Although they didn’t have a meet scheduled, it was a hectic weekend for the Portland State track and field teams.
Several athletes, who haven’t qualified for the Big Sky Championship yet, capitalized on the break by competing in a couple of meets.
“It gave the short relay a chance to run again. But they probably could have run a second faster if they weren’t so sloppy on their exchanges,” men’s coach Ken Woodard said.
The Vikings’ Jamie Breese, who was the only athlete to compete in the George Fox University Distance Carnival in Newberg on Friday, April 13, finished third in the 3000. Her performance and time of 10:14.06 marked the best time for the women’s team this year.
Saturday, April 14, the Vikings won six events and improved and set 15 new individual personal bests (PR’s) when they competed at the Linfield All-Comers Meet in McMinnville.
The Vikings’ Jim Sattem led the men’s 100-meter dash and clinched the victory in 10.97. Mike Duncan cruised to a ninth place finish in the in 11.60.
PSU’s Austin Pitchlynn finished in sixth place in the 400 meters with a time of 52.32. Usual half-miler Evan Garich, who ran the quarter mile for the first time this season, rallied to get 14th place. He crossed the line in 55.38.
Garich doubled in the 1500, finishing runner-up in 4:04.65, while Brian Orth closed in fifth place with a time of 4:06.81.
“Brian had another solid performance and Evan ran the first 1500 of the year so I was pleased,” Woodard said. “It was a good time and they ran well.”
In the field events, Jeremy Wilson clinched the victory in the triple jump (13.40). He also won the long jump with a season-best 20-05.25.
“In high school he had better season-bests, but he hasn’t triple jumped since then and that’s four years ago. He’s coming along well and has plenty of time,” Woodard said.
Ian McPhillips finished in ninth place in the long jump (19-03.50) and went on to finish eighth in the triple jump with a season-best of 40-08.25. Phillip Nethers and Joe Slaughter both improved their season marks, getting 13th with a throw of 36-05.75 and 15th with a throw of 35-06.75, respectively.
The Vikings’ Scott Rotrock rallied to victory in the discus with a throw of 144-4. “Scott’s still coming around learning the big discus,” Woodard said. “He had three consistent throws and three bad throws so that’s better because he’s getting used to doing it.”
Rotrock agrees that he’s coming along as well.
“Overall it went pretty good,” Rotrock said after the meet. “I’m pretty consistent this season for a freshman. I’ve hit 146″ this season three times so that’s pretty consistent. It was pretty small (meet). It kind of reminded me of high school. But it was a good experience because I won and the competition wasn’t bad.”
The men’s short relay finished in third place and crossed the line in 43.18, the best time for their squad this season.
“You should have seen the way he (Jim Sattem) ran the anchor leg,” Woodard said after the race. “He was going to catch those guys.”
In the women’s competition, PSU’s Toni Adair sealed the victory in the 400 in 59.52, while Sharon Burnett (60.53) and Kristen Hall (61.24) finished second and third respectively.
“They ran solidly and they’re coming along very well,” said women’s head coach Keith Woodard. “They had some good competition but it was mostly small colleges like Lewis and Clark, Willamette and Western Oregon competing.”
Marcia Bomber took individual honors in the 100 in 13.00. PSU’s Rachel Lodiroli was the runner-up in the same event, closing right behind Bomber in 13.14.”They ran solid but not real great starts. But they turned it on towards the finish,” Woodard said.
Adair and Hall both ran the 200 for the first time this season, and finished second and fourth place with times of 26.12 and 29.96 respectively. Lodiroli also finished fifth in time of 27.01 in the 200.
Breese came back the next day to run the 800 and finished in third place with a time of 2:22.81. In the 400-meter hurdles middle distance runner Brady Lukkari was the runner up in 68.90.
“We did one workout with hurdles,” Woodard said in reference to Lukkari’s preparation for the race. “In high school she did the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, so she had some background.
“It was fun, this is a meet that we we’re going to have some fun with. They were all just kind of relaxed performances.”
In the field events, Lisa Gunderson finished second in the high jump for the second straight week in a row after clearing 5-04. Wiyanna Kramer finished third in both the long jump (16-08) and triple jump (35-1.75).
Bomber, who set a season-best in the discus, came in sixth place with a mark of 111-02.00. She also rallied to a fifth-place finish with a hammer throw of 122-08.The Vikings will travel to Eastern Washington University on Friday for the Washington Invite in Cheney, Wash.