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.
As any professional athlete can attest, the world of high-stakes sports takes its toll on the body. At some point during the course of a career, athletes can expect to be confronted with a challenge greater than themselves. Better training methods and more effective medical procedures are in constant demand as the search for an advantage over the competition becomes increasingly fierce. Thankfully, the world of medical technology is bursting at the seams with new treatments and techniques, though some have come under scrutiny as the line between what is advantageous and what is unfair becomes more and more blurred.
The Portland State women’s golf team left the Anuenue Spring Break Classic with a ninth-place finish on Wednesday, scoring a season-best 293 round along the way. The Vikings faced stiff competition during the tournament but rose to the occasion in recording the fifth-best performance in school history on a 54-hole course.
The Portland Winterhawks entered the playoffs as the top seed in the WHL after finishing the season with a franchise-record 117 points (57-12-1-2). Their reward was a first-round matchup against the Everett Silvertips, a team they beat nine times out of 11 during the regular season.
After routing the University of North Dakota 7-0 on March 13, the Portland State men’s tennis team was looking to continue their streak with another Big Sky win against the University of Montana Grizzlies last Friday. But despite a sweep in doubles, the Vikings were unable to keep up with their conference foes, dropping five out of six singles matches for a tough 5-2 loss.
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 Women’s Tennis Vikings 7 Lewis-Clark State College 0 Men’s Tennis Montana 5 Vikings 2 WHL Winterhawks 11 Everett 4 Top performers Ty Rattie: 3 goals, 2 assists…
When I sit down to write this column, knowing full well that I am going to criticize March Madness and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, I wonder if I’m just an idiot. Or, if not an idiot, then at least someone who is no fun at all, someone whose feelings about athletics are perhaps closer to hate than love.
The visiting Detroit Pistons marched into the Rose Garden Saturday night for a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers. Detroit was coming into the game more than 20 games below .500 and were without rising star Brandon Knight. Medford native Kyle Singler suited up the Pistons and got a warm response from the sold-out Rose Garden crowd. The Blazers were without one of their main bench contributors, Victor Claver, who was still recovering from an ankle injury.
The Portland State women’s softball team won one and lost two at the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament in Hawaii over the weekend. The team shut out the East Carolina University Pirates in the first game on Friday, then came out on the losing end of a shutout versus the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in the second game of the evening’s doubleheader.
The Big Sky Conference-leading University of Montana Grizzlies came to Club Green Meadows last Saturday for a contest against the ninth-ranked Portland State tennis team. The Vikings are currently sitting three places out of playoff contention.
The indoor season may have come and gone, but Portland State is far from finished with their track and field campaign. The Vikings will begin their outdoor season this weekend in Eugene at the Oregon Preview.