Viks compete at NCAA Track Regionals

Portland State track and field athletes Nick Trubachik, Tony Crisofulli, Karene King and Joenisha Vinson competed at the NCAA West Regional competition held in Austin, Texas May 27–28, but all four narrowly fell short of qualifying for the quarterfinals.

On day one, sophomore Tony Crisofulli finished 38th overall in the 800-meter with a time of 1 minute, 50.36 seconds, just 1.1 seconds behind his personal best. Earlier this season, Crisofulli recorded a time of 1:49.76 at the Oregon Relays on May 1.

 “I feel that my performance placed me above my entered seed of the meet, but I do feel that I had the ability to make the next round,” Crisofulli said. “I’m just glad that I was able to qualify for the NCAA West Regional meet, and I now know what the race is like and know what I need to do to make the NCAA Nationals.”

For senior Nick Trubachik, this was his second consecutive regional appearance. In 2009, he finished 22nd in the javelin; however, on Thursday he had to be content with 41st place after throwing a distance of 168-feet, 10-inches.

Earlier in the season Trubachik already qualified for the decathlon event at the NCAA National Championships in Eugene on June 10–11. Trubachik will be the 18th seed among the 22 qualifiers at the event.

“I feel that my performance at Austin was a great warm-up for the National meet in Eugene,” Trubachik said. “I needed to work out some bugs and that is what I felt I was able to accomplish while I was over at this regional meet.”

Last month, Trubachik was named the Field Athlete of the Meet at the Big Sky Track and Field Championships held at Ogden, Utah. He finished with 7,390 points in the decathlon—542 points more than his nearest rival.

“It feels great to know that all the hard work and time my coach and I put in paid off,” Trubachik said. “Winning the Big Sky title was a great achievement, and with that achievement it was also a stepping stone to a greater plateau of competition—the National meet in Eugene.”

Trubachik said he is focused on preparing for the meet in Eugene, for which he has high hopes.

“I’m shooting for top-eight at the National meet so I can become an All-American,” he said.

On Friday, junior Viking Karene King finished 28th overall in the 200m with a time of 24.27 seconds. She just missed qualifying for the quarterfinals, as the top-24 athletes advanced to that next round. She also just missed her personal best, clocking in only 0.05 seconds more than her fastest finish.

“This is my first year at PSU and I think I did really well,” King said. “There is nothing much more I can ask for from this season. I just have to continue to work hard and get better.”

Fellow Vikings, sophomore Joenisha Vinson clocked in at 14.12 seconds in the 100m hurdles to finish 38th overall in the event. Her best performance this year came at the Mondo Invitational in April, where she posted a time of 13.84 in the same event.

“All four of us did an exceptional job, and with this experience under their belt I can see that we will be able to accomplish greater heights in the next season,” Trubachik said.