Viks leave with best performance

Portland State’s men’s and women’s track teams came away from the Big Sky Championships this weekend with their best showings ever. Two of the Vikings on the women’s side came home as individual conference champions. Keisha Harvey and Lisa Gunderson both are the first Portland State competitors to earn the individual conference honor. Along with the Vikings’ first individual champs, Portland State also recorded the most points ever scored by both teams and a record five all-conference winners.

The Big Sky championships started Friday with the men’s and women’s teams putting up good numbers. Lead by Keisha Harvey and Ryan Brown, both Viking teams moved into seventh place after the first day of competition. Harvey took third in the women’s long jump with a mark of 18-08.5, and Brown’s 24-02.5 earned him second place in the men’s long jump. Both also earned All-Conference honors.

On the second and final day of the championships, things really got rolling for Portland State. Again, Harvey left her mark winning the women’s individual title in the triple jump with a mark of 40’3″. Her sister, Kerine Harvey, moved into second place behind Keisha with a 39’0.5″, but was knocked down to third when the next jumper landed a mark of 39’4.25″. Kerine Harvey, who hadn’t competed in the event since high school, finished the triple in third place.

Kerine Harvey wasn’t finished yet. Harvey and Ena Shemi gave the women’s team more points in the 55-meter. Kerine came in fifth in the event with a time of 7.22 and Shemi followed up at eight place with a time of 7.28.

Jenny Rogers and Lisa Gunderson also competed at the championships. Rogers placed 13th in the mile with a 5:24 and 13th in the 3000-meter with 10:49. Gunderson, who was last year’s runner up in the high jump, took the event this time around with a 5’7.25″ mark.

On the men’s side the top performance on Saturday came from Jim Sattem in the 55. Sattem earned second place in the event with a time of 6.41. Sattem, along with Andre Gittens and Anthony Robinson, helped the Vikings earn a few more team points. Gittens, after loosing his footing at the start, finished eighth in the 55 finals with a time of 7.32. Robinson came in seventh in the 400-meter in 49.12.

The men’s team finished with 21 points, five more points than the previous best and was good for eight place. The women’s improvement margin was much higher, with 38 points scored, 22 more than their previous high and good for sixth place. Sweeping both Big Sky Championship titles was Weber State.