PSU Outdoor Track Season Opens Saturday in Salem

The mini-meet begins at 10:00 AM on Saturday.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

PORTLAND - After a week off and the complications of a canceled meet, the 2007 Portland State track and field outdoor season will open Saturday at the Willamette Mini-Meet in Salem.

The Vikings used last week to prepare for the first meet of the second half of the year, following a decent showing at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships.

The Viking women placed third with 99.5-points, while the men finished ninth with 29-points.

PSU won two individual conference championships and nine Portland State athletes earned Big Sky All-Conference honors with top three finishes.

“We accomplished a lot this indoor season and are showing continued improvement as a program,” Head Coach Kebba Tolbert said.

On a women’s team known for having strength in the sprints, jump and hurdles, the biggest of these improvements came in the distance and throws programs.

The women’s throws and distance athletes provided more scoring at the Big Sky Indoor Championship than ever before.

Graduate student Amanda Kamm, senior Staci Bielenberg, junior Kamila Bocian and freshman Melissa Owens combined for a total of 17-points in the 800m and mile.

The previous best entering the meet had been 11 scored by Bielenberg and Kamm in 2006.

Junior Caressa Sims became the first Viking female to win a throws event at the NCAA Division I level, taking the title in the weight throw with a mark of 62’0.25”.

Sims and senior Judith Burnett, who finished fifth in the shot put and eighth in the weight throw, scored a total of 14- points.

As the focus turns to the Big Sky Outdoor Championship in May, the Viking coaching staff sees both groups as being even stronger the second-go-around.

Sims’ leadership has spearheaded the increased production out of young throwers like sophomore Kathryn Keefe, sophomore Thanhtam Lai and sophomore Dana Northrup.

All three have continued to set personal bests, while also placing marks on Portland State’s all-time bests.

“Sims really does a good job of setting the tone and the standard of excellence,” Tolbert said.

“Our young athletes are showing signs of being able to contribute at the Big Sky level, which is what we need.” In addition, Tolbert believes Burnett and junior javelin thrower Andrea Clarke have the potential to be conference champions.

For the women’s distance, the talent for greatness is there, now the coaches hope the athletes will believe that the next step is possible.

“Our biggest battle is not the talent or depth that we have, but rather the championship mindset,” Assistant Coach Matt Barreau said.

“I just think that we don’t have the unified desire to compete at a championship level yet. It’s just a matter of changing our belief in ourselves and what we expect from ourselves.”

Even with the added depth, Tolbert maintains the women’s strong spots, sprints, jump and hurdles, need to do their job for a conference title to come to fruition.

“We didn’t do quite as well as I would have liked at the 2007 Big Sky Indoor Championship in those areas,” Tolbert said.

“We let Sacramento State and Idaho State kind of beat up on us in areas we tend to be more dominant in. We need to get some swagger back, and that will come through focus and hard work. There’s a lot of pride amongst the athletes in our program and we know and expect to perform a little better. For us to be a championship program, we need do so.”

Sophomore Chantea Watson, who didn’t compete until a week before the conference meet due to injury, should help be at least part of the solution.

Watson placed in the 200m and 400m during the spring of 2006.

For the Viking men, a number of newcomers made noise during the conference indoor championships.

Freshman Ben Cogdill became the first Viking pole vaulter to place at the Big Sky Championships with a fourth-place mark of 15’6.5”.

Senior transfer Brian Bartow placed fifth in the heptathlon with a school record 5,039 points and freshman Nick Trubachik took seventh with 4,704-points.

“We’ve never had two men score in the multi-events before and they’re even better at the outdoor events so it should be interesting.,” Tolbert said. “Cogdill jumped well when it counted.”

Sophomore Westin Morrill and freshman David Moore will each take their first javelin throws of the new season Saturday. Both were US Track and Field Junior All- Americans last year in the event.

The hope is their progression, along with the rest of the young Viking men’s core, will provide the propulsion to make headway in their climb out of the bottom of the conference.

Seniors Jon Hill, Brandon Lopez and Jordan Senn look to finish their careers strong. Hill earned his first all- conference honor at the Big Sky Indoor Championship, taking second in the long jump.

Lopez has been a top three finisher in the 800m three consecutive championship meets and was an All-Region selection in the event in 2006.

Senn won the men’s javelin title a season ago and holds the Viking all-time record of 227’11”.

A LOOK AT 2007:

• Portland State’s men and women have set team bests for points scored in two consecutive trips to the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships.

In 2006, the women accumulated 156 points, while the men earned 65. The year before the women amassed 119 points and the men, 45.

• The Viking women finished second at both the 2006 Big Sky Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championship, their highest placing ever.

• Senior Ashley Quay enters the outdoor season having scored 68.25 points at the Big Sky Conference Championship level (34.75 outdoor, 33.5 indoor), the fourth highest total in school history.

• Portland State has won three consecutive women’s 100m titles, senior Utica Edgcombe in 2006, and Ena Shemi in 2004 and 2005. Edgecombe and Shemi also each placed at least second in the 200m in their title runs. Shemi won the 200m in 2005. The 100m and 200m earned PSU’s women 37-points in 2006.

• PSU’s women have also taken either first or second in the high jump, long jump and triple jump in two consecutive outdoor seasons. The Vikings took the top two places in the long jump in 2006, top three in the long jump during 2005.

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