Vikings know how to throw. Senior Sean MacKelvie broke the Portland State record in the men’s javelin last week at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West Regionals and will move on to nationals.
Vikings know how to throw. Senior Sean MacKelvie broke the Portland State record in the men’s javelin last week at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West Regionals and will move on to nationals.
In total, the university sent five athletes to Austin, Texas, to show off Portland’s muscle, and they didn’t disappoint. Junior Geronne Black barely missed nationals—by 0.02 seconds. Head coach Ronnye Harrison was “tearfully proud.”
“It doesn’t really get any higher than this, except the actual pro level,” Harrison said. “For Sean and Geronne to go and compete at this level, it speaks levels about this program and the kind of athletes we’re getting.”
For MacKelvie, the season is not over yet. The senior will compete in the men’s javelin national final in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 7 for a chance to be named among the top eight in the U.S. The best throwers in the nation will be at this event. The hard work MacKelvie put in this season is paying off.
His first throw in Austin advanced him to nationals and set a new Portland State record at 69.57 meters. The top 16 throwers advanced to the final round. MacKelvie’s original throw was sixth best overall, and he finished second in his flight. The senior didn’t have to throw again as his original distance was good enough. However, three people surpassed him, landing him a final ranking of ninth.
Despite MacKelvie’s success, the men’s program hasn’t been the most triumphant this season, considering it only sent four athletes to conference. But MacKelvie has another year ahead of him, and with his chance to be top in the nation this season, the men are headed in the right direction.
“It sets us up for a really bright future,” Harrison said. “How people make decisions on what school they are going to go to is based on the conference meets of that school. Our job as coaches is to get the athletes to their genetic potential. For Sean and Geronne, that’s going to get them to nationals.”
For Black, this season has been filled with record-breaking times and a lot of improvement. The sprinter has improved her time by 0.3 seconds every season.
“It ends a great season for her,” Harrison said. “In sprinting, whenever you can drop 3/10ths every year, that’s pretty good. I don’t know if she can do it again next year, because that would put her at elite status in the world.”
Besides Black and MacKelvie, the women’s 4×100 relay team also made it to regionals, but they didn’t make it out of the quarter-finals. The women finished seventh in their heat and 20th overall. The race ends a record-breaking season for them, after they finished first in the Big Sky Outdoor Championships with a time of 45.19 seconds. “We don’t have the competition level for four people yet,” Harrison said.
