Author: Skyler Archibald

Eight players that suited up last year for Portland State’s football team will likely not return for the 2008 season after their scholarships were not renewed for the 2008-09 academic year. In early June, each of the players were informed by the athletic department in a letter that their athletic scholarship would end at the end of spring term. They also each met with either their position coach or head football coach Jerry Glanville. Three of the players who did not have their scholarships renewed confirmed for the Vanguard Monday the names of all eight of the players. The players named are as follows: Matt Bramow, Ronnie Fa’avae, Reggie Joseph, AJ Nielsen, Tristan Patin, Matt Smith, Scott Stone and Marcel Thompson.

With approximately 30 of his former athletes gathered around him, former Portland State track and field head coach Ralph Davis seemed overcome with happiness. Davis, elected as a member of the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, was lauded by the runners, jumpers and throwers, into whom he had once poured countless hours of instruction.

The arrival of the summer months and the completion of the school year brought bunches of youngsters to the South Park Blocks last week to take part in youth football and basketball camps. The Portland State football team welcomed approximately 250 football protégés, all under eighth grade, to the second annual Jerry Glanville Youth Football Camp, and the men’s basketball team greeted 60 young hoopsters during the week-long training sessions.

After observing the Portland State men’s basketball team compete against Kansas last spring in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Scott Fabian knew that there was room for improvement in the strength and conditioning of Vikings athletes. Although the Jayhawks, the eventual national champions, featured five players that would be selected in the NBA draft and had a sizeable height advantage at every position, Fabian said the biggest difference between the two squads would be unmeasured on a basketball court.

Two of the members of the women’s golf team that captured the Big Sky Championship and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament were named to the National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team for the 2007-08 academic year. Senior Kayla Morinaga, an economics major and two-time all Big Sky Conference performer, and sophomore Aubrey Vaughn, a business administration major, were both Academic All-Conference selections as well.

As she prepares to leave the office that she has occupied during her final year at Portland State, Teri Mariani wonders aloud what her legacy will be. On the countdown calendar hanging behind her on the wall, she has crossed out each passed day with a pink highlighter. “When I stepped down from coaching [softball], that was a bit harder. This isn’t going to be hard initially. It might just feel like a vacation, but at some point it will hit me. I am done,” Mariani says, temporarily holding back her emotions.

Fresh off the completion of the spring sports schedule, the Portland State Athletic Department recently announced its student-athlete award winners. The 2007-08 academic year was likely the finest year ever for Portland State athletics, and the awards were verification of that success.

Despite three fine individual performances, the Portland State track and field team concluded their 2008 outdoor season this weekend at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Northridge, Calif. After winning the 100-meter dash at the Big Sky Conference Championships two weeks ago, sophomore sprinter Jernise Saunders finished 13th of 16 competitors in the stellar field.

Despite a disappointing team finish in the Big Sky Championships two weeks ago, the Portland State track and field team will be represented by three athletes competing in four events at the NCAA West Regional in Northridge, Calif., this weekend. Headlining the roster of Portland State athletes who have qualified for the elite meet is senior thrower Caressa Sims. Joining Sims will be sophomores Jernise Saunders and Nkeiru Ugwoaba.

While most experts trace the origins of modern golf to 14th century Scotland, a place where the local Scots played the hills and valleys of the coastline on courses designed by nature, the game may have found another homeland: Portland. Wide open spaces, varied terrain, developed plant and wildlife habitat and a moderate climate have made Portland a unique fit for the 78 courses that reside within a 30-minute drive of downtown.

The late Joseph C. Blumel, Portland State’s fourth president, was honored on Friday when the school renamed the former West Hall as Joseph C. Blumel Hall. Blumel, who died just over one year ago, served as President from 1974 to 1986 and was the longest serving president of the university. He is especially respected for his work in helping the school develop after it became a four-year university and for his effort in establishing Portland State’s current identity as an urban school.