This past Saturday, the Portland State track and field teams were in California for the Bruce Drummond Sacramento State Invitational.
Both the men and women were in fine form, giving athletes from such schools as Southern Oregon, Humboldt State, Santa Clara, University of California and Fresno Pacific a run for their money. The Vikings returned home after the weekend with several individual titles.
The 1,500-meter events belonged to the Viking teams. Jenny Rodgers (4:37.50), Annie Kawasaki (4:46.56) and Mandy Peterson (4:48.99) placed first, second and third in the event for the women. They narrowly edged out Sacramento’s own Annette Corey (4:54.47) and Virginia Grillo (4:57.74), who were close behind in fourth and fifth places.
In the men’s race, Vikings runners Mike Kebbe (3:53.40), Evan Garich (3:56.54) and Bill Dolan (3:57.17) grabbed the first-, third- and fourth-place spots, respectively. Humboldt’s Doug Hamilton was able to slip into second place with a time of 3:54.40.
Viking Jimmy Sattem gave an impressive performance in the 100m dash, beating out 17 other runners with a first place time of 10.85. Hashim Hall (11.18) and Reynard Carrie (11.28) came in a respectable sixth and ninth. Viking Camelle Taylor (12.80) grabbed fifth place in the women’s 100m event.
Senior Viking transfer Tim Overfield dominated the 400m hurdles event with a time of 51.84. Once again, Sacramento State runners were just a little too slow, with Jeff Santana (53.28), Nick Santana (53.99) and Chris Santana (54.27) coming in second, third and fourth in the race for the Hornets.
The 400m dash events also included some great PSU showings. Brady Randall (59.96) came in fourth place and Jenny Hansberry (60.87) placed fifth for the women, while Anthony Robinson (48.60) took second in the men’s race. Hansberry also placed second in the 400m hurdles.
The Vikings will return to California on March 22 for the Sacramento State Track Classic.