Taking advantage of small school competition, Portland State track and field athletes claimed nine events and placed in the top three 26 different times at the Willamette Invitational last Saturday.
Asserting their dominance, the Vikings made a clean sweep of the women’s 800-meter competition. Graduate student Amanda Kamm ran away with first place, setting a personal best of two minutes and 12.65 seconds. Finishing after Kamm, senior Staci Bielenberg placed second with a time of 2:16.19 and sophomore Adriane Wai brought up the rear of the triplet, crossing the line at 2:19.22.
Senior Judith Burnett almost pulled off the double dip in the women’s throwing events, placing first in shot put with a toss of 41-feet 8.75-inches and finishing second to fellow Viking Caressa Sims’ mark of 158-3 in the women’s hammer.
Other Viking women who collected the top prize Saturday include freshman Nkeiru Ugwoaba in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 38-2.75, junior Antoinette Payne, who took first in the women’s long jump and the Viking women’s 4×400-meter relay team, which edged the nearest competitor by nearly two seconds with a time of 3:57.99.
On the men’s side, three Viking athletes stole the entire show. Senior Brandon Lopez left his competition in the dust, sprinting to a 400-meter dash win at 50.21 seconds. Junior Trevor Rollinger enjoyed his own success, clearing all of the obstacles in the 400-meter hurdles and clocking in at 53.84 seconds. Soaring to victory, sophomore Nikolai Hristov snagged a first place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 42-9.
The Viking men also played second fiddle in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays, narrowly being beat out by Lane Community College in the 4×400 relay with a slim one-hundredth of a second margin.
Portland State will attempt to repeat its success next Saturday, as the squad will head south to compete in the Oregon Invitational at the University of Oregon in Eugene.