Idaho sophomore misses first place finish in pentathlon by two seconds to open WAC Championships
File photo by Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
Johanna Hocketstaller practices hurdles Feb. 7 in the Kibbie Dome. Hocketstaller finished second in the heptathlon during the WAC Indoor Championships.
The 2013 WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships began Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M., with the men’s heptathlon and women’s pentathlon. The meet will conclude Saturday.
Idaho sophomore Johanna Hocketstaller finished second in the women’s pentathlon after crushing the competition with a 47 foot, 0.25 inch toss in the shot put. Her throw beat the next competitor by more than six feet. Hocketstaller’s second strongest pentathlon event was the long jump where she finished second with a leap of 18-01.5. She also ran a huge career-best in the 60-meter hurdles finishing in sixth in 9.16 seconds.
“Johanna was amazing, every event she got better and better,” Julie Taylor, Idaho head track and field coach, said. “Her score in the pentathlon was 400 more points than last year at this same time; she came through just when she needed to.”
The pentathlon winner was junior Zoe Meade of New Mexico State, who went from fourth to first after winning the 800-meter run.
In the men’s heptathlon, Idaho freshman Drew Thompson was the top Vandal to compete and he responded with several personal records. Thompson ran a 7.25 in the 60-meter dash to finish fourth in the first pentathlon event. He went on to jump 20 feet, 5.75 inches in the long jump to finish fifth. Thompson then fell behind in the shot put, finishing in 10th out of 10 competitors with a 33 foot, 3-inch throw. He bounced back with a tie for first in the high jump with his leap of 6-07 to land at fifth place overall on the night with three events to go.
“Thompson has competed like a champ for his first ever multi-event,” Taylor said “He is coming through and showing great maturity.”
Friday’s events start at 10 a.m. (PT) with the continuation of the men’s heptathlon, beginning with the 60m hurdles. Individual events begin at 12:30 p.m. with the women’s high jump.
“We hope that people continue to compete like they have this year,” Taylor said “If they can do that then I feel like we will have a successful day.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]