The Portland State track and field team is set to compete at the Husky Classic in Seattle on Friday and Saturday. The event comes after a successful showing at the Inland Northwest Invitational, where the Vikings set five school records.
Head coach Joseph Blue said that while breaking records was a recent achievement, the team’s focus has shifted toward improving competitiveness as they prepare for the upcoming Big Sky Indoor Championships. “We already know we can accomplish that,” Blue said about setting records. “We just want to get better. So, if getting better means a record, then great. But it’s not a thought. It never really was a thought, we just knew it was there.”
Blue emphasized that competing well against strong opponents is now more important than recording fast times. “Now it’s about the competition part of it. It’s not about the times anymore. The times will play the way they play, but you have to compete and you’ve got to execute. That’s the biggest thing,” he said.
This weekend’s meet features some of the most competitive fields for Portland State this season, providing athletes with experience ahead of their conference championship later this month. “They need to get the feeling of what it’s like to run with high-level competition. And they’ve got to compete because if you do it here, then you know you can do it at conference,” Blue stated.
Among those competing is Daniel Coppedge, who broke his own school record in the men’s weight throw at 57-11 (17.65m) two weeks ago and will return to that event on Friday afternoon.
Emma Stolte, who recently set a new school mark in the women’s 800 meters with a time of 2:08.51, will race in the mile this weekend instead of her record-setting event.
Sprinters Jack Macdonald and Sienna Rosario also set program records in their respective 300-meter races at their last outing; both are scheduled for sprint events again at Husky Classic alongside teammates Dillon Brost, Isaiah Cadengo, Beckett Stolp, Zach Payne, Aidan Sweeney and others.
The depth of Portland State’s roster allows them to field four relay teams during the meet—both men’s and women’s distance medley relays on Friday and men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays on Saturday—offering valuable practice ahead of key relay events at conference championships.
“If you want to make a conference team, then this is where you execute and show that you belong on the bus. That you belong as a conference contender,” Blue explained.
“It’s going to be a hard choice on both sides, but you’ve got to do it. I wanted it to be hard. If it was easy, then we’ve got other problems. But the fact that it’s hard shows that we have a good group of quality kids that could show up at any time and take advantage of opportunities.”
The Husky Classic takes place February 13-14 at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle.
