Trubachik, Black earn top marks in Utah

The Big Sky Track and Field Championships ended with a combined 83 points for Portland State—nearly 200 points behind the combined score posted by the competition’s champs Northern Arizona—as the men’s and women’s squads finished in last and second-to-last places, respectively.

Various individual Vikings, however, enjoyed success in their respective events, as a total of 13 women and 10 Vikings traveled to Ogden, Utah, to compete in what Matt Scheerer, track and field media relations assistant, said “literally is an all-day affair.” He said several athletes were scheduled to compete in multiple events, as competition lasted from May 12–15.

Senior Nick Trubachik, who last year earned a silver medal with 7,236 points in the Big Sky Championship’s decathlon, won gold this year with 7,390 points and was named the Field Athlete of the Meet. He placed first among 14 decathletes in four events—javelin, shot put, 100-meter dash and long jump—and led the decathlon’s second-place qualifier by 542 points.

Trubachik’s current standing is 18th place nationally, which qualifies him to compete among 22 qualifiers at the NCAA National Championship in Eugene, where the decathlon will take place June 10–11. Trubachik is the first male Viking to compete in the NCAA track and field nationals since PSU became a Division I program in 1997.

The decathlon’s silver medal went to Trubachik’s teammate, fellow Viking senior Vince Kinney, to mark PSU’s first finish with both the gold and silver medals for the Big Sky Championship decathlon. Kinney’s best-place finish was for second at 50.38 seconds in the 400m, netting him 797 points, followed by a fourth-place time in the 1,500m of 4 minutes, 42.43 seconds and finished the decathlon with 6,848 points, an 11-point improvement on his 2008 performance when he earned his previous best.

Sophomore Joenisha Vinson also performed well in a multi-event competition, placing fourth overall in the women’s heptathlon with 5,004 points. She led the competition for the 200m, finishing with a 25.07 time and netting her 880 points. However, Vinson was disqualified from two events—the long jump and 100m hurdles—for missing a start time. ?Freshman Geronne Black also earned gold with her effort in the women’s 100m heats. She clocked 12.27 seconds during her first heat to earn fifth place, followed by an 11.92-second effort for first place in the final—a time of just .02 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

 “That was my best race of the season,” Black said. “Before the race my coach said you get out first, you stay out first and get to the finish line first, and so that’s what I did…it was a humbling experience because I’m only a freshman and I have a lot of work to do but I’m happy with my performance.”

Black also earned a silver medal in the 4×400 relay race with juniors Malissa Anthony and Karene King—who finished second behind Black in the 100m—and senior Amirah Karim, who filled in for Vinson and led the women’s 100m in the first heat at 12.12 seconds. They clocked a 45.99-second finish, just .08 seconds shy of the Viks’ record for that event.