The Idaho track and field team finished its second meet at WSU and their third meet of the year Friday and Saturday in Pullman. The team saw further improvements that have been characteristic of this early season.
Idaho had nine individual first-place finishes during the two days of competition and 21 personal best scores.
Two of those wins came from freshman Alex Siemens who won the mile with a converted time of 5 minutes, 9.53 seconds and the 800-meter run with a converted time of 2:19.79.
On Friday, two field athletes impressed for Idaho. Freshman jumper Arphaxad Carroll won the men’s long jump with a jump of 7.25-meters and senior thrower Kyle Rothwell took first in the weight throw with a throw of 17.74-meters. Rothwell was followed closely by fellow Vandal junior Zach Trumbauer who took second with a throw of 17.5.
Friday was also the start of the first multi-events for the Vandals this year. Idaho had a rough go in its season debut in the multi-events. In the women’s pentathlon, freshman Taylor Sheppard saw her first collegiate multi-event competition and finished fourth out of four competitors with an overall score of 2,369.
In the men’s heptathlon, Idaho competed two athletes, sophomore Drew Thompson and senior Colin Briggs. Briggs started off the competition on Friday putting up strong scores that were all personal bests, but had to withdraw from the event on Saturday due to an injury. Thompson finished the heptathlon in sixth with an overall score of 3,752.
“Overall, I was very pleased with the team’s performance this weekend,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said. “I am very excited about them competing at home next weekend in the Vandal Indoor.”
Junior hurdler and sprinter Jesse Villines continued to hit his stride for the second week in a row. He set a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.48. Last week, Villines set multiple personal bests and was awarded with WAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week.
Senior sprinter Andrew Bloom competed for the first time this season and won the men’s 400 with a time of 49.09 — beating out the second place finisher, fellow Vandal Ian Middleton by more than two seconds.
The track and field team will return to the Kibbie Dome for the second time this weekend for the Vandal Indoor on Friday and the Vandal Open on Saturday.
The team has yet to leave the Palouse this season, as they have only competed at home and at neighboring WSU. Phipps said Idaho is lucky because they have, along with WSU, two of the only fully functional indoor arenas that can hold a full collegiate meet in the area. The team will finally leave the familiar scenery of the Palouse on the weekend of Feb. 14 when they will travel to Seattle for the Husky Classic.
Curtis Ginnetti can be reached at [email protected]