PSU Women Place Third, Men Ninth at Big Sky Indoor Championships

Salem-News.com SPORTS

BOZEMAN, Montana - Portland State’s women fell short of their first ever team title at the NCAA Division I level, placing third with 99.5-points, Saturday at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships.

“Our women’s team finished nine points from a championship, which is encouraging,” Head Coach Kebba Tolbert said.

“However, we’ve already established ourselves as an elite program in this conference. What we want is the top. We‘ll work hard to change things during the outdoor season.”

Weber State topped the women with 108.5-points followed by Idaho State, who had 107.5. Northern Arizona, the 2006 champion, came in fourth with 94-points.

On the plus side, senior Utica Edgecombe won Portland State’s second conference title in as many days, placing first in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.03-seconds.

Junior Caressa Sims won the weight throw on Friday. Edgecombe has now won two straight sprint titles, winning the 100m at last year’s outdoor championships.

She scored-13 points on the day, adding a sixth-place finish in the 200m to go along with her top finish.

In total the sprints garnered 25 of the team’s points, as both senior Alyssa Tibbs (4th - 200m, 5th - 55m) and sophomore Antoinette Payne (6th - 55m) also placed.

The Viking women’s distance team scored 17 points Saturday as four runners, senior Staci Bielenberg (4th - 2:14.23), freshman Melissa Owens (6th - 2:16.34), junior Kamila Bocian (7th - 2:19.29), and graduate Amanda Kamm (8th - 2:22.74), placed in the 800m.

Kamm and Bielenberg also finished fifth and seventh-place in the mile.

Individually, senior Ashley Quay led all Viking athletes by collecting a total of 17.75-points over the two day meet.

Saturday Quay ran the anchor leg of the women’s 1600m Relay, which took fourth with a school record time of 3:51.13, and finished third in the high jump (5-6).

She took third in the pentathlon and fourth in the long jump the previous day.

Quay closes her Big Sky Indoor Championship career with 34.75-points, the third highest in Viking history.

Freshman Nkeiru Ugwoaba earned all-conference in the triple jump after placing second with a leap of 39-7.

Ugwoaba, who had the top mark in the event throughout the season, was beat by a 40-2.75 mark from Sacramento State’s Lori Vaught. Payne came in eighth with a mark of 37-0.5

Senior Erin Kinney (5th- High Jump) and senior Judith Burnett (5th- Shot Put) rounded out the scoring for the PSU women.

Portland State’s men finished ninth in the team standings with 29-points.

Sacramento State won their first-ever men's conference team title with 107.5-points.

A fourth-place finish by freshman Ben Cogdill in the pole vault led the men’s team on day two.

Cogdill cleared 15-6.5 to reset his school record for the third time this season.

In the men’s 55m, junior Kenneth Mackins placed fourth and junior Josh Cain followed in sixth with times of 6.43 and 6.55, respectively.

Senior Brandon Lopez finished the 800m in seventh, running a time of 1:53.41.

Next weekend, Portland State athletes will either attend the Linfield Icebreaker in McMinnville, Ore., to open the outdoor season or head for the Washington Last Qualifier Meet in Seattle, Wash., in hopes of making the NCAA Indoor Championships.

WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS

1) Weber State, 108.5

2) Idaho State, 107.5

3) Portland State, 99.5

4) Northern Arizona, 94

5) Montana, 77.5

6) Sacramento State, 77

7) Montana State, 67

8) Eastern Washington, 22

9) Northern Colorado, 10

MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS

1) Sacramento State, 107.5

2) Weber State, 105.5

3) Northern Arizona, 101

4) Montana, 77

5) Eastern Washington, 75.5

6) Montana State, 67.5

7) Idaho State, 65

8) Northern Colorado, 33

9) Portland State, 29

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