Four student-athletes from the Portland State indoor track and field teams brought home five medals from the Big Sky Indoor Championships in Bozeman, Mont., , improving on last year’s four-medal performance by one.
Senior Nick Trubachik, junior Karene King and sophomores Joenisha Vinson and Geronne Black all finished in the top three positions in their events to earn two gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
Trubachik and Black each won gold for their performances in the heptathlon and the 55-meter, respectively. Vinson earned silver in the 55m hurdles and bronze in the heptathlon, while King took bronze in the 55m.
Coming into the weekend as the reigning champion in the heptathlon, Trubachik took gold for the second consecutive time with a score of 5,432—breaking his own school record in the event and becoming the only back-to-back heptathlon champion in school history.
“I’m really excited,” Trubachik said in a statement released by the school. “I had to work really hard because Asa [Staven, of Montana State] was right on my tail the whole time.”
Trubachik’s score breaks his own school record for the second time this season, ranks 18th in the nation and earns him provisional qualification for NCAA competition.
Trubachik hustled hard, and never lost sight of the gold. Although he finished third in three out of five of his events, he managed to race his way to the finish line and steal the first-place spot.
Black’s gold medal time of 7.01 seconds in the 55m is just .01 seconds short of PSU’s record, and is also Portland State’s second win in a short-sprint event. Last year, Jernise Saunders took the gold in the 60m dash.
“If it wasn’t for Karene, I wouldn’t have run as fast as I did,” Black said, explaining her motivation. “She is constantly pushing me to do my best.”
In the same event, King started out leading the pack but fell behind to Black and Montana State’s Camille Marchand to finish third with a 7.11 second time.
On the first day of the Championships, Vinson placed third in the pentathlon with a score of 3,579, and clocked personal records in all five of the events.
She had an outstanding performance in the 55m hurdles, finishing with a time of 7.99—the only student-athlete in PSU history to clock in below eight seconds and recording the fastest time by .22 seconds.
By the end of the fourth event, Vinson was in fourth place but managed to finish her last event, the 800-meter, with a time of 2:35.67—her personal best before this was 2:53.26.
“I didn’t expect this—I entered the event ranked ninth,” Vinson said. “It feels great.”
During the second day, Vinson took silver in the 55m hurdles with a time of 7.95—she was only .01 seconds behind the winner.
Other outstanding performances came from Junior Adrienne Davis in the shot put, and newcomer Jordan Brown in the long jump.
Davis placed seventh with a new personal best of 45 feet, 11.5 inches.
“Adrienne stepped up to who we thought she could be,” head coach Ronnye Harrison said. “She could step up and be 50-foot shot put thrower for us in the future.”
Brown tied for seventh in his event with his new personal best of 22 feet, 10 inches, improving on his previous best by two feet.
Portland State medalists
Gold
Nick Trubachik
Senior, Hepathlon
Score: 5,432
Geronne Black
Sophomore, Women’s 55m
Time: 7.01 seconds
Silver
Joenisha Vinson
Sophomore, Women’s 55m hurdles
Time: 7.95 seconds
Bronze
Joenisha Vinson
Sophomore, Pentathlon
Score: 3,579
Karene King
Junior, Women’s 55m
Time: 7.11 seconds