Jack Macdonald, a freshman sprinter for Portland State University, secured an overall win in the 200 meters on Friday at the Husky Classic in Seattle. Macdonald finished his heat more than a second ahead of his competitors and was seven-hundredths of a second faster than Daniel Earles from Trinity Western, who placed second overall. His time marked a personal indoor best by six-hundredths of a second, surpassing his previous record set at the Silver & Blue Invitational on January 10.
Macdonald has had notable performances this season, including setting the school record in the 300 meters with a time of 34.94 seconds at the Inland Northwest Invitational on January 31. He is also ranked among Portland State’s top ten all-time performers in both the 60 and 200 meter events.
Head coach Joseph Blue emphasized competition over times before the meet. “Beyond times, I’d be looking for how his athletes competed against the best field they’ve faced to date,” Blue said.
Other Portland State athletes achieved personal milestones during Friday’s events. In the women’s and men’s 60-meter hurdles, Savannah Beasley and Aidan Sweeney each set new personal records for the fourth consecutive meet. Beasley completed her race in 9.29 seconds, improving her previous best by nine-hundredths of a second. Sweeney finished third overall with a time of 8.53 seconds—two-hundredths faster than his prior mark—and is now close to entering Portland State’s all-time top ten for that event.
Beasley also participated in the women’s 200 meters along with four teammates; all but one set new indoor or overall bests. Sienna Rosario led with a time of 25.97 seconds, followed by Ocean Rideout (26.07), Beasley (26.23), Ashley Peterson (26.26), and Norhan Abdel Halim (27.84).
In men’s triple jump, Edward Niyongere placed third with a jump of 46-04.25 (14.13m). Teammates Jackson Mathers and Damien Parrow achieved new indoor bests as well: Mathers improved his mark by three feet to finish fifth at 44-08.75 (13.63m), while Parrow added nearly two feet to place eighth at 42-00.75 (12.82m).
Mathers also set an indoor personal record in high jump by clearing three bars and finishing sixth with a height of 6-00.75 (1.85m).
Both men’s and women’s teams competed in their first distance medley relays of the season on Friday night at Dempsey Indoor facility in Seattle; Hannah Butterfield, Peterson, Addison Capozzi, and Irina López took fourth place for the women with a time of 12:45.04 while Ari Smith, Zach Payne, Amir Ahmed, and Luke Gillingham finished fifth for the men in 10:19.18—a result that moved them up to ninth all-time at Portland State.
The Husky Classic continues Saturday beginning at 10 a.m., featuring additional field events such as women’s shot put and long jump alongside track preliminaries.
