For the second straight week, an Idaho track and field record has fallen. This time, it was Ugis Svazs’ javelin toss of 240 feet, 7 inches that broke the school record Saturday at the Duane Hartman Invitational. The previous school record was set in 1996 by Oscar Duncan.
Idaho distance runner Barry Britt runs laps during practice April 23 at the Dan O’Brien Track and Field Complex. Britt, Lauren Schaffer and Liga Velvere competed at the Payton Jordan Invitational Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif.
“Ugis had a great meet,” Idaho coach Julie Taylor said. “We’d kind of been seeing it at practice so it’s been nice to see him really come through. That’s the best he’s ever thrown at Idaho and it’s only a couple centimeters off his lifetime best.”
Svazs broke the record but it was the Idaho women who took more overall victories for the Vandals. The women had eight of the 11 individual victories at the Duane Hartman Invitational in Spokane.
Leading the women was senior Kristine Leonard with a victory in the discus (150-0) and second-place finishes in the shot put (48-5.5) and the hammer (166-8).
The other victories on the women’s side came from junior Karlene Hurrel (100 meters), senior Keli Hall (800 meters), senior Maggie Miller (3,000 meters), senior Liga Velvere (400 meters), senior Alyssa Covington (long jump), sophomore Johanna Hockestaller (shot put) and senior Sarah Nutsch (hammer throw).
Back on the men’s side the victories came from sophomore Ben Ayesu-Attah in the 400-meter dash, senior Jeremy Klas in the pole vault, while sophomore Jesse Villines in the 400-meter hurdles rounded out the Vandal victories. Villines’ time of 52.89 is a lifetime best and moves him into eighth all-time at Idaho.
“Every time he’s run the 400 hurdles, he’s improved every week,” Taylor said. “It’s been exciting to see him get better and better.”
The Duane Hartman was more of a low-key meet for the Vandals last weekend but at times they were battling more than just their competitors. Taylor said the meet got windier as the weekend went on.
“There were a lot of really solid marks for the weekend,” she said. “It was a little more windy than we were hoping. It was definitely affecting some of the kids in the longer races … but we still had a lot of great performances.”
The Vandals also had a small squad of runners compete at the Payton Jordan Invitational Sunday at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. Seniors Barry Britt, Lauren Schaffer and Liga Velvere took the trip back to California to go up against elite competition and take another shot at qualifying for the NCAA National Championships.
Schaffer led the California crew with her 800-meter time of 2:06.99 and ninth place overall finish.
“I think that’s number one in the conference right now,” Taylor said of Schaffer’s time. “It also upped her mark to be able to go to regionals which is exciting as well. Lauren was definitely the highlight for that (meet).”
This weekend, the Vandals split again with some of the team competing at home for the Vandal Jamboree on Friday and Saturday and some traveling to Eugene for the prestigious Oregon Twilight. The meets are the last two before the WAC Championships.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]