It is not every week that track and field athletes get to compete in a meet where they win pies and donuts instead of trophies and medals. On Friday, the Vandal track and field teams compete in the unique War VI Regional Dual Meet at Spokane Falls Community College. The meet pits teams from Idaho, Oregon and Montana, against teams from Washington in a regional battle complete with barbeques and food prizes.
Steven Devine | Argonaut
Ryan Bowen leaps over hurdles during practice Thursday afternoon at the Dan O’Brien Track and Field Complex. The Vandals will compete in the War VI Regional Dual Saturday at Spokane Falls CC.
“It’s kind of a low key meet but there’s going to be a lot of competition there,” Idaho senior Joseph Charles said. “It’s going to be more fun because we’re all fighting for food right now. We all want that pie and those donuts.”
In addition to irregular prizes, the War VI is also scored differently than regular track and field meets. Instead of earning points for their teams, athletes score points for their “region”. The two regions represented are Washington (WSU, Eastern Washington, Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, Seattle University, Whitworth, Spokane Community College and Gonzaga) against the combined force of Oregon, Idaho, and Montana (Northwest Nazarene University, Eastern Oregon, Great Falls, Montana, Carroll College, Lewis and Clark State and Idaho).
The original War Regional Dual Meet just featured schools from Washington and Oregon but Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said the meet has grown to make the competition more balanced. Since the meet is hosted in Washington, it always features more Washington schools than schools from the other states.
The War VI is also the first meet of the outdoor season that will have the whole Vandal squad competing at one location. The previous meets featured only small Vandal squads or had athletes competing in separate locations.
“It’s fun getting to see everybody else compete cause most of the time you’re looking at everybody else practicing,” senior Kristine Leonard said. “Even in your own area, you can still see the runners going by and cheer for people so it just makes it a little bit more special.”
Phipps said the War VI, while featuring many teams, acts as a low-profile meet between the prestigious Sun Angel Classic from last week and of next week Mt. SAC Relays.
“We’ve got some people, in the running events, in maybe some of their secondary events,” He said. “A lot of them competed in their primary event at Arizona and will do the same thing at Mt. SAC the following weekend.”
One Vandal group to keep an eye in is the javelin throwers. The javelin throwers do not have their event during the indoor season so they get right into the action during the outdoor season. The War VI offers another opportunity for them to improve early in the season.
“It’s a pretty neat atmosphere to it,” Phipps said of the meet. “Our athletes enjoy competing there and hopefully the weather holds up for us.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]