Portland State senior Emma Stolte broke her own school record in the women’s 5,000 meters on April 17 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California. Stolte finished with a time of 15:59.87 after running her fastest lap of the race in the final stretch, dipping under sixteen minutes for the first time.
The achievement strengthens Stolte’s position for qualifying in the NCAA West First Round. Her previous best was set two weeks earlier at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 16:01.44. The new mark is expected to improve her standing within the NCAA West Region.
Other Portland State athletes also recorded notable performances during Friday’s events at Bryan Clay. Irina López entered the program’s all-time top ten list in the women’s 800 meters by finishing in 2:11.57, ranking ninth all-time and improving on her personal best from two weeks prior. Freshman Farhan Ibrahim set a new freshman record for Portland State in the men’s 5,000 meters with a finish of 14:34.85, nearly fifty seconds faster than his previous best and eleven seconds ahead of last year’s freshman record.
In other events, Amir Ahmed led four Vikings runners in the men’s 800 meters with a finish of 1:52.87—his second sub-1:53 performance this season—while Abdinajib Abade posted an outdoor personal best at that distance as well.
On Thursday and Friday at La Verne’s Leopard Invitational, Savannah Beasley became Portland State’s first athlete since 2018 to enter its all-time top ten list for women’s 400-meter hurdles by recording a two-second personal best of 1:02.44 and moving up to ninth all-time for that event.
The Vikings are expected to continue their pursuit of top-ten finishes as competition resumes Saturday at Bryan Clay Invitational.
