The Portland State track and field team won 10 out of the 26 events they entered at the Willamette Invitational held on March 28 in Salem, Oregon. The Vikings also placed athletes in the top three of six other events during the competition at McCulloch Stadium.
The strong performance comes after last week’s achievements, where Portland State set two school records and two freshman records at the PNW Invite. Both meets are being used as preparation for next week’s trip to California, where the Vikings will compete across three meets: the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, Stanford Invitational, and Brutus Hamilton Invitational.
One highlight from Saturday’s meet was Tori Forst’s victory in the women’s 100 meters. Forst returned to individual competition after recovering from injury and finished first with a time of 12.11 seconds, narrowly ahead of Oregon State’s Riley Patera. “The time may not have been a personal best for Forst, but it did mark an improvement over her season opener a year ago,” according to event details provided by Portland State.
Other notable performances included Isaiah Cadengo winning the men’s 200 meters in 21.98 seconds and helping lead his team to victory in the men’s 4×100-meter relay with a time of 41.44 seconds—the fastest by Viking men since 2016. On the women’s side, Ashley Peterson set a personal best while winning the 400 hurdles in 1:05.26 and contributed to another win as part of Portland State’s victorious women’s 4×400-meter relay squad.
In field events, Princess Fletcher took first place in women’s discus with a throw that moved her up to eighth among freshmen all-time at Portland State; Avonlea Edwards followed closely behind for second place. Henry Glad secured another win for Viking throwers by claiming first place in men’s javelin with a seasonal best mark just four inches shy of his personal record.
Looking ahead, these results serve as both encouragement and motivation for Portland State athletes as they prepare for upcoming competitions against tougher fields next week.
