Coming off the last leg of its indoor season, the Idaho track and field teams are preparing for the Indoor WAC Championships to be held Wednesday through Friday at the Kibbie Dome.
Parker Wilson | Argonaut
Runners settle into the blocks at the the WSU Open II indoor track meet on Friday in Pullman. The Vandals will compete in the WAC Indoor Championships on Wednesday in the Kibbie Dome.
Idaho finished its last indoor meet of the year with the same success it has seen all season.
Three Idaho athletes finished first in three events Saturday at the WSU Open II. In the sprints, senior Andrew Bloom finished first in the the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.62 seconds. Idaho went 1-2 in the 3,000-meter run with sophomore Halie Raudenbush coming in first ahead of sophomore Alex Sciocchetti, who finished second behind Raudenbush by 13 seconds. The third Vandal victory came from freshman jumper Arphaxad Carroll in the long jump.
“We are excited to have it here in our own dome. The group(s) are used to running on our track and while it (home field advantage) will not guarantee ourselves a win, the athletes will enjoy sleeping in their own beds the night before,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said of hosting the championship meet.
This is the first time in years the WAC Championships has been held in the Kibbie Dome, which is fitting, considering this indoor season the track and field teams have not ventured more than one state away for competition. Though, the Vandals did host the outdoor track and field championships in 2012 on the newly renovated Dan O’Brien Track and Field Complex.
“I feel pretty good where we stand. We didn’t compete everybody in their main events during this meet (WSU Open II), we used it as kind of another practice,” Phipps said.
Phipps said that while the regular season has been going very well for his team, the WAC Championship is going to provide some struggles to clinch the first place slot.
He said that on the men’s side, Idaho’s biggest opponents are going to be Utah Valley and Grand Canyon. On the women’s side, Phipps said he expects to see the toughest competition from UMKC and again Grand Canyon.
“It is going to come down to the little things, getting people into the finals who we didn’t expect getting into the finals,” Phipps said. “It will come down to how they do that Thursday getting into the finals and getting our team points.”
The championship will start on Wednesday with the multi-events, while the regular preliminary events start on Thursday. It is in the preliminary rounds that determine who will move onto the finals on Friday. This meet is different from the others this season in that each team member will not only be racing for their own personal records, but will also be competing for team points to determine who will be the WAC Champion. Only those athletes that make it to the finals rounds on Friday will be able to score team points.
Curtis Ginnetti can be reached at [email protected]