The Portland State track and field team is preparing for the Big Sky Indoor Championships, scheduled for February 27-28 in Pocatello, Idaho. Head coach Joseph Blue has made it clear that he will not set specific expectations for his athletes’ performances at the meet. Instead, Blue is emphasizing three key principles: confidence, composure, and competition.
“Be confident in what you’re doing. We did all the work. This is where it counts now. And then, have composure. You don’t have to do anything out of your body to win this. You’ve got to just execute what you’ve been working on. And then, compete. At the end of the day, it’s not about your PR anymore, it’s about beating the person next to you to make those finals and win those finals,” Blue said regarding his message before the conference meet.
“If they do those things, the chips will fall where they need to.”
Conference meets differ from regular-season events because placements matter more than individual times or marks. For Portland State athletes who are not highly ranked going into the championships based on their season results, this means that only their performance during the event itself will count.
“They’ve got to show up that day and be the better person. It doesn’t matter what the rankings say, it comes down to that day. I’ve seen the top throwers all foul that day and they didn’t make it. That stuff happens. You have to be that good that day, and we’re preparing our kids to be that good that day,” Blue said.
Emma Stolte stands out as one of Portland State’s top contenders going into the championships; she ranks third in the mile, fourth in the 800 meters, and sixth in the 3k among conference competitors. Stolte also broke a school record earlier this year with an 800-meter time of 2:08.51 at the Inland Northwest Invitational and holds second all-time marks for Portland State in both the mile (4:39.65) and 3k (9:17.97).
“She’s already done the work. She knows she can do it. She’s just got to go rise to the occasion and she does that every week. This is going to be another week that she does that,” Blue said about Stolte.
Freshman Isaiah Cadengo is also among those ranked within scoring positions; he enters as fifth seed in the men’s 400 meters after clocking a time of 47.99 seconds at a recent meet—making him second fastest indoors at Portland State for this event.
Both men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams are seeded fourth following their performances at recent competitions.
Coach Blue highlighted how most other athletes would need strong preliminary rounds on Friday to qualify for Saturday’s finals—and ultimately score points for their team—since many are not entering with high seeds.
“We have to make it to the final. We’re not in a position where we’re top three and we can just cruise and make the top whatever. We’re in a position where we have to run our fastest race that day. So when prelims come, we have to run our fastest to make the final so we can put ourselves in position to score points,” Blue said.
Blue emphasized confidence as a critical factor as competition levels rise at these championships.
“This is the biggest meet we’ve had throughout the year with most competition. It’s something close to Spokane, and when we went to Spokane [for Inland Northwest Invitational on Jan 31], we did well. So we want a repeat of that and more. That’s what we’re hoping for,” Blue said.
At January’s Inland Northwest Invitational—a benchmark event for this squad—five school records were broken by Portland State athletes.
