison is looking to get all of his athletes qualified for the championship.

“It’s time to dust the cobwebs off from winter and get into competition mode,” Harrison said.

Seven Portland State student-athletes already qualified in December for the Big Sky Indoor Championship during their performance at the Boise State-hosted Jackson Open.

Two of them, sophomore Geronne Black and junior Karene King, placed first and second in the 60-meter dash with times of 7.71 and 7.75 seconds, respectively. Sophomores Joenisha Vinson and Pilar Dorsett qualified in the 60-meter hurdles. Vinson had 9.04 seconds and Dorsett was two places behind her at 9.13.

Two seniors also qualified with second-place finishes. Amirah Karim placed in the long jump with a distance of 18.73 feet, and Mikeya Nicholson ended the triple jump at 38.06 feet.

Senior Nick Trubachik, reigning conference champion in the heptathlon, qualified for the championship with 5,001 points and a fourth place finish—making him the only player on the men’s team to qualify for the championship.

Junior Adrienne Davis nearly qualified in the shot put during her first meet as a Viking, but was three-quarters of an inch short of standard. Her toss of 42 feet, 11.25 inches still enters her at third place in the Portland State record books.

Sophomore Tony Crisofulli nearly made his mark in the record books as well, missing the school record for the 1,000-meter run by only 1.88 seconds.

In the conference’s preseason poll, the results of which were released earlier this month, Portland state earned 15 votes for both the men’s and women’s teams. The men’s team was selected to finish eighth place and the women are predicted to finish ninth.

After Seattle, the Viks head to Flagstaff, Ariz., for the Friday Night Challenge hosted by Northern Arizona.