Vandals make clean sweep of Athlete of the Week awards
In the midst of the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, Idaho track and field swept the conference’s weekly awards for the week of Feb. 11-17. Senior Barry Britt and sophomore Matt Sullivan were honored with the “track” and “field” awards, respectively for their performances in the Idaho Collegiate meet on Friday.
On the women’s side, senior Liga Velvere (track) and Kristine Leonard (field) won the Vandals’ sixth and seventh combined awards this indoor season. Britt finished fourth in the men’s mile Friday with a career-best time of 4:07.33, four seconds better than his previous best.
The time is a WAC-best this season and the fastest by an Idaho runner since 1998. Sullivan cleared 17-0.75 (5.20m) Friday, and became the third Vandal ever to crack the 17-foot mark. The mark ties for second in the conference and ranks No. 43 in the NCAA. Velvere picked up her third-career award, and the Latvia native ran a season-best and WAC-leading time of 2:07.83 in the 800-meter race at the Idaho Collegiate. The time is No. 41 in the NCAA.
Finally, Leonard won two events and had three top-five finishes in the final regular season meet at the Idaho Collegiate and Idaho Open II. Leonard’s heave of 57-7.75 in the women’s weight throw swerved as a career best, and the senior would also go on to win the discus.
Perevoshchikov is WAC player of the week
With four wins in Idaho’s match wins against Utah State and Weber State, Idaho sophomore Dmitry Perevoshchikov helped Idaho maintain its undefeated record. Perevoshchikov won both matches at No. 1 singles, beginning with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Utah State’s Sven Poslusny.
Against the Aggies, Perevoshchikov teamed with Ivan Krijanto at No. 3 doubles to beat USU’s Andrew Whiting and Matt Sweet 8-2.
Against Weber State, Perevoshchikov won again at the No. 1 singles spot, defeating Jakub Gewert 6-1, 6-2. He and Jose Bendeck won at the No. 2 doubles position, beating Sanjay Goswami and Todd Fought 8-6. Perevoshchikov is undefeated in singles play and will look to maintain his unbeaten streak when the Vandals visit the University of Portland and Portland State Saturday.
WAC teams to play nonconference games
The Western Athletic Conference will resume conference play next week, but the week of Feb. 18-24 has the 10 teams competing in 10 non-conference games. Six of those will serve as Ramada BracketBusters match-ups. On Tuesday, Utah State visited BYU in Provo, falling 70-68 to the WCC Cougars. La. Tech slammed Central Baptist College Wednesday, beating the Mustangs 118-48. The Bulldogs were able to give