Hitting the ground running

The Portland State men’s and women’s track teams traveled to Seattle, Wash., on Saturday for the UW Indoor Preview, hosted by the University of Washington, and head coach Ronnye Harrison is pleased with how his team performed.

“The meet was a good start to the official start,” Harrison said. 

One of the key players was junior P’Lar Dorsett, who had a career best and improved her times in both the 60-meter and 60m hurdles. She made it into the final round with finishing times of 8.95 seconds in the hurdles and 7.87 seconds in the dash. This was also the first time Dorsett made it to the final round in both events.

Besides Dorsett, sophomore Geronne Black also made it to the final round of the 60m and finished in fourth with a time of 7.60 seconds. Black’s time was also a new personal record.

In the 800m run, sophomore Amber Rozcicha made it to the final round with a time of 2 minutes, 17 seconds.

“Amber is an outstanding athlete,” Harrison said. “She had a very good race and is ranked second in the conference, and that’s very good for her.”

Senior Karene King made it to the finals in the 200m, coming in second with a time of 24.70 seconds. In the very first meet, the Jackson’s Open, which was held Dec. 4 in Boise Idaho, King won the 200m with a time of 24.54, which automatically qualified her for the Big Sky Championship in March. King qualified for Big Sky in the 60m as well. 

In the field events, shot-putter and freshman Shae Carson won her flight with a throw of 38 feet, 10.25 inches, but ended up 13th in the finals. Senior Adrienne Davis threw a two-foot PR and a total distance of 44 feet, 5.25 inches, coming in third overall. Davis is also currently ranked second in the conference.

As for the men, senior John Lawrence finished in the top 10 with a time of 4:13.63 minutes in the one-mile run. This event was Lawrence’s first career race in the mile.

Junior Tony Crisofulli ran the 800m and made it to the finals in eighth place with a time of 1:54.07. Senior Andrew Slag came in eighth place in the 3,000m with a time of 8:34.29.

Junior Jaret Rockenbach came in sixth in the men’s shot put with a throw of 48 feet, 5.5 inches. 

Despite the fact that the preseason polls place both PSU squads at the bottom of the conference standings, the Vikings continue to train and work hard to get as many people as possible qualified for the conference and NCAA championships.

“Everything is going as expected,” Harrison said. “There have been no surprises, but we still look to the positive, and still look to get things done.”

The Vikings next hit the road for Albuquerque, N.M. on Saturday, for the Cherry and Silver Invitational, and hopes are high for the event.

“[Because] the venues are so different, most people will do better at Albuquerque than at UW,” Harrison said. “The runners will improve, and the jumpers will do better. People improve with competition.” ?