Hannah Kiser- indoor track and field
At this point of her career, Hannah Kiser may be accustomed to breaking her own university and conference records, on both the trail and the track. Racing against the best competition the west coast has to offer, Kiser did it again in Saturday’s Husky Classic in Seattle. Kiser already holds the WAC record in the 3,000-meter race, but the junior one-upped her previous time of 9:07.23 and finished fourth in the invite race with a time of 9:04.74. The time was second-best among collegiate finishers and her WAC lead in the event is up to 43 seconds. It also ranks fifth in the NCAA.
“She ran a very controlled race over the first half, then really kicked it in over the final 1k,” Idaho director of track and field/cross country Wayne Phipps said. “She went from being near the back to being the second collegian finisher in the race.”
Ali Forde- women’s basketball
One of three freshman starters on a red-hot Vandal team that has won eight of its last 10 games, Forde continues to prove herself as one of the WAC’s best defensive players and her efforts helped Idaho win its second and third consecutive games last week. Thursday against New Mexico State, Forde had a career-high 20 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double. She added another two blocks on a night that saw her go 9 of 11 from the field.
“It feels pretty good, to be honest,” Forde said. “I made all my layups for once, but I got a bunch of really good passes so I’ve got to give it to my teammates.” She couldn’t necessarily replicate her offensive production on Saturday, but the Woodinville, Wash., native was consistent and terrorizing on defense, helping Idaho pull away in the second half. Forde blocked four shots, grabbed nine boards and scored seven points in a crucial win over fourth-place Denver.
Cristobal Ramos Salazar/Jose Bendeck- men’s tennis
Ramos and Bendeck pulled out Idaho’s most important individual match victory of the spring season Saturday at Gonzaga when the doubles pair overcame a 1-4 deficit in an eight-game pro set to defeat the Zags’ Hayden Smith and Vicente Varas 8-7 (7-5). “GU is going to pull off some upsets this year, and if we did not pull out the doubles point with Ramos and Bendeck coming back from 1-4, I feel we probably would have been their first big upset,” coach Jeff Beaman said. Ramos was victorious in his No. 5 singles match against GU’s Vladimir Mijatovic, winning 7-5, 6-4 while Bendeck led Varas 6-2, 1-0. Bendeck’s match went unfinished, as Idaho had already clinched the overall match win. The Vandals defeated Gonzaga 4-2 and Whitworth 7-0 Saturday to move them to 5-0 on the season.